Pain wracks me, and my knees buckle.
This is how I'm going to die.
Suffocated by a mysterious black goo in the middle of some forsaken forest. I think about grabbing Arden and kissing her so I can at least die happy. I would rather perish without ever knowing the feel of her lips than allow this disgusting creature to touch her.
The pain blots out all my other senses. It rules over me, quickly depleting my strength. I tumble limply into the rotten ground.
I hear Arden call for me. The feel of her soft touch anchors me as the world around me blurs. Through the pain, the hunger in my stomach intensifies.
My curse throws itself against the bars I’ve kept it behind all these years. Snapping with its fangs and slicing with its claws.
I've fought it since I was a child. The goo has weakened me. I feel it slither up my shoulder. Oily tendrils wrap tightly around my throat.
The end is near. I have no strength left to hold it back.
Darkness erodes the iron cage I've kept him in.
He burst through in a torrent of burning fire and blazing golden light. It spills from me and spreads across the clearing. My blurry vision can make out Arden's slight form. The rays of light envelope her in a blanket of fire.
It will not harm her.
The goo coiling around me screams as my hidden power eradicates it.
It unfurls from my body, desperately seeking refuge, but it is too late. The light penetrates it until what remains is ash. With its tendril off my neck, I suck down mouthfuls of air as my vision clears.
My golden light spreads through Meadowmist, clearing the darkness in a single golden wave. It slams against the obsidian tower. The structure screeches from the impact as flames lick along its side.
A chorus of hisses sound as it’s consumed.
The fire seeks the obsidian's center. It burrows through the sludge, burning through the tower until it erupts. The mass splinters, sending goo and rot to the ground. Thedeadtreeswither and curl in on themselves until they become dust.
Golden flames clear away the last threads of darkness.
With its oppressive power eradicated, the forest's trees pull back, allowing sunlight to slip through the branches. There are still markers of decay, but the Void's structure is gone. The brown grass knits back and becomes verdant once more. Birds flock to the delicate branches, and a lone doe takes a few tentative steps into the clearing.
I double over as I pull the power back. Its warmth is abhorrent. I will it into submission through sheer force. Tucking the dwindling flames inside my body. Burying them deeper than before.
The creature fights me each step of the way, but I slam its cage back into place and lock it.
This small taste of freedom is the only one it will get if I have my say.
I brace my hands on my knees, trying to slow my racing heart. Delicate green toes come into view. Arden's rose scent chases away the lingering smell of death. I glance up at her, taking in the sharp edges of her teeth between her parted lips.
Her soft question nearly sends me back to the ground.
"How long have you known you're a changeling?"
10
THE FAIRY QUEEN
Achangeling.
Such things were considered myths. Ancient stories of switched fairy and human babes. What purpose these legends were meant to serve, she didn't know. Had she been asked before seeing the power he unleashed against the tower, she would've thought such a thing impossible.
There is no denying what Finn is. He is a changeling. He possesses fairy magic just as she does.
More than she does. The realization had stolen her breath.
