24. ~Ariana~
~Ariana~
Guilt and upset warred within me.
I was supposed to take back my power with the help of Pops. I’d agreed to it, and he’d trusted me to do it that way, the carefully supervised way.
But he and the family had also kept something massive from me. Even Grandfather who was one of the closest to me out of all of them. He’d missed my party not for Guardian Movement business, but to reach out to the Celestial Plane about me.
Without my knowledge. Without any of them giving me a heads up.
As though I didn’t deserve to know.
No, it was worse than that. They were afraid of what I would do if I knew. That I’d lose control or something along those lines.
They didn’t trust in me.
They didn’t have faith in me.
On the one hand, the fact that I’d felt that way about myself for the longest time did lend some justification to them being of that opinion about me.
But on the other hand, I’d hoped they would be able to see beyond that. I’d hoped that they hadn’t shared my insecurities.
They obviously did, though.
With that upset prevalent, I couldn’t have Pops with me during this spell now, nor any of my family members. It could create emotional instability that would impact my control over my magic.
And, honestly, I also wanted to prove to them, but mostly to myself, that I could do this without needing the full magical might of Ryker Morgan to stabilize me.
Besides, I had something more now, something beyond magical might. And it had me smiling as I looked out at the source of it in Kai, Vorzyr, and Nyx, who were milling about and helping me to prepare for the spell.
Kai was running a test on his Aetherbound Scepter. We’d managed to imbue it with the ability to counter Celestial magic, adding Vorzyr’s Primal Celestial Resonance to give it a hell of a boost as well, and Kai’s magic and my blood had been used as binding agents.
I’d honestly thought it would take days to pull off, but Kai’s knowledge was beyond most others, especially for his age, and he was incredibly talented at employing workarounds and finding solutions where there appeared to be none.
And now, here we were in a remote mountain region far away from anyone or anything, either supernatural or human.
I lowered myself into a cross-legged sitting position on top of the highest mountain peak in the area and watched as Kai cast a containment ring around me, a ward that would ground the energy I’d be returning to me in a rush, and prevent outward shockwaves.
While I had the ability to do that myself, I couldn’t use my magic for anything else other than the spell at hand. My focus had to be absolute.
Meanwhile, Nyx was employing his shadow magic to a mammoth degree and concealing all four of us and what was about to happen.
I didn’t want anyone, especially my family, to know I was doing this yet.
I would need time to acclimate once I’d received all my power back, time to properly stabilize, and I didn’t want them to see me before then.
Vorzyr had shifted into his stunning dragon form and he was patrolling the area as an extra precaution, because Grandfather did possess the ability to see through shadow magic.
I wasn’t sure if Dad and Mom did. I mean, it should be possible, but unlike Grandfather, they’d never encountered it before.
I finished lighting the last of the twelve candles encircling where I sat, and then I called out to the guys that I was about to get started.
The moment their confirmations rang out, I drew in a couple of centering breaths, then held my hands out either side of me and upturned my palms, my silver magic sparking in soft, glowing flames.
I had to keep my eyes open to monitor my magic as it filtered back to me, to ensure it wasn’t happening dangerously, or causing any damage in the process.
I slipped into a sense of deep relaxation, letting the spell roll through me, making myself open and accommodating.
“Omnis pars mei, revoca,” I uttered carefully, ensuring the conviction of my words was steady and controlled.
All parts of me, return.
Wind whipped around me, outside the containment sphere.
The candles flickered.
It was working.
I repeated the incantation, this time with more force.
The wind picked up, the candles flamed wildly.
And then their flames burst into silver light.
I smiled.
It was the indication that my power had broken from the separate places where I’d stored it.
It was coming, heading straight for me.
“Magia quae fuit separata—redeas!” I called out loudly then, my voice echoing powerfully through the mountains.
Magic that was once separated—return.
I pushed harder, the need to be whole again pulsing through me, and escalating with every moment that the spell continued onward.
“Nullum lumen abscondam. Nullam umbram timebo!”
I will hide no light. I will fear no shadow.
It happened then.
I caught sight of thousands of threads of silver light heading straight for me, moving rapid-fire, yet gracefully.
They began to pass through the containment sphere, something Kai had allowed into his spell, so it wouldn’t hurt him when my Celestial power penetrated his ward.
More and more entered and began swirling around me determinedly.
And then they surged toward me, pushing into me, reabsorbing all over my body.
Heat and a thrill unlike any other betook me, and then I was throwing my head back, my eyes rolling back in my head as it filled me up.
The sensation was incredible, and it had me crying out the final invocation on a scream, “Fiat unio!”
Let there be unity.
There was no fight, no resistance from me, or from what I’d banished from myself for too long—it wanted to be one with me again.
My body trembled with the additional power pulsing through me, vibrant silver light enveloping me.
As I watched the last of the threads absorb into my being, that trembling escalated to shuddering, my full power fighting to acclimate after so long.
The candles went out and I groaned at the weight of it, the pins and needles sensation that started permeating through every inch of me, and I slammed my hands down onto the snow, digging my fingers into it and fighting to remain open and accepting.
I heard Kai calling to me, telling me I had this, that reunification was meant to be, that I could control it, and that they all believed in me.
But then a booming call sounded from Vorzyr in dragon form.
A warning.
My head shot up, and I looked to see a blur of white light headed straight for our location, moving incredibly quickly.
I saw Nyx call a glowing blue shield, just a second before the white light slammed into him, breaching his shield completely, and sending him rolling across the mountain top.
Vorzyr took a massive hit of white lightning that sent him spinning out into the distance.
“No!” I screamed, jumping to my feet.
Kai went to activate his scepter, but the light slammed into the snow right in front of him. Even though it missed hitting him directly, the power of the impact created a horrific shockwave that blasted at Kai and sent him tumbling off the mountainside.
“Kai!” I cried.
In the next split second, the strange light came at me.
I jolted as it took corporeal form right in front of me.
And then a hulking male figure was looming right in my space.
Long, wavy white-blond hair flowed down his back.
He was tall and broad shouldered, sculpted like a warrior of old.
Gold-plated armor covered his body, paired with a flowing white cape with silver and gold stars that flapped wildly in the wind.
But the most striking thing from all of that, which stood out from the rest, were his wings outstretched either side of him, a glowing white with streaks of iridescent gold.
His gold eyes blazed with white flecks as he glared down at me.
A single word escaped him, judgmental, cold, and seemingly condescending, “Aberration.”
I didn’t get the chance to do a single thing, before he abruptly snagged me across the waist and shot up into the dark night sky with me.
I couldn’t even struggle, because that awful white light of his flared to an exponential degree, making me scream as it burned right through me.
The world slipped away all too quickly.
And then there was nothing.
To be continued in LEGACY