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

While the ice demon was twice Riland’s size—large and looming over him as it knelt—the moment Riland was free from its spell, he acted. Sword in one hand, he was up, plunging the blade into the demon’s chest. He pulled it out, then spun and lodged it deep in the bastard’s neck. The neck was too thick to cleave in one strike, but I was there to strike it in its throat. The creature shook, head flopping forward and hanging on by a thread of skin as Riland pulled his blade free.

“To be safe,” Aerona said, leaping over and grabbing the head, pulling it off with a snap of the skin. She turned and heaved it at her attacker, then was back in to flip the creature onto its back. She held out her hand, and Riland tossed her his sword. In one swift motion, she caught it and plunged it into the last ice demon’s skull. She stood and twisted the blade, breaking the head in half, before severing it at the neck as well. Her strike being much stronger, the head came off in one blow.

She tossed the sword back over, nodded, and motioned for him to lead the way.

No time to recuperate, I noted with a chuckle. My focus was pulled to my XP bar, showing the kill had netted me a large number of points toward my next level. As sweet as that was, my confidence with the transmutation magic was starting to get to the point that I knew leveling up wouldn’t be needed much longer. Still, I enjoyed the gaming element of it all, and figured I would keep it around. When I had learned of my acceptance to Johns Hopkins, I had kind of decided to put games on hold. It sucked, because I had recently started my third play-through of Shadow of the Colossus, which they had remastered, or redone or whatever, yet again, and I had wanted to get into the latest Borderlands. This real-life leveling up was more fun in a way, and something I could do to scratch that itch.

So, who cared if I had the power to level up, or cultivate or whatever on my own. I was going to keep doing it the fun way. I also felt more comfortable practicing the spells and magic this way, learning and improving as I went. Imagine having all the power in the world at once and somehow not blowing your testicles off. Something to worry about.

We reached the top of that incline and paused, eyes scouring our surroundings. More rocks and spots where ice was creeping up.

“There!” Riland said, and I recognized the place as well. A brilliant, translucent stone rose from the ground, and in that stone, the form of Draedar. My guess was that some magical element of this place found those who were dying, converging on them and creating this. Did they become actual stones? With that thought, looking at the surrounding mountains and jagged stones took on a whole new meaning.

“Should I…?” Aerona asked, voice catching.

“Together,” Riland said.

We knelt before Draedar’s partially visible form. His hands and face were still free of the stone. We watched as he opened his eyes and took us in. When those eyes met Aerona’s gaze, they stayed there, emotion welling up.

“Is that really you?” Aerona asked.

“The last of me,” Draedar said. He reached out a hand, but when she knelt at his side and tried to take it, their hands passed through each other’s.

“It’s been so long, but feels like only a few days,” Aerona said.

“To me, it feels like an eternity,” he replied, and for a moment he was back, hand clenching hers, then fading again. “What we had was special, but it’s time you move on, as must I.”

She let out a stifled sob, then nodded and pressed his fading hand to her lips. As they touched his hand, he faded, and then was gone.

As quick as that, it was over.

No more words on it, Aerona simply stood, wiped her eyes, and said, “Let’s go find Yenifer.”

128

Returning to the senator’s house, we entered to see the rest of our team waiting. After a bit of an after-action report with Megha, she set up some spells so that we didn’t have as much to worry about in regard to being intercepted. Shisa was playing with Steph, and Megha was poring over a map with one of the people who I still liked referring to as interns.

“Is it…?” Ebrill started, upon seeing us.

“Over,” Aerona finished for her. “Yes.” A moment of silence followed, ending with Aerona approaching the maps and saying, “What’ve you got?”

“Traces of magic, but we can’t be sure it’s her.” Megha took a moment, eyeing me and then Aerona again. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Aerona shook her head, arms around herself.

It wasn’t until then that I noticed the smell—garlic and oil? A moment later, Steph poked her head around the corner. “It’s ready for you all.”

Kordelia grinned, grabbing Aerona by the hand and pulling her along. Watching two gargoyles with massive wing and horns go through doorways and halls was humorous, but I made a note to myself to adjust the interior size of this place so they would be able to walk around more easily.

“What’s going on?” I hissed to Ebrill, who was beaming.

“Nothing,” she replied with a wink. “Our way of comforting each other, back in our time.”

Megha frowned, moving away from the map for now to join me as I followed, the others coming behind us.

In the kitchen, Steph had stepped off to one side while Kordelia waited, wings spread. When we were all in, she stepped aside and folded her wings, gesturing to a large pot and a variety of cut vegetables and chicken breasts.

“Aerona, if you’d do the honors.”

“You all are too much,” Aerona said, hand to her mouth. After a moment, she stepped up and assessed the ingredients. She tasted some seasoning—apparently put off by the