Chapter 81: A SHARED POWER

Siofra's POV

She has practically just been staring at her parents' picture since we got here, with a visible emptiness in her eyes.

I just decided to let her be as I walked around the house, which was still sealed with police tape, indicating that they were probably still investigating the death of her parents.

I made my way to the front door and saw a car pull into the driveway, and I immediately knew we needed to leave.

I went back to her, but she was no longer in her parents' sitting room. Looking around, I ended up finding her in a room I presumed to be hers. She was just curled up on the bed. Legs hugging her chest, face buried away.

I couldn't hear a single sound from her, but I knew she was crying. I walked up to her and sat beside her, wishing there was something I could do to help, but I could barely gather my own emotions.

“Alda, I think the police are still at work here. We need to go. We can't afford having someone else wondering what we are or how things became of us,” I said.

She finally looked up. I was wrong about her crying, but there was this look in her eyes that I couldn't quite recognize. I just knew that being here wasn't really doing any good to her emotions.

“There's somewhere else I want you to take me.” She spoke, her eyes on me, but yet they strangely looked distant and her voice was cold.

“Alda, are you sure you're okay?” I asked, suddenly getting worried. Maybe I shouldn't have brought her here to this house.

“Yes, I just really want to go somewhere else.”

I nodded in agreement when I noticed that she wasn't going to take a no for an answer.

“Where else do you want to go?” I asked, already feeling like I wasn't going to like the answer.

“Up the cliff. The one I was thrown off from,” she coldly replied. She took my hand, holding it tightly, her gaze never leaving mine.

“Are you sure you want to be there? It could bring back memories of that night,” I asked, feeling anxious by her distant gaze.

“That's exactly why I want to go, Siofra. It seems I'm forgetting that pain. I need to be there so I can remember every sound my bones made while I fell, so I can make them feel double the pain.” Her hand tightened around mine as pure, venomous anger poured from her voice, and I knew immediately that something was wrong.

Before I could even comprehend what was happening or why she was acting that way, I felt the wind through my hair as the scenery shifted before my eyes.

A gasp left me before I could understand a thing.

Alda had teleported us right to that cliff, exactly to the top of the hills that took her life. I couldn't even understand a thing. How was she able to control my power? How was she able to control the power of the stones?

All these questions ran through my head as I stared at her. For a brief moment, I could swear I saw a flash of green in her eyes. I immediately pulled my hand away from hers, feeling suddenly suffocated as I backed away.

But she still didn't flinch. The coldness in her eyes remained as she walked closer to the edge of the cliff.

I stood behind her, clutching my fast-beating chest in pain as I stared at her figure. She just stood there, staring down that cliff.

What is happening?

“Alda! I think we need to go. I don't feel so good,” I called out to her between my breaths. The tightness in my chest seemed to be getting more intense, but she totally ignored my calls, her gaze still fixed down that cliff.

I stumbled towards her as a sharp pain exploded through my chest.

Why? Why am I feeling this way?

Alda, on the other hand, looked like she was going to fall off the cliff any moment from now.

I immediately reached out to her and dragged her away from the cliff, just before my legs gave out as I struggled to breathe.

Alma’s POV

I cannot believe those pathetic, wretched cowards managed to smuggle Siofra's physical body and the ancient spellbook right out from under my nose! How dare they play games with me.

“Bring those walls down! No one steals from me!” I roared to my rock armies.

Above us, the massive cavern ceiling began to buckle and warp under the absolute, melting heat of the volcanic fire spewed by my new dragon pet. It wasn't long before the violent trembling of the structural pillars began to shake the very foundations of the earth.

With a deafening crash, the barrier walls exploded inward. Instantly, a massive torrent of water breached the cavern, rushing through the gap and rapidly filling the open field, transforming it into a vast, flooded basin.

So, this is where they were nesting. I suppose I didn't know every pathetic little corner of Álfheimr as well as I thought, despite the years I took exploring it.

