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

made sense. I wasn’t simply using strong power here, but the power of Avalon. And who was there, in a sense? Rianne, who was stronger than Fatiha! With that in mind, I focused on that magical land, on bringing the power to us and calling on Rianne to stop this witch.

Everything slowed, gold particles of light floating down on me, and I was in Avalon—sort of. More like, it was overlaid on our world, so I was standing in both places at once. As the fighting continued all around me in what felt like slow motion, Rianne appeared, floating in the sky with arms outspread.

Only, she froze there, pointing, indicating a path for me to take. I frowned, confused, until the first of several images came to me. Like the first piece of a puzzle, I saw Megha where she was being kept, then flashes back toward me, but only snippets.

I understood.

Releasing the power, I fought against Fatiha but with a different goal than before. All I had to do was to keep my team alive, keep her occupied long enough for Megha to send me the rest of the puzzle. Working my way to Ebrill, I told her to amplify us in any defensive ways she could and pulled her over to Shisa. With the three of us focused on defense, the others were able to keep Fatiha quite busy.

Then another piece of the puzzle hit me—this time I saw a dark passage, water… beneath the house?

A blast hit the shield in front of me, Fatiha shouting in frustration. She followed up the attack by trying to charge at me, bringing out more magical objects—this time, glowing daggers. Only, I recognized the runes on them and deactivated them, using enough of the Liahona to knock her back and send the blades clattering. Another shout, but this time Kordelia had her, tore off a necklace that glowed bright and was nearly blinding us, then held on to her as Aerona attempted to trap her in a binding spell and I did the same with the floor.

More magical artifacts activated and she pushed out, but in that moment I got the rest of the puzzle. I knew where to go.

“Keep her busy,” I muttered to Ebrill and Steph and then charged for the nearest wall, closing my eyes as I went.

It gave way, as I knew it would. I reached out, sensing for Megha. Shisa charged after me, his shield deflecting any attacks Fatiha sent my way, but then the witch was forced into defensive mode to protect herself from the determined attack launched against her by the others.

I, on the other hand, had a puzzle to solve and a crazy, brain-massaging witch to locate.

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Bits of the puzzle were coming at me now like flashes of memory. They seemed to be coming from Megha, who was being dragged somewhere, who knew where, nearly unconscious. But when they hit me, the images were instantly pushed over to my digital screen, which analyzed them against the layout of the house.

The pieces kept coming, then, flooding my mind with shapes and images, and I realized that what I’d seen first wasn’t complete, nothing seemed to fit. That didn’t make sense, though, because the house was only so large. Ah, it… wasn’t two-dimensional!

Applying the new images, flipping one in a way that made me feel I was playing an advanced game of Tetris or backwards Jenga, I put together the full picture.

Not waiting around and saying ‘Fuck it’ if there were more witches in tombs or whatever, I cleared an opening for myself and then made the floor slant down like a slide. If there was a chance I was going to die in this endeavor, I might as well make it fun!

It was like being on an old-fashioned ghost train fun-fair ride. Spirits emerged from walls as I flew by, but none of them could do shit. I hit them with blasts of ice and laughed, giving out a final ‘Whoo!’ before emerging into the last room of my Jenga map.

There was a form in the darkness. I lit up the room simply by willing it, my exhilaration amplifying my confidence and therefore my powers. The basic act made me wonder, given unlimited confidence in myself, where would my limits be? That was a question for another day, however, because the figure in front of me had stirred and was now looking at me.

It was Megha. Those same narrow eyes, those same little buns in her black hair.

“You came,” she said, barely able to look up at me with the metal cutting into her. Not regular metal, that much was clear. A magic substance that resembled metal. Not of this world, my system said.

It made sense, then—from the Dark Lands.

Riland, I mentally called, and then he was there, seeing it and getting the picture. He gripped the metal, let it cut his hands, but then it was gone and she was free. He gave her a nod, then to me, and went back to the fight against Fatiha.

“We’re getting out of here,” I said.

Megha looked at me, a mixture of curiosity and excitement in her eyes, and nodded. “One way or another, we must.”

I wrapped an arm under her shoulder, helping her to stand, and then we were on the move. Getting out of there was more complicated than entering. For one, I felt extremely depleted. It wasn’t often that using my magic made me so exhausted, but using it to this extent certainly took its toll. When Ebrill was around she could heal me from physical attacks, but I assumed this was more mental.

“Can you defend yourself?” I asked, wary of our situation.

She grunted. “I could tear you up.” She stumbled on her next step. “But… at the moment, I might need some help, still.”

I nodded, hoping my help would be enough.

She felt warm against me, comforting, and that thought brought me clarity of mind. Enough to at least get us out