I close my eyes and focus on the core and its power. It brushes up against my senses, gliding over my skin before seeping into every cell in my body.
I step into it, letting it consume me.
Soon it’s everywhere. I taste it on my tongue and smell it in the air around me.
I pull the energy to me, and a connection forms. It flows effortlessly, the power feeling endless.
Within minutes I’m full. Too full. The power filling up every nerve and cell in my body.
But I don’t stop.
More… The thought is all it takes before the energy swells up and expands. I gasp as it surges into me, the core flooding me with more power than I can handle.
But I keep pulling it until it’s brimming inside me and overflowing out around me. It builds and builds until it consumes me, slowly burning throughout my body.
I grit my teeth as it quickly turns painful. A sharp slash that expands to every nerve.
My legs start to shake, and I know it won’t be long before I hit the ground. Instead, my body turns as stiff as a board as a sudden tug starts dragging the power from me.
Panting through the pain, I slowly turn my head and watch as King stands there, his mouth unnaturally wide, his eyes completely white as he feeds from me.
But instead of feeling some relief, the pain intensifies, shooting through my head and body in agonizing waves.
I try to pull back, to stop for a moment, but it’s relentless as it rushes through me to him. I try again, if only to break the connection for a moment, but nothing happens.
Seconds pass as I stand there, no longer focusing on anything but the pain. It grips me like a vice, holding me as its captive.
It’s then that I realize I’m not the one in control.
King is.
A loud rumble echoes around the room. My eyes widen on the core, as small fractures appear, splintering up through it.
The small cracks split open and rupture as the core becomes unstable.
A blaze of heat sears through my skull just as lava spills from the core onto the ground. Flames igniting everything they touch before they expand.
The endless power continues to flow through me and into King while the destruction spreads to the rest of the room.
I’m helpless to do anything but stand here and watch as the devastating damage mirrors the agony inside my body.
The core shakes and groans as it loses more and more power. While the pain intensifies, my chest grows tight as flames engulf the walls. I start to panic when I realize there may be no coming back from this.
Before I can think of a way out, the core gives one last rush of power, surging through me to King and forcing me to my knees.
Just as I hit the ground, something splinters inside me, cracking open to release a weight I never realized was there.
But instead of feeling less of a person, I feel more of one. Like a heavy weight on my shoulders has finally lifted, releasing the silent dark cloud over me.
It’s the link, it has to be.
I take a deep breath, relief shuddering through me as my healing ability slowly kicks in.
I glance around for Luka, but all I can see is the chaos I caused. My stomach drops, twisting into knots the longer I look around the room.
What have I done?
I watch in horror as the destruction spreads further, trying to escape the room. It won’t be long before it expands outside it and then true hell will break loose.
Shaking off my spiraling thoughts, I push myself up and look for Luka.
King is nowhere to be found, but I spot Luka over near the entrance. The flames haven’t reached him yet, but it won’t be long before they do.
He’s safe… for now.
I turn back when a shimmer from behind Luka catches my eye. I focus on it when it shimmers again. But this time I could’ve sworn I saw something else… A large dark form with familiar red eyes.
Thinking the core must have messed with my head, I turn around and focus on it when the room starts to shake. But this time it’s as if it’s coming from the outside and working itself in.
The core’s lack of power must already be affecting the Underworld.
There has to be something I can do.
A beam in the ceiling collapses, making me jump out of the way. I fall back, catching my hand on something sharp, slicing it, but it heals within seconds.
My healing ability… King took the core’s power through me, but I still have my powers. I glance up to the core just as King’s words come back to me.
Like calls to like…
Maybe I can fix this after all. I get up, feeling slightly more confident with a plan in mind.
You’re the same… If we’re the same, then maybe I can give back what I took. Or at least mend it long enough until I figure something else out.
“Kiarra…” I hear a whisper of my name and know it must be Luka. I glance over at him as he stirs, his eyes widening when he sees the chaos around him.
“Kiarra!” He stumbles up, looking around. When he finds me, terror fills his wide eyes. They quickly narrow, morphing into a determined look as he tries to find a way over to me.
He glances at the flamed path between us. His hands shaking as he stumbles forward.
“Stop!” I shout, hoping he’ll listen. Luka looks up hearing me even among the devastation.
“It’s too dangerous,” I plead.
Luka narrows his eyes on me, shaking his head as he tries to find another way over to me. His stubbornness knowing no bounds.
“Stay where you are. I’m coming to you.”
I glance back at the core. Luka catches me, his frown turning into a pissed-off glare. With one glance, I can tell he knows what I’m about to do.
“Don’t even think about it, Kiarra.”
But I have no other choice. If I don’t try to at least fix this, none of us are making it out of here alive.
“I’ll be fine, I promise.” I turn quickly, ignoring Luka’s protests, and make my way around the flamed cracks until I’m close enough to the core. Once I’m near enough, I reach down inside me and pull up everything I have left. I gather every sliver of power inside me and drag it up and push it toward the damaged core.
As if it can sense what I’m trying to do, it quickly forms a connection and pulls the energy from me.
“Kiarra!”
I hear Luka once more, but he sounds further away. I try to turn to him, but I can no longer move, my body consumed with its task to give back what it took.
Black dots appear across my vision as the room tilts and sways. I blink, forcing myself to stay awake long enough to fix this.
Suddenly, the destruction in the room slows down to a stop as everything freezes. I glance at the core and watch as it slowly starts to mend itself, my power closing the large cracks until they’re nothing but small fractures.
I start to relax, thinking it’s working when the pull turns to a sharp yank and it grows, pulling everything from me.
No…
I try to pull back, to cut the connection, but it grips on tighter, clawing at every nerve and pulling every ounce of energy from me as if it’s been starved.
“Kiarra… No! Kiarra, stop!” Luka’s voice drifts around me as the core continues to replace what was taken.
What I had taken from it.
It pulls more and more power from me until I start to feel weightless. Until the room spins and starts to grow dark.
Too much. It’s too much… I need to pull back.
“Stop Kiarra. Stop, baby. Please.” Familiar voices float around me as more and more of my powers are drained from me. More dark spots enter my vision as I realize my body is crossing a line it won’t be able to return from.
I try again to break away from the core, but it’s like pulling against a steel tonne. I try again and again, but instead of stopping it, it speeds up, pulling more and more from me until my body turns numb. Until it slowly starts to shut down.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop it.
Familiar voices shout around me, begging me to stop as I continue to grow weaker.
But I can’t stop…
Tears flow freely down my cheeks as the realization of what’s about to happen fully hits me.
I drop to the ground, not feeling my body hit it as everything turns cold and numb. The only thing I can feel is my heart as it cracks and rips open.
This isn’t what I wanted…
My mates’ faces float in and out of my vision as the world around me slows down, turning silent. That’s when I realize… that this is it. This is the end for us.
After everything we’ve been through… this is our end together.
I try to open my mouth, but my lips no longer work, my energy too depleted as the world around me slowly fades into a black haze.
I’m sorry. I try telling them with my eyes, but it doesn’t feel like it’s enough.
And it never will be.
I drift away into the darkness, my last thoughts of the five men who own my heart, and how cruel our ending turned out to be.
After all, death is no more an escape than it is a curse…
