Light cascaded across the room, drenching the walls from the ceiling to the floor. The sheer intensity of the radiance was blinding, a luminosity that overwheld the senses and painted everything in hues of searing white. The world beca a canvas of white, a montary blindness that erased all other colors.
Everyone in the room instinctively shut their eyes, raising their hands to block themselves from the light. Yet, what was coming for them was inevitable.
A feeling washed over Sirona and Jonah, causing their stomachs to churn and their muscles to cramp up. The sensation was sickening; it felt as though their bodies were being stripped of their veins, every blood vessel yanked out from beneath their skin. A pounding headache soon filled their skull, causing the two to grab onto their heads as a pained groan ripped from their throats.
On the other hand, Atticus was filled with a wash of euphoria. He could feel life gather at the tips of his fingers, flas dancing behind his eyes, and frost creeping up his skin. Every breath of air felt as though he was breathing in the fresh breeze of a beautifully picturesque adow. His body was bursting with strength, adrenaline coursing his veins like never before.
He had never felt so alive― so powerful.
His veins felt like they were on fire. When the blinding white light ebbed away, Atticus looked at his hands, surprised to see his blood vessels glowing as though they were now luminescent mushrooms.
"That’s it, isn’t it?" Sirona asked, coughing as she held her chest. Her body felt heavy and her legs felt weak. She couldn’t even stand properly now.
Jonah reached out his hand just as he had done before a thousand other tis. He concentrated, even shutting his eyes as he tried to reach for his own magic. However, the malachite charm on his belt remained as it was― unglowing. It was nothing more than a pretty rock now, dangling on his body.
"Nothing?" Sirona asked.
"Nothing," Jonah confird.
Seeing this, Atticus reached out a hand, posing it at the window. He imagined the green leaves, the twisting vines, and the scent of dew on fresh grass. In an instant, a branch shot through the window, bursting through the glass and shattering it before coiling around the room. It went straight for Jonah, twisting around his body like a snake wrapping itself around its prey.
Jonah yelped in surprise, twisting his body back and forth in an attempt to worm himself free, but to no avail.
"It worked..." Atticus mumbled under his breath. As soon as he relaxed his hand, the branch loosened, dropping Jonah back onto the floor with a thud.
"A little warning would’ve been nice," Jonah grumbled, rubbing his sore behind.
Yet, Atticus rely playfully rolled his eyes before aiming his hand in Jonah’s direction. This ti, instead of a barrage of branches and twigs, Jonah felt sothing warm wash over his body. In an instant, the bruise that had ford when he landed on his buttocks quickly disappeared; it felt as though he had never fallen at all.
"Hell’s blazes," Sirona gasped under her breath. "Can you do any and every type of magic now?"
"It seems so," Atticus said. He clenched his fists and this ti, his hand erupted into blue flas. Even though he could feel the heat fanning over his face, he felt none of the scorching pain in his hand.
"The entire world’s magic is gone," Jonah said. "Now, they’re yours."
"Mine," Atticus said, "where it should’ve been right from the start."
***
Daphne had been sitting right in front of the door, her gaze oscillating between the enchanted doorknob and the obsidian ring Atticus had given her when all of a sudden, she felt the entire palace shake and tremble. At the sa ti, there was a brilliant glow of light that ca from outside the windows and from the cracks of the door.
Then, Daphne felt sothing warm wash over her. It was a sensation akin to having been doused in warm bathwater out of nowhere, the feeling running from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.
That wasn’t the end of it; on top of that, sothing else remarkably strange happened. She began to glow!
Daphne stared at her hands in awe — and worry — when she noticed her veins glowing as though she was so sort of jellyfish Cordelia had always told her about in her letters. It lasted no more than a few seconds, but those sa seconds had Daphne shooting to her feet in surprise. She hadn’t felt this energized in a very long ti.
Every ailnt, every wound, every injury in Daphne’s body seed to heal itself. Her body felt as though she had been reborn.
The list of wonders didn’t stop there. As she was observing her hands, Daphne realized one thing― the silver sheen obsidian that Atticus had just given her was starting to glow.
Unlike the purple sheen from Atticus’s signature obsidian ring, this one had a silvery aura. It was sparkly, but not as brilliant as her garnets and sapphires when she was using her pyromancy or hydromancy powers. However, this glow was enough to plant a seed of doubt in her heart.
Sothing inside Daphne told her to place her hand on that enchanted doorknob. She didn’t know where that gut feeling ca from but it seed like it hadn’t led her down any deadends in a long ti. Thus, Daphne reached forward, bracing herself for the shock-like sensation that would run through her body when the charm kicked in.
Only this ti, it didn’t. Her fingers safely grazed the doorknob, only to realize that whatever charm Atticus had placed on the door had sohow worn off. The ring on her finger glowed just a little bit brighter, increasing in pulsing intensity the more surface area she touched. By the ti she wrapped her hand around the doorknob, it was as bright as all the other crystals used to channel magic.
"What...?" she muttered softly, sucking in a deep breath of air to steady her heart; it was racing in her chest as though there was no tomorrow.
Then, she gathered her courage and turned the doorknob.
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