My heart broke, and tears streamed down my cheeks.
“Draven, I love you. Don’t do this… Please!” I shrieked, my throat burning.
I couldn’t stop him. My brother, my friends, our allies, they didn’t want to stop him.
Draven whispered into the snake’s ruby eyes, and the object responded, wiggling and breaking its eight-loop to move in a circle, as if trying to eat its own tail.
“Come take me, Asherak,” Draven called out to the dark Druid, whose presence was still heavy and intense, consuming the air around us. “I’m all yours…”
The whispers intensified, words forming in the back of my head. Azazel hissed, fury contorting his face. He moved toward Draven, but the pendant emitted an invisible pulse that pushed him back, warning him to keep his distance.
“No!” I cried out, starting to lose my voice. My heart burned, and I wanted to fight my way out of Jovi and Phoenix’s grip, but my knees weakened as the whispers smacked me with a hard dose of reality.
He’s mine… said the hissing in my head.
Five Destroyers spilled out from the staircase and onto the platform—they must have escaped from the allied forces storming the castle—and they stopped and stared in disbelief, their eyes flickering green as they saw the snake pendant dangling from Draven’s hand.
“No, this can’t be…” Azazel gasped.
Asherak’s voice became clearer in my head. In all our heads.
He is strong…
“No!” Azazel bellowed. “No! You can’t do this!”
He is powerful… More powerful than you ever were… He’s fit to be a Master Druid, and it only took him a few months to learn… I can smell his energy… It’s… It’s delicious…
“No, you can’t,” I whimpered. “Don’t, Draven, I beg you! Don’t! It’s too dangerous! You’ll be lost!”
Mmm… A new soulmate…
I swallowed back another wave of tears, hurting too much to even feel creeped out by Asherak’s voice bouncing around in my skull. I stopped moving as it all sank in, breaking me down.
Vita’s last vision of the war’s outcome was coming true, and I still wasn’t ready for it. I loved him. I couldn’t let him do this. I couldn’t let him destroy himself.
And yet, it seemed like I had no choice.
I was angry with Phoenix and Jovi and everyone who didn’t try to stop Draven. But deep inside, my conscience was telling me the same as they were. Draven was going to do this, no matter what I said. I couldn’t prevent it.
“I’m yours, Asherak,” Draven hissed. “Take me.”
A soul-shattering roar erupted from Azazel as he slithered toward Draven, unwilling to let go of Asherak.
“You will not leave me!” Azazel cried out.
Open your soul to me, Draven, I heard Asherak say, satisfaction oozing from his husky voice.
“Draven!” I screamed his name again, fighting tooth and nail to break free. “Please… Draven...”
“I love you, Serena,” Draven said softly, as his beautiful gray eyes finally looked at me.
I could feel it. And it hurt even more because it wasn’t a regular “I love you”.
It was his goodbye.
“No!” I shrieked, my legs flailing in my desperate attempt to reach him. Phoenix and Jovi’s arms constricted around my arms and torso, keeping me in place.
Draven held his ground as Azazel lunged at him. The entire castle shuddered, cosmic amounts of dark energy suddenly being released into the atmosphere.
The snake pendant exploded in a phosphorescent green light just as Azazel clutched it.
The light swallowed the entire platform like an incandescent emerald dome.
It blinded us.
Draven…
Draven
I hadn’t exactly planned for this.
I hadn’t wanted it to get to this.
“Draven, no!” I could hear Serena screaming, over and over, but it was too late.
The winds that Azazel had summoned to enforce Asherak’s presence settled.
The bright green light that had engulfed the platform faded, and I could see everyone clearly. Azazel’s consternation crumpling his face. Tears streaming down Serena’s cheeks as Jovi and Phoenix held her back. Jax, Anjani, and Hansa’s pained expressions as they gripped their swords tighter. The young Druids watching me quietly, their lips pursed as they took a step closer. Aida and Field helping Vita back to her feet; the fae looking at me and recognizing the very vision we’d all wished to avoid.
