Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
Higher by The Score is blasting in my ears as I pummel into Kyno’s sparring gloves. After my first punch he said he had to put them on because today was apparently not going to be a rest day in training. Which more or less means we don’t have to go so hard today.
Too bad.
I’m. . . fuming.
Uncontrollable.
Minimize casualties.
And how many casualties did we have when I wrote my death blow? When I exploded.
I want to rage and my magic wants to ravage.
No control?
How the fuck can they say that when I am like I am now. You can barely scent me with how contained my aura and magic is despite my emotions so volatile others can pick up on them right now.
Kyno steps back letting me know he needs a break. We’ve been at this for an hour and nothing has dialed down.
I rip my earbuds out as Ricka approaches. Her hands on her hips as she glances between me and the creepy shifter.
She tilts her head towards the open roller door. “You need a real release and I’m not going to have you create a hole in Kyno’s hands. So let’s go.”
I reign in my rage until you wouldn’t be able to notice it from just looking at me and shake my head.
“Too dangerous.”
“You suppressing it is what’s too dangerous.”
I roll my tongue over my teeth and involuntarily look over to Nana on the other side of the arena sparring with other first years.
“And you being able to hide your emotions and aura like that is what’s even more dangerous. There’s a difference between containment and control, Mavyn. So come out to the field with me to burn off some steam as we wait for your fated to come back.”
It’s a tempting offer. Possible too, if I just release a stream of fire out towards the sea. I could funnel it enough so it won’t hit any trees, and even if I melt the snow over the field, it’s hard earth beneath the thin layer of grass and soil.
A sort of release.
Just enough to ease some strain.
Blowing out a breath I start heading toward the door.
The sky only now deepening to a darker blue as the sun dips past the tree line.
Ricka claps her hands which turns a few heads, but no one stops us.
Though when Kyno asks if I want a jacket, or at least some shoes, I wave him off and open that first door within me.
Blue flames lick around my body in dancing whorls. Steady and controlled enough that I don’t burn my clothes off.
Asher, Hanna, and Jullia pause their workout in question, and soon enough everyone is taking a break to come watch. Despite some of the actual professors and guests acting as trainers for the time being furrowing their brows in irritation, no one strictly prohibits anyone from leaving.
Nana does sneer at me as she shakes her head, but she turns away. Fine by me. We are not on any semblance of good terms right now. And I haven’t spoken to Ms. Elaycia or anyone else at the brothel in weeks.
Not on purpose, I’ve just been busy. Real school does take up a lot of time and my fated have most of the rest of it.
We stop about fifty yards past the opening and Ricka gestures to the expansive field before us. Rounding me so she’s behind me, she calls, “I better be blinded by blue, Death Devourer.”
I cluck my tongue against the roof of my mouth as I glance behind me to see at least a hundred students watching from the arena. Ricka goes to stand with Kyno about ten yards behind me with Jullia, Asher, and Hanna behind them.
I point at Asher and then swipe my thumb over my forehead. He understands my meaning as he lifts his hands and a translucent shield appears in front of them. Clear runes look like frost cover it and he expands it to section off them and me.
My flames dance around my body as I turn back around and stare out. The whole field is about a square mile. It should be just barely possible for someone’s magic – whichever element they possess – to reach the cliff of the field.
Lifting my arms up from the side, I face my palms to the sky and lightly curl my fingers in. Bright blue flames wrap around my hands and they burn brighter as I twist those three other keys. The heat is so much that it begins making the snow under my feet sweat.
When I open those four doors I begin bringing my hands forward. Palms facing out now and I can feel my eyes flood red. Touching my index fingers together, I overlap my thumbs to form a triangle right as I release my hold on my aura.
It erupts from me in a physical wave that makes the air ripple. And then I release.
I had already planted my feet in preparation, grounding myself into the earth, connecting to the minerals beneath. I’m still forced to take a step back, though, from the power as blue flames roar in a tunnel of heat towards the sea.
The snow beneath my fire melts in an instant even with my tunnel being several feet from the ground. It also melts the snow around me. My feet touch grass now and even the blades begin smoking from the torrent of magic.
It’s still not enough.
I simply unlocked a door that has yet to be flung open. Releasing what I need. . . this doesn’t come close.
Not even as my tunnel of fire expands and I can feel it reaching out towards the sea. Past the cliff and out to open ocean.
