Very well then.
“I don’t fear losing her, her leaving me, or choosing them over me.” I toss my head back and let clarity slip away. “She can’t leave me now. I’m hers and she’s mine, forever and ever, amen. Do you want to know what it is I really fear, God of Shadows?”
“Riven,” Kyzen pants from somewhere behind me. His labored breath is concerning, but I smile at dear ol’ Obsidian.
“I fear what I’ll do to the realm if someone takes her from me. Currently, the little room you encouraged—relished—in the making of, has taken her from me. I need her back.”
His chains loosen from around me the second he realizes what’s happening, but I snatch them back and blow him a kiss.
“You want to see the Empowerer really break? No problem. I’ll break for her, over and over again. Feed, God of Shadows. Enjoy your last feast.”
The thing about Chaos is, it doesn’t break into pieces.
It explodes. I’ve never allowed it to fully go boom. I’ve been too fearful of what that may look like.
I was hopeful tonight. Now, I know I was right.
Risky-risky. Worth it.
My Harmony snaps out of me first, weaving throughout his power.
The chains react, panicking, tightening as they try to smother the surge. The darkness surrounding us rushes to their owner, pleading, searching for a place to hide from my soothing embrace.
My Chaos flares like a shooting star.
Uncontained, unrestrained, beautifullywrongin all the right ways.
Its counterpart—the half I’ve always hated but am coming to a strange understanding with—catches the Chaos, folds it inward, and condenses the explosion into something lethal.
The restraints on my bloody wrists swallow the power and snatch me to the ground in a fight to get free. They tug hard enough that my arms stretch out toward the god who created them and bound them to me.
He follows me down, withering as his power goes crazy around him.
“You…” he breathes. “You should not be able to do that.”
I giggle again, then sigh.
“Story of my life.”
My power floods his.
Chaos sweeps through him, unraveling him from the inside. Harmony cocoons and convinces him this is exactly what should happen.
His scream is silent, swallowed by his own collapsing void.
The waves of shadows roll into a tight, floating black ball, and my power continues to embed and weave around it.
The sound of my name being shouted is drowned out by the bellow that breaks from my throat.
I can’t release him.
My power won’t let go.
It builds, pours out of me, then repeats that process until the pressure has my skin feeling like it’s about to rip from my body.
“Just die already you fuc—”
I crash into Kyzen as the explosion sends us both flailing through the air.
