Sleep with the Lights On ✔️

15. The Purest Power

Peros tossed the book on the coffee table of the sitting room that connected his room to Cassie's. He wouldn't need it, he didn't need to be stronger, he didn't need to last longer in this existence. When he was younger he had wished he was born a human on the upperworld, free from the troubles of the underworld. His father was quick to remind him that it was just "a different kind of trouble" on the upperworld. Peros had accepted a long time ago that he wouldn't last long and he was fine with that.

Cassie's door opened and she poked her head through, smiling at him. Peros returned the smile as best he could. "So what happened to your face, you didn't say ..." He asked. She came out of her room to take a seat on the couch, directly in front of The Purest Power.

"She attacked me." Cassie began. "It was training I guess, but she didn't seem to be holding back."

"You think she would have seriously injured you?" Peros asked, moving to sit beside Cassie. He glanced nervously at the book on the table, paranoia filled him. What if she thought he was going to take her soul?

Cassie shrugged. "She's always been kind of hostile." She said, recalling all the sublimated threats and insults. "I didn't notice because I was focused on learning magic to survive and escape the underworld ... but I'm starting to think its not possible." She added with a sigh, the contented look on her face fading away. "Maybe my only option is to find the nymph and kill him."

Peros stared. "You want to kill someone? Isn't that a little ..." He stumbled over his words, the only way for an underworlder to die is to fade. He glanced at the book. "Killing someone is really serious here ..."

Cassie laughed. "Killing is a serious offense on the upperworld too, but if it comes down to me or him I'm not going to just let him kill me."

"We don't know if he wants to kill you." Peros reasoned.

"I don't want to be used by him either. I'm not going to delude myself into thinking I'm in a fairy tale and he wants me to give me my inheritance." Cassie said bitterly.

Peros moved quickly to pull the book of the table, He stared at her like she was a complete stranger.

"Why are you looking at me like that? I'm just being realistic." Cassie said, "You'd rather me die than defend myself?"

"No! It's just ... You're right but it'll take some time for me to accept that you want to become a ... killer." Peros explained. "Here take this." He passed her the book. "I want you to be able to defend yourself." With a resigned sigh he went to his own room, and he had planned to tell her ...

"I don't know how it works in the underworld, but ... I'm not expecting anything from you ... you know, about the kiss ... We're still friends right?" Cassie asked in a small voice.

Peros turned back to her with a weak smile. "I care about you a lot, I always have. Of course we're still friends."

Cassie smiled as she began flipping through the book.

The only way to eliminate a creature of the underworld is to force them into fading, as draining does inadvertently and through the sure ways outlined in this book.

Cassie read the book, she couldn't tear her eyes away from it. It was terrible, not only outlining how to steal the soul of another but the ways in which it could backfire. She finished the book in a few hours leaving her gasping for air. The book was also careful in explaining ways to injure others, and one of those methods was turning an enchantment back on the caster. If done completely the caster would be in a perpetual state of casting an enchantment on themselves, in other words they would lose the ability to use their magic.