I put up a weak shield around myself, and his sinister magic, evil and twisted, wound tentatively around it, growing more insistent every second. Darkness continued to snake around me, battering at my defenses, shadows that devoured souls feeding on my life-force.
I could barely focus through the pain.
Tristan was guarding the portal, battling a monstrous creature with eight legs that had emerged while Penelope and Ashara protected my father.
Rafe and Lilith were still locked in a magical battle. The Dark Queen’s eyes flashed dangerously as she flung out her hands, throwing Rafe across the room. His sword clattered away across the floor as his head hit stone and he fell to the ground.
“Rafe,” I gasped. I tried to push aside the pain and reached for my magic again in a last attempt.
Rafe pushed himself up, but before he could find his footing, Lilith pounced on him.
A sword flashed in her hand, the three red rubies smoldering in the firelight.
Dawn! She had my sword.
Lilith raised her arm and plunged the sword into Rafe’s chest.
A horrified scream tore from my throat. “Rafe!”
With the last of his strength, Rafe pulled a dagger from his boot and stabbed it into Lilith’s neck. The Dark Queen fell as Rafe collapsed on the floor beside her, blood pooling out of his wound as his life slowly slipped away before my very eyes.
“No!” My voice was only a whisper as I tried to push myself up, to go to him, help him, but I had no strength left.
Seeing Rafe lying in a pool of blood, my will collapsed. All hope left me. The darkness threatened to swallow me whole.
This was the end of the road. We would all die here today.
Through the blinding pain, a voice reached me. Strong and unyielding. A command. “Get up, Aurora!” said Abraxas in my mind. My ring started to glow. “You can save Rafael—you can save everyone. The battle isn’t over yet; you are needed. Your magic is in the Dagger, just waiting to be summoned back. If you can hear me, then all is not lost.”
I shook my head. “I can’t. I’m not strong enough.”
“You are the Dawnstar, Aurora, and you always were, even without your magic,” said Abraxas, stern and unyielding. “After five thousand years of lying dormant, the magic of Illaria Lightbringer chose to manifest itself in you. There is no one else who can wield the magic as it was meant to be wielded. You were born in this age for a purpose; you were born to stand against the darkness when no one else could. But you must believe without a shadow of a doubt that this was meant to be. You must have full faith in who you are; you are the light that fills this world with magic! Believe it. Believe in yourself!”
Through the pain, I tried to concentrate and tried to remember what the druids had said about taking my magic back from the Dagger. In my mind’s eye, I could see a thousand tiny sparks, the magic of all who were imprisoned within. I knew my magic was here somewhere, but I could not get to it. I kept searching, and the tiny lights swirled around in a frenzy. I went deeper, sifting through the powerful magic I found inside until I saw it. My power, shining brighter than all around it—the magic of the Dawnstar!
But I still could not reach it. The Dagger was resisting me.
“Your belief is still not complete, Aurora,” said Abraxas. “That is why the magic doesn’t heed your call.”
Dragath struck again, and darkness speared through me, ripping, shredding my soul. A shattered scream tore from my throat. I shook my head as excruciating pain lashed down my spine.
“Get up, Aurora,” said Abraxas, but his voice already seemed farther away.
I shook my head helplessly, trying not to pass out from the agony. Once I did, it was all over. “I can’t!” I cried to Abraxas, throwing the thought out as the last vestiges of strength left me. “I have failed everyone. I am not the warrior everyone expected me to be.”
This was the end. I had nothing left.
I looked on in horror as Joreth’s body started to distort as more of Dragath’s power filled him. His face lengthened, and black horns started to grow out of his head. His body grew in stature, and his skin turned a burnished red. His arms and legs grew as thick as tree trunks. He flexed his clawed hands as his massive presence seemed to fill the cavern. This was the demon lord I had seen in all the books and cave frescoes. This was Dragath at full power.
“Now,” the demon lord said, “I will finally get the chance to kill the heir of Auraken Firedrake.”
I heard the others screaming as the Dark Lord’s power enveloped the whole cavern, devouring, shredding, ripping through their minds and bodies. Evil rose to its full potential, powerful and ancient, a soulless pit of darkness that threatened to swallow the world.
Pain lashed through my body and the world swam before my eyes. It was too much, too much pain. I wanted to drift off in the ball of light that had started to form before my eyes.
The sounds of the cavern and the battle fell away.
A shimmering form stood before me, a form only I could see. Her alabaster skin shone with an ethereal light.
Illaria Lightbringer!
“Be strong, my child,” said the Ancient Fae queen, her voice soft and otherworldly. She bent down and brushed her hand across my cheek, and a new strength spread through my body. “You were born
