Chapter 8 - CHAPTER 8:THE SHADOW ON THE SANDS

The emotional bond forged at the oasis gave them unprecedented coordination. They moved faster, the rhythmic hoofbeats of the horses matching the subtle, constant pulse of their shared connection.They were two days from Helios when the Soul Tide screamed.Kaelen was riding point when a wave of pure, concentrated malignancy slammed into his mind. It was a scorching, sterile cold, utterly devoid of life—the inverse of the restorative power Lysandra had released.He's close, Lysandra projected instantly, her panic overriding her control. He's moving fast. He has tasted the new magic, and he is hunting the source.They reined their horses to a halt at the top of a sandy ridge. Below them, stretching across the newly dampened earth, was a scar of absolute sterility. It wasn't the slow death of the Gloom, but an aggressive, spreading blackness. Where the sand should have been moist and slightly green, it was cracked, dry, and gray, the life forcibly sucked out of it.Standing in the center of this spreading dead zone was a figure cloaked in tattered, dark red robes, his head bowed.Amon of the Scorched Earth had arrived.He was thin, his face haggard and etched with madness and ancient Solarian prison magic. As Kaelen and Lysandra watched, Amon raised his hands. Dark, shimmering threads of shadow magic—the corruption of Solarian light—snaked out from his fingers, plunging into the ground.The land beneath him shuddered, and the energy Kaelen had felt flowing back into the earth was being violently, painfully reversed. The moisture vanished; the emerging green shoots shriveled and turned to dust. Amon was draining the returning life force, converting it into his own dark power.Lysandra felt the world's pain through the Heart of the Abyss bond. He is weakening the flow! If he continues, he will be strong enough to breach the defenses of Helios and reach the Sunwell!"We have to stop him here," Kaelen whispered, drawing his plain, secondary sword. "He cannot be allowed to gain this much power before he reaches the capital.""He knows you're here, Kaelen," Lysandra warned. "He is waiting."Indeed, Amon slowly lifted his head. His eyes were not Solarian gold, but a chilling, dead white. He had not seen them, but he had felt the pulse of the Soul Tide—the fusion of Sun and Sea magic—and he knew his target was near."Little Sun," Amon's voice scraped across the distance, ringing in their minds through the magic, a dry, cruel sound. "You bring me a gift. A taste of the deep. You always were too weak to hold the true power, Kaelen. Now, I will take your kingdom's life, and the life of your little Sea Witch."He extended his hands toward them, and a column of pure, solidified shadow shot toward the ridge. It was time for the Heir of the Sun and the Sea Witch to fight as one, without the Sun Blade, and with only the fragile newness of their elemental love to protect them.