The Dark King of Imperion [5]

Celestina's face twisted in anguish, her once radiant silver armor now drenched in the thick, dark blood of the clones she had just slain.

Her boots, slick from the pool beneath her feet, slid as she staggered backward.

Her gaze flickered to the other cadets huddled close.

No more clones came from the shadows.

The black holes had stopped spitting out the abominations.

There was a stillness, but it wasn't the relief she craved.

It was a false calm, a silence that felt far too unnatural.

Her eyes drifted toward the Dark King.

Ba-thump!

Her heart pounded in her chest, echoing louder than the silence around her.

Ba-thump!

The air itself seemed to constrict as if the very world was holding its breath, waiting.

Ba-thump!

The Dark King stirred.

Ba-thump!

Its crimson orbs locked onto her.

Ba-thump!

Not Azriel.

Ba-thump!