Chapter 9 #3
“It doesn’t like your light,” Draco called, his own Scorpio magic manifesting as purple energy around his hands.
“Then let’s give it more,” Aiden growled, golden Leo magic blazing from his palms as he drew his twin blades.
The chamber erupted into chaos as all five of us engaged our magic at once. Percy’s Aries magic crackled red around his body, turning him into a living weapon. Eris’s Gemini magic created duplicates of his movements, after images that confused and disoriented the bane.
And my Ophis magic sang through me, pure starlight channeled from some distant place, filling me with power that felt ancient and alive. I shaped it into a spear of light that extended from my staff, turning my weapon into something far more deadly.
The bane darted between us, impossibly fast, its multiple limbs lashing out in all directions.
It caught Eris with a glancing blow that sent him skidding across the stone floor.
Aiden moved in, his golden blades slicing through the creature’s arm—or trying to.
The bane’s form shifted at the last moment, becoming less solid, and the blade passed through with only minimal resistance.
“You have to disrupt its energy pattern!” I said, and thrust my light-spear directly into the center of the bane’s mass.
The creature convulsed, its form rippling violently as my starlight energy tore through its dark matter composition. It let out another metal-tearing screech, this one higher and more desperate. Its limbs flailed wildly, one of them catching me across the chest and sending me flying backward.
I hit the wall hard, the impact knocking the breath from my lungs. Stars danced in my vision—the regular kind, not the magical kind—and I struggled to regain my footing as the bane rounded on me again.
But before it could reach me, a flash of white-silver intercepted it. Draco had moved between us, his Scorpio magic flooding the cave with violet light. The bane recoiled again and shrieked.
“Jupiter, now!” Draco shouted.
I didn’t hesitate. Channeling everything I had left, I formed my starlight into a net and cast it over the bane. The creature thrashed and twisted, trying to escape, but the light held it fast, constricting tighter with each movement.
Percy and Aiden moved in from opposite sides, their magic joining mine and Draco’s, creating a containment field of four different energies. The bane’s struggles grew weaker as its dark matter form was overwhelmed by our combined light.
With a final, pitiful wail, it collapsed in on itself, shrinking to a small, dense ball of darkness that pulsed feebly within our magical prison.
“Holy shit,” Eris said again, limping over to join us.
I released my magic slowly, letting the starlight fade as the bane’s energy signature diminished to almost nothing. My knees felt weak, and I leaned heavily on my staff to stay upright. Using that much magic in one burst was draining, especially after days of classes and training.
“You okay?” Draco asked quietly, appearing at my side. “These fuckers get strong sometimes when they’ve been down here long enough.”
I nodded. “Thanks,” I managed to say, trying to catch my breath. “That was a bigger one than I expected for a training exercise.”
Percy approached, his red magic receding back into his skin. “Everyone good?” His eyes lingered on me longer than the others, but his brows were dipped into a deep frown. Sometimes it was hard to tell if that man was pissed off or if that was just his face.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, straightening up despite the ache in my back where I’d hit the wall.
Aiden rolled his shoulders. “That wasn’t so bad all things—“
A shadow dropped from above, a blur of writhing limbs and gaping darkness. None of us had checked the fucking ceiling.
“Aiden!” I screamed as the second bane descended directly above him.
He looked up too late, golden eyes widening as the creature—twice the size of the first one—plummeted toward him. His blades came up instinctively, but I knew they wouldn’t be enough.
I didn’t think. I just moved.
My magic erupted from me like a supernova, white-hot starlight flooding through my veins so fast it burned. I threw myself forward, channeling everything I had into a shield of pure celestial energy that slammed into the bane mid-fall.
The creature shrieked as my magic tore through it, but I didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. The power kept flowing, more than I’d ever channeled before. It was too much, too fast, but the bane was still moving, still reaching for Aiden with those elongated fingers that would drain his soul in seconds.
“Jupiter, enough!” someone shouted—Percy, maybe Draco—but their voices seemed distant against the roar in my ears.
White light filled my vision as I pushed harder, feeling my magic begin to fracture my control. The bane’s form disintegrated, dark matter particles scattering like ashes, but my magic wouldn’t stop flowing. It turned inward, seeking escape, burning through my own defenses.
The pain hit like lightning. Every nerve ending ignited at once as fissures of starlight cracked across my skin, splitting me open from the inside. I screamed, collapsing to my knees as my magic continued to pour out unchecked.
“Jupiter!” Multiple voices now, panicked. Hands reached for me, but recoiled as my magic lashed out, starlight whipping around me in protective tendrils.
I couldn’t see through the blinding light. Couldn’t hear past my own screams. My body arched backward as another wave of agony tore through me, the fissures in my skin widening, revealing the cosmos burning inside me.
“We have to get her out of here!” That was Percy’s voice.
“Don’t fucking touch her,” Draco warned. “The magic will burn right through you.”
“She’s burning through herself!” Aiden shouted back. “We can’t just—“
“Jupiter!” Eris’s voice, closer than the others. “Jupiter, you need to pull it back. The bane is gone. It’s dead. You can stop now.”
I tried to focus on his words, to regain control, but the magic had a mind of its own now. It wanted out, all of it, even if it meant destroying its vessel.
Strong arms suddenly wrapped around me, and I felt Percy’s magic surge against mine, not fighting it, but containing it as much as he could manage though I knew he had to be burning.
“I’ve got you,” he growled in my ear, his voice tight with pain as my starlight burned against his skin. “Pull it back, Jupiter. Pull it back now.”
