I stare at Scythe’s body.
Motionless. Breathless. Lifeless.
Dead.
The blood continues to spread across the floor, slowing now. My mind is numb, my legs paralyzed. I’m just sitting here, unaware of anything else around me.
There’s a muffled voice. “S-------”
My pulse is bounding behind my ears, rushing past my eyes.
“St-----!”
I’m looking past Scythe. I can see Maldridge in his prison cell. And a shadow looming near me. I remember it belongs to—
“Stand up!” Valkryn kicks me in the side with her boot.
My body restarts, as though an electrical current has sparked through every inch of my being.
“You killed him!” I jump to my feet. “You killed him!” I glare at Valkryn, irate at the smug look spreading across her face.
“I like this side of you, Genevieve. It’s nice to see a girl with bite.” She chomps her teeth, winking at me.
I approach Scythe’s body and bend down to place my hand on his head. My vision blurs, the tears hot on my cheeks.
“Oh, please. Don’t get all sentimental.” Valkryn walks over to my brother’s cell and punches in a number on the keypad.
The barrier disappears as I hear the electricity whirring down.
“He really wasn’t worth getting all bent out of shape over.”
“I’m so sorry, Scythe,” I whisper, rubbing his black hair, grasping at the strands between my fingers. “I did this to you.” I place my hand over his heart, his blood-soaked shirt cool beneath my touch.
“People die, Genevieve.” She crosses her arms as she leans against the cell. “You get used to it. No matter who it is.”
I close Scythe’s eyelids.
“All right.” Valkryn inhales deeply as she nods to the cell. “In you go.”
I lock my gaze with hers.
“Let my brother go,” I whisper, “and I’ll get in.”
“No, this isn’t a negotiation.” She turns toward Danny. “Although, I do feel bad we’ve pulled your brother into this for nothing now. My philosophy is never to harm children.” She clicks her tongue. “But I can’t say the Dark Lady feels the same.” She pivots around to face me. “You’re sure you aren’t a Formulist?”
“What? Are you serious?”
Valkryn shrugs. “Blaine has been known to…miss the mark on a few things. You do know why they call him the Magician, don’t you?”
I turn back to Scythe, still resting my hand on his chest.
“Blaine Fortrunner was actually an engineer by trade. His entire life, he was always tinkering with toys and building things. He came from a family that…wasn’t the most supportive. His parents were never there for him. He had no siblings, no friends. And no one cared about his hobbies or interests. He just simply existed. But somehow he got through all that and was accepted into the Academy to pursue his passions and dreams. He believed he’d find himself surrounded by individuals of the same intellectual caliber, but he quickly learned the world was just as cruel wherever you went. For most of his schooling, he was ridiculed for the ideas and projects he tried to develop. Many of them never worked. And when they did, people would just snicker and say it was from sheer luck. Magic. The Magician had pulled off another trick. But what they didn’t realize, Genevieve, was that his projects never worked because he was always striving for the unimaginable. He would tap into the mind’s power, which the vast majority of the world was not yet ready for. And he didn’t know it until he discovered the Voidweavers. Ganstin Remores, our Void King, he showed Fortrunner his true potential. And then you know what he did, Genevieve?” Her violet eyes are glowing, wide with excitement. “The Magician killed every last person who ever doubted him. Including his own parents. He didn’t need them now. The Voidweavers were his new family. He had finally found what he’d always wanted.”
“You’re crazy,” I whisper. “All of you.”
“Perhaps.” Valkryn laughs. “But at least we understand greatness requires sacrifice.” She steps towards me. “Now get into the cell.”
“Kill me. I don’t care.” I grimace, watching my hand tremble on Scythe’s chest. “I’m done running from you.”
“It’s not my decision whether you live or die, Genevieve. That would be—”
“Yeah, I know,” I snarl. “The Dark Lady. I get it.” I climb to my feet. “It’s amazing all the things I’ve heard about her, and yet she’s never been brave enough to come get me herself.”
“Don’t—”
“What? Don’t what? Talk about her? Speak her name? Mock her?” I laugh. “You seriously think I care about offending you? Yeah, okay.”
“Genevieve. Get in the cell.” Valkryn’s pale face flushes as her nostrils flare.
“Why don’t you use one of your little spells to paralyze me again?” I move closer to her. “Isn’t that what you do, Valkryn? Control through fear?”
“Come here!” Valkryn reaches out to grab my shoulder.
I raise my hand to knock her out of the way.
But that isn’t what happens.
Crack! A flash of light.
I close my eyes, caught off-guard by the dazzling glow. When I reopen them, I see Valkryn lying on the floor, several feet from me.