Even Patrik and Thadeus had stopped fighting. The five Destroyers that had come up last were paralyzed, staring at me, their eyes flickering green. Whatever control Azazel had had on them was now wavering. One of them, a female with long brown hair and black scales covering her arms and neck, shook her head before she fell to the floor. Her bones cracked as her serpent tail split into legs and she returned to her Druid form. One by one, the remaining Destroyers recovered as well, while the three shifters watched from behind the pillars, wary of getting closer.
And I had opened myself up to Asherak.
We’d all hoped that it would be over if we removed the pendant and beheaded Azazel, but, clearly, that hadn’t worked out. I’d been forced to make a decision that I knew would cause grief but would also save my world.
There was no other choice.
Azazel and Asherak had to be stopped. Millions had died because of them, and millions more would continue to die if they were allowed to coexist and burn everything in their path.
Asherak’s soul needed a new host if it were to leave Azazel’s body. None of the young Druids were as strong as I was, and we knew it. I was younger, but we could tell from the speed with which I was learning and the overwhelming power of my spells that I had what it took to host a soul as dark as Asherak’s. I was the low-hanging fruit we needed to draw him out of Azazel’s body.
We’d talked about this extensively during our training in the sphere at Stonewall. I’d never told Serena about it because I knew she wouldn’t take it well, but the Druids and I had prepared for this outcome.
I’d had months to anticipate this exact moment, but making the decision still felt like a thousand swords stabbing me repeatedly from all angles—the pain felt near impossible to handle. Serena’s voice made it worse, my stomach twisting itself up in knots at the sound of it, but I had to keep going. I had to let him in. I had to stop this madness.
I felt Asherak’s soul slipping through me, chilling the blood in my veins as his whispers resonated in my head.
Let me in, Draven…
I did. Darkness and poison filled me, making my muscles tremble and my skin feel like it had been set on fire. His toxic soul coursed through my limbs, and my chest swelled with the incredible power it carried. Asherak was strong, and I couldn’t help but feel impressed by Azazel’s ability to hold him for so long. It felt as though an active volcano had been stuffed inside me and was constantly erupting.
“Draven.”
Serena’s cry made me turn my head. She was still trying to break free from Phoenix and Jovi’s hold. I gave her a reassuring smile, but I could feel her pain throbbing through me.
“It’s okay, Serena,” I managed.
I took a deep breath as Asherak slowly made himself comfortable in my flesh. It wasn’t a sudden process. It required a little time for the dark Druid to adjust to a new body. I could feel him settling in, but I was still very much in control of myself.
All I had to do was reign it in and finish the job, as dark energy oozed out of me. Reign it in for long enough to destroy Azazel and for Viola or the Druids to kill me. If Asherak took full control, merging like this with another Druid, especially one as powerful as me, even the Daughters wouldn’t be able to stop him, we would all be doomed. Eritopia would be once again lost.
I shifted my focus to Azazel, who stood before me with his eyes bulging and his mouth gaping. He hadn’t seen this coming. Even in his wildest dreams, he’d never thought there would be a
Druid strong or resourceful enough to do what I’d just done.
“How can this be?” Azazel croaked, still in shock.
“For all your crimes,” I said, walking toward him, “Azazel of Mellisteris, Master Druid of Purgaris, you will meet your judgment now.”
“I… No… Asherak, you bastard!” he bellowed at the darkness inside me.
I could feel the ancient Druid chuckling, thrilled to be inside a younger, stronger body and, at the same time, amused by Azazel’s predicament.
“For all the creatures you’ve killed. For all the lives you’ve stolen. For all the souls you’ve ruined. For the unspeakable damage and destruction you’ve brought upon the twenty kingdoms of Eritopia. For your abuse of a precious Daughter of Eritopia and all the Oracles that you’ve abducted and imprisoned. For all your evil and greed, you will die, Azazel.”
