*Book One of The Accursed Chronicles*
August was a man from a normal world, living a mundane life until one night everything changed, and he was sent spiraling into a world stuck forever in winter, full of magic, creatures, and a curse that has grip...
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Nothing could've prepared me for the strength of the tidal wave that August had forced loose in me. His aggravating presence alone had my Vale unruly and me ready to keel over.
I stumbled through the corridor to the apothecary, hoping Saint hadn't been readying for bed yet. My breath fell heavily as I battled the darkness and the pull. It was only a little taste was what the Vale would have me believe, that it would only siphon the smallest bit from his aura, but I knew better.... I knew.
The fight began between me and the darkness, a darkness so easily dissipated if I let the Vale have my aura in its entirety. It offered me salvation from my failings, from my deep emotions that I kept buried, and from my darkest wish, except it wasn't free, it never was. The cost was to destroy who I was, to become something else entirely and I wouldn't have that.
I shook my head and ground my teeth together before I pushed open the apothecary door. Saint startled and paused in his sweeping until he recognized me and smiled.
"Back again?" Saint asked teasingly, not taking in my predicament until his lips fell and he gasped.
He left his broom behind, letting it clang to the floor, as he hurried over to me. He grabbed my arm and attempted to help me, but I pushed him off. I was able to walk. He let me be as I pulled my cloak's hood off on my way over to cot in the corner. I collapsed onto the cot and yanked my cloak off the rest of the way, removing my disguise that hid my real self.
My long hair fell back over my shoulders and my body filled back out to its proportions, outweighing Saint and his fragile frame that stood at five feet and five inches. In this body, my real body, he wouldn't be able to lift me if I fell, not without the help of magic at least. I was ten times his size. I could've never hidden my identity if it weren't for the help of disguise magic.
But was my true self even me anymore? I could hardly recognize it nor the hands I stared down at as I blinked through hazy vision.
"What do you need, Ronan?" Saint asked when he crouched in front of me with a hand rested onto mine.
"There's no cure, you know that," I muttered, life sucked from my voice. I felt hollow and death stricken. I could barely hold myself up or look Saint in the eye. How after all these years could he still dote upon me? Why hadn't he abandoned me like all others?
He frowned and clutched my cold hand in his. "That doesn't me you must go it alone, saesi."
I pulled my hand from his and shook my head. I didn't want to talk about it because he'd heard about it before. Nothing, not even speaking about it, could get rid of the darkness that the Vale pulled out in me. I was better waiting it out until I was able to get a grasp on it again.
"Have you eaten yet?" he asked tenderly, managing a small smile. He knew as well as I did that I wouldn't eat in this state. He sighed after a moment before he rose and walked away. "Why don't you tell me what triggered the darkness this time?"