“You…you…” Her eyes are wide with astonishment. “You are a paladin.”
I look down at my hand. A golden light engulfs my fist, moving like the oscillating waves of an ocean.
What the hell? I stand frozen.
My gaze shifts from my hand to Valkryn. She’s now crouched on her feet, ready to pounce like a rabid dog. My heart’s pounding against my chest. Body shaking.
I look at Maldridge. The only sound is the soft humming of the prison’s many cells.
I head for my brother’s cell.
“No!” Valkryn’s shouts.
A shadow erupts beneath my feet.
Whack!
“Ugh!” I groan, as the air is knocked from my lungs, throwing me from his cell.
The shadow thrusts into my stomach, flinging me backward and slamming me down onto the concrete floor. I stare at the ceiling. Dazed. Gasping for air. Wheezing.
“Do not cross me, Genevieve,” Valkryn snarls.
Her voice pierces the ringing in my ears.
“You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing.”
Get up! Genevieve, get up.
I roll onto my stomach. A drop of blood drips to the floor. I wipe the cut on my lip with the back of my hand, keeping my gaze locked on Valkryn.
“You seem worried.” I cough as I raise myself.
Valkryn smirks. “You are an annoying girl, aren’t you?” Her fists are radiating purple. “Do what you think you can.”
My hands are still glowing. I cast them in her direction.
Craaaaaaack!
The beams radiate through the prison as they rush towards Valkryn. She raises her hands, forming a black shield that shatters my magic, scattering it into broken pieces.
“Try again!” she shrieks, and throws her own spells back at me.
Crap!
I raise my hands to my chest and pull them apart, forming a light barrier. Her spells hit it and disappear, fading into the air as quickly as they formed.
She flicks her hands at the floor. The dark shadow appears beneath my feet again, but this time I jump out of the way.
As her spell bursts through the ground, I counter by casting my hands toward her several times. The beams shoot out and whiz across the hallway. Over and over and over and over.
She ends her casting to focus on deflecting mine. And I take off running.
What is going on?
What’s happening?
What is happening!
My thoughts are uncontrollable, gnawing at me with an insatiable hunger. My world is blurred as I race forward, unsure of where to go. I am running. Breathing. I am alive.
But for how long?
None of this is making any sense. I have magical powers. I just used them. I saw them come from me. I am a paladin. I am being hunted.
I am wanted dead.
My breathing quickens. Chest tightens. Blood pounds through my body. Heart feels like it’s going to explode.
Lub-dub! Lub-dub! Lub-dub! Lub-dub!
Genevieve. Look out!
The two guards from outside the prison are now in front of me.
“What’s going on here? Stop!” one of them shouts, as I barrel towards them.
I shoot my hand out in front of me, and their bodies are thrown through the air like ragdolls.
“Ahhhhh!” The first guard catapults across the vast room, and disappears into the distance.
Thud!
His screams halt.
“Wait! Wha—no!” The second guard slams against one of the nearby cell barriers.
His body writhes as the electricity courses through him.
I freeze in place, my mouth hanging open as I watch the smoke rise before he slumps to the ground.
Oh, my God. What have I done? What have I done!
Just go!
But I’m too late.
A shadowy wall towers into the air right in front of me as I’m about to take off. The shadows dance madly as they wind up to the ceiling, obscuring any chance of escape I could have.
I turn around and see Valkryn glaring at me with enraged eyes.
“I don’t care what the Dark Lady wants. I will kill you myself,” she hisses, through snarled lips.
I take a step back, my hands raised.
Ready to fight.
Crunnnnnnnnnch!
The ground around Valkryn rises, engulfing her legs in concrete until it reaches her waist. She stares down at her lower body, unable to move.
“What!” she screeches, waving her hands.
She pounds her fists against the solid material, but nothing happens.
Boooooooooooooooom!
The ground around her erupts in a thunderous explosion. I fall to the floor as the earth shakes beneath my feet, cracking in several places. I cough and close my eyes as a cloud of dust penetrates the air.
When it clears, there is a crater where Valkryn had been frozen just moments before.
I crawl forward and peer over the edge. Far below, her body is sprawled and contorted, motionless as rubble continues to tumble into the pit on top of her.
“It’s cute that the new little paladin thinks she can take on one of the most adept shadow Formulists known to this land. Almost laughable, ah?” Naxxorius morphs into focus on the other side of the crater. “Fortunately for you, I thought it would be in my best interest to help you out of that mess.”
I stand, testing my balance.
“Well. What are you waiting for?” The elemental’s voice echoes through the prison. “Do you want to go save your brother, or not?”