"Looks like you overdid yourself, Sam. How unfortunate," Liam said.
"And it looks like you forgot about my magic!"
Liam turned sharply to see Eris and a stream of smoke slipping from her hands as she summoned her insects. They came, crawling from the darkened corners of the warehouse en masse at the command of their queen. Spiders, ants, beetles, and cockroaches. They all came, and from the look on Liam's face, he could do nothing to stop them.
Even if he didn't show the same symptoms of mana depletion, he was running out, and keeping himself alive was taking the remaining mana he had left.
"Devour him,” Eris commanded.
Liam panicked when he couldn't stop the rising horde. He looked to me with pleading eyes. "Don't do this, Sam. Stop her!"
But it wasn't my decision to make.
I couldn't move, couldn't even speak. I couldn't tell Eris to stop even if I wanted to, so I just stared as the swarm crawled over his legs and up to his chest.
The spiders reached him first, scurrying up to his face and neck and sinking their venomous fangs into every inch of exposed flesh. The fire ants were slower, but they worked their way under his clothing to bite and sting his legs and feet. Both were sickening to watch; my phobia of insects was out in full swing, but I physically couldn't look away.
The cockroaches were the worst. Spurred by the command of the Hive Queen, they crawled to Liam's chest and burrowed into his open wound, a dozen of them at a time, eating away at the bloody skin to crawl deeper inside him. His shouts were deafening, raking at my ears and pounding through my skull. Liam screamed and screamed until his mouth filled with spiders, choking off the horrid sound.
It took four minutes for Liam to die. The timer for my fatigue kept track for me, and in the end, I don't know what killed him. The blood loss from the deep gashes, the lack of air from the spiders, or the cockroaches that ate their way to his heart.
Honestly, I didn't want to know. All I cared about was that he was dead.
Liam had been, without a doubt, the most dangerous foe I'd ever faced.
Eris sat up off the ground and crawled her way over to me, pulling my head into her lap. For the first time in my life, I was thankful for my battle fatigue. It kept me from shivering at her touch. I felt horrible at myself for even thinking about it.
I loved Eris, knew I loved her from the bottom of my heart. But for a single split second, I was deathly afraid of her.
I managed to shake off the feeling by the time my battle fatigue wore off and chalked it up to my phobia of insects. I sat up and immediately pulled out a couple of potions: two health and a mana. I handed a health and mana potion to Eris and downed mine while she did the same to hers. My health steadily rose back into the green.
I knelt and cupped her cheek in my hand. "I love you, Eris."
My words cracked the dam, and Eris couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She broke down and cried. I kissed the top of her head and held her till she stopped a minute or so later.
I wiped the remnants of tears from her streaked face and kissed her lips. A chaste kiss, but I put my love of her behind it, and pressed my forehead to hers, enjoying her warmth again.
As with all things, though, our embrace came to a close, and I stood to my feet, with some resistance from Eris, who clutched at my sleeves. "Why can't we stay like this for a few more minutes?" she asked.
"Can't love, we've lingered here for too long as is. We don't need anyone coming in and finding us here. C'mon, let's loot the place and go," I said, pulling Eris up with me.
She knocked the dust off her clothes while I perused the room. The glint of light off of Liam's sword caught my attention again, and I stared as my fury rose at the symbol etched to the bone.
Magnus.
Damn it! I thought I’d had him!
Realizing that Liam wasn’t the man I’d been looking for was a sucker punch. I’d come this far and fought through a mountain of enemies, only to end up with a name and too many loose ends.
Magnus has been the root of all of this. His thugs have made my life hell, not to mention the attempt on our castle. This will not go unpunished.
"Let me skin him alive when we find him. I’ll be careful not to end his life too quickly,” the Aspect promised.
Eris felt the anger and looked at me with concern. "Sam, we need to talk."
"Yeah," I said.
I needed to know what I'd gotten myself into but was hesitant to actually find the answers.
“You made a deal with it?”
“I didn’t really have a choice in the matter,” I said and preceded to tell her about what happened, how it had taken over my body and nearly gotten me killed.
She sighed, running her hands through mine. “I don’t know what this means, but it won’t be good. For whatever reason, the Aspect is different and isn’t bound by the old laws.”
“So, what do we do?”
“I don’t know.”
I let out a deep sigh, echoing hers. Oh well, it’s my own fault for agreeing to it. Not that I had a choice, but I guess I just have to live with it now. And figure out
