The Price of Power

As though the earth's very fabric were being torn apart, the ground shook. An uncontrollable energy flowed through Leah's body, and the rift above them appeared to quiver in response, reflecting her internal conflict. The power, *her* power, was palpable to her. It felt like she was about to lose control even though she had drawn it from the very center of the rift, from the deepest depths of herself.

"Leah!" Eliot's voice drew her back from the brink with its urgency and sharpness. Even though his touch was warm and comforting, it was unable to lessen the weight of what she was carrying. Not right now.

Her mother was a smothering presence, a twisted apparition of power, standing before them. She was given form by the rift, but lacked the strength to control it completely. Not quite yet. She had always been there, lurking just beneath the surface, feeding on Leah's insecurities, and she had been felt by her.

Eliot replied, "Don’t listen to her, Leah," his voice a solid compass in the midst of the confusion. "You are more resilient than this. Keep her from winning.

With a purpose, Leah clinched her hands as the force surged once more. She was battling more than just her mother. She was not merely battling the rift. She was battling the part of her that wanted to give in and let it take over her completely.

Her mother said in a hypnotic, quiet voice, "Give in to the darkness, my darling." "This is *meant* for you. You have the key to the end of everything and are the messenger of devastation. Why resist it?

However, Leah had stopped listening. Although she had heard these lies for years, they had lost their impact. Her mother was *not* her. Furthermore, she refused to be the weapon that ruined everything she held dear.

Leah let out a loud shout and raised her hands, releasing all of her inner strength. It was frightening, unadulterated, and pure. It ripped through the landscape, splintering the sky and shattering the ground beneath their feet. She briefly believed that she might finally be able to manage it.

However, Leah was sent backward into the ground when a violent blast of darkness from her mother's body struck her own. Leah's eyesight became blurry as the fissure dangerously flashed.

With the weight of the power still throbbing in her veins, Leah stumbled to her feet. It was excessive. The strain made her body feel like it would rupture. However, Eliot's hand was there to support and lift her.

"Stay with me," he said in a hushed whisper, but the desperation was immediately apparent. She could sense the power in him, the steadfast faith in her that had kept them both alive thus far, even though his eyes were wide with worry.

She began to say, "I can't—" but was interrupted when the fissure suddenly widened and collapsed in on itself once more. As though the world's very center were being drawn into it, the tug was now nearly intolerable.

"We can’t give up," Eliot replied sharply as he tightened his hold on her hand. "We are unable to. This can only be stopped by you.

The words resonated in Leah's chest. Only she *was* capable of stopping it. But how was she able to? How could she, when the rift itself seemed to voice her greatest fears, when everything inside her was falling apart?

Through the confusion came her mother's laughter. "Leah, you can not stop it. This is what you were meant to do. There is no way out. You are *mine*.

However, Leah's eyes hardened as she tightened her hold on Eliot's fingers. "No. I *am* mine.

Leah pushed her hands toward the rift with a last burst of force, her energies pulsing with each heartbeat. The noise of the crumbling emptiness drowned out her mother's laughing. Amid the chaos, Leah experienced hope for the first time.

Then, however, the earth gave way beneath them, and the rift's force threw them both to the ground. The rift was more than a blank space. It was breathing and living, and it was eating everything.

The rift tugged at Leah from all sides, and she gasped for air as it was drawn out of her lungs. However, something had changed. She sensed it in the midst of the chaos—*her* strength, *her* control. She had always been able to control the power inside of her. All she had to do was have faith.

Eliot said, "Leah, listen to me," cutting through the muddle. "A decision must be made. This is *your* power. You must choose how you wish to use it.

Between the intense need to close the split and the worry that she would become less of herself in the process, Leah's thoughts were racing. Then she turned to face Eliot. She could see the love in his eyes and his steadfast faith in her. And for the first time, she understood that halting the rift was not the goal. It was about getting the hang of it.

*She could control* the twisted inheritance of her mother, the darkness that had always accompanied her. She did not have to be controlled by it.

Leah inhaled deeply before moving forward with her hands up and her head clear. Within her, the power erupted, a blaze of light that now matched the rift's darkness. She was prepared to deal with it.

However, as she was ready to attack, her mother's body sprang forward, a dark hand pointing directly at her heart.

Eliot took the full force of the blow and pushed her aside. Leah was horrified to see him fall to the ground, his body motionless.

With panic mounting in her chest, Leah collapsed to her knees next to Eliot. His chest rose and fell in tiny gasps, and his blood smeared the ground under them. Even though his face was pale, he still had a determined look in his eyes.

We are in this together, he muttered, his voice shaky but full of the same passion she had always adored.

Leah, however, was unable to breathe. She was unable to think. She was overcome by the rift, her mother's harsh expression, and her dread of losing Eliot.

Leah stroked his face with shaking hands and pleaded, "No, no, not like this." "I can not let you go."

"You won’t," Eliot said with a faint but genuine smile. "You will prevent her. You will put an end to the conflict... for us both."

As the impact of his words set in, Leah's heart broke. She was unable to lose him. She refused.

Now, though, she knew what she had to do. There was nothing else to do. She needed to break the bonds that had tied her to her mother's legacy in order to stop the rift.

Leah let the energy to rush through her once more while keeping her hands pressed to the floor, but this time it was more than simply sheer strength. Control was the issue. The rhythm of the universe itself matched the pulse of her heart. She would *end* the rift since she was one with it.

However, her mother's dark figure reappeared, poised to attack, as the power surged. Leah would not allow her to prevail this time.

As Leah stood, her eyes glowed with the power of the fissure itself, and the air crackled with energy. For an instant, she felt indestructible as her body buzzed with power, pulsing through every cell.

Once a fearsome force of control, her mother had faded into obscurity, a relic of the past. Leah knew it was not over, though. Not quite yet.

"It is over," Leah declared in a firm, unflinching voice. "This is over now."

In her laugh, her mother sounded more human than ever before, yet it was empty, full of desperation. "I cannot be erased. I am a part of you.

Leah shook her head, saying, "No." "You are merely a specter of my past."

Leah used her last push to release all of her strength, causing the gap to collapse from the inside out. Leah's light shone brighter than ever as the world shook and her mother's form screamed and flickered.

And just when it appeared that the struggle was won, the sky split open again, and a new foe, far darker than her mother, emerged from the darkness.