Blade institute: the unseen prophecy

45

The battlefield was eerily silent, the once chaotic clash of blades and magic now replaced by a suffocating stillness. My heart pounded in my chest as I stood rooted to the spot, unable to tear my gaze away from the figure that had once been Evangeline. But she wasn't the girl I knew anymore—she wasn't the girl I had fought alongside, laughed with, and cared for. No, what stood before me was something else entirely, something dark and terrifying.

The air around her crackled with energy, a heavy, oppressive force that pressed down on everything. The shadows clung to her like a second skin, writhing and pulsating as if they were alive, responding to her every movement. Her eyes—those familiar pink-tinted eyes that had always radiated warmth—were gone, replaced by an inky blackness that swallowed all light, all emotion. It was as if the very soul of Evangeline had been consumed, leaving behind only this dark, twisted version of her.

"Evangeline..." I tried to call out to her, but the words caught in my throat, strangled by the sheer weight of despair and grief that crushed my chest. I dropped to my knees, the strength leaving my legs as the reality of what had happened settled over me like a shroud. "She's gone... she's gone."

She looked at me, but there was no recognition in her gaze, no trace of the girl I once knew. Instead, a cold, cruel smirk twisted her lips, sending a shiver of dread down my spine. The shadows around her seemed to throb in response, their tendrils curling and twisting in the air like serpents, dark and malevolent.

Her entire presence radiated a power that was both awe-inspiring and utterly terrifying. She had become a force of nature, something beyond human, beyond comprehension. And as I knelt there, paralyzed by the enormity of it all, I realized that this was the end—the end of everything we had fought for, the end of the world as we knew it.

Before I could even begin to process what was happening, Sam suddenly broke away from the rest of us. Without hesitation, without thought, she raced toward Evangeline, driven by the same instincts that had always guided her—to protect, to save, to reach out to those she loved. But she didn't understand. She didn't see the danger, the abyss that had swallowed the Evangeline we knew and left this... creature in her place.

"Sam, no!" I screamed, my voice raw and desperate, but it was too late.

Evangeline moved with a fluid grace, a simple flick of her wrist sending a ripple of dark energy through the air. In that instant, the world seemed to freeze, the breath caught in my lungs as I watched in horror.

Sam's body crumpled to the ground with a sickening finality, her eyes wide with shock, then empty. She was dead before she even hit the earth. I could do nothing but watch as the life drained from her, her vibrant spirit snuffed out in the blink of an eye.

My heart shattered, the grief and horror so overwhelming that I could barely breathe. "What have you done?" I choked out, my voice barely more than a whisper, trembling with the weight of what I had just witnessed.

But Evangeline—no, the thing that had once been Evangeline—showed no sign of remorse, no flicker of the pain or regret that should have been there. She simply turned away, her expression unreadable, as if Sam's death was nothing more than an inconvenience, a minor detail in the grand tapestry of her newfound power.

Without another word, she vanished, her form dissolving into the shadows that swirled around her. In an instant, she was gone, leaving behind only the faintest trace of her presence—a lingering darkness, a cold void that seemed to suck the warmth from the very air.

I was left kneeling in the cold remnants of what had just occurred, surrounded by the dead and the dying, grappling with the loss of three people—two who had been my friends, and another who had been something more, something I didn't even have the words for. The playful, caring Evangeline was gone, consumed by a darkness that had turned her into a monster.

The realization hit me like a punch to the gut. What had once felt safe and familiar was shattered, and I was left alone in the aftermath of a storm that had ripped through the foundation of my world. The fear I felt was unlike anything I had ever known—an all-consuming terror that gripped my heart and refused to let go.

What else would she take from me? From us? And who could stop her now?

The world felt colder, emptier without her light, and in that moment, I understood that everything had changed. The battle we had fought so hard to win was over, but the war—the real war—had only just begun. And I had no idea how we were going to survive it.