[A/N]: Song: Game of Survival - Ruelle This chapter is dedicated to @BadEros. I haven't stopped listening to Ruelle since you recommended her and to be completely honest, she's been on repeat since then. It has shaped how this story ends. Thank you again for your music recommendation!
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I was careful of where I stepped as I walked through the woods. I was on high alert, my nerves on edge, my magic singing through me. Amazingly, my magic helped me. It let me hear further, see further and kept my hands somewhat still even as I trembled from the cold and the fear.
I watched everything around me carefully, looking for any footprints in the fresh white snow.
I squinted against the dark night letting myself be guided by my instincts and the intense dark energy I was feeling. I continued forward, steadying my breathing as thunder crashed above me.
Magic was making the woods breathe. The trees and ground pulsed with it. The animals that would normally make the woods sing with its nightly music were nowhere to be found. The silence was maddening.
Something moved behind me and before I knew it, something tossed me through the air. The tree trunk I landed against splintered against my weight as I crashed into it. As I coughed air back into my lungs, another force pulled me again, this time making me land on the snowy ground on my wrist.
I cried out as it snapped under me.
A branch snapped near me and immediately, I threw up a barrier. It was enough to soften the oncoming blow of power but it still propelled me through the air several feet. Landing on my knees, I kept the barrier up in place with a shaking hand while I kept the broken wrist close to my chest as it healed.
I had been a fool.
Training with Julian had helped me to a degree but his power was nothing compared to what I was feeling. Julian had taken it easy on me in the beginning but once we had embraced our bond, his power and mine both got stronger.
And it absolutely paled in comparison to Damien's.
It was raw power. Pure darkness that seemed to ooze even from the night itself. And all that was between it and me was the slim barrier before my shaking hand. The barrier glowed. It flowed and pulsed silver, producing its own light in the darkness. It allowed me to see the neighboring trees in my vicinity and just beyond that, a shadow.
A shadow slowly made man as it approached me.
Damien was molded from the darkness as if they were one and the same.
But it wasn't Damien's eyes that looked at me. It was Robyn's blue eyes in Damien's features that glinted with delight. He smiled with satisfaction as he watched me shaking from the cold and adrenaline in front of him.
