The One

Taking a chance

The moment they arrived, Feray felt her heart nearly jumping out of her chest. The bridge was more fragile than ever, cracks now being present in every plank. The planks seemed...thinner, too; whether that was a trick her mind played on itself, she couldn't tell.

"Tell me, then," Izar urged, cutting straight to the point, "What have you done?"

"You're..." Distracted, Feray stared at the bridge beneath her feet. Then, she looked up at Izar. "Are you okay?"

His lips quivered, but he did not give way. "Why would you ask that? How does that matter? Dearie, I asked about—"

"What the hell do you think you're asking?" she retorted. "Wait, wait. What do you think I've done?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask," Izar said, "All I know is you used dark magic."

"Fine, I'll tell you—and then you'll take that attitude back."

She told him everything he had yet to know. She told him, and it was like she never intended to hide it from him in the first place. Then, when he learned the reason, the emotional barriers that he had previously set up—however briefly—came tumbling down, revealing them to be even more delicate than the bridge in his animorbis.

Ah...well, I tried.

"Izar!" came Feray's voice, filled with urgency. "We're still in your animorbis! Hold it together!"

"You...I can't believe it," he mumbled, slowly dropping onto his knees. Something tugged at his chest, making it difficult to stand straight.

Feray knelt with him. Gripping his shoulders in her hands, she said, "Then I'll say it again: Odessa cast a spell on Nasr, she didn't kill him; I can set him free with the blood and possibly life of someone who loves me; he proposed that he makes the antidote to your poison in exchange for his freedom and I agreed; he's teaching me 'dark magic', which is really alternative magic reserved for people with a more stable mind and heart...look at me, Izar."

He looked up, his breath growing shallow. He should probably get them out of there before it was too late, and yet he could barely move a muscle without feeling like his heart would physically tear apart. If what he knew and what Feray told him was true, it could very much be possible that whatever he felt was happening to his body was in fact happening, even if the root cause of it wasn't physical.

"Which part of what I said is hurting you?" she asked, "What did you think I was doing?"

Izar shook his head. "It's...my own problem. I expected more than what I...initially allowed myself to expect."

"That's so vague, shithead," Feray voiced, clearly frustrated. She cupped his head in her own hands to hold it in place, such that he could not remove his gaze from her if he tried—he wouldn't, but he might lower his head out of instinct when the pain came. "Why did you think we didn't call for you? We just didn't...didn't want you to hurt yourself again."

She was probably trying to help, but what her confession did was bring about a sharp pain from his chest to his head—one he could barely make sense of.

I know, he thought to himself, I knew when you told me the whole story. I'm hurt by my own idiocy.

Then, he fell forward into her arms, overwhelmed by guilt—both past and present.

This time, too...it's all my fault.

But just before he lost consciousness, he heard, faintly, this one line, "I'll get us out."

Feray had been prepared for this day for a while. It dated back to one of her lessons with Nasr.

"You frequently communicate with Izar in his animorbis," Nasr noted one day, calmly sitting on his armchair. "Sometimes your own. However, his animorbis is not a safe place to be, especially given the poison in his body presently."

She nodded. "Well...we could just meet in my animorbis in the future."

"In theory, yes."

"In theory?"

"Would he feel safe being in your animorbis, Feray...once he discovers the magic that you have learnt?"

"Why wouldn't he? It's...oh."

"I am the cause of the misfortunes he has suffered. It was my sister who directly and indirectly killed his family, rendering him alone—and my missteps were her mainspring." He spoke as if he were telling another person's story, and, far as it was into the past, if Nasr had learned from his own past at all, it may well be the case that it was, in a sense, a dead man's tale.

At this point, Feray sighed. "He doesn't know."

"And I do not fault him for his ignorance. I am merely asserting the very probable chance that he will no longer trust you as he used to—and if that is to happen, there are two things you must do: understand, first and foremost, that he is not in the wrong; learn to save yourself in case his animorbis falls."

"Learn to...what? I thought that was undoable!" Feray exclaimed, partly surprised but mostly excited.

"Dark magic can only truly be practiced by those with a sound and stable mind, for the fact that the magic itself is highly unbalanced and particular. Notwithstanding, there is a way to escape another person's animorbis—at a price. An animorbis is in ownership and control of the one to whom it belongs; in essence, the owner has the highest power. Should you need to escape, you are bypassing the owner's power, and have very little control of where you will end up afterwards."

Feray began to write, diligently, in her notebook.

"You will most definitely find yourself in a different world than where you initially were before you entered the animorbis in question: if you began in Refica, you will end up in Hominum. You may try to control where exactly you will land by envisioning a place with which you are familiar in Hominum then—that should not be difficult for you. In addition, you may or may not suffer damages from the escape, depending on the difference in power between you and the owner of the animorbis."

"That means...!" Her eyes widened in epiphany.

Nasr smiled, not because what he was telling her was positive, but because she caught on quickly. "Indeed, you may perish if you try to escape him. Consequently, I will remain confined for eternity. But—so long as death is not for certain, you would still take a chance, would you not?"

"I would."

"Then I will teach you how. This is a skill I hope you will not need to use, but should it become necessary, do not hesitate. Furthermore, practice conscientiously, so that you might reduce the distance between you and... anyone."

Feray, remember in your very heart all that you have learned, and be ready to make urgent decisions. Trust in your own judgement—as I do.

That must have been what he'd meant. She reached out beneath the bridge, creating a perfectly symmetrical ripple on the storming waters. At the same time, Feray wrapped her arms tightly around Izar. Nasr was right: if there was a chance, she would take it. If she tried, at least one of them would live.

The bridge collapsed, and Feray squeezed her eyes shut as they plunged into the portal she had just created.