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I probably could’ve handled our meeting better. In my defense though, she was inmy homeandshe ran.If that’s not suspicious, then I don’t know what is.
Does it mean I’ll forgive her? No.
Does it mean I’ll at least try to take care of some of the beasts around the keep, knowing she's likely lingering nearby? Yes. That’s as far as my sympathy goes.
Blood trickles down my arm, the one without a sword, and drips onto the dried leaves, mixing with the mud. On the bright side, I won’t have to hunt for the next one. Any other predators creeping around out here will come find me, thanks to the scent of it.I just became a magic-infused gourmet meal.
Soaked from head to toe with sweat and the gods know what else, I leave the body to collect in the morning, along with the other five I’ve already taken down tonight. There’s a den of them here—somewhere—but not even these beasts could be responsible for the destruction of the keep, nor the wall.Dread wolves are vicious, but they can't cast or siphon magic. They're just immune to it.
That part is still a mystery to me.
I’m starting to believe fellow demons did it… The damage looked ancient, like centuries had passed since those walls of the keep caved in. No one had known about my mother pushing me through the boundary, trapping me in the Realm of Monsters. I suppose, with the witch hunt my father called on me, his royal subjects might’ve trashed the keep looking for me all those yearsago. It would’ve been empty, and had my father been present, the wards would’ve let him and anyone he was with go right in since he shares my bloodline.
I hate to think of that, to imagine what would’ve happened had they found me inside, but it’s the only possibility that fits.
Something burns up my arm, and my feet slam to a stop. There, in the inky circle tattooed on my palm a speck of light flickers around the dark rim. I created it, bound it to the enchantment we just placed. And though it's merely a pinpoint, it means someone crossed the wall. Unfortunately, with my magic still returning, Alice and I had only cast a detection spell. It's strong enough to zap things crossing it, but not enough to keep everything out, though it'll alert me, like now if messed with.
We’ll have to create a true boundary when my magic comes back to full strength, since my gift is the only thing capable of truly trying the wards to the bones. It's what makes my death magic unique. It also takes an enormous amount of energy and effort to bind the wall fully, and I didn’t want to risk something siphoning it the moment we placed the spell back. So, until I figure out what ripped the enchantment from the wall, a detection spell is the best we can do.
But this circle in my hand, that small pin-prick of light, means someone has come to say hello.
Forgetting the throbbing pain in my shoulder, I sprint toward where the tattoo suggested something crossed. If I’m lucky, whatever took the magic down will be there, and I can end this once and for all.
5
Valeria
Water surges into mylungs until I choke, desperate for air that will never come. No matter how hard my limbs thrash against the unyielding ocean, I sink into the depths—into the dark.
All I can do is watch as the light shining through the wave-ridden surface grows fainter, and with every passing second the world I know becomes farther out of reach. It doesn’t stop me from clawing and kicking, but my fingers slip through the water like it’s nothing.
My efforts are a waste of energy. There’s no way I’ll make it back to the surface, and that realization saps every ounce of fight from my being. There’s nothing but salt-laden ocean, feet of it, between me and life… but it’s too much. I’m too tired to keep flailing.
I almost give up, but then those invisible hands of death scrape my skin. A reaper, and it’s ready to wrap those talons around my soul and drag me away. That faceless, shadowy figure looms before me, its outline waving in the undercurrent.
I’ve only seen one. Though, it had a face that time. Still, I know what it’s here to do.
Reapers are what’s left of the angels who lost their grace. Most turned into demon-like creatures long ago and were banished to our world for their sins in another, taking on the physical forms of nightmares. Now, they serve the King of the Seven Realms. Their job is to collect the souls of the dead, guide them through Limbo—through judgment—then return to the Soul Well to be reborn as someone new.
The reaper stares at me for a long moment, and though it has no eyes, I think it recognizes me, too. Spindly fingers made of night, stretch toward me. One delicately strokes over my cheek as if to wipe away a tear.
“Valeria Nightborn, we meet again,”its graveled voice speaks inside my head. It’s more monster than man, yet almost ethereal, like even though the reaper is nothing close to the angel it used to be, it’s clung to at least a small shred of its divinity.
Those phantom hands hold me, suspend me in the water that seems to still, as if it can command the tide, too. Yet, I don’t move. I don’t even attempt to pry at its grip. It’s the only thing keeping me from descending farther down into the unforgiving dark. Into death.
An eerie, tranquil silence fills my ears until time and space lose all meaning. The darkness seems to pull into a smirk, crooked and cruel, and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. Knowing, maybe?
“It is not your time. Not yet. Though, it’d be wise of you to stop dying.”That voice… It sends a chill down my spine.
I’m incapable of replying. I’m not even sure how I’m still alive—coherent—as if magic has kept me here. Perhaps the reapers?
The shadow raises a hand and snaps dark fingers. Light explodes in front of my face. Tendrils of it whip through the water, curling around my body until that magic is the only thingI can see. I have to shut my eyes against the blinding light and a surge of raw, unbridled fear has me thrashing against its hold.
Every cell of my being seems to stretch and pull and bend. My heart thunders, every beat louder than the last.Then, the ocean disappears.
I shoot up from where I've been resting on the forest floor, gasping in air until my chest burns from the onslaught. It’s as if I’m… as if I’mdrowning.Again. I blink in rapid succession, taking in the dark twisted tree trunks, the glowing mushrooms.
It was just a dream.
