34. Ivy
34
IVY
The first strike comes faster than thought. Life launches herself at me, her fractured form shifting between solid and void as she attacks. I meet her head-on, no longer afraid of what I am or what I can do. The impact sends shockwaves through the temple, and more debris rains down from the ceiling.
“Pathetic,” she snarls, her voice echoing with countless others. “You think your new power is enough to stop what’s already begun?”
Through our connection, I feel Torin’s chaos magick probing deep beneath the temple floor, searching for the source of that sickly pulse. Bram’s shadows dive into the cracks I created earlier, following the corrupted ley lines down. Tate’s power flows through our bond, amplifying everything. Life’s form flickers again, and I catch a glimpse of what she truly is - or rather, what she’s becoming. Her essence is fractured, like a mirror that’s been dropped. In the spaces between the cracks, I see the void peeking through. She’s not just dying; she’s coming apart at a fundamental level.
I smile. “Actually, yeah, I do because I am Death. I am Life. I am Rebirth. You are a has-been old witch with nothing left to live for. Bye now.”
“You don’t understand what you’re interfering with,” she shrieks as she hurls a blast of pure energy at me. I dodge, letting it crash into the wall behind me, which is more satisfying than burning it away with my magick. Where’s the fun in that? “This ritual will restore everything to its natural state!”
“Quit bitching and fight,” I growl, done with this shitshow, once and for all.
Life hurls herself at me with inhuman speed, her fractured form leaving trails of void in her wake. I sidestep, catching her with a blast of Death magick that tears through her defences. She screams, the sound shattering what remains of the temple’s windows.
Life recovers fast, lashing out with tendrils of pure energy that slice through stone like butter. One catches my arm, burning through fabric and skin. The pain is immediate and brutal, but I use it, channelling it into my next attack. The wave of power that erupts from me catches her mid-strike, sending her crashing into a column.
She doesn’t stay down. She is stronger than she looks. Her form ripples, reconstructing itself even as pieces of her essence continue to fall away and disappear. She draws more energy from her ritual, using it to hold herself together.
I press my advantage, not giving her time to recover. Death magick flows from my left hand, Life magick from my right, the energies twining together into a shocking blend of power. The blast hits her dead centre, tearing through whatever remains of her physical form.
But it’s not enough. Not yet.
The temple floor buckles beneath us as the ritual reaches a critical point. Life’s broken laughter echoes through the chamber as reality itself begins to warp around us.
It’s time to end this.
The temple groans as another shockwave ripples through its ancient stones. Life’s magick tears through reality, distorting everything it touches. I dive sideways as a blast of her power reduces a column to ash, rolling back to my feet in time to see her form splinter further.
Fragments of her essence scatter like broken glass, each shard showing a different reflection of what she once was. But in between those fragments, the void grows larger. Whatever she’s doing with this ritual, it’s destroying her as much as it’s destroying everything else.
I launch another attack, combining death and rebirth in a spiralling wave of power. She deflects it, but the effort costs her. More pieces of her form crumble away into nothingness.
“Found it!” Torin’s voice cuts through the chaos.
“Fix it!” I roar as the ritual reaches its peak, and we’re running out of time.
I need to get closer to Life, to strike at her core while the guys disrupt the ritual. But she’s not making it easy. Her attacks are becoming more erratic, more desperate. Wild power lashes out in every direction, carving chunks out of the walls and floor.
A blast catches me on the side, and pain explodes through my ribs. But pain is just another form of power now. I take it, transform it, and send it back at her tenfold.
We’re both bleeding power and essence now, locked in a dance of destruction that’s tearing the temple apart around us. But only one of us is whole. Only one of us understands what it means to be both death and life.
And I’m done playing defence.
Panting, I gather everything I have left. Every scrap of power, every ounce of rage, every lesson learned. The temple shudders as Life’s ritual reaches its crescendo, reality warping around us. It’s affecting me more than I’d like to admit. It’s ripping my power away from me, but I will be fucked up the arse with a red-hot poker before I allow her to take what was freely given to me.
Tate’s power slams through our bond, raw and fierce, joining with Torin’s chaos magick beneath the temple, seeking weak points in the ritual’s structure. Bram’s shadows dance around me protectively, but I push the distractions aside.
I close my eyes, and time slows down. I inhale deeply and exhale, opening my eyes as I fix Life with a stare that could wither an ancient being.
Life’s form fractures completely, becoming a whirlwind of broken shards and void-dark spaces. Her power lashes out wildly, desperate and unfocused, as she screams. A blast catches Bram, sending him crashing into the wall. Another nearly takes Torin’s head off.
I don’t think. Don’t hesitate. I dive straight into the vortex of her broken essence, Death magick in one hand, Life in the other. Her power tears at me, trying to rip me apart at a molecular level. Pain becomes meaningless - just another sensation in an ocean of them.
The nexus beats once, violently. The ritual falters for just a fraction of a second.
It’s enough.
I drive both hands into the heart of Life’s fractured form, letting everything I am flow through me. Death. Life. Renewal. The endless cycle that can’t be broken or corrupted.
Life screams, the sound tearing through dimensions.
And then?—