Chapter 33 Allies #4
Alissa sat on the ground, hovering over a rat that stood paralyzed in front of her. No one would have smiled that broadly at seeing the obnoxious animal only inches from them, but Alissa was so proud of herself that she couldn’t contain the emotion. “I’m practicing. Obviously!”
“How is watching a dead rat practice?”
Alissa glanced up to look at her friend, her enthusiasm starting to scare Olga a little bit. “It’s not dead. I’m holding it still with my magic!”
Olga leaned down to watch the animal more closely, suddenly as interested in the progress of the experiment as Alissa. “What else can you do?”
“Well, at this point, I think there’s no limit to what I can do. I haven’t tried anything else on the rat, though. I don’t want it to suffer.”
A month ago, Alissa would have never imagined what she would be capable of doing.
Before she started practicing, the power of the Zeity seemed so limited in her mind—only related to killing.
With practice, she understood that the ways to manipulate the effects of time on living beings were endless.
She could use her power in a thousand different ways—for good, to heal and mend, but also for evil, to cause excruciating pain to anyone who dared cross her path.
As long as she didn’t intentionally take a life with her magic, she would not be judged by the Magic Edictum.
“You need to practice on a bigger target, dear. Holding a mouse in place will be of no use to rescuing Eldric,” Mrs. Ilden said.
“I volunteer.” Olga raised her hand and stood, her arms spread wide as if welcoming whatever power might fall upon her.
Ever since discovering that magic was not extinct, she had been curious to know what it felt like to be on the receiving end of such power.
She had learned the truth about Bryniard and that her husband’s death was driven by the Crown’s selfish desire to hide the truth.
The knowledge had only fueled Olga’s fury, something she would never let herself forget.
“Are you sure?” Alissa’s lips thinned with apprehension. “I’ve never used my magic on a person other than myself. If I lose control, I could hurt you.”
Olga rolled her eyes so deeply her irises could have gotten lost somewhere in her brain. “I can take it.”
Taking a deep breath, Alissa lifted her head to take in the large, muscled figure of the woman before her.
To her surprise, the moment she summoned her magic, welcoming it like a familiar melody in her blood, it flowed out instinctively—the pain of summoning was still noticeable, but mild.
She had expected Olga’s size to be a bigger challenge, to require more strength in her magical grasp, but now, more attuned to her power, the wisps of magic moved freely at her command, doing exactly as she willed.
In a matter of seconds, Olga was held still, frozen in place, unable to resist the restraints of Alissa’s power despite all her strength.
An amused chuckle left her lips, all the while ensuring she wasn’t causing her friend any pain.
“Do your best! Don’t worry about hurting me, Alissa,” Olga yelled. “You will need to know how to hurt the Iron Claws before we face them.”
She was hesitant at first, but Olga had a point; inflicting cuts on the Iron Claws wasn’t the most effective way to take them down. She would need to paralyze them, to inflict agonizing pain, if she hoped to stand a chance.
Clutching her fingers, the wisps left her forearm with greater density, making the air above misty.
Although her friend was out of her physical reach, she could feel the touch of her power infiltrating Olga’s skin, then squeezing her flesh, her muscles, her veins.
If she pushed any further, she knew she could as easily crush the woman’s organs.
Olga groaned in pain, falling to her knees a second later.
Seeing her ally’s misery, Alissa immediately released her hold, rushing to heal with the same magic that had caused so much pain.
“Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you,” she said, eyes wide in horror.
But Olga was not crying or angry. To Alissa’s surprise, she was smiling. Viciously. “You must be the most powerful weapon I have ever seen.”
Being called a weapon was something Alissa wasn’t accustomed to; she had been a simple huntress all her life.
But seeing the state she left her friend gasping for air, her heart so vulnerable to her will, she realized that was exactly what she had become.
A weapon capable of squeezing the life out of someone without ever laying a hand on them.
Stunned, Alissa glanced at her master. Mrs. Ilden’s eyes were glowing, tearful, as she stepped closer, gently framing Alissa’s cheeks with her palms. “You’re ready,” her voice burned with pride.
It had been four weeks since Freyah died.
For four weeks, Eldric had been tortured and used as bait.
Four weeks since her motivation had been to save the man she loved and avenge her best friend’s brutal assassination, while still struggling to come to terms with her loss and everything that was happening with her daughter.
She had been forced to spend an entire unplanned month in Golheim while time seemed to slip away.
These weeks were invaluable if she had any hopes of coming back to Bryniard in time.
It was ironic that the power now coursing through her veins was built on the strength of time yet couldn’t grant her the extra time she so desperately needed for the most important mission of her life.
The clock continued to tick, mocking her as it did in her dreams—she was powerful enough to save Dhalia, but not powerful enough to give herself more time.
With the need to reclaim the man she loved and go back to her hometown, Alissa’s gaze settled on the purple-haired woman still recovering on the ground.
“We leave tonight.”