Page 145 of Haunted

As my Niawen did.

I step closer, unstable on my feet.

Ahnalyn bawls, helpless, as she touches her cheek to Aneirin’s.

Give him your light.

She looks around frantically.

No one is coming to help.

Do it!

Ahnalyn places her hand over her heart.

One life for another, Ahnalyn. Yes, that’s it.

Somehow she instinctively knows what to do.

Ahnalyn lays her hands on her chest, and then without wavering, she yanks a flickering, swirling speck of flame out of her body. She cries a horrid sob before pushing her light into Aneirin.

Without a single drop in her soul, she’s gone to the light.

Unlike with Niawen’s loss of light, I am glad for Ahnalyn’s change.

Ahnalyn’s heart-center, where the light was, is hollow, a vessel ready for the darkness.

“You have done well, daughter. Welcome to the darkness and its power.” I stumble over to her. “Now we finish these wretches off!”

I grab Ahnalyn by the hand, yank her to her feet, and hold her back to my chest.

She gropes at the air, reaching for Aneirin.

I seep a heaviness through Ahnalyn, feeding her my dark matter, my dark energy. The darkness, an entity in itself, fills up the void the light left, weaving a tangle of anger, hatred, jealousy, and vengeance. A shiver runs through Ahnalyn as she becomes what she is destined to be.

I lift her hands. Together we will seal the fate of the dragon riders. My power cuts through her and multiplies. The burden quivers her already taxed frame, but I hold her firmly.

“The power grows and quantifies. At the moment when you feel it will tear you in two, release it!” I yell.

My body is so full of pressure that I know Ahnalyn feels it too.

Around us, rocks rise in the air and scatter, repelled by the negative force churning in our bodies.

“Now!” I holler.

An intense force surges from us. Ahnalyn screams as the overpowering pressure subsides. A deafening rumble fills my ears as the hillside in the field below cleaves in two and creates a jagged gash. Men and dragons fighting on both sides fall into the gaping hole to be buried alive. Ahnalyn gasps and cries out.

She shakes, incredibly so. It’s no wonder. Her body has just channeled a superb amount of dark energy. I clutch her to myself, sweating despite the rain. If only you had understood me, Niawen, you would have been proud of her. She is powerful. Together we are unstoppable!

From deep inside my daughter, exhaustion and confusion melt away.

A glimmer of hope circles her heart-center.

What is this?

Hope brands itself in her core. I blink, squeezing Ahnalyn.

Is this you, Niawen?

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