“Do not be shortsighted, Braxton. Everyone wants power. Everyone has a price; I just need to find yours. You will never have any real power if you limit your own mind and allow it to hold you back. If we worked side by side, I could give you everything you ever dreamed of. I could infuse some of my magic into you to make you even greater. You could be a Warlock too…”
“No,” I assured. “I’m good.”
“You could have your own kingdom,” he persisted. “Take all your people and set them loose. In fact, you can have Caelisium. Be my pupil, Braxton, my legacy, and I will leave it all to you.” Taking a step closer, he slowly smirked, knowing he had my attention. “You would never again have to hide in fear from me. Your people could leave the mountain and build a fortress for you. They would have their freedom, and you, Braxton, you could rule what is left of the Soulris however you see fit.”
For a moment, I felt bad for him. He had fought so hard against everything he knew only to end up wanting the same thing any other king wanted. Someone to pass on everything they knew. Someone to continue their legacy, though in this case, it was a disturbing one.
“And you would no longer drain me of magic?”
“No,” he assured, the possibilities shining in his darkening eyes. “I would feed it instead. Show you how to sustain yourself.”
“I don’t buy it. Why would you just give up Caelisium to me?” I asked, skeptical, because he was still the Warlock King after all. “Two centuries fighting for it to just let it go now. What is it you really want?”
“I want you to let me make you as powerful as you could ever be.”
“Why? Why would you want me to be so powerful?”
Ding. Ding. Ding! The look in his eyes said I’d just asked the right question.
“Caelisium is not the only realm that exists. There is another, called the Mirror World.”
Holy shit. No. Not the human world.
“I travelled there once,” he continued, summoning his staff, and beginning to walk in a slow circle around me. “Azazel took me there through a portal somewhere in these lands, but access to it has since been lost to me. Hidden by the Dragons.”
Puncturing the sand with his staff, he stopped right in front of me, and every muscle in my body went rigid. He wanted the Earth now.
“If you joined me, Braxton, we could use our combined power to uncover the portal once more, so I can use it to reach the Mirror World and make it mine just like I did with Caelisium.”
Flashes of the chosen family I left behind, and the friends who had always been there for me captured my mind instantly. Every moment I’d shared with Ms. Reyes and Little Suzie, the guys at the coffee shop, my best friend, Josh, and his girl, Rebecca, all came rushing back to me.
My chest inevitably constricted as both fear and anger coursed through me. Somehow, I still hoped that one day I would see them again, but if Raithian conquered their world just like he had ours, humans would all be enslaved too, and those who fought back would die… With Azazel under the Warlock King’s control, Earth didn’t stand a chance.
Life as they knew it would end.
“Over my dead body,” I spat. Not only was he threatening to take over the Mirror World, but he thought I would actually help him.
His grin became malevolent. “I could arrange that. I am sure Azazel could take a snack. I will admit, it has been a while since I force-fed him a slave.”
My hands fisted at my sides, indignation sweeping my entire being. He knew exactly what to say to make my blood boil… but so did I.
“Listen to me carefully, Raithian, because I will not say this again,” I warned, stepping into his personal space until our noses almost touched. “You won’t make it to the Mirror World, EVER again. It might be the last thing I do, but I swear, with theSky Godsas my witness, that you will die before you can ever cross that portal and claim the human world.”
“You mean to stop me?” he seethed. “That is a significant promise to make. Especially for a mediocre wizard.”
“If I were somediocreyou would not be begging me to join you.”
“I could just as well steal your magic!” he snapped, pressing our foreheads together to push me back, his now glowing green eyes boring into mine with rage.
I forced a cynical smile to my lips. “It’s cute that you think you could.” Magic swirled out of me with each word, ribbons of sand curling over my fists. “I will stop you from draining me, just like I’ll stop you from ever reaching the portal.”
Before the Warlock King could respond, I slammed the sand bombs against his chest. The release of power blew him back, his form tumbling through the air until he crashed against a dune. Grunts ripped out of him when the scorching sand touched his bare skin, his body rolling down the hill for a split second.
He recovered swiftly, jumping to the sky, and hovering well above the dune. Unfortunately, only minor burns marred his hands and face. “Your magic cannot hurt me, you imbecilic child!” he raged, half insulted that I’d fired at him. “We have a magical pact. Whether you like it or not, you are my apprentice. You are tied to me until I say otherwise!”
The ire he provoked turned to pride, and I jumped into the air too while more magic rushed from my core to my hands. “Then I reject you as my teacher!”
My declaration caused the green and gold vines that sealed our vow to reappear over our forearms, and as Raithian’s blood drained from his face with the sight, I jerked my arms back, yanking his green vines off me.
