I felt hollowed out inside, no more strength to hold me up. I dropped to my knees in the dirt, staring at my blackened, blood-stained hands, watching the smoke dissipate. “What’s… what’s happening to me?”
Death knelt before me in the dirt, meeting me at eye level.
A dude with glowing blue eyes and tattered black robes lurking around your magical realm wasn’t exactly comfort food for the soul, but his appearance wasn’t quite as startling as it’d been on that first visit, and for once, I was glad for his presence. Here in this strange magical place, there was something almost human about him, and when he spoke again, I found myself listening, turning to him for answers.
He ran a gloved finger along my palm, tickling the skin.
“The man’s blood is literally on your hands, Gray,” he said softly. The strange, otherworldly echo had vanished, leaving only a man’s voice in its place. “And you had control of his soul. The two are intimately connected.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The combination of blood and soul is like a magical key to a very ancient, complicated lock. In possession of both, you have the ability to banish that soul to the Shadowrealm.”
I nodded. “I thought… I thought it’s what I wanted.”
“Be glad you reconsidered.” Death rose, and I mirrored him. The black forest beyond the gate seemed to take a step back, giving us room.
“Tearing a soul from a living being and trapping it in the Shadowrealm is the worst kind of crime,” he went on. “The punishment is instantaneous and irreversible.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Your soul would also be trapped eternally, along with everything that makes youyou—personality, memories, passions, love. Yet your physical body would retain its most primal awareness, even as it began to decay. And though your vitals would go undetected by even the most advanced medical technology, and your friends and family would presume you dead, you would not be. You’d be buried and mourned, yet forever trapped.”
A shiver rolled through my body, starting at my toes and vibrating all the way up to my scalp. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You have choices before you. Always. It is not my place to interfere, then or now or later.”
“But youdidinterfere. You stopped me.”
“I merely asked you to search yourself.”
“But this… this sick magic, this thing inside me… it’s part of me, isn’t it? Corrupting me.” Another shiver rolled through my body, and I hugged myself tight to stop the trembling. “I want it out of me.”
“If only it were that simple,” he said. “It’s not evil, Gray. Just another facet of you. Some people are born with green eyes, some with heart defects, some with a predisposition to like chocolate. You don’t get to chose those things, but once you accept them, you can make other choices from that place of truth.”
He gestured toward the path, and together we walked back the way I’d come, the arch fading behind us.
“What am I?” I whispered.
“Among other things, you’re a necromancer. A very powerful one at that.”
Among other things…
Something deep in my gut stirred at his words, my vision flickering. Black vines crept over my feet, and I gripped his arm with both hands, sucking in air, desperate not to let it take me…
“Don’t fight it!” he said. “That’s your magic calling to you. It’s who you are—”
“No.” I didn’t care what he thought about choices and truths. If my magic was responsible for my actions, for that black desire twisting around my heart, I wanted no part of that. I yanked my feet free, breaking through the vines and weeds, stomping them down.
When they finally retreated, I looked at him and said, “It’snotme. You said it yourself—that’s not what’s in my heart.”
“The desire to banish the soul of a living man is not in your heart. But this magic, this power? Thisisyou, Rayanne.”
Rayanne…
I hadn’t heard my given name since I left home, and after all these years it felt like a firebrand against my chest.
I hadn’t planned on changing my name. My first two years living on the streets, relying on odd jobs and the kindness of strangers, I’d gone by Rayanne to anyone who’d bothered to ask.