I latched onto his voice like an anchor, forcing myself to breathe through the agony. Slowly, agonizingly, I began to draw the magic back into myself, sealing the fissures one by one.
I was hurting Percy. Burning him. If I didn’t stop, my magic would kill him here and now. I screamed as I pulled on my magic, trying to tame the inferno.
“That’s it,” Percy gritted out, his grip never loosening despite what it must be costing him. “Come back to us. Come back, honey…”
The light dimmed gradually as I pulled and pulled harder.
My limbs were heavy as lead, and my eyes felt like they were full of sand.
All I wanted to do was sleep. Slowly, gradually the magic began to fade until it was only a small white glow, the fissures of light under my skin starting to close up.
“Healer,” Aiden said urgently into his communication device. “We need emergency extraction. Ophis magic burnout.”
“Burnout?” I croaked, my throat raw from screaming. “No, I’m fine, I just—“ Another spasm rocked through me, and I bit back a scream as fresh cracks of light appeared along my forearms.
“You’re not fine,” Draco said, his face pale. “Your magic is consuming you from the inside.”
“This is why Ophis designations need a shield,” Eris said, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it. “Without an axis bond to regulate it, power like yours—”
“We need to move,” Percy interrupted, adjusting his hold on me. “Can you walk?”
I tried to stand but my legs buckled immediately. The pain was receding to a dull roar, but in its place came a bone-deep exhaustion that made my limbs feel leaden.
“I’ll carry you,” Percy decided, and before I could protest, he’d lifted me into his arms.
“Watch her magic, it might keep flaring,” Aiden warned, eyeing the faint silver glow still emanating from my skin.
“I’ve got her,” Percy insisted, though I could feel him wince as my magic continued to spark against his arms.
They moved quickly through the cavern system, retracing our steps toward the exit. I drifted in and out of awareness, the pain coming in waves that left me gasping. Through half-closed eyes, I saw the concern on their faces.
“Why the fuck did you do that?” Aiden asked suddenly as they navigated a narrow passage. “Throw yourself in front of that thing?”
“It was going to kill you,” I mumbled, my words slurring slightly.
“You don’t even like me,” he noted.
I managed a weak laugh that turned into a groan as another fissure opened across my collarbone. “Doesn’t mean I want you dead, dumbass.”
Percy’s arms tightened around me. “Save your strength,” he ordered, with no room for arguments.
“The extraction team is meeting us at the entrance,” Eris reported, checking his device. “They’re bringing a magic suppression chamber.”
“No,” I protested weakly. “No suppression. I just need to rest.”
“Your magic is literally tearing you apart,” Draco argued. “You need more than rest.”
“Listen to him,” Percy said. “For once, don’t argue.”
I wanted to snap back at him, but another wave of pain crashed over me, worse than before. This time when I screamed, my magic flared outward in a violent burst, knocking all four men back several feet. I collapsed to the ground, convulsing as the starlight ripped new channels through my body.
“Jupiter!” They scrambled back to me, their own magic flaring defensively.
“Don’t touch her,” Draco warned again. “Her magic is in full revolt.”
“What do we do?” Aiden demanded. “We can’t just watch her die!”
Through the haze of agony, I saw Percy’s face. “There’s one thing we can try,” he said grimly. “A temporary axis bond.”
“Are you insane?” Eris exclaimed. “That’s not something you just do in an emergency. It requires preparation, compatibility testing—“
“She’s compatible,” Draco said. “I can feel it. We all can.”
“It might kill us all,” Aiden warned.
“She’s dying anyway,” Percy said. “And she saved your fucking life.”
I tried to speak, to tell them no, that it was too dangerous, but all that escaped was another scream as the fissures spread across my chest, inching toward my heart.
“Do it,” Draco said. “All of us together.”
Through tear-blurred vision, I watched as the four men positioned themselves around me. Percy knelt at my head, Draco and Aiden at my sides, Eris at my feet. They joined hands, forming a circle around my convulsing body.
“Jupiter,” Percy said, his voice cutting through the roar of pain. “We’re going to try to stabilize your magic. It’s going to hurt, and it’s not a permanent solution, but it might save your life until we get you to a healer.”
I managed a jerky nod, beyond caring about the implications. The pain was too much. If they could make it stop, I’d give them anything.
“On my count,” Percy instructed the others. “Three, two, one—”
All four men released their magic simultaneously, four distinct energies flowing toward me in streams of red, gold, purple, and the shifting colors of Eris’s Gemini power. The energies collided with my wild starlight. For a moment, the pain intensified beyond bearing.
I screamed until my voice gave out, my back arching off the ground as their magic forced its way into my system, seeking connection points, trying to establish temporary bonds where none had existed before.
And then, suddenly, blessed relief. The foreign magic encapsulated my own. The fissures in my skin began to close, the starlight retreating from the surface back into my core.
“It’s working,” Draco said, his voice strained.
“Keep going,” Percy ordered, though he sounded equally taxed and breathless.
I felt their presence inside me, four distinct signatures mingling with my own. It was intimate and almost invasive. Their magic moved through me like cool water on burned skin, soothing the raw, ripping edges where my own power had torn me apart.
The temporary bond wouldn’t last. I knew that instinctively. It was an emergency measure or like a magical tourniquet. But it was enough to stabilize me until we reached the surface and the healers could do their thing.
So why did the feeling of four brand new souls invading the back of my head, feel so damn comforting?