Page 80 of Death Match

“Pretty cool,” I said, twisting the hilt in my hand. It was amazing how easy the thing was to control. Especially since I’d never held a broad sword like this before in my life. “But when does the power kick in? Is there an on switch somewhere?”

The moment the words left my mouth, the sword in my palm began to quiver. I almost let go out of reaction, but when the familiar white light of my power flickered around my fingers, I knew I had to hold on. I tightened my grip. A pleasant tingle spread over my skin everywhere the light touched as it snaked around the handle and twisted up the blade, all the way to the tip and back down again. The sword glowed ominously as my power continued to surge from my palm and crawled up and around the length of it.

All I could do was gape in shock at what I was witnessing.

“That’s it, Jade,” Michael exclaimed happily. “Your sword is accepting you and your power. It’s claiming you as its one true owner.”

I said nothing as the power pulsing through us gathered strength, tossing my hair all about. Michael’s delighted chuckle was barely audible over the rising commotion. He nudged Eli in the arm excitedly, but the Guardian continued to look upon the scene with heavy uncertainty.

Clasping my other hand around the sword to hold it steady, I raised it a bit higher and farther away from my face. Every hair on my body rose as my power cascaded down my arms, prickling and sparking against my skin like static electricity. The air around us hummed with the gathering energy.

This must be the part where I gained all my gifts and memories. The part I’d been waiting for.

Suddenly, a sharp jab between my ribs caused me to stumble sideways. The sword felt heavier in my grasp, and I struggled to keep it up as the power surrounding us popped and fizzled more violently.

Another phantom blow slammed into my side, pushing all the breath from my lungs and leaving me gasping. The white light encasing the sword and my arms pressed down on me, its weight immense. Too much for me to hold, and my knees buckled underneath me.

