Prologue
May
The Ancient Cave
“Take it Adie…” Nathan insisted, his eyes wide and pleading as we both stood over the swirling black smoke that hovered over the floor of the forgotten cave, its hum and influence calling to us. “Take it, it’s yours! It will solve everything! Fuck The Council, Adie. If not for them, then do it for me, for Grace… for you even… Trust me!”
Jensen shook his head firmly at me like an angel on my shoulder from across the cave, warning me away from the magick one last time as he had done all year. But this was my destiny, this was what The Council had tasked me to find. Surely they would not lead me to something as dangerous and sinister as Jensen had described. This magick was the answer to all our problems! It could save Nathan’s sister, it could return balance to our magick reserves and it could finally force out all the dark practitioners that had risen against the Council over the last few years. Without this magick, there was no hope of capturing the three leaders of the dark armies with the little resources we had left. The Guild’s resources were depleted and citizens from all magick circles had lost faith in The Council, putting people’s safety at risk. We had no choice but to take this magick, no matter the cost.
Everything about this magick felt wrong. Its influence felt twisted and tainted while its pull felt addicting. I was so drawn to it and everything in my body was pulling me towards it like a moth to a flame, yet the Council had led us here and something felt so wrong. The Council had trained the three of us to find this magick at all costs to be used for the good of our magickal world. One of us had to take it, and without knowing what it would do or how it would affect us, I was not willing to let my dearest friend and ally take that risk.
I offered Nathan one last soft smile and a nod before taking in a deep breath, watching as he relaxed at the sight of my resolve. Jensen only looked weary and defeated. He sighed, though he gave me a nod of his own in understanding. He had said his peace and promised to respect my decision either way, but I knew deep down that he felt disappointed. His family were experts in ancient and dark magick and though he was not old enough to be privy to his founding families’ knowledge quite yet, he had seen the madness that uncharted magick could inflict. Still, there was no going back now, not when so many people were counting on me.
This was it, this was what we had worked so hard to find for an entire year and it was all mine for the taking. I knelt down on the hard stone floor and focused all of my attention on the swirling magick in front of me, reaching out with both hands to accept it as my own. It hummed louder as I approached, its misty smoke-like tendrils expanding as it reached and sought out my energy. I urged it towards me, my hands willing the smoke forward towards my chest, and soon enough, it began to take hold, seeping into me.
There was a sharp stabbing pain in my chest like a knife had been twisted into me as I absorbed the magick, its smoke tendrils stretching out in all directions as it engulfed my body. The pain was excruciating and like nothing I had experienced before, spreading through me like wildfire as the magick took hold. Yet, there was nothing I could do. I was no longer in control of my body.
Jensen rushed to my side, his arms wrapping around my body to pull me back away from the magick, but it was too late. There was no stopping what had already begun. I screamed as the pain only worsened, my head tilted back in agony as the curse of this dark ancient magick swirled through me, leaving only pain and destruction in its wake. I was panting, shaking, choking even, on the thick smoke that was consuming me.
“I will never forgive you for pushing her to this, Nathan Calloway.” Jensen spit out, his tone icy cold as he glared at his oldest friend, Nathan, who stood stoic and unmoving as he watched from afar. “This should have been you.”
I could hardly process his words as the pain continued, Jensen’s grasp only making it worse. I shoved him off as best I could, falling forward to my hands and knees as I tried to breathe through the agonizing pain.
“Stop!“ I croaked out, attempting to look at Jensen as I pushed through the pain. “I chose this. It’s not Nathan’s fault…” Yet even I was not convinced of that now.
“It had to be her! She was destined for this!” Nathan argued, both his and Jensen’s voices now muffled and distant as the pain worsened, leaving me dizzy and hazy. “I wouldn’t have pushed if I knew she couldn’t take it! I believe in her. I know she can take it!”
Even through my clouded thoughts, there was no denying his words. I could take it. He knew I could take it. Those words were like another knife, yet this one slammed into my back, stabbing me over and over with the sharp sting of betrayal. He had known all along that this magick was cursed and he had pushed me to be the one to take it. Just like Jensen, I may never forgive him for this.
I clawed at the stone ground and Jensen reached for my back again, rubbing slow deliberate circles against me in a pattern of healing runes and symbols, all to ease the curse of this magick that now inhabited my body. Nathan watched on with a blank expression, no remorse to be seen at all in his eyes. He had gotten what he wanted, someone else to wield the ancient magick so he could see his sister healed, all at my expense.
Finally, after what felt like hours of writhing in pain, I felt the smoke snap like a band inside me, seeping into my bloodstream to link me to its dark influence forever more. I was tied to this magick now, heart and soul, and there was no escaping it. As the pain slowly subsided, I knew without a doubt that without Jensen’s healing magick, I could have died there on the cold ground and Nathan had done nothing to aid my suffering.
“We need to go. Adie, if you can walk, we need to get you back to the castle.” Nathan stated coldly, clear impatience in his tone, as if he could not believe I had the audacity to catch my damn breath. “If we don’t, all of this would have been for nothing.”
He was right. We had to get going or it would be too late to catch the leaders off guard. This was our task. This was what we had set out to do. Use every resource we had to capture the leaders of the rebellion and bring them to justice, the last test on our journey to become pledges. It seemed so simple, but without my new magick to aid the others waiting for us, they would never succeed on their mission.
Jensen stood, offering his hand out to me as I looked up to meet his gaze, his eyes full of concern and hesitance.
“Can you stand, darling? Do you need a moment?” He asked softly, stepping in front of me to block Nathan out. “You don’t need to do this…”
I shook my head at him and reached to grasp his hand as firmly as I could, pulling myself up to stand on shaky feet.
“I can do this.” I said with a nod of finality. “The others are counting on me.”
My friends and I, all of us working towards our pledge pins, had planned and calculated every instance we could think of to prepare for our mission, yet nothing could have prepared us for what lay ahead. It had been a trap all along, The Council throwing us to the wolves so to speak, as a last ditch effort to end the rebellion that threatened their power. We had been warned we would be tested, but we never could have imagined what was laying in wait for us. In the end, it was not only three rebellion leaders, it was the entire army.
