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Something clanged underfoot. Looking down, I was walking over a metal grill, and the scent coming from it was musky, woody. In the clear blue light, I glimpsed white from eyes as I realised beneath me, in the dungeons, werewolves were imprisoned in human form. Dozens of them, maybe more. The tiny hairs on my arms tingled. What is this place? Unable to swallow as my instinct alerted me, I felt a presence, heavy and foreboding.
The demons halted abruptly and the one who was so keen to lob off my head pointed to an old wooden table that was set off to the side of the arena.
His voice grated as he said, “You’ll find tools there for your first test.”
Before I could speak, footsteps above me shuffled on wood.
Glancing up on the ramparts, sounds of soft footsteps. The ledge above filled with the masked assembly of Adara. Slivers of gold from the morning sun reflected from their masks, as their staring and their silence seemed to tear at my heart.
My chest tightened more. I glanced and realised that the demons had gone, and I was alone in the middle of this fort, awaiting my fate. With no magic.
Shit!
Rushing to the table, I surveyed the objects. My athame, which I snatched up. A wand and tarot cards.
A thumping of feet on the ground shook behind me. I grabbed the wand, shoved it into my pocket, and shuffled through the cards. There were a few I wanted. My hands were sweaty with nerves. I dropped a few, casting a fast glance over at them. There, the Magician, the Tower, and the Knight of Swords. Putting them in my pocket, I pulled the athame back from my belt and sliced my hand as Adara watched.
They hissed a gasp as they saw me do this.
A test then? They wanted to test my magic, my skill. Alright.
Time to fight dirty. Just like them…
As Above,So Below.
A trickle of ice ran down my back. The clanging of chains rang out through the stone walls and heavy footsteps drew closer.
Arched passageways surrounded me in the courtyard, and whatever was coming, it hid in the shadows.
I wanted to shout at Adara, to challenge them. Why was my death so important to them they’d go to such lengths, just because I was with Lycaon, really?
My sacrifice. For a second, I craned my neck, staring up at the masked spectators that lined the walkway above. Was Mattie here? Was she that cold-hearted, that indoctrinated?
It emerged slowly from behind an archway, metal grating on stone as it dragged a heavy sword. Towering high above me, its face looked part angel, part beast. A perversion of werewolf and angel. Twisted, broken wings hung from its shoulders in a mockery of the divine being it had been. Silver-white hair splattered with blood, a small snout-like face. But its eyes were what made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
As they stole right through me, dead, soulless. Cruel.
I sprung back as the creature immediately lunged at me with the precision of a warrior and the savagery of a beast.
My heart was in my throat. I didn’t want to look. I wanted to close my eyes and realise that this was all a nightmare. But its overpowering scent of blood and earth was no dream. I barely had time to prepare. I’d shed my blood and fumbled as I ran away from it, pulling a card from my pocket.
From the card in my hand, I could feel its magic surging through me, in my blood.
This place, their power, was heavy, and the magic from the monster before me was oppressive, his ear-splitting wail.
The card was the Tower. Envisioning myself on the card, hearing the collapse of the Tower, feeling reverberations beneath my feet, the place shook. Murmurings above me, I glimpsed Adara as they whispered, some nodding, others gripped at the turret edges as they stared down from above.
From the magic in the tarot, I channelled in a gale, making it circle and sweep up around the beast. He roared and stumbled, confused. Calming my fear, I concentrated on pulling up earth energy beneath my feet, feeling it move up through my legs, my torso, an emerald light. As nature’s energy flooded my body, I pulled energy down from above, imagining a golden stream of light flooding my body. The green and gold mixed. In my mind, I saw a brilliant light and felt the heat swell through me. My breathing slowed and as the light increased, it radiated from me, growing more intense as it spilled into the keep surrounding everything.
A gasp echoed. Adara stood back whilst I lowered one arm, palm facing the ground and with my fingers splayed and the other held aloft, I shouted, “As above, so below!”
Lightning bolted down just before the beast.
A surge of heat shot through me. My heart warmed. This was magic, my magic used with blood and the elements and a touch of enchantment from the cards.
Stumbling backwards, the wereangel before me fell hard. I watched as its face smacked the ground. Still with my fingers splayed, I rushed to it, crouching over, close to its ears.
I only know a little Latin. It was rough at best. But I had a hunch.
