{BOOK 1/3 of The Triumvariate Trilogy}
Adaline was living a normal life moving from military camp to camp as she tried to help anyone in need. Everyone needed her medical advice for she was the best doctor in the country.
But when the Grisha of Rav...
The Darkling blocked Adaline's first blow very easily. He skipped out of the way but the fire from the energy seemed to singe the corners of his kefta. That didn't matter to him because he could see the battle fight in her spirit.
She was the Morana of Life in the flesh. She wasn't going to back down until one particular conclusion....and that was something that he simply couldn't make.
Adaline was irritated that her first attack hadn't worked. She summoned a blue-coloured sphere and threw it at him. He crossed both of his hands to create a shield of darkness to protect himself.
"You should have made the decision, Aleks."
The Darkling blocked her next blow of continuous energy spheres and the fight began. "Adaline, stop this!" His hands trembled with every blow as the residue of her power hit his spirit.
She scoffed. "You know that I can't."
He ran towards her while trying to avoid her blasts at him. "Adaline." He held her arm and started to drain both their energy. "Stop this. We can have a new life with....new dreams." He breathed out.
She could feel the life leaving her body, her eyes going dark. She felt a hunger that she had never experienced before. She was standing in an empty dark space and her only out was in front of her, but she couldn't see it.
That was when it hit her.
Adaline clamped his hand and started to drain his energy as well. He lost his balance as his plan backfired terribly. "It works both ways, my love." She had overpowered him as his knees touched the ground. "I don't need you to feel sorry. I need you to make the right choice."
A red ball of energy started to form between them that originated from their joined hands. The energy between them started to act against each other. They were opposites and always would be. The sphere increased in size and once it reached its maximum capacity, it blasted both the powerful beings to opposite sides.
He was a living amplifier, and she was a living diminisher.
Their powers took over every time that they tried to fight each other. The cruel fate of nature brought the two lost souls together in a way they never could have imagined. Both of them found a home in the other's comforting words. Their ruined childhoods didn't matter and the outcome of their future didn't seem too bad when they were with each other.
But that afternoon, the decisions were to be made once again.
Fate was ready to see who would win this time.
"You're very brave." The Darkling coughed out. He stumbled to stand up in the place where he fell. His ankle was hurt and he couldn't help but wince at that pain. It was Adaline. He didn't have anything to hide. "I don't want to do this."
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The blast had hurt her as well. She pulled her coat around her as she stood up, stumbling a little as she tried to maintain her balance. "It always ends in only one way, one that you are too familiar with."
She tried to summon another energy sphere even though her body refused to cooperate, but that it wasn't just her body that refused. The Darkling clapped his hands together but the sound of thunder never appeared.
The elements of nature refused to cooperate with Adaline, and the darkness refused to answer to the Darkling. Their own powers refuse to cooperate and left them to make the decision themselves.
"The darkness doesn't seem to rise for you." She said. "I guess we will have to do this like it always has been done." Adaline pulled a knife out. "History repeats all over again."
"Adaline." The look of fear was back in his hands, but it wasn't the fear for his death. It was for hers. "If you ever loved me, stop this."
Her grip on the hilt of the knife loosened, but she reminded herself that the Darkling had a way with words. He could make anything sound right and he was tricking her into submission while he waited for his powers to resurface.
"If I ever loved you? Haven't you been hearing anything that I have been talking about?" She couldn't hold back the scoff. "You will never change, Aleksander. You always thought yourself above everyone and you still do that. You've been lying to everyone about the truth about their lives and-"
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"And what lie would that be?"
Adaline did not want to spell it out for him. "You know." She put it simply. "Are Amplifiers external objects that increase our powers, or is it the lie that you have been feeding to everyone?" Confusion spread across his face. He hadn't realised that he had it all wrong. "Everything that I have been doing, every decision that I've made since the day I met you has been for you! For us!"
"Stop this then. For us."
She shook her head slightly. "There is no us anymore. You chose you and I chose morality a long time ago."
The Darkling pulled a knife out as well. He armed himself with the familiar feel of the blade. He only had it with him for precautions and emergency situations. When it dawned to him that the blade was actually a gift from Sophie, he let it fall to the ground.
Adaline looked at it clatter against the sandy ground. The look of uncertainty and hesitation on her face was quite evident. "What are you doing?"
"I will not kill you again, Adaline." He couldn't. He wouldn't.
"Why?" She spitted out. "You've done it several times before. What makes it any different now?" The Darkling lowered his eyes. "No." She recognised his emotions. "You can't have-"
He looked up, tears forming in his eyes. "I have."
It is a trick, she told herself. He is fooling you. "We don't know each other in this lifetime. There is no way that you could have fallen for me."
The Darkling sighed. There was no point hiding it anymore. He and Adaline had shared only one kiss, but it was special. He had never felt that way towards anyone but he was a dangerous man. He couldn't be trusted. He didn't trust himself, so why should she?
"It was out of my control since the day we met."
Adaline faced an echo of the kiss that they had shared. She had taken the plunge to make that happen. She had told herself that it was the Darkling's charm that had caused that to happen, but after finding out that she was a Diminisher herself, she thought about it.
