Blood of Decusia

Chapter Twenty Three

I crawled to him, turning him on his back, my own breathing loud in my ears. His face was deathly pale, his lips already blue, as if the life had been literally sucked out of him.
"No, no," I muttered, laying my head on his chest, hoping, praying to hear a heartbeat, any sign of life. 
"No, Sage!" I screamed, the tears streaming down my face.
I was broken, my world shattered. He was gone. I had just gotten him back and I lost him again. I failed him, like I failed my parents, Marcus, Warner, the world.
"There's your biggest weakness right there," the man laughed.
I looked up at him. The look of victory etched across his face, smug, arrogance, everything in between. That look sent a burning deep in my chest, a burn that spread quickly to my fingers and toes. My eyes flashed to the dagger that lay next to my hand. My mother's words ringing through my head. Let go.
"Love. You can't truly defeat me if you're always watching to make sure the person you love isn't lying dead."
Let go of  your fear.
I stood, no sign of the shakiness.
"That's where you're wrong," I murmured, brandishing the dagger.
As the burning grew stronger, engulfing me, the initial cold burn turned white hot. The look on Venefucsia's shifted. To confusion, and something that slightly resembled fear.
"That's not possible," he muttered.
Your doubt.
"Unlike you, I'm not fueled by hate, power," I said, power coursing through every fiber of my being, "Love fuels me. Love for my family, my friends."
I took a step forward. Venefucusia to his credit, did not step back, but his expression was no longer smug. The fear was imminent now.
Everything that's holding you back and keeping you from who you can be.
"It gives me something to fight for."
Then everything exploded. Green and purple light flooded the room, engulfing Venefucusia and I. But while it swallowed him, consumed him, while his screams pierced the air, a feeling of power, true power, flowed through me. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.
I let go. Let go of every thought, emotion, feeling, all of it. It wasn't just me and the stones, I had become them. We were one.
I felt nothing except control. I could feel that evil in front of me was gone, consumed by me. Enveloped by the strength at my fingertips. Energy that no one had ever experienced before, that no one except me could.
I didn't just have power. I was power. Not just the definition, I had changed the meaning.
"Clove."
It sounded far away, foreign. Not evil, just different.
"Clove."
That was my name right? I couldn't remember, couldn't remember anything except for the feeling of absolute dominance.
"Clove!"
The voice became clearer.
"Clove!"
It was calling for me. My name was Clove and it was calling for me.
"Clove!"
I was laying on my back, the world was spinning. Everything hurt from the pounding of my head to my aching toes. The worst pain was coming from my chest and my hand, like I had been burned.
"Clove."
There it was again. The voice that pulled out. It was softer, comforting. I tried to move, but pain exploded throughout my whole body, causing me to yelp.
"Hey, hey, you're ok."
This was a different voice, but it was also comforting. I tried to focus, my vision still fuzzy, the pain distracting me.
"Clove," the first voice spoke again.
I knew that voice. Where did I know it?
"It's Marcus and Warner," the second voice this time, "We're here. You're ok."
Marcus. Warner. Suddenly everything came back to me, my vision, my focus, my memories, all flooded into me at once. I gasped, shooting up and the pain erupted through my body. I started to slump back, but hands caught me, keeping me upright.
I turned my head to the left and saw the most beautiful man I had ever seen. He had sweeping jet black hair that I wanted to run my hands through, stormy gray-blue eyes that I could get lost in, and beautiful full lips that I wanted to kiss.
I turned to the right and saw another man. Gorgeous, like the other one. He had shorter blonde hair and beautiful honey colored eyes. It was a face I trusted, I cared about. One who had saved me and I him.
I looked back and forth between them.
"Marcus," I breathed, "Warner."
Relief was visible on both of their faces.
"What happened-," I froze.
I looked to where my brother had laid. He was no longer there, no doubt thanks to me.
"He's gone," I murmured, my eyes stinging.
"I'm sorry."
Marcus brought me closer to him, so I was leaning on his shoulder. He smelled like the fresh pine of the forest and the sweet treat we had shared the night we met. Warner, on the other side, grabbed my hand and squeezed.
"What-what happened?" I stammered, "To-to me? To him?"
Marcus and Warner exchanged a look.
"We're not really sure," Marcus started slowly, "I was trying to get Warner out, while fighting off some of the monsters he sent our way."
I suddenly remembered. Warner had been attacked, badly hurt. Marcus was getting him out. I sat up and quickly looked down to his side. There were no signs of blood, injury, anything.
"How-?"
"Something came over us," Marcus continued, "It was hard to describe other than a wave of energy. Knocked us both on our asses, but it didn't hurt. It did, however, take out that son of bitch trying to eat our faces off."
"Well," Warner said, flashing me a smile, "I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't in any pain, so we ran back to help you.
When we arrived, we felt it again. The wave, except now it was a 100 hundred times more powerful and we could see it now too. Huge waves of what looked like purple and green smoke enveloping the room."
"In the middle of it," Marcus jumped, "was you. It was easy to tell that it was coming from you. It was like the light we had seen before, but more."
I shivered, thinking the feel of nothing but true power overwhelming me.
"Marcus tried calling your name," Warner explained, "Over and over again. One time, it seemed like you actually heard him."
"I did," I said, turning to Marcus, "I heard you. You brought me back."
He put a hand on my cheek.
"Always," he murmured.
"Then it just stopped," Warner continued, "And you were on the ground. We thought you were dead."
I thought I was dead too. I might as well have been.
"I wasn't me," I whispered, "It was like I was that power. I was the stones. Every eb and flow of energy in them became a part of me."
That's when I realized. My hands went to my neck and I immediately winced. There was a large circular burn where my necklace had been, but the stone was gone. I looked down at my hand. The dagger was gone too, in its place, a burn like the handle of  the dagger.
"They're gone," I murmured.
I looked around. Where Venefucusia once stood, there was only a small pile of ash, but no stone.
"Did you destroy them?" Warner asked, his gaze wholly focused on me.
"No," I said, not sure how I knew, but I did.
"You absorbed them, didn't you?" Marcus asked.
I didn't answer, but I knew he was right. The power was dormant, but I could feel it. Bubbling deep beneath the surface of my skin
Marcus kissed my cheek. I could feel my face getting hot.
"What now?" Warner asked.
"We go home," Marcus said, getting up and offering me a hand.
He helped me to my feet. My legs were still sore and shaky, but I held steady.
"I don't really have a home," I said, looking around at the room around us.
         There was debris and fallen rocks everywhere, the throne reduced to rubble. I looked to the place where my brother had died, the last piece of my old life gone.
           I couldn't go back to the Other World either. As much as I missed Amity, I knew I didn't belong. Maybe I would try and see her, send her some kind of message, but I could never return, never go back to the way things were.
"Of course, you do," Warner said, throwing an arm around my shoulders, "Your home is with us."
"Really?" I looked up at the two of them.
Home had always been a foreign concept for me, Una being the closest since the night of the fire.
"Unfortunately, you're stuck with us," Marcus said, pushing off Warner's arm replacing it with his own.
Warner laughed and shoved both of us. He then pretended to gag.
"You two are going to be insufferable, aren't you?" he joked.
Marcus laughed and responded by kissing me. A deep and intimate kiss that made my toes curl.
"Does that answer your question?" Marcus smirked.
"Let's get out of here," I said, smiling at both of them.
I was tired. I felt like I could lay down and sleep forever. But I needed to go. Go check on Adolphus and Lupidium. Tell him about Saige, how he died a hero. I looked back at the spot where my brother had died, died for me.
I knew that our troubles were far from over. I had absorbed the most powerful items in the universe, but that could wait. For now, Decusia was safe. We had won.