I can’t scream, I can’t talk, I can’tmove.
It’s like being trapped inside… evil.
That’s the only way to describe it. I’m trapped inside evil.
“No,” Josep bellows. “You are evil, Syrsee. Just like me. Just like Paul. Just like Ryet. You. Live.Here. Inside the nothingness. For all eternity. And there is no way back.”
A vision appears in front of me. Like a movie, but I’m inside it. And I suddenly knoweverything. All the truth I ever wanted plays out around me. It’s like I read every book in the Guild library, and understood all the meanings of every word, all at once. I see the Darkness, and Josep, and Paul, and Lucia, and Ryet, and me. I see everything about all of them.
Josep spits words at me. “Oh, we’re just getting started, little Black witch. Keep watching!”
Time, or whatever it is, starts moving forward and I see everything that comes next. The end of Paul. The end of Ryet. The end of me.
But not the end, of course. Not really. Just the end of us as we know it.
Because what happens next when the Darkness takes over is a thousand years of Hell on Earth. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods. Blizzards, and wildfires, and heatwaves. Dust bowls and sandstorms. Landslides and sinkholes. Starvation and death.
This is what’s coming.
And as soon as I realize it, I understand that I am the cause.
Josep is laughing. “You,” he says through this laughter. “You feed us, Syrsee. You feed evil because you are evil. Without you, little witch, my reign here on Earth would not be possible.” His laughter dies and now he’s growling. Snarling out his words at me. “But make no mistake, without you, evil still exists. Because this world was made evil. It belongs tome.”
There’s a bright flash now. Orange, and red, and yellow. It’s like being inside a nuclear explosion. And this is when I see the truth. In this flash, everything is revealed. And it’s just like he said.
I am perpetual magic. I don’t control anything, I just feed the Darkness so I can make more evil. The horse and rider eating its own tail.
Eating my own magic to make more, and more, and more.
That is my only purpose.
I am not evil, I am just the source.
The flash ends and I slump to the floor of the misty place with all my mirrors. Lucia is bending over me as she screams words that I cannot hear.
No. The only thing I hear is my own voice inside my head telling me that I should’ve killed myself when I had the chance.
Because this is worse than death.
Maybe it wouldn’t have worked, but then again… maybe it would’ve?
For the first time I fully understand what’s at stake here.
It’s not about me and Ryet. It’s not even about Paul and Josep. It’s about good and evil.
It’s the black emptiness. The endless infinity of nothing.
I’m looking at the closest mirror as I think this and inside it is Josep’s beautiful face. His perfectly symmetrical face with the strong, square jaw. His black eyes go red, then blue, then purple and they start to glow.
I thought Ryet was handsome. I thought Paul was beautiful. No. Josep is the most exquisite man I’ve ever seen. He’s like an angel. Not made of light, though, made of Darkness itself. He speaks, and his voice is soothing now. “Would you like me to save him, Syrsee?”
Who? But I don’t even bother saying it. Because I already know. And anyway, Josep tosses Echo’s arm aside and reaches over to grab Ryet’s leg. He holds his body up like a prize. Ryet is upside down, limp and lifeless, his wings spread out across the cave floor, just a bunch of worthless feathers.
“Do I want you to save him?” I ask, repeating his question to me.
Josep smiles. Because he already knows the answer. But just in case I’m wavering, he adds, “You are part of me. You already know this. And that emptiness I took you to? That nothingness? That is not where you will go, Syrsee. That is what youare.”
He’s right. That is the truth I was looking for. And right now, I’m very, very sorry I ever started asking questions. I would give anything to be ignorant again.
