Then I pushed away from the holy entity and sensed my mind instantly separate from the elder goddess, and once again, I was alone with my thoughts.
At that moment, I couldn’t help but feel pleased with myself for what I could now do. In the past, the elder woman could enter my mind whenever she desired, but now the tables had turned. I couldn’t understand why, but surely it had something to do with retrieving the second artifact. I knew, whether she wanted to admit it or not, that I was growing stronger, and she was becoming weaker.
I stood there in front of the window and continued to stare at the icy realm, and I began to ponder over our brief but intense conversation. As content as I was with myself, I wondered what Samara meant when she said she could do whatever she pleased, and we’d see it soon enough. I’d heard her persistent threats before, but this particular one tugged at every nerve inside my body.
Then, as I looked even closer at the lake of fire, I noticed something incredibly peculiar. The bloody horizon and the bright sun, which was slowly rising only moments ago, now seemed to be fading to black and turning the sky into the night. There were no stars, and suddenly, the lake of fire began to drown into the ice. I watched in horror as the red water dissolved into nothingness, and then I noticed the far edges of the realm were breaking apart. The mountains were collapsing, and their downfall instantly began to shake the palace of ice.
“Everyone, wake up!” I cried out as I ran to the bed, and the women began to stir awake.
At first, each gorgeous Wicca rose from the bed with half-hooded lids and parted lips, but when they felt the trembling of the walls and floor, their eyes widened with confusion and fear.
“W-What’s going on, master?” Beatrix asked in a panicked voice. “Are we under attack?”
“Clearly something shitty is going on!” Akira shouted with alert, black eyes as she shot up from the bed and began to dress. “Is the castle falling apart, master?”
“I have a feeling that’s the case,” I said before I grabbed my trousers and put them on. “Hurry, everyone, get dressed!”
The women asked no more questions as they scrambled to grab their clothes. As they struggled to get dressed, the bedroom door suddenly burst open, and a pale-faced but fully-garbed Vanessa rushed inside with her loyal familiar, Isobel, padding quickly by her side. Then all the other familiars either flew, crawled, or ran inside the bedroom as well.
“We need to get the hell out of here!” Vanessa snapped as she stared deeply into my eyes. For a moment, she glanced down at my bare chest, blushed, and then shook her head. “I think I know where we need to go, and it’s going to require powerful magic. But first, put on your fucking shirt, Cole, and the rest of you need to hurry it up!”
“Professor, where are we going?” Penelope asked as she frantically garbed herself in her furs and boots. “And why is the castle suddenly falling apart?”
“That bitch Samara must be killing the realm,” Vanessa answered in a rushed voice. “Once she knew we had the second artifact, she must have regained enough strength to place a holy spell on this snowy shit-land to destroy it. We have only a few minutes to get out of here before we disappear with it.”
“But how do you know where we must go next?” I asked as I put on my shirt. “And what exactly is this powerful magic you speak of?”
“Mother, err, the Headmistress spoke to me in my dreams,” Vanessa said before she quickly glanced out the window and swore under her breath. “She said we need to enter the Oceanum Terra, it’s a realm even farther north than here, and it’s not easy to get to, but she spoke of the spell, and I think we can do it.”
“Alright, what do we need to do first?” I asked calmly.
“Everyone needs to form a circle,” Vanessa responded before she spun around to face us all. “Then we need to use the second artifact to cut into our skin and bond our hands together. Afterward, when our blood is merged together, you will all repeat the incantation after me.”
“Understood,” I said as I ran to grab the holy blade while the others formed a perfect circle, and the familiars surrounded them just outside of the intimate gathering.
Cole, hurry! Alexander screamed in my head. We need to go! I can see the edges of the realm disappearing and nearing us! We’re right in the epicenter of this fucking place!
“I know,” I muttered as I rushed back to the group.
As my women and Vanessa all stared at me, I swiftly slashed the palm of my hand and made sure I cut as deeply as I could. Hot, sticky blood spilled from my open wound and seeped down my wrist before I passed the blade to Revna, who was by my right side while Vesta was at my left. I watched closely as each woman cut into her skin, and once the knife returned to me, I tucked it safely in my waistband next to my bonded blade. Then we all bound our hands with one another and held on tightly. The women calmly did what they were supposed to do, and I couldn’t help but admire them more for reacting bravely and strongly.
Even as the castle trembled, and we were possibly minutes away from perishing along with it, I appreciated that they were mine and mine alone.
“Alright, now everyone must picture their familiar in their head,” Vanessa ordered in a firm tone. “If you don’t, they won’t make it to the other realm, and you’ll lose them forever.”
“Yes, Professor,” we