I kept moving, closing the distance between us. Fear drained the blood from his face, his yellow eyes fixed on me, but he knew there was nowhere to run. This was his end. He shrank in size right in front of me, back to his original Destroyer form, no taller than me.
“You lied to me, Asherak,” he hissed. “You promised me an eternity!”
“And you will get nothing but darkness and inexistence,” I replied on behalf of all Eritopians, then grabbed him by the throat, my fingers digging in as his windpipe was crushed.
Finish him, I heard Asherak whispering in the back of my head.
A surge of power shot through me, feeding my desire to make Azazel suffer for everything he’d done. I let it all out, and thousands of bright green electrical currents pierced his body. He cried out from the pain as the electric flow, the equivalent of a thousand lightning bolts, ate away at his flesh.
“This is for my father,” I said through gritted teeth. “And Elissa, you despicable piece of garbage!”
His skin reddened from the current. His bones cracked. His muscles jerked as he desperately tried to get free. There was no escape.
“All I wanted was power!” he croaked as he trembled in my grip. “The world was mine for the taking!”
“Oh, you are certainly getting a lot of power through you right now.” I felt a grin stretching my lips.
The electric shock was fatal. Black smoke billowed out of him as his eyes flared green one last time before they rolled back in his head and he released his last breath.
I removed my hands and heard the thud as he collapsed on the black stone floor. Most of his body was severely burned. Raw, red flesh contrasted with patches of charred skin, as his massive serpent tail twitched and split, morphing back into legs.
In death, Azazel returned to his original Druid form, burned beyond recognition and with nothing but shame and defeat to his name. It probably had to do with him being the originator of the control spell he’d cast over the Destroyers, that he could go back and die in his Druid form, unlike his servants. And I exhaled slowly, feeling no remorse for what I’d just done, not even for enjoying it all.
There was only relief.
It was over.
I looked at Serena. She’d stilled, looking at me with a mixture of pain and dread, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I’d just killed Azazel. It was an act worthy of celebration. Of sighs and half-smiles. Of cheers and dreams of the future brought back to the surface.
Oh, you certainly have it in you, Asherak hissed in my ear.
I shook my head, then noticed the frowns surrounding me. Something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked, my voice raspier than usual.
“Draven…” Serena managed to whisper. “Draven… Your eyes… Your eyes are yellow…”
My joy was short lived. My relief transitory. My comfort fleeting.
Pain shot through my whole body as I felt Asherak moving to take control of my bones, my flesh, and my very heart. My pulse accelerated and my temples throbbed as my insides burned, and every instinct I had told me to give the signal.
“Kill me,” I heard myself gasp before I fell on my side, my arms wrapped tightly over my aching stomach.
“No!” Serena screamed.
I heard feet shuffling as Jovi and Phoenix were forced to hold her back once more.
Swords were drawn from their sheaths.
“Draven, no! Don’t! Fight it!” Serena begged me.
“Kill me!” I shouted.
Asherak laughed, echoing in my head. His soul felt like a million tentacles ripping through every strip of muscle, every inch of bone, and every stretch of consciousness, claiming it all as his own. His darkness poisoned me and pushed me over the edge.
The pain was too much. My thighs, my calves burned. Bones cracked in my legs.
I cried out and pricked my tongue with my fangs, tasting blood. I was growing fangs.
I brought a hand up to my mouth and touched my aching gums. I felt them, long and sharp.
I looked down and watched in horror as my legs fused together, the skin rippling as they morphed into a massive black serpent tail. My clothes were torn, useless on the floor as my physical form grew in size.
Time to let go, Draven, Asherak said. Don’t fight me.
It was happening too fast.
I found Serena’s terrified gaze and stilled for a brief moment.
There was no turning back.
My heart broke, and I realized what hurt more than the fact that I was becoming a Destroyer. What hurt more than the process itself.
This would be the last image that Serena would have of me. The monster I’d sworn to defeat.
The monster was now me.
