The Anima [completed]

37.

The crowd had gathered by the lake. The light reflected off its surface, harshly piercing the eyes of eager onlookers, desperate to escape their devastated home. Some of the gathered shuffled, uncomfortable, further from the rippling surface. They feared that the inevitable blast that would destroy the barrier would also tear through them. And although they had no reason to suspect that their queen was dead, they could all feel the different level of power in the air. It was new, a mixture of the familiar shadows and a warm glow.

I wrung my hands together, uncomfortably close to the lakes edge, toes dipping slightly into the water. Alvar and Lucius were stoic, the perfect image of warriors. The wolf, Noir, paced on the other side of the lake, waiting. Beast kept me standing, his large body pressed against my side as support.

Blake had explained to me the basics of the ritual. Most of the technical, he had already set up. There were things he didn't say to me, keeping the little dirty secrets to himself. I suspected there was more than the superficial innocence he spouted to the spell. He knew I would protest if bodies were strung up in a pentagon or some other ridiculous slaughter. And although it worried me that he may have hidden a slaughter, I was in no position to protest. It was time for me to do my bit. And if people had died, then it was my duty to honour them.

"It's time, Lyra." Blake extended the same dagger that ended my doppelgängers life, carefully cleaned of the sticky poison that would destroy my power.

Closing my eyes, I sighed into Beast's comforting form and gripped the dagger tightly in one hand.

In a quick striking motion, I sliced open the artery in my bicep and leaned the wound over the water. The blood dripped quickly into the water before the skin began to close. Just as the ritual predicted, the water absorbed the blood instantly and expanded into a red border around the lakes edges. There was a sudden gust of wind and the blood border became a tall barrier, a wall of mahogany. My blood was gripping onto the spell cast by The Anima, the spell that kept the largest portal between the two worlds closed, and unveiling it.

I hesitated, fingers prickling as I stared at the glowing wall of power before me. I had no idea how to use my powers. The people gathered around the lake had all stepped back, just as fearful as I was as I examined its length.

"It's just as I said, Lyra. Just channel your power," Blake began quietly, "and push it towards the barrier. Your gift will do it all for you. All you have to do is give it a push."

I nodded once stiffly. I felt a hand on my lower back and turned to see Alvar's small smile. It was all I needed to see those little dimples and those deep black eyes. Within their depths, I found my courage.

Lifting my hands, I placed them upon the barrier and closed my eyes. My breathing slowed as my skin connected with the spell. My power immediately recognised the force as of it's own and flowed from my body into its form. I felt it navigate the surface, feeling around it like a anteaters tongue. The power curled up like a wire inside of me and as soon as I let it go, it poured out of me like lava. My eyes remained closed but I could feel the barrier was disintegrating around me.

The sweat flowed from neck and pooled in the crevasses of my collarbones. Internal core temperature burning hot, my limbs struggled to keep myself upright; all blood circulating from my outer-extremities to protect my essential organs. Adrenaline rushing, ears ringing, I pushed on, hands sinking into the invisible barrier. My nails latched on, power flowing directly into my hands. My skull thudded, brain dying under the pressure, as I used the last thread of my strength. I included the golden wire from my core, working to wind it around the powerful presence stopping me from travelling back to Earth and to the First Plane. As the strength left my body, I quickly wound it tighter around the magic, strangling it. A scream tore from my throat.