“Do you trust me?”
He frowned but nodded. “Yes, of course. What are you saying—Dru?”
“I wanted to explain everything. I thought I’d killed Axel, and I’d have the time, but I need to hurry before Axel recovers…”
“Tell me now.”
“Everyone needs to forget.” I kissed his lips, and his eyes widened as I drove the blade of fire into him. “I am not betraying you, I swear. I’ll explain when I remember—when we are back together. I love you.”
He just stared at me, his teeth grinding in agony, and as I pulled the sword, he shattered to dust.
“It’s not the end but the beginning,” I reassured myself as I held the sword in my hand and drove it into my stomach. Shaking, I fell back onto the soil, struggling for air, watching the sunrise over the treetops as I forced the words out.
“I, Druella, call upon the deepest of the land, the moon, sea, and darkness, take from me all the magic you wish. Drink the blood that pools from under me. Take the breath out of me from above. To the sun return this warmth.” Theseus’s face came to mind as I bit my lips, an ache spreading through my bones.
Not just his face appeared, but so did my friends…my family.
I needed to forget them.
We all need to forget.
“Hear me, take from me, and release me from this mortality.”
The wind was cold as all the heat left me. Like ice was being shoved into my veins, I shook, part of me…the magic in me…fighting back, trying to save me.
No!
“I bind you, Druella Zirie Omeron…” I trembled in pain as I felt as if the earth itself had wrapped over my legs, but I kept going. “I bind you under the moon, Druella Zirie Omeron. I bind you under the sun, Druella Zirie Omeron! I bind you under all the heavens and over all earth, Druella Zirie Omeron!”
I bit back the scream rising at the base of my throat as terror came over me like death. The grips on me tightened up and down my body, and ice was hammered like nails inside me.
Theseus. The tears came down my face as the pain only worsened.
No. Not Theseus.
Forget him. Forget Druella Zirie Omeron.
There was never a Druella Zirie Omeron. None know her. None have seen her. None remember her, not even the earth.
You are no witch. You have no friends. You have no love. No family.
You are alone.
You are alone.
You are alone.
I am…alone.
The scream escaped as the ice was hammered into my heart.
To Be Continued in 2022…