A/N: Warning: Upcoming chapters contain descriptions of violence, gore, and intense emotional trauma. Reader discretion is advised.
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Lightning carved through the storm-black sky, each bolt finding Aurelius with devastating precision. The air itself seed to crackle with ancient power, heavy with the weight of forbidden magic.
Evangeline stood motionless at the ritual's edge, her outer calm belying the intense concentration beneath. Through her will alone, she guided the raw energy coursing through his convulsing form, weaving it with the aether that flowed through his veins. Without her protection, he would have perished within monts—his body reduced to ash by the third or fourth strike.
The domain around them pulsed with each lightning strike, shadows dancing across the twisted landscape like living things. Through it all, Evangeline maintained her vigil, her fingers moving in subtle gestures that conducted the deadly symphony of power.
Her left eye—a well of absolute darkness that seed to devour light—penetrated beyond flesh and bone, beyond even spirit, seeking the very essence of his being. Yet even there, sothing eluded her grasp. Sothing refused to submit to her scrutiny.
His essence flickered like a fla in wind, shifting between planes, defying comprehension. No matter how precisely she manipulated the forces at her command, this core elent remained maddeningly beyond reach, like trying to grasp smoke with bare hands.
"Kalin," she breathed, contempt lacing the na. The very air seed to grow colder at its utterance.
The entity's "gift"—her blackened eye—proved useless against this mystery. Whatever dwelled within Aurelius refused to yield its secrets, as if possessed of its own will, its own consciousness that actively fought against her probing.
The air shimred like heat waves over desert sand, and Rhea appeared beside her, a silent guardian maintaining the barriers that enclosed their hidden space. Despite her usual serenity, tension lined her features as she reinforced the periter against any wandering souls. Her presence brought a different kind of energy to the ritual space—cooler, more controlled, yet no less powerful.
"How is he holding?" Rhea's quiet question carried an undertone of personal concern that did not escape Evangeline's notice.
Evangeline studied the invisible threads of power binding Aurelius before responding, noting how they pulsed and twisted with each new surge of energy. She knew of her sister's feelings for the boy—feelings that could never bear fruit. The knowledge added another layer of bitterness to her already complex emotions. She regarded her as one of her close people after all.
"His essence defies understanding," she said finally, choosing her words with careful precision. "This affliction—if we can even call it that—has rooted itself not in body or mind, but in the fundantal nature of his being. It recoils from examination, like a living thing trying to hide in the depths of shadows."
"You believe it's conscious?" Rhea's eyes narrowed slightly, her barrier-maintaining gestures never faltering.
"Perhaps." Evangeline's fingers twitched, testing the bonds of her influence. The aetheric threads responded like plucked harp strings, sending ripples through the fabric of reality itself. "It's buried so deep that even Kalin's vaunted power barely grazes its surface. Every attempt at intrusion ets resistance, like pushing against an invisible wall."
Another lightning bolt descended, turning night to day for a brief, brilliant mont. Aurelius's body arched violently against his restraints, and Evangeline tracked the energy's path as it rged with his essence, searching for any revelation in the chaos. The air filled with the sharp scent of ozone and sothing else—sothing older, more primal.
"And Kalin?" Rhea's gaze flicked to her sister's darkened eye, concern evident in her voice. "Does he understand this phenonon?"
A bitter laugh escaped Evangeline's lips, echoing strangely in the charged atmosphere. "That creature claims omniscience, yet fails before this single puzzle. His 'gift' shows everything except what I most need to see. Such is the nature of deals with entities like him—they reveal all but the essential."
Yet Aurelius's mysterious affliction had provided sothing crucial—a key she'd sought for years. Within its depths lay patterns reminiscent of her sister's illness, different in form but alike in how it had consud her essence. The final piece she needed for her masterpiece, hidden where she least expected to find it.
Her gaze drifted to the shadow-shrouded corners of their ritual space, where a coffin-like vessel glead with unnatural tals. Inside lay a perfect recreation of a young girl's form, crafted with painstaking attention to every detail. Rhea remained focused on Aurelius, but Evangeline's expression softened as she regarded the still figure—her greatest work, her deepest hope.
"Soon," she whispered, voice heavy with longing and determination. "We'll be together again."
This ti would be different.
No illness would steal her sister away. She had crafted this new form with every protection imaginable, weaving enchantnts beyond anything she'd attempted before. Months of research, years of preparation, countless sacrifices—all leading to this mont. Aurelius's affliction had shown her how to complete it. All that remained was the final spark of essence.
But first, there was sothing to deal with.
Sothing her darling warned about, sothing she has been suspicious of but has been ignoring till now.
That's right, it was obviously Kalin.
Her left eye pulsed, as if the entity sensed her thoughts. He had been watching through this dark window, manipulating her progress toward his own ends. Her mont of triumph would not be tainted by his presence. Not after everything she had sacrificed to reach this point.
"I've known about you, Kalin," she murmured, dark amusent coloring her words. "Did you truly believe I wouldn't see your manipulations? Your subtle pushes and pulls, guiding toward your own goals?"
The entity's influence stirred in response, like a serpent uncoiling. His "gift" had always been a chain, one she would now break before he could interfere with her plans. The ti for pretense was over.
"Rhea," she said, voice unnaturally calm. "Leave alone for a bit. The barriers will hold without your presence."
Rhea hesitated for a brief mont, concern flickering across her features, but nodded and vanished into the shimring veil of their protected space. The air grew heavier with her departure, as if the very atmosphere anticipated what was to co.
Evangeline's fingers traced the edge of her blackened eye, lips curving into a cold smile that held years of carefully hidden resentnt.
"Goodbye, bastard Kalin," she whispered, satisfaction born of years of careful planning filling her voice.
Swoosh-!
Rip.
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