Chapter 40 Chapter Forty
AQUILA
The door slammed shut behind Aquila and echoed through the stone chamber like death's bell.
For a moment, he just stood there, his back pressed against the heavy wood. His hands still shaking from the force of will it had taken to compel Crystal. To look into those violet eyes and twist her mind against her will.
It's normally so easy to do. But there was something in her that pushed him back and it wasn't just her strong will.
Another roar from the center of the room snapped him back to the present and he looked down to find Asher, his childhood friend, convulsing on the floor violently and every other thought fled from his mind.
"Shit." Aquila cursed, his body moving before he consciously decided to as he crossed the stone floor in quick strides.
Asher's screams tore at Aquila's soul as he folded his sleeves. He blamed himself for not getting here sooner.
The black scales had spread further up his back, creeping over his shoulders like a disease. The dark veins that pulsed with corruption had crawled up his neck and were now visible on the sides of his face and sprouting like roots around the scar that cut across his face. His breathing was ragged and desperate, each inhale sounding as if it were being dragged through broken glass.
"Stay with me, Asher." Aquila dropped to his knees beside him, his hands immediately going to Asher's shoulders to flip him onto his back.
Asher's eyes snapped open, his amber irises nearly swallowed by dilated pupils, glazed over with pain and something that looked dangerously close to madness.
"I..." Asher choked out a rasping growl. "I tried to hold it back till you... returned, but..."
"It's fine. I'm here now." Aquila kept his voice steady even though his heart was hammering against his ribs. "Just relax. I'm here now."
He grabbed what was left of Asher's torn shirt and ripped it away completely, exposing the full extent of his body
Hard muscle rippled underneath his smootskinkiwhichht was patched and covered with scars and scales that covered most of his torso by now. The corruption was spreading faster than it should have been.
It's been bad before, but never this bad.
"Aquila—" Asher choked on whatever he'd been about to say as another pained cry tore through him and his body arched off the floor when another wave of convulsions hit.
"I know. I know it hurts. Just breathe." Aquila cooed so softly, you would have thought he was taking care of a wounded bird. His speech, movement, aneverything werees with care and precision as his hands moved to Asher's chest, pressing down firmly to keep him grounded. "Don't fight it. The more you resist, the worse it gets."
But even though he said it would be fine, he knew the pain was far worse than what he could see.
There was no 'not fighting' this. The sickness was too aggressive, too violent. It would tear through Asher whether he resisted or not. All they could do was try to contain it before it consumed him completely. And each time it happened, it was getting harder and harder to contain with his magic alone. They needed a permanent solution, but how long do they even have left? How long does Asher...have left?
Aquila pulled back slightly, his mind already racing through the steps of the ritual. He needed space. Needed to create the barrier first before attempting anything else.
"Crystal..." Asher's voice was barely a whisper now, his eyes struggling to focus on Aquila's face. "Did she... see?"
"She won't remember anything by the morning." The words tasted like ash in his mouth. "Just focus on me, Asher. Focus on my voice. Nothing else matters right now."
Asher stared at him for a long moment, those amber eyes searching for reassurance that Aquila had done the right thing. Asher finally gave a small stiff nod.
"Good." Aquila stood quickly, moving to the corner of the room to grab a handful of white ash. "Try not to move too much, okay? This is going to get worse before it gets better."
"Easy for you to say, demon." Asher hissed.
"Well, at least your sense of humor hasn't suffered damage." Aquila chuckled as he grabbed the ash and the leather satchel, and returned to Asher's side, kneeling as he pulled out the materials he needed. Salt. Ash. A vial of wolverine blood that glowed faintly in the dim torchlight.
His hands moved with practiced efficiency as he began to draw on the ground.
Starting at Asher's head, Aquila traced a large circle around him, his fingers leaving behind a thin line of salt mixed with the ash. The circle needed to be perfect. Because even the tiniest gap or imperimperfection inbarrier would render the entire ritual useless.
Asher's breathing grew more labored as Aquila worked, each exhale coming out as a pained wheeze. The scales on his back shifted and rippled like something was moving beneath them and the veins pulsed faster.
"Shit," Aquila cursed when the spell began to slip, but he caught it immediately. "Just hold on."
He completed the circle and sat back on his heels.
Now for the hard part.
Aquila uncorked the vial of blood and held it up, watching the way it churned in the bottle like a tiny ocean. Wolverine blood was rare. Expensive. And absolutely essential for what he was about to do.
He met Asher's eyes one more time.
"This is going to hurt like hell, Alpha," he said quietly. "Can you take it?"
"Who...the hell do you think you're... talking to?"
Aquila's lips curled into a smile. "I would'nt expect anything less from you. But remember, you can't break the circle. No matter what you feel, no matter what you see, you have to stay inside the boundary. Do you understand?"
Asher gave Aquila a response that was a grunt that might have been agreement.