“Find me the princess's body and the black book, now!” I commanded the elven soldiers. They stood behind me like absolute cowards, trembling as they watched my rock army completely dismantle the hiding place.

As the soldiers flooded into the ruins, tearing down every single hut and smashing them into kindling, a movement caught my eye. Standing at the edge of a massive, ancient tree dipping into the water was Siofra's grandmother.

And clutched tightly in her withered hands was the Black Book.

A wave of pure, toxic fury twisted inside my gut. That old witch. I should have known she was the architect of this little rebellion.

With a sharp mental command, I directed the dragon to sweep low toward her. The moment the beast flew close enough to the canopy, I leaped off its back. But the second my boots slammed into the branch where she had just been standing, she vanished.

My eyes scanned the surrounding branches, a dark realization dawning on me. One of her innate elven gifts was total invisibility.

A cruel, mocking laugh escaped my lips. Did the old rag truly believe she could hide her energy from me?

I dropped from the tree, landing perfectly on my feet in the shallow water. I stood with my back turned to the woods, pretending to watch my rock armies smash the remaining huts with their bare hands. It was a calculated trap, a staged vulnerability to lure the presence creeping behind me into striking distance.

The old fool fell for it beautifully.

The moment her lingering, invisible figure drew close enough to strike from the air, my hand whipped backward. My fingers locked like a vice around her throat. Channeling my magic, I violently shocked the cloaking power straight out of her system, forcing her physical form to materialize.

“Now, what do we have here?” I snarled through gritted teeth, tightening my grip until I could feel the fragile bones in her neck preparing to snap. “If it isn't the old rag who simply refuses to die!”

Her hands clawed frantically at my wrists, her face turning as white as snow from the lack of oxygen—yet, infuriatingly, the corners of her mouth twitched upward into a smile.

“It seems... your body... isn't capable of sustaining the powers you consumed,” she wheezed out.

Only then did I notice the dark, warm fluid dripping onto my outstretched arm. It was blood. And it was coming from me.

Suddenly, a sharp, piercing agony shot through my chest, turning my arm entirely weak. I dropped the old witch, stumbling backward as a massive clump of thick, dark blood erupted from my mouth, staining the water at my feet.

The very air around me seemed to seize up, suffocating me for a horrific, endless moment before I managed to force myself back upright. The dark ritual I had performed to absorb the kingdoms' magic had left deep, volatile wounds in my core. I needed to finish the ultimate incantation if I was going to survive this body's collapse.

Wiping the crimson from my chin, I turned back to the old elf, who was lying in the mud, gasping desperately for air. I lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat again, hoisting her entirely mid-air.

“Where is she? Where the fuck are you hiding her physical body?!” a demonic scream tore from my throat.

As she thrashed in my grip, the Black Book slipped from her fingers, hitting the ground. The heavy binding fell open, revealing a jagged, torn spine. A missing page. The exact page detailing the ritual spell I needed.

A wild, hysterical laugh tore from my chest.

“You actually ripped a page out of it!” I cackled, the sheer absurdity of her defiance fueling my rage. With a violent thrust, I threw her body across the field, sending her crashing brutally into a massive boulder.

“Are you actually trying to play with me?!” I screamed, stepping over the book and advancing on her broken form. “Do you honestly think a single missing page is going to stop me?! I spent close to fifteen years of my life mastering every forbidden text I could get my hands on. Do you think I wouldn't have memorized every syllable of the Black Book?!”

I leaned down, shoving my face inches from hers, my voice vibrating with absolute disgust. “Don't make me laugh, you old rag. You sicken me. If you won't use your tongue to tell me where Siofra is... then I will just take the map directly from your head!”

Before she could even blink, I slammed my palms tightly over her eyes, unleashing my consciousness. The wind howled around us as my mind violently tore through the dark, defensive walls of her memories.

She was going to be my gateway to finding Siofra—whether she survived it or not.