Roaring, roaring, roaring.
No strain is released, no rage is doused, no aura feels used.
Useless. That’s what this feels like.
Uncontrolled.
That word whispers in the back of my mind and I shove my flames further. My aura extended so far I can’t even feel the edges of it or where it’s reaching.
I don’t know why that word affects me so much. It’s not like it’s true.
But it could be.
But it’s not.
Yet.
And I want to scream.
Tell me his name, I whisper to that voice. To the first blood witch ever created. Tell me his name and let me end all of it right now.
I could do it too. I could destroy the Willow of Lore sealing the veil that traps the primordials above. I could kill all those gods who went against Sanivin and the Forgotten God of Blood Moons. I could rip out my soul and let my fated be free.
What was his name?
What was yours?
I grit my teeth as I bow my head and rage. Fury and wrath burning so hot within as my blue flames deepen in color and consume.
The heat billows and nearly half of the field now is melted and seared. There is no end to it. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe aura can be infinite.
TELL ME HIS NAME!
I scream.
The earth echoes it. Thunder responds to it.
My blood sings.
An eternity passes in only a couple seconds, and then I drop my hands and collapse to my knees. A deafening silence is all that greets me as I turn deadened eyes upwards.
“I promise,” I whisper into the ether. To the gods above and the spirits roaming. “I’m going to slaughter you all.”
That whispering voice tuts and her presence becomes known around me. The first blood witch who’s clinging to these lands. The very first forgotten god.
That’s how her daughter, the first vampyr, was able to birth a primordial and turn her daughter immortal. They already had primordial blood within them.
Mavyn.
“Why can’t I remember his name?” I whisper. Syngenia is silent around me. “He never deserved this. It was Sanivin’s fault. She was supposed to be forgotten. She is meant to be nothing.”
I hate her.
The vampire I share a name and face with. I hate her so much. I hate her with every fiber of my being.
“Mavyn.”
Flurries begin falling. The first one to touch the ground hisses on the scorched earth.
It’s all her fault. The reason I’m fated and cursed. I wish I could kill her.
“Mavyn.”
Life threads around me but it’s tinged with smoke. Then familiar red eyes appear above me and I furrow my brows.
“We’ve been calling you,” he says gently. My red devil – I think. “Can you stand up?”
“Why does your scent smell like smoke?”
Confusion mars his face as I twist my head so I’m no longer craning my neck so far back. Twisting my torso to find four other familiar eyes and scents. All of them looking ragged but unhurt.
“What do you mean?” Varian asks, but now that I’m properly looking at him I realize. Still, even Percius smells like life.
“Your scent is different.”
Castiel steps forward and shakes his head. “Varian’s scent is smoke.”
“No,” I sigh, and finally stand up. Hundreds now, stand behind Ricka, Kyno, Asher, Hanna and Jullia. “You always smell like life.” I narrow my eyes at Percius. Under my breath, I say, “Even you.”
They all glance at one another, but there’s still so much burning within. I start walking for the arena when a hand lays over my shoulder stopping me. I turn up to golden eyes.
“We felt your aura all the way in the city.”
I blink at Callahan and what I would give to wrap my body around his and shut the world out. But I know better. And I cannot have him trying to kill me before I know the true name of the Forgotten God of Blood Moons.
The reason I have not used my wish yet. That will be for severing the cemented bond between me and Varian. But I need to figure out a way to rip and destroy my soul first. And Callahan’s true form has gotten too close to seeing my soul. He is getting too close to knowing the truth.
I step away from him and this time he doesn’t hide as his face falls. I will also need to keep better distance from Castiel. I could feel it when I kissed him earlier. We were too close.
“The city is not that far away.”
It’s my only response, and it’s greeted by silence.
Percius steps towards me and tilts his head down. I can see his true form swirling behind his eyes. I can also see his fear.
“Please,” he whispers. “Do not kill them.”
And then the ground trembles.
“REBELS!”
When do you feel most alive, he whispers to me. The Forgotten God of Blood Moons. The one I’m meant to make remembered. Righting the wrongs of the past.
I step to the side to view the field. On beat to the tempo of my heart, line after line of rebels appears. And right there front and center, a devil cloaked with a metallic mask over his face.
I sneer at the Death Devil but don’t look at him. “What games are you playing?”