Witch Doctors Inc: SEASON TWO (Ongoing)

Part 4.4

Sickness lurches up through my body. Where were the skreevar? Why couldn't I sense them?

"I...can't find them," I stammer, voice weak. "I can't find them anywhere."

That is because, Onyx says, they are not anywhere.

What have I done?

Before you collapsed, Lily, you used the dark power. You used it on every skreevar in the Laran Valley.

What have I done?

You destroyed them.

What have I done?

The skreevar exist no longer.

A strangled cry wrenches free of my throat. I vomit butterflies. The truth retches and hacks its way out of me, but there is always more of it left, oozing its poison over my insides.

I destroyed the skreevar. They are gone. Extinct. An entire race - gone. Because of me.

It can't be.

It can't be, but it is.

Because there are no shadows stalking the heat. There are no hostile reptilian eyes blinking yellow behind the leaves. There is no tearing, clawing, or hissing. There isn't even death. The emptiness is unnaturally natural, undisturbed, as if nothing had been there before. As if there had only ever been heat and leaves and sunburnt rock.

Nothing to bury, nothing to mourn. Even death left something behind. This lacked even that dignity.

"How do I fix it?" I whimper.

Onyx's voice is unyielding. You don't.

No. This was fixable. It had to be. I made a mistake, but I could fix it. I never meant to destroy them all. I just wanted the attack to stop.

I'm worse than Onyx. I went off at him for being a demon, but Onyx hadn't committed genocide. He'd tried to stop it. He'd tried to stop me. I was the real demon.

If I was what the Phaedreans had become, then we should never have evolved. The demons of old were dignified. Even the fire demon, the father of a race of plunderers, only sought to bring peace into the world. I brought something worse than war, worse than death itself.

Let it be the way it was before. Let the Phaedrean race end with me. Let the world remember only Onyx and Dionysus. I'll erase myself from history, just like I erased the skreevar. A witch will not save this planet. We are evil.

I don't know how long it is before I hear myself breathe again.

Lily. Onyx's voice is soft, a feather brushing the darkness.

My tears are already dry. A putrid aftertaste lingers in my mouth.

Lily. There is a way forward. You can learn to control this. I will train you. You are still young and have much to learn. With time, you will -

"No."

Onyx stops. No?

"No," I clarify. "No training. The dark power is too dangerous. I can't control it. I have to get rid of it completely."

I hear the patter of Onyx's paws on the cave floor. And how do you propose to do that?

"The dark power is magic. Without magic, it's nothing. So no more magic. I won't ever use magic again, natural or quartz-induced. I'll let it all dry up. When the connection is completely severed, the dark power will be gone."

Your magic will also be gone.

"No one else will die."

The Ariadni will find us. They will track King Dionysus's energy signature. The planet needs you.

"No one needs me, Onyx. I could use the dark power at any time without meaning to. I could destroy anyone. You, Addy, Maya. The city of Zilitron. I could erase the planet itself. I need to sever my connection to magic. Then the dark power can no longer reach me, and neither can the First Witch."

You are fooling yourself if you think it will be that easy. The First Witch is determined to walk amongst us again, and your usage of the dark power has brought her out of the recesses of your mind. She will not leave you in peace.

"Then I'll fight her," I say. "But the war will be between the two of us. No more casualties, Onyx. Until my connection to magic has been completely severed, I'm going into hiding. Ilyrite blocks energy-sensing...maybe it can block magical energy too, or at least weaken it as it passes through. With the skreevar gone, there's no one around here for miles. This is the safest place I can be. No visits, and I mean that. This means you too. If you turn up here again, I'll turn you into a rug."

Lily, please reconsider this.

"No. This is happening. I'm ending this. You and Dionysus will have to deal with the Ariadni. I'm a much bigger threat to this planet than any alien army can ever be. No one has any contact with me until it's safe. Me and magic are done."