Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

Huera and Queen Mab, the latter waving him off. “Go, fight. Save the world. We’ll be right behind you.”

Nivian nodded, and we ran to join Red.

“Hurry, brothers,” Elisa called back over her shoulder, “I’ll be anxiously awaiting your arrival.”

We emerged back onto the hillside to find it much darker than before.

“You made it just in time,” Sekhmet said, and then pointed up, as if I could’ve missed the mass of pyramids forming overhead. They’re coming from the Fae world, Queen Mab said, and I turned to see her stepping toward us from the portal.

“This is from the spirit realm?” I asked.

“We have a whole underground system of buildings like this,” she said, frowning. “Now it explains where they’ve been hiding, and why the underground has been inaccessible for so long.”

“And where all the Shades were going,” I said, watching as streams of darkness flowed down toward us, descending with gods and Legends held on high.

I’d said this and turned back to the queen to see her reaction, but froze in confusion. While before she’d looked every bit the fairy queen, as I watched she was growing long, curved horns from her head, her cheekbones becoming more pronounced, lips fuller.

She reached up and touched her mouth, hand then going to the base of one of the horns. “Ah, I see my own glamour has been removed as I was granted access.” She held out her arms in the ways she often did, and bowed her head slightly.

“Maleficent?” Elisa asked. “I thought we had her locked up.”

“Queen of the fairies, aren’t I?” Queen Mab, or apparently Maleficent, said. “Queen Mab tried to invade my dreams once and I couldn’t exactly have that, so… yes, I took her ichor, took her essence and use it as glamour when the time’s right. Helped me escape, but now I’m here, ready to help.”

“Wait, so…” I glanced from her to Red and the others. “Maleficent, good or bad?”

Elisa cocked her head, not really sure how to answer that. Given that the others were looking to her, I took this to mean nobody really knew anymore. Or weren’t ready to answer with her watching.

“You see,” Maleficent said, stepping toward me, “the answer to your question might have been quite different if you’d asked anytime before we witnessed this.” She turned back up to the sky, watching the plumes of Shades, closer now, almost upon us. “That was before I found this. I knew someone was taking a large portion of my fairies, but to turn them into Shades? To spew them out at Earth like they’re no better than bullets? Yeah, I mean to have words with those behind the attack. And by words, I mean tear them to shreds.”

“I… good.”

She smiled, looking around at our little army, and then nodded. “Let’s go kick their asses, shall we?”

“But the fairies…”

“Unfortunately, gone.” Her eyes showed a sorrow very out of place on her. “The moment they went over, the moment they became Shades, they were lost to me. Gone, forever.”

Without another word on the matter, we turned toward the incoming enemy as the rest of our team strode out from the portal, joining us at our sides. And by the rest, I mean all of them. Elisa’s brothers and all. I quickly applied my previously earned ichor, glad to see I was able to get the skill that cancelled out powers nearby. No luck on the illusion one yet, but it would be up next.

For now, it was fight time.

67

In the face of the onslaught, I called forth Roar. Together we stood our ground with my team, my runes glowing bright and Excalibur charging up with energy. Sharon took up the other side in full wolf mode, while Pucky’s horns were glowing where she stood to my left and behind. Red’s robe was already flapping about, preparing for the attack.

Elisa charged past, only she didn’t have the same look as before. Instead, the white light I’d seen her use previously seemed to have formed into protective armor that gleamed like the moon. In one hand she held a spear of the same material, a shield in the other, with a swan-like helmet on her head.

Her brothers’ armor was extending, glowing in this same way as they charged, and meeting the enemy in a clash of light versus darkness.

I started to charge, too, but caught wind of my name and turned to see Maleficent gesturing to the Arthur who had risen into the sky, a new sword of golden light in his hand. Sekhmet and Bastet were both in animal forms running past me with streaks of magic gleaming in their wake, and then a flurry of fairies came flying out of the portal, moving to intercept the enemy.

“It’s going to be a fun fight!” Maleficent said, laughing as she caught up with us, and I continued my charge, Roar pounding along at my side.

The Shades swept over us in waves of darkness, but we were the bulwark that kept them at bay. My team was the staff of Moses that parted the waters, and as I glowed with my rune power—absorbing water for more energy, pulling it from ground and air—prana flowed down to me and I used it to strengthen my connection with Roar, to keep us strong. When I could, I’d duck and quickly assign points, to the extent that soon my strength was at five-hundred percent and my speed at four-hundred. But seeing the host arrayed against us, it was clear where the points really needed to go—stamina. It was all a blur, but I remember at one point getting my stamina to a thousand percent and then watching it flash green, refusing to go higher. Maxed out!

More of the Shades came and we fought, and as I pushed more prana into Roar, a strange thing started happening. I could see from his eyes, sense with his senses. It didn’t take away from my own, rather amplifying them to make me more aware of