Serena
Black clouds moved over our heads, like thick rolls of charcoal dust. Lightning shot through them, spreading out into incandescent spider webs, followed by ominous thunder. Cold winds rose and smacked into us as the storm gathered on top of the platform, where Asherak was in the process of taking over Draven’s body and soul.
I couldn’t let him go like this. I couldn’t bear to see the man I loved go through with this horrendous transformation. I couldn’t lose him to Asherak.
“Draven!” I screamed, my eyes burning as I blinked away more tears.
“Kill me now!” Draven growled, heaving on the floor, his lower body turned into a large black snake tail. His yellow eyes were fixed on me, and I could feel the shame and the grief pouring out of him.
“No! Nobody touches him!” I snapped, and struggled harder against Jovi and Phoenix’s hold on me.
I couldn’t let him do this to himself. To me. To us.
Maybe I could talk him out of it. Maybe I could help him fight Asherak.
Azazel had never had someone to love, someone to guide him away from the darkness.
Maybe I could help.
It was that thought that finally gave me the push I needed to release a barrier strong enough to knock my brother and Jovi back. I ran to Draven and fell to my knees next to him, just as Malachy used the other Druids’ energy to fashion a sword from his glowing hands, and began walking toward us.
I raised my arms up in a defensive gesture, while Draven groaned below.
“Don’t!” I pleaded, my voice trembling. “Don’t! Not yet, please!”
“Serena, it’s too late,” Draven gasped, his hand clutching my wrist. “He’s taking over. Kill me now while you all still have a chance!”
The pain was unbearable, just watching him go through this horrific metamorphosis. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what mourning him would feel like. It would kill me. I simply couldn’t accept a life without Draven in it.
“No, Draven, you can fight this!” I cried, cupping his face in my hands.
Viola took several steps forward with a pained expression on her face, her eyes glowing violet. I could see her from the corner of my teary eye. I looked up, my gaze finding hers, and shook my head.
“No, please… Please, Viola…”
“I’m sorry, Serena. I truly am,” she said in multiple voices. “But Draven is right. I couldn’t kill Asherak because he already had fu
ll control over Azazel. The complete Soul Fusion spell was too much even for a Daughter of Eritopia to handle. But he’s yet to consume Draven. We can end this now, while Asherak is still vulnerable.”
Draven hissed suddenly, baring his fangs at me, but I knew it wasn’t him. It was the dark Druid feeling threatened. He knew what was coming.
“Viola, please… I beg you, wait. I can try, I can try to help him…”
I shifted my focus back to Draven, his big yellow eyes sending shivers down my spine. He struggled, his breathing ragged, while little currents of green light flowed through his body like pulses of Asherak’s power eating away at him.
“Draven, please,” I said gently. “I love you. I’ve only just found you. You’ve taken hold of my soul, my body, my entire existence. We were going to stand up today, overlooking Calliope and celebrate Eritopia’s freedom. Together. You and me, Draven. You love me. I can feel it. You don’t want this. I don’t want this… Please… Fight it. Fight him!”
“He’s strong, Serena,” Draven replied through gritted teeth, further twisting my heart into a painful knot. “Kill me before he takes over.”
“I… I can’t kill you, Draven,” I sobbed.
I noticed the snake pendant in his hand twisting back into its eight-loop, its beady ruby eyes glistening with green reflections. I moved to take it away from him, but Draven slapped my hand back so hard, it nearly broke my fingers.
I bit my lower lip to hold in a gasp, ice tumbling through my veins as he looked at me, his eyes flaring furiously green. He let out a menacing hiss, the air around us engaged in a friction that raised the temperature and amplified the pressure, making it difficult to react. As if a centuries-old weight were being pushed down on my shoulders.
“He’s strong.” Draven’s lips moved, but it wasn’t his voice. It was raspy and poisonous. Asherak was speaking through him. “I must say, I’m pleased with him. His soul, so bright and golden, is ripe and ready for me. Don’t think you can stop this.”
Dread made my temples and my throat burn. Draven was losing this battle, but I wasn’t ready to give up yet. I’d never be ready to give up on him.
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