“Ava, don’t make me do this,” I warned. I took hold of the bond, praying with all my might she’d stop what she was doing, so I didn’t have to go through with this.
Ava didn’t listen, just continued what she was doing. I swore that I heard the very Earth itself begin to crack in half as her power accelerated, breaking apart the spirit of the world.
“You’re not going to do anything.” Her voice was certain, confident. “You’d never hurt me that way.”
“Ava—” I begged one more time, but she didn’t listen. Ava increased the intensity of her magic, and my friends screamed in terror as they cried out that the sky above had gone pitch black, plunging the entire planet into a world without light.
There were only seconds left before the universe disappeared forever. So, I did what I had to do.
A heart-wrenchingcrackrang over the ocean, and the physical effect was like having my body sawed in half, straight down the middle. It felt as if my flesh was being ripped from my bones by the jaws of a resentful beast that had crawled into my chest and started tearing outward. The worst pain imaginablepermeated down to my bones. The feeling of ice covered my body as I felt the warmth of Ava’s Fire leave me forever.
I couldn’t sense where Ava had gone, and I started to panic. She ceased to exist entirely to me, as if she’d been stolen away from all realms. I reached out with my magic to find her, but my power foundnothing.
A pit deeper than hell opened inside of me, leaving nothing but an empty void. My spirit fractured and bled out, spraying love and emotions everywhere and suffocating me with the need to breathe. I became nothing but a hollow shell, the wound of my soul covering me in loneliness.
I realized I’d never been truly alone before. Even before we met, Ava had always been there, her presence tangled intricately with mine. I felt her beautiful existence from the moment I could breathe, and now she was just… gone. There was a part of me that was missing, and I didn’t understand how to fill the hole, because nothing and no one in this universe could mend a chasm this deep.
The moment I broke our bond, my purpose in this life and everything we dreamed of together faded. Ava toppled off of Oberi’s back from the blow, crying out as she hit the sand. Oberi yelped as he was forced out of his unicorn form and into the body of a husky. Oberi barked loudly in protest. I could feel him attempting to shift into a unicorn or a phoenix, but both attempts failed.
The earthquake came to an abrupt halt, and peace returned to the beach. The sun returned, for I could feel it shining on my face as the storm ebbed and the clouds parted.
I waited for something to happen, but magically, I didn’t feel any different.
My soul, though? It was ripped to fucking shreds.
Then, I felt it. The intimate waver of a bond, still so recognizable to me.
Charlie,Oberi broke.No.
I could still hear him. Which meant…
Ava groaned. I felt tears slip from my eyes as she came to.
I checked again. Maybe I hadn’t done anything irreversible. Maybe I’d just weakened it a bit.
What I wished for was whisked away by the wind as my spirit saw the golden cord once more, but this time, it was only connected to Oberi and me, leaving Ava out.
“What’s going on?” Ava asked, clearly delirious. She was so used to our bond being there, she didn’t recognize the obvious. She’d never needed to check before.
Nobody said anything. Everyone on the beach had witnessed what had happened, and like me, they were all in shock.
“Oberi,” Ava whispered. “What happened, girl?”
Ava, darling,Oberi breathed, but I knew I was the only one who heard.
A few moments passed, until Ava stuttered, “I… I can’t hear her. What’s she saying? Why can’t she talk to me?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but I wasn’t able to respond. I was still a coward, because I couldn’t admit to her that I’d been her undoing.
More long seconds dragged on. Ava’s breathing quickened, and she began to panic as she cried, “Where’s my magic? What did youdoto me?”
“I… I took your magic away.” I managed to speak this time, but my voice cracked. “I broke our bond.”
Ava took in a shuddering breath of agony that pained me to hear, worse than anything else I’d gone through in my entire life. I’d been taking a risk when I broke it. Oberi had said when we’d discussed this before that if the bond broke, who he would remain tied to would be a fifty-fifty chance. I knew if I broke the bond, there was a shot that I’d lose my abilities and my connection to Oberi, and Ava would keep all her power.
That wasn’t what happened. Oberi had remained bonded to me, and I kept my magic.
But I’d taken hers. Ava had lost her powers, her connection to her Familiar, and her bond to me, all in one stroke.
