A Beautiful Dark

had one.
    The wind howled, rising to a gale. The rain slanted sideways.
    Trees were cracking more rapidly now, falling into the clearing as the earth shuddered violently. As one tree fell just feet from where I was standing, a flock of crows rose as one from the branches, flapping over us in a dark blanket. Their frantic caws echoed above us even after the birds had flown away.
    “Skye?” Devin said uncertainly, moving toward me with arms outstretched, palms outward, like one might move toward a wild beast. He reached out his hand for me to take as another crack ripped through a nearby tree. As if in slow motion, it began to fall toward us. Devin stretched his hand out farther to me. “Skye!”
    I stared into the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. I couldn’t move, trying to figure out exactly what I saw in them. I was rooted to my spot. The tree fell faster, roaring through the air.
    I saw everything flash before me. Devin yelling for me to take his hand. Oriax’s huge black wings as he lifted himself into the air to avoid a tumbling rock. Astaroth’s intense, unflappable gaze as he stared at me from the very edge of the clearing. The world tilted on its axis, turned dark.
    But where was Asher?
    Strong arms wrapped themselves around me tightly, knocking the breath out of my lungs. Black feathers grazed my hair and batted against my cheeks, and I was enveloped by the warm, earthy scent I knew so well. I was lifted up and up, above the clearing, into the air as the tree finally fell. The mountain echoed as the tree crashed right into where I’d been standing moments before. We touched down on the other side of the clearing, close to the Gifted One.
    Asher held me close to him. “Shh,” he whispered, squeezing me. The quaking earth subsided, and a sudden quiet blanketed the mountaintop once again. I looked up into his eyes, shaking. He brushed the hair off my face, let his fingers trace down my neck. “I told you I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” he said. “I wasn’t lying about that.”
    Several steps away from us, Devin was watching us with a look that I couldn’t read.
    Astaroth took a step forward, smoothing his robes from the storm. “So it’s true,” he said gravely. “Your powers are uncontrollable. Your refusal to join a side also makes them dangerous. Not just to us but to humankind as well.”
    “Yes.” Oriax nodded once next to him.
    I watched in awe, still wrapped tightly in Asher’s arms. From beneath his robes, Astaroth drew out a long sharp blade. He held it in front of him, and the sun filtering through the cracks in the clouds above hit the polished silver at an angle, filling the clearing with a blinding light. In the glow, it looked like no form of metal I’d seen on Earth. It was otherworldly.
    The Gifted One showed no emotion. In a movement that was so fast and fluid I almost missed it, he whipped the sword high above his head, and drove it deep into the heart of the Rebel Elder by his side. Oriax’s eyes filled with fear and confusion, before he vanished into the swirling rain.
    Asher gasped. He let go of me suddenly, bounding to the place where his mentor had disappeared into the elements. He whipped around to face Astaroth. “What have you done?” he cried. “There is a truce in place! You’ve broken your bond!”
    With unearthly calm, Astaroth turned to face Devin. “You know what your orders are.”
    “No,” Devin whispered, his face growing pale. “I take it back. I’ve changed my mind!”
    “If you don’t, you know what will happen.”
    “I won’t do it!”
    Astaroth lifted himself to his full height, towering above us. “You have no choice.” Every inch of him, from his cruel eyes to his long elegant fingers seemed to radiate a terrifying light.
    Asher, still crouched on the cold ground, looked wildly from one to the other. Devin’s arm moved slowly to the hilt of the sword at his side, his jaw set in a grimace.
    “Get her out of here!” Devin yelled to Asher. “Now!”
    Before I knew what was happening, Asher sprang toward me. Devin dropped to his knees, shuddering in obvious pain. His shoulders shook uncontrollably. I ran to him.
    “Devin!” I cried. “What’s wrong with him?” I wasn’t thinking; I couldn’t for the life of me understand what was happening. All I knew was that Devin was on the ground, and he was in pain. And while I hated him, felt betrayed by him—I couldn’t stand back and let him die. He looked up at me, not