Chapter 19 Winter
~Winter~
No.
I didn’t like this.
I didn’t want it to be this way.
But I’d been informed that it had to be.
Evira had asked me to stand down.
I’d been sitting in class as it had been about to start, then she’d sent a message in the Group Chat telling us that she’d been summoned by Draven back to the Dracoryn Realm immediately.
Because of me.
Because the secret of our relationship had now reached him and was even spreading rapidly all over that realm.
Well, and her being with Zayn and Vax.
But the two of them being with her wouldn’t be viewed as an issue.
Zayn was a wielder of magical flame, something that was revered by dragons, especially the fire dragons over there.
Vaxan was actual Basilisk Royalty and from a species that was greatly respected by the Dracoryn Realm for its resilience and adaptability.
Me? I was death. Unnatural. An abomination. A stain on their legacy, one which was all about life and vitality. Not to mention, the darkness associated with Necromancy itself.
I didn’t want Evira to have to handle the fallout of this alone.
Zayn had been up in arms about it as well.
Vax had understood the political mechanics of her needing to go into this solo.
And the bottom line was that what she’d wanted and needed was for us to stand aside and let her deal with it in her way.
I sucked in a breath as I stepped outside to get some air after my Hybrid Dynamics & Magical Physiology (HICI Core) class had come to an end, where I’d been so distracted after the news, I’d barely taken any notes. Jeez.
I was also tense because yesterday I’d sent Ketheron that unknown magical substance that I’d captured, the thing that had been impacting my necromantic magic.
He, Ariana, and Father had completed their check-in on the Celestial children, and nothing was amiss.
All was well. Everyone was stable and happy and content in their lives.
Zayn had come up with a really sharp cover story for me to use with Ketheron, so he wasn’t alerted to the connection that the substance had to me specifically.
But the moment I’d spoken to Ketheron on the phone, I hadn’t been able to follow through with it.
The best I’d managed had still been technically true, claiming I’d encountered the strange substance as I’d been exploring the world beyond the confines of Loxley Academy, and I’d felt a similarity to Draco that had concerned me.
Apparently, Ketheron had been called upon to investigate something classified, so we hadn’t been able to meet in person. Instead, he’d asked me to send it to him via magical mail.
And now I was on tenterhooks about it.
I walked further out onto the campus grounds, intending to head toward one of the secluded spots to conduct a Ruminat in order to calm myself and recalibrate.
Zayn and Vax were in their Arcane & Elemental Synergy class for another hour.
But then my phone started ringing, the sound jarring me as it tore through my troubled thoughts.
I pulled it from my hoodie pocket and sucked in a sharp breath when I took in the call display.
Ketheron.
Shifting my weight, I took a few moments, then swiped it open, somehow managing to answer in a lighthearted, upbeat tone, “Hey, gentle god.” Yes, he called me tiny god, so I went with gentle god. It was something we’d been doing since I was a kid.
“It was inside you.”
I blinked.
Ketheron was heavy with the small talk when it came to me. To not even say hello, and to then open with that… this was supremely fucking bad.
“Uh… what?”
“This contamination penetrated you.”
Really not sounding any better. “I’d rephrase that, Keth.”
“A double entendre?”
“You have no idea.”
“I can’t concern myself with avoiding such things at the moment, only with what needs to be conveyed. Your essence is entangled with this substance.”
I swallowed hard. “Right. Because I captured it.”
“No. That is not the reason. Your blood and bile are also present. As well as your magical signature, however only the necromantic aspect. You vomited this, yes?”
Fuck. “Yes.”
“Any other being who’d ingested this, been infected by it, would have been at death’s door. Without intense Celestial intervention, they would have certainly perished.” He paused noticeably, before adding, “Much like any who Draco infected with his power when he rose decades ago.”
“You know why there’s a similarity to the feel of his magical residue, don’t you?”
“I also know that this attempted to extract your necromantic power.”
That explained the glitching, then.
“Being what you are, you were able to combat it, to resist. I’d imagine it cost you, though. Power volatility? Unexpected flares? The inability to perform even the most basic aspects of Necromancy?”
“There was some glitching, yeah. But it’s done with now.”
“Because you cast it out. Hence, the vomiting. It marked you, though, Winter.”
“Marked me?”
