Page 13 of Destined to the Reaper

“Because establishing the first bond takes longer. Tonight is the perfect opportunity as Cornelius will be occupied for at least the next couple of hours without expecting or seeking my presence. After tonight, I will only be able to come to you when he sleeps. Initiating the first bond at that time is too risky. There is a non-negligible chance that he will feel it. The only next safe time will be in a week when he performs another one of his little orgies that carry on through half the night.”

She stared at me in silence for a long time. Judging by the shimmering colors of her soul, like a multi-colored halo around her head, too many conflicting thoughts and emotions were raging through her. To my shock, she simply turned her back on me and walked away. A sharp pain slashed through me as I stood there, numb, watching her leaving. Shock, betrayal, and a deep sense of defeat crashed over me.

I turned away to look at the clear water of the river a short distance away gleaming under the soft glow of the moonlight. None of this made sense. The Weaver wouldn’t have sent Kali to me if she didn’t genuinely believe she could see this through. Fate wouldn’t have chosen for the one female to have stirred me in generations to be the first to contact me after years of despair only for this to go nowhere.

She just needs more time to come to terms with this.

I desperately clung to that thought. A part of me wanted to call out to her and beg her to come back. But this was too dire a mission to be embarked on half-heartedly. She needed to be fully committed. I had waited five hundred years, what was another week?

What if she doesn’t summon me ever again?

The sound of a soft voice in the distance startled me out of my grim thoughts. I jerked my head around to see Kali castinga cone of silence spell above one of the wards she set about ten meters away from the fairy ring she chose to build the summoning circle in. A wispy light flew off from the ward to the next one, then the third, and onward through the eight wards that formed a perfect circular perimeter around us.

Stunned, I watched her quietly walk back towards me, the oddest mix of determination and wariness fighting for dominance on her beautiful face. She stopped in front of the circle and locked eyes with me.

“Pledge that you will not do me any harm, physically, mentally, or otherwise if I enter the circle,” she said in a firm tone.

“I pledge it,” I replied, trying to clamp down on the hope returning vigorously.

“Swear that from this moment forward, once I enter the circle, while I’m inside it, and even after I leave it, your interactions with me will be devoid of any malicious intent towards me and remain constrained to the sole purpose of transferring a part of your soul to me so that we can free you from Cornelius.”

I opened my mouth to respond but then hesitated. Taking that oath was not an issue. But as much as I respected her reasonable need to protect herself against potential foul play, it bothered me to no end that she didn’t trust me. My reaction was irrational, yet I needed her to know beyond any doubt that whatever went down between us, she would always be safe with me.

Chapter 4

Kali

Ifrowned, the suspicion that had begun to abate surging back with a vengeance within me as I stared at the ghost-like form of the Reaper when he failed to answer right away.

“You do realize that magic circles serve different purposes, correct?” he asked in a mysterious tone.

That took me aback. Why this sudden change of topic when I demanded the final pledge that would ensure my safety once I stepped inside? Had he been trying to fool me all along?

“You haven’t answered my request,” I replied in a stern voice.

“I promise to answer in a moment,” he said with a dismissive gesture, his disembodied voice beautifully haunting. “But please indulge me by answering mine first.”

My frown deepened, unsure what the purpose of this all could be. Of course magic circles served various purposes. The main use was to form a protective barrier between the caster and whatever entity they summoned. But they could also be used to contain energy or form a sacred space as part of a given ritual.

“Yes, I am aware of it,” I conceded, my voice making it clear I failed to see the point of this question. “They are mostly used as a containment field during summons or to form a magic well for a ritual.”

He nodded, the glow in his eyes intensifying as he moved even closer to the edge of the circle, the flowy skirt-like lower half of his body brushing against its very limit. All my senses went into high alert. I didn’t know what was about to happen, but my flight instinct was frantically rearing its head.

“This circle is neither. This is a portal, not a containment field. If what you fear is that I will harm you the moment you cross into the circle, then you are severely mistaken as to its protective capacities.”

My heart skipped a beat as my sense of unease grew another notch.

“What does that mean?” I whispered.

Pharos didn’t answer right away. Instead, he glanced to our right before pointing at a tall tree about eighteen meters away. One of its branches dangled at an odd angle after somehow getting snapped.

“You see this broken limb?” he asked.

I nodded, tension knotting my back. Seconds later, I gasped, and my skin erupted in goosebumps as a powerful wave of Death Magic shot out of the circle in the direction of the tree. Half a beat later, the branch didn’t just fall off but turned into ashes carried away like a dust cloud by the soft evening breeze, all lingering life force or energy sucked out of it.

Impossible!!

Summons couldn’t cast spells beyond the barrier of the magical circle confining them. My heart sank at the realization that he could also slay me right where I stood with no chance of escape. Horrified, I jerked my head back towards him, only to find him staring at me with a vicious expression.

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