(Alnilam)

How the hell did they come to know about Amaia?

These are both the same bastards the Dread Army had sent to collect the reports from me.

Their words and targeted gazes towards Amaia suggest that they have either been informed about her or somehow discovered her.

No way am I going to hand her over to them. I will fight to my last breath to keep her safe.

Even the Chitterings are not acting of their own accord. It appears to me they are being controlled by these bastards.

Holding everyone under my protective shield with multiple Chitterings attacking from the top and now hundreds of these hideous creatures attacking us from every direction is draining me.

I am not sure I can hold onto it much longer. The bastard has already hurt Saiph so I shoot his neck with my arrow.

My magic tries to choke him, turning itself into a snake, but he shoots it. The pain radiates through me like I have been shot in the head—the very spot I had used my hair from, to create the weapons.

My teeth chatter from the pain, but I keep standing. If I fall, what example will I set for my brothers and who will protect them and Amaia?

To my horror, Amaia confidently walks ahead and protectively plants herself between the Reavers, the onslaught of monsters and us.

"That’s enough. You are done hurting them." She stares directly at the Reavers and reaches inside her dress to take out the necklace.

I fully understand what she is attempting to do.

"Amaia?" I desperately shout. "Don’t, please." I try to rush towards her but I am too late.

She yanks off her necklace and throws it aside, letting her true self be revealed to the world.

My world tilts and I am shaken to my core. I was the one supposed to protect her, and yet I couldn’t, and now her secret was out.

Her hair elongates, covering the whole of her back and hips, and a bright light radiates from her, coating her body like a second skin.

’My girl,’ Snow howls.

"What?" Alnitak’s surprised yowl comes from behind me.

The cool wind waves her hair, like the flowing waterfall under a full moon. The sounds of the Chitterings grow thick and scraping of hundreds of clawed feet as the horde surges forward, pushing at my shield and it breaks. The magic reserves inside me are depleted for now.

The evil smiles on the faces of Reavers grow wider as they see her.

"So, you have been lying and hiding her right under our noses. I am so looking forward to seeing what your father has to say about this, Alnilam," the one who had shot Saiph, mocks.

Amaia does not hesitate as she coldly says, "You will speak to them if or when you survive me." Her voice lacks any warmth, which she usually carries while speaking to one of us.

"Ah! You think you can defeat us or protect them?" He points the gun towards me and, without warning, aims at my arm.

Throwing her hands out, she spins the wind around her and us, a furious, visible vortex of compressed air and charged particles she forms. It solidifies into a shimmering, lightning protective dome and covers all of us.

My eyes lift to watch the shimmering silvery dome, so vast and thick, the kind I have never seen before.

"Oh my," Saiph whispers from my side, lowering his weapon and watching the dome with surprise-filled eyes.

The laser and the wave of Chitterings slam against the barrier and are flung back, their grotesque bodies breaking against the unyielding dome. Inside the shield, we stand unharmed and watch the cacophony of the assault furiously reduced to a muffled roar.

I feel Alnitak and Mintaka’s presence by my side. I turn to watch my stunned brothers with their mouths hanging open.

"She is a Fae?" Mintaka whispers, dumbfounded.

The Reavers, with their gleaming, yellow and black uniforms, began pounding against her shield with colossal firing of their guns, and the remaining creatures follow, each blow sending shudders through her protective shield.

"We have to help her," I say to Saiph and my brothers.

Amaia turns at my words. Her aquamarine eyes waver from one to the other.

"Her eyes," Alnitak murmurs. His voice hoarse and eyes blazing with shock he is experiencing. I know he has been taken back by her beauty.

"No, stay under the shield. You guys are hurt and depleted. I will handle them."

With that she turns around again, facing the enemy.

Letting the wind drop for a single, perilous second, Amaia raises her hands again and unleashes the tempest within. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Her magic has been lying dormant for so long, controlled and today she is going to fully unleash it.

Her hands glow, becoming conduits for searing white lightning. Rapidly it rises like the bolts of pure energy. With one precise movement, she turns her body, extends her arm and sends it sizzling through the ranks of the Chitterings.

Like a boomerang, her lightning power slices through them effortlessly, reducing them to ash. They crumble and fall in a shower of chitin and dead insects.

"Wow!" Alnitak can’t help but shout.

The Reavers advance, but their faces have turned ashen. The smug smiles dropped from their faces seeing her slice so easily through these creatures of the dark.

Amaia closes her eyes and brings her hands towards her chest. Focusing all her power inward, gathering every ounce of wind and lightning into her core.

She has been reading the books I lent her. That’s a very key style of Fae and today I am witnessing it being performed right in front of my eyes.

Not slowly but with a bang, she extends her hands outwards and releases it. A blinding, silent pulse of energy, like a silvery thin coating on particles of air, radiates from her body in a perfect sphere, a wave of absolute annihilation that vaporises every last creature these Reavers have summoned. Not only the creatures, but her immensely powerful strike also hits the Reavers where they stand, leaving nothing behind of their bodies except a part of their uniforms and a ringing silence.

"Goddess!" Alnitak lets out a shriek and clutches his head.

I feel the intensity of her powers in my bones. My eyes focus on her as she swivels on her feet and then her body begins to drop towards the ground.

My hair extends before I can even move and reach out to her, cradling her safely into it before she can hit the ground.

Oh! Amaia, what have you done?