Evaline:
The sensation didn’t fade.
It grew.
At first, it had been nothing more than a whisper beneath my skin, a quiet tug I could almost ignore if I tried hard enough. But the longer I stared at the tree, the stronger it beca... like invisible threads tightening around my chest, pulling forward inch by inch.
My healing power reacted instinctively.
It stirred beneath my skin, restless and agitated, no longer flowing with its usual warmth and calm. This felt different. Sharp. Defensive. As if my power had sensed sothing profoundly wrong and was bracing itself for a fight it had never faced before.
The more I focused on that strange pull, the more my power pushed back.
Two opposing forces pressed against each other around - one unknown and lingering, the other alive and desperate to protect.
I sucked in a sharp breath and closed my eyes.
Focus.
For a heartbeat, everything went quiet. The hum beneath my skin steadied, vibrating just below the surface, waiting.
When I opened my eyes again, my gaze locked onto the tree again.
It was no longer just a dead, black shape standing in the clearing... it felt like a wound.
My power surged.
Not outward. Not violently. But insistently.
As if it needed to move.
I didn’t fully understand what I was doing when my knees bent and I crouched down. I was dimly aware of my mates stiffening, of voices calling my na in confusion and concern, but they sounded distant... muffled, as if coming from underwater.
The only thing that felt real was the pressure inside .
I focused inward, letting my power rise instead of forcing it down like I always did.
Then I placed my palm against the cold stone floor.
The mont my skin made contact with the ground, my power rushed out of .
It poured through my hand like a flood breaking through a dam, surging into the ground beneath my palm and spreading outward in invisible waves. I gasped as the sensation traveled up my arm and through my chest, my heartbeat thundering in my ears.
It wasn’t healing the way I knew.
It was searching.
For a split second, I thought maybe my power had sensed the lingering traces of whatever dark force had once existed here... maybe it wanted to cleanse it, soothe it, nd what had been broken.
But then...
My breath caught.
My eyes widened.
The world tilted violently as sothing answered.
Images exploded behind my eyes. And I couldn’t tell if they were mories, thoughts, or visions.
Darkness swirled endlessly around ... thick, suffocating, alive. It churned like a storm with no sky, pulsing with malevolent intent.
Then the darkness condensed.
I watched, powerless, as it twisted and folded in on itself, taking form of... the tree.
But not as it was now.
I saw it being created.
Pure darkness - thick, oily, and wrong - was pulled together from thin air, shaped by unseen hands. It rose from nothing, roots anchoring themselves deep into the earth as the trunk stretched upward, towering and grotesque.
The energy that ford it was unmistakable.
Evil.
Ancient.
Hungry.
My ears filled with sound.
Voices.
Chanting.
Low and rhythmic, layered one over another until the words blurred together, vibrating through my skull. I glimpsed a wide circle forming around the newly born tree.
Witches.
Dozens of them.
Their faces were hidden beneath hoods, their hands raised as runes ignited in the air around them... symbols etched in glowing crimson and sickly violet. The air crackled with power as spells wove together, binding, sealing, forcing.
The chanting grew louder, frantic.
The darkness inside the tree fought back.
I saw it surge violently, pressing against its prison, the trunk shuddering as if sothing inside was trying to tear its way out. Shadows lashed outward, striking the invisible barrier created by the witches’ magic.
But it failed.
Again.
And again.
The runes flared brighter.
The chants grew desperate.
The darkness was forced back, compressed deeper into the tree, locked away with brutal finality.
The vision shifted and ti moved.
Centuries passed in the blink of an eye.
I watched the tree stand alone as the world above changed - stone laid over stone, walls built, towers rising. Dust gathered. Cobwebs ford. The tree remained.
Cracks began to appear along its trunk.
Slow at first.
Hairline fractures creeping across its surface as the imprisoned darkness strained endlessly against its cage. Each crack felt like a scream frozen in ti.
The tree never healed.
The cracks only grew.
Then...
Another shift.
Another image slamd into so hard I cried out.
A familiar face appeared - Carson.
He stood before the tree, his expression tight with pain and resolve. Blood dripped steadily from his palm as he pressed it against the largest crack in the trunk.
And whatever was inside that tree... it lashed onto his blood like it had been starved for centuries. And with each second, it seed to regain its strength.
My power reacted violently to the sight - flaring, recoiling, raging against the presence of the dark energy even through the vision. Pain exploded behind my eyes, sharp and unbearable, as if my skull was splitting apart.
I tried to pull back.
Tried to lift my hand.
Tried to scream for it to stop.
But I just couldn’t move.
The visions kept coming, crashing over one after another, each heavier than the last. The ringing in my ears grew deafening, drowning out everything else. My chest burned, my breath coming in ragged gasps as my power spiraled out of control, reacting to every trace of darkness it encountered.
It hurt.
Stars, it hurt.
I sensed a bubble of power inside , and I tugged at it. A rush of power surged through and spread across the place, finally cutting whatever grip the Evil energy had on .
But the damage was already done.
My head felt like it was being crushed from the inside, pressure building and building until I thought it would shatter. Tears stread down my face as a broken cry tore from my throat, raw and helpless.
I was vaguely aware of voices shouting my na.
Hands reaching for .
But the pain swallowed everything.
The last thing I saw before the world went black...
Were the panicked faces of my mates and Rowan, fear etched deeply into their expressions as they lunged toward , trying to catch before I collapsed completely.
Then...
Nothing.
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