Chapter 5 #2
His words lash against me, but they don’t stick.
Not this time. The ancient force within me roars louder, surging forward as it demands release.
It claws at barriers I didn’t even know existed, tearing them down as if they were feeble, pitiful things and pain ignites in my soul.
The agony evolves, no longer caused by the magic Kade’s pouring into me.
This torture is of my own making, and it’s caused by my power. It’s breaking free, shattering the chains I didn’t know I carried. Another wave of agony washes over me with every broken link and I surrender to the hurt, letting myself sink into the darkest depths of the oceans carrying me away.
“Finally,” he says, his voice low and dangerous. “You’re starting to fight like you mean it.”
A scream tears from my throat, raw and guttural, as my magic surges out in a violent wave.
It slams into him, breaking his hold on me and sending us both flying.
I land hard, my head spinning, the taste of blood on my tongue.
For a moment, the world is silent except for the sound of my ragged breathing.
I look up, glaring at Kade, focusing on the blood dripping from a corner of his mouth.
I’ve struck hard enough to do some damage and his eyes light with something other than amusement now.
The smug grin is gone, replaced by a feral snarl that twists his features into a more monstrous form.
He wipes the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, and I think I see his fingers tremble.
“You’ll pay for that,” he growls.
The forest trembles at his raw power.
I stand my ground and barely have time to react before he’s on me again, his magic slamming into mine with an almost unstoppable force.
The air crackles and burns as our power clashes, the surrounding forest erupting into chaos.
Trees splinter and fall, their trunks groaning in protest. The ground beneath us buckles and cracks, the earth itself unable to withstand the violence of our battle.
He moves faster than I can follow, his strikes precise and unrelenting.
My defenses crumble under the onslaught, each hit driving me closer to the ground.
My magic lashes out wildly, untamed and furious, but it’s not enough to stop him.
He’s a storm, relentless, and all-consuming, and I’m drowning in the flood of his power.
“Is this it?” he sneers, his voice a venomous whip as he grabs my hair and yanks my head back. “The witch who broke the covenants and brought the warlocks to their knees? You’re nothing, Zara. Just a scared little girl playing with fire.”
Rage burns through me and I won’t give in.
I won’t surrender. I will not yield or break.
I’ve lived my life in the shadows of his kind and I’d rather die here than take another borrowed breath.
My magic pushes again, fueled by anger and desperation, but Kade counters it effortlessly, his power twisting around mine like a noose.
A pulse, deep and resonant, tears through me.
It’s not my magic. It sure as fuck isn’t his.
It’s something else entirely. Something new and whatever it is, it won’t be contained or controlled.
The air grows impossibly thick, heavy and lacking any oxygen at all.
Light seeps from my soul, spreading through my core and seeping from my skin, faint at first, but growing brighter with each heartbeat.
It burns, a searing heat consuming me from the inside out.
Kade falters, his grip loosening as he stares, wide-eyed, at the light spilling from me.
“What are you doing?” he yells.
The roar of power drowns his words out exploding from me.
The world erupts in a blinding flash and the light is pure and unforgiving.
It doesn’t just illuminate—it devastates.
The ground convulses, the air crackling with raw energy.
Trees tear from their roots, their trunks splintering into fragments.
Kade is thrown back, his scream lost in the cacophony as the force tears through him.
And me.
I’m at the center of it, consumed by the light and the unbearable heat.
I’m being ripped apart, every nerve ending set ablaze.
My screams are visceral and unending, the sound of my agony swallowed by the maelstrom.
The light doesn’t stop. I don’t know if it ever will.
It surges, wave after wave, until there’s nothing left but the blinding white and the sound of my own ragged breathing.
I cry and writhe, breaking apart and being remade, enduring a torment I’ve never imagined and can’t understand.
My body collapses to the ground, trembling and broken.
My vision swims, my body wracked with pain.
I’m still alive, I think, but I’m not sure how I endured what happened or what I am now I’ve survived it.
My nails dig into the earth and I crawl away, my legs giving way every time I try to stand.
My magic is spent, my body barely holding together.
The ancient power that surged through me is gone, leaving only a hollow ache in its wake.
I’m not the same as I was moments ago, and the ground beneath me trembles as if it knows I’ve become a monster.