In The Shadow of Love

Chapter 37: Death Knell

Diane felt a bit calmer as she saw Ominis run to safety, the panic starting to shift into worry rather than all consuming terror.

The repository continued to spin and break apart, tossing pieces aside before the tendrils lashed out at pieces as if helping break it apart further.

"Confringo!" Sebastian yelled angrily, the blast that came out of his wand red hot before he shoved it forward with a hard push. "Depulso!" He followed it up with another spell to force the fireball to go hurling toward Talon at breakneck speeds.

There was no way he could dodge such a combination, Talon sent flying through the air as he burst into flames, the impact making him yell in pain and shock before he lay still.

Sebastian squared up against the remaining two wizards now, Poppy dispatching hers with a last well aimed cast at the neck.

Diane was focusing on trying to keep the magic contained, forced to grab onto the spinning repository and force it to stop. She grunted as she held her wand with both hands to try and pull as hard as she could, the force of the spinning object actually forcing her to move forward slowly several yards as the force overcame her magic, but it slowly began to swirl slower.

"Diane!" Poppy yelled in panic, Diane seeing the shadow fall over her of a large object before Poppy's stream of magic was able to stop it in place above her. The large piece of metal was enough to easily crush her, but Diane hadn't faltered in her determination, still holding onto her wand despite the narrow escape.

"Thanks Poppy!" She shouted through gritted teeth, the metal above her flung aside as Poppy's magic joined hers in pulling the repository to a stand still.

"Focus on the magic, I'll handle this!" Poppy yelled as she prevented another piece from falling around them, sweat beading her brow as she redirected it away.

Diane felt her heart hammering as she blasted her magic toward the snaking tendrils that chewed through further pieces of the cave wall and repository. They were hard to contain, angry and wild from finally being let loose, they fought hard against her. She was starting to worry if she even could, if she could manage to contain these. She didn't have Fig here, he was gone... could she even do this on her own?

An arch of green magic joined her blue, and she looked over to see Sebastian trying to contain them as well, but only able to distract and pester them into directions. He looked over to her and their eyes met for a moment, worry and panic in both of them for two entirely different reasons.

The look he gave her turned softer, and it made her feel reassured. She had to do this. She had to finish this. She was a goddamn keeper, she could make this work!

Sebastian herded the tendrils into place while Diane blasted her magic into them, making them sluggish as she tried to keep them still. She attempted a containment shield around them, but she wasn't used to this yet, only the second time she'd used the spell. She let out a loud worried noise as she tried again, a burst of blue traveling up the line of her magic to surge further around the tendrils but flickered again.

"You can do it, flower!" He yelled above the sparking magic from their wands, the rumbles of the corrupted magic coiling tighter above them.

Diane gathered her resolve, knowing that Sebastian and Poppy's lives were still on the line because they were in the room still. She gritted her teeth and yelled out in determination, bursting her magic into her wand as it flared brightly. It traveled up the arch of her magic before gathering around the tendrils as they fought wildly to escape, the sphere growing white hot with a blinding flash of light as she poured her determination into the spell.

She felt the spell finish and fell to one knee as she panted for breath, looking up to see the repository returned whole, the tendrils now contained once more.