Rebirth: Beasts Bound

I thrashed against Elowen’s grip, my fingers clawing at her hands locked around my throat. The pressure was suffocating, my vision spotting with black dots as I gasped for air.

"Get... off!" I choked out, twisting my body desperately.

But she was stronger in this nightmare realm, her dark magic fueling around like venom in her veins, her eyes burned with triumphant hatred.

"You stole everything from me," she hissed, leaning closer.

Then her face began to change, melting and dark....

Purple-black flames erupted across her skin, licking upward like living shadows. The fire ate away at her features, revealing the horrifying outline of a skeleton beneath... her hollow eye sockets glowing with malevolent red light, teeth bared in a deathly grin.

The stench of burning flesh and sulfur filled the air, I gagged, my legs kicking wildly underneath her.

"Wake up!"

"Fight it!"

The voices of my beastmen... Thyrian’s steady command, Azrael’s fierce growl, Ryker’s urgent shout... cut through the chaos like lifelines.

They echoed in my mind, pulling me back from the blink of death.

With a surge of desperate strength, I shoved my palms against her chest and pushed, hard.

Elowen flew backward, crashing into the shadowy remnants of the room.

I collapsed onto the bed, panting heavily, my body trembling uncontrollably. My lungs burned, and hot tears mixed with sweat on my cheeks.

They are waiting for me....I can’t lose here...

She rose slowly, that skeletal face twisting into a laugh that sounded like cracking bones.

"Pathetic. You think their voices can save you?"

Purple dark tendrils of magic shot from her fingertips, hurling jagged shards of broken chairs and glass toward me.

I rolled off the bed just in time.

The shards slammed into the mattress behind me and exploded into corrosive smoke, the heat washing across my back.

For a second, I stayed crouched on the floor, sucking in a shaky breath.

Then another attack came....

I scrambled to my feet, summoning what little mana I had left.

A shield of silver light flickered around me, weak and unstable.

Swirling black fireballs screamed through the air..I dodged left.

Then right.

But the third one grazed my arm, making me seethe through my teeth.

I cried out and nearly lost my footing.

"System reward," I whispered hoarsely, activating the teleportation ability I’d earned from completing a mission a while back.

The world blurred, In an instant, I appeared behind Elowen.

My foot connected with her spine in a powerful kick, infused with all the fury and fear I carried, she staggered forward with a snarl, but spun around faster than I expected.

Her skeletal hand slashed out, catching me across the chest. Claws of pure darkness ripped through my clothes and flesh, drawing deep gashes that burned like acid.

Blood poured down my mouth, I fell to one knee, my vision swimming.

Elowen laughed again, advancing.

She raised both hands, and the room filled with phantom blades... hundreds of them, spinning in a deadly vortex.

I threw up another shield, but it cracked under the pressure...

The shards broke through, slicing my shoulders, thighs, and side.

"Ahhhhhh!" I screamed....I was losing.

Every movement felt heavier, my magic draining faster than I could replenish it.

"You’re nothing but a glitch," she taunted, her purple-black flames intensifying. A massive spear of condensed shadow formed above her palm, she hurled it straight at my heart, I barely teleported again... only a few feet, but it was enough to avoid instant death.

The spear cratered the floor where I had been.

My body screamed in protest, I was losing too much blood, and the room tilted. I can’t keep this up....

Her magic was overwhelming, ancient and corrupted, feeding on my despair.

She closed in, grabbing my hair and slamming my head against the wall, making stars burst before my eyes.

"Die already!"

But the voices returned, louder this time.

"Fight it, Raven!"

I roared and headbutted her skeletal face, a bone cracked. She recoiled, giving me the split second I needed.

I channeled every ounce of remaining power into a counter-blast...raw, unrefined energy that exploded outward like a supernova of light.

It hit her square in the torso, sending her flying across the room, she crashed hard, but rose again, barely phased, her flames roaring higher.

The fight dragged on, brutal and one-sided.

She summoned chains of darkness that wrapped my ankles, yanking me down, I sliced at them with my dragon sword, but more came.

My rewards from the system helped; the short bursts of speed, minor healing that barely stemmed the bleeding, but Elowen was winning.

Her laughter echoed as another blast caught me in the ribs, cracking bone.

I coughed blood, collapsing....Then, suddenly, Elowen clutched at her ankle....

No, her belly.

Her skeletal features flickered back to her normal face, twisted in shock and pain.

"What...?" she gasped.

I blinked through the haze, trying to figure out what was happening.

A shadowy figure? An unseen force? I couldn’t see the face clearly in the dim, chaotic light, just a blur of movement near her lower body.

The fight paused to a halt as Elowen doubled over, blood staining her clothes as blood dropped down from in between her legs.

She was bleeding heavily. "Oh my..." Realization hit me like a fresh wound.

Miscarriage... her cub!

Even though she was evil, even though she’d tried to kill me and ended up hurting me... an innocent life inside her was slipping away, I couldn’t ignore her. It made me remember my triplets, the tiny lives I had lost in heavy pains.

Tears stung my eyes, despite everything, I felt pity for her.

I rushed forward on shaky legs, ignoring my own injuries, and caught her as she crumpled.

"Elowen... I’m sorry," I whispered, holding her trembling hands.

She looked up at me with wide, hateful eyes, but there was shock there too, blood had already soaked my palms.

"You are going to be okay!" I said, staring around.

How do I actually get out of here?? Then the nightmare began to fracture....Elowen’s body shimmered, disappearing back toward reality.

And so did I.

My beastmen appeared around me... Thyrian, Azrael, Veyra, Ryker, their strong arms holding me tight, but they, too, started fading, pulling me with them.

"We’ve got you," Thyrian murmured before vanishing.

I was left watching Elowen sprawl motionless on the floor as the dream realm dissolved.

"Doctor Elandra!" I heard someone shout in the distance as reality hit me.

"Check on Raven, now!"

My lashes fluttered, but everything went blank and;

I woke up floating in a vast, empty void, making my heart race in confusion.

Where am I? What happened?

Stars... or something like them... drifted lazily around me, but they felt cold and artificial.

My body ached from the fight, yet I could move freely here.

I looked down at my hands, they were translucent, flickering between Raven and Rosette.

Ahead, I saw a glass coffin...No...a massive crystalline prison.

Inside was... me.

My body, locked in stasis, eyes closed, bruises and gashes visible.

I froze. How?

Then i appeared inside the crystalline prison that second, I pounded on the surface in panic "Let me out!" The glass didn’t even vibrate, and magical runes glowed along its edges, pulsing with protective energy.

I tried fire, then later ice magic but nothing worked. It repelled every spell I threw, sending shocks back into my body.

"This isn’t real. Wake up!" I screamed, but it felt too solid....Whispers echoed in the void...and fragments of memories flashed: Rosy’s voice mixed with my parents’, the beastmen’s pleas....

Dark vines of magic crept from the glass, trying to trap my spirit, I fought them off, but they multiplied, wrapping around my legs.

A sudden pulse of system energy surged through me. Golden light from my rewards activated unbidden, cracking the runes. The glass trembled, I slammed my fists again, pouring everything into it, more cracks spiderwebbed across the glass..the seal shattered with a sound like breaking worlds.

The light exploded outwards and the glass burst open.i moved out....

In reality, my body jerked violently upward, levitating several feet above the bed

"What’s happening to her?" Bibi asked.

I gasped, as my eyes snapped open but seeing nothing clearly. The sky outside the window had turned pitch black, even though it was daytime moments ago. Thunder roared, shaking the walls, winds howled fiercely, rattling windows and sending objects flying across the room. Clouds churned like living beasts, dark and turbulent, even lightning cracked across the unnatural storm.

A hole tore open in the sky...a jagged rift of swirling chaos, and black mist poured out like ink spilling from the heavens, thick and alive with malevolent power. It descended rapidly, twisting into a funnel straight toward me.

I tried to scream, but no sound came. The mist slammed into my chest, invading every pore, every vein. Cold fire spread through me... inside, pain and power intertwined as the darkness merged with my soul.

CRACK!

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