The texts had described it as "agonizing beyond mortal comprehension." They had undersold it considerably.
It felt like reaching into my own chest and pulling out vital organs, one by one, while remaining fully conscious throughout. Each piece of power I surrendered sent shockwaves of agonythrough my entire being. My veins burned with cold fire. My bones felt like they were fracturing from within.
I drew a shaking breath and reached deeper, finding another thread of power and severing it with an act of pure will. The pain exploded through me, and I couldn't suppress a cry that echoed off the stone walls.
The crimson light that had always surrounded me dimmed perceptibly. I could feel myself becoming... less. Weaker. More vulnerable.
But through our bond, I could still sense Charlie, her life force steady. The instability had calmed. The burning had cooled.
It was working.
I gathered my remaining strength and reached for another thread of power. My hands shook violently now, and sweat dripped from my face despite the cold of the catacombs. The candles around me flickered in response to my wavering control.
Worth it, I told myself as I severed another connection. She's worth everything.
The pain drove me to my hands and knees. I stayed there for a moment, gasping, trying to gather the strength to continue. The agony made it hard to think, hard to focus on anything except the overwhelming need to make it stop.
Charlie's face swam in my mind. Her smile when she'd woken in my arms. The trust in her eyes. The love I'd sensed.
I forced myself upright and reached for another thread of power.
The circle around me was littered with the physical manifestations of surrendered essence. Wisps of smoke thatdissipated into nothing, tiny flames that guttered and died, shadows that flickered and vanished.
An eternity of accumulated power, slowly being dismantled.
I reached for another thread.
That's when I heard it.
A voice. Growing closer.
No. No one was supposed to be here. Paz knew the danger of interruption. Any interference now could...
"Malrik!"
Charlie's voice, ragged and desperate, echoing through the chamber.
Terror shot through me, briefly overriding the pain. She couldn't be here. If she crossed into the ritual circle before I'd completed it, the backlash could kill us both.
"Stay back!" I managed to shout, though my voice came out hoarse and broken. "Don't enter the circle!"
But she was already there, standing at the edge of the symbols I'd drawn, her face pale in the candlelight. She wore only my black robe, her feet bare on the cold stone, her hair wild around her shoulders. The patterns on her skin blazed bright, pulsing with agitated energy.
She looked beautiful and terrified and absolutely furious.
"Stop!" she commanded, her voice shaking. "Malrik, stop the ritual right now!"
"Can't," I gasped, reaching for another thread despite the agony. "Have to... finish. You're in danger."
"No, I'm not!" She took a step closer to the circle's edge, and I saw Paz hovering anxiously behind her in the entrance. "You were wrong about what was happening!"
"Charlie, please." I forced myself to stay focused despite wanting to look at her. "Nearly complete. Just let me..."
"I read the texts!" she shouted, pulling a piece of paper from the robe's pocket. "The passage! It wasn't trying to consume me, Malrik. The power was demanding that I make a choice. A real choice!"
I paused, my hand hovering over the next thread of power. "Please stay back."
"The bond formed without my consent," she said, speaking faster now. "It wasn't enough. It was forcing me to actively choose, not just accept what happened by accident."
