*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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**trigger warning: insinuated death by suicide**
What kind of high was Altair and Cassian on?
I shook my head to myself and put my hands on my hips, appalled that nobody was doing anything or saying anything. Cassian had confessed to conspiring behind Magnus's back with Altair, and still we all stood around gawking like idiots. Why wasn't Cassian being arrested or something?
My irritated thoughts were cut off when I noticed Ronan glance over his shoulder, making me do the same. I watched the glass on the windows shudder and shake, then began to crinkle with the sound of cracking. My throat grew dry, and my eyes became numb as I refused to blink. This didn't seem good, and it was proven right when my focus fell back to Ronan when he began to stumble to the side.
I reached out to catch him when he began to collapse, but I was only able to brace his fall as he took me down with him. My teeth gritted together as I fell to my knees with him, him fallen against me face first and with his head slumped over my shoulder. I blinked up to Leuthar when he rushed over to help me, both of us lost to the others in the room as we panicked over Ronan.
"What's wrong with him?" I spat worriedly as me and Leuthar worked to roll Ronan onto his back on the floor. Leuthar hadn't replied as he checked Ronan's aura pulse, making me twitch in place and feel sweat forming on my skin. "Leuthar, what is wrong? He was fine just a moment ago."
"Poison," Leuthar muttered, making me tilt my head in confusion until he looked dead at me. "He's been poisoned, his aura is fading fast. The only poison I can think of is olairium."
I furrowed my eyebrows but had no time to understand complicated words. All I knew was poison and that was enough.
Panic flew up my throat when Leuthar grabbed Ronan's hood and began to yank it down. "Wait—"
"He can't use his powers, it will drain his aura faster and could kill him," Leuthar interrupted when he freed Ronan from his disguise, leaving his true face bare to the world. "We have to slow it. He will understand later why I did that."
I didn't—couldn't argue him because I wouldn't let Ronan die this way. We had to save him and alert the others to the potential poison being distributed. Ronan wasn't conscious, which meant this was up to me. I hoped to fuck that I didn't fuck it all up.
But I didn't have to say a single thing when suddenly a shrill gasp and scream pierced my ears. My head spun towards the horrific noise, to Arethusa then to Endora and Klarissa as all eyes were on the doors to the hall. I followed their gazes in time to see Eirith stumble his way in, clutching onto his stomach as blood splattered the ground at his feet.
"The... pr—prisoner," Eirith gasped with little life, color drained from his face.
Then he collapsed to the ground, fallen into his own puddle of blood. I froze in fear, feeling my face go numb and my lips grew tingly as my heartbeat pulsed in my ears. The thud, thud, thud of my heart was all I could hear as in through the doors stepped a ghost, a ghost of a man who had been gone since he had been banished from Darrose.