“The source of this now has the means to track you. It was also trying to establish a connection with you—mental and emotional. To bond with you.”
“Bond with me? In an amiable way, you mean?”
“Yes. Although, this source is calculating and highly intelligent, so that intent would be for an overarching purpose that isn’t so… amiable.”
“You keep saying source. Does that mean you know what it is? And talking about an emotional bond… it’s a person, not just some magical infection or partially sentient matter?”
“The reason you likened it to the Mark of Draco is because the similarity it bears is the perversion of Celestial power. That perversion is also why it felt very different to what you are used to from those Celestials you have spent your life in the company of, like Cassius and my kindred, Ariana.”
“You’re saying the thing that did this to me is another corrupted Celestial being like Draco?”
“Draco was Fallen when he inflicted such profound damage upon the mortal plane during what they refer to as the Reign of the Beast. This being holds True Celestial status.”
“I don’t understand. The Severance cut off contact with the Celestial Plane.
It’s impossible for any of them to leave and travel down here.
And all other Celestials on this plane are accounted for and not threats, and definitely not corrupted or perversions of Celestial Power. Who is this being? Do you know?”
“There is only one whom it could be. I need you to come to me. I must nullify their ability to track you and cleanse you of its residue in your system.”
“Residue? I cast it out. I don’t feel anything now.”
“It could be presenting itself as dormant.”
I cursed and shoved my hand through my hair.
“Meet me in Meforian Forest immediately, Winter.”
“Ketheron, you aren’t giving me a name because you want to inform the family, yes?”
“While you know I care deeply for your wants, needs, and agency, there are some instances where keeping your confidence could be highly detrimental to you. This is one such instance.”
Oh, fuck. Fuck!
“All right. I’m on my way.”
“Meet me at the specific site there where the Severance was conducted. You are familiar with it? You remember your studies with Cassius?”
“Yeah, I remember it.”
“Excellent. See you soon.”
With that, he hung up, and I sent a text into the Group Chat to keep Vax, Zayn, and Evira informed.
Then I stowed my phone away, sucked in a breath, and teleported out.
I grunted as I came to a stop against my will, ripped out of my teleportation path toward Meforian Forest.
What the—
I spun around, finding myself on a dark sands beach shrouded in darkness, as though it were night. Well, the nighttime appearance only covered a couple of acres, as I could see the actual sun high in the sky as per the reality of this time of day in the near distance.
I was standing on a narrow strip of coast near some coves just off to my right.
Just as I was about to call my power, a sudden surge of energy had me choking, moments before I was encompassed in a black void, wind rushing all around me that seemed like thick shadows unable to be seen through, but weren’t.
It was a domain of black magic.
In a vibrant burst of more blackness, a familiar figure materialized opposite me.
“We need to talk, little necromancer,” he rumbled.
Strands of his long, white hair escaped his navy hooded cloak that was studded with striking black diamonds, the thing giving him both a formidable and ethereal look.
His eyes were an enthralling ivory, his face covered in black veins and any limited portion of his skin visible, considering most was covered by the cloak.
Ambrose Wisteryn.
The Black Magic Virtuoso.
“I… did you just cut into my teleportation path with—”
“No. I wrenched you here out of reach of the culprit just in time.”
“The—you know?”
“I am well aware, yes.”
“So, this infection, this whole thing, it is connected to a destabilization to the balance? And it’s not just something minor or temporary?”
“It’s not, no.”
“It’s because of me, what I am?”
“It has been triggered through the culprit reaching out to you. What it means to achieve threatens to break the fabric of our reality here on the mortal plane and even across realms.”
“It? So, is it a thing or a person?”
“Calling it a person would be humanizing what is truly monstrous. Technically, however, he is a severely corrupted True Celestial, one who used the Severance as a smokescreen to—”
Ambrose choked and staggered back.
“Ambrose!” I cried, starting forward, only to be pulled up short as the magical ground we were standing on shook violently.
The blackness swirling around us shuddered, the magic petering in and out.
An eerie voice whispered through the magical construction.
“Transmortalis. Transmortalis. Transmortalis.”
Ambrose snapped his palms down, his black flames and tendrils raging, as he gritted his teeth and called out, “Be gone, heathen!”
That voice sounded again.
“The progeny is mine, dark sorcerer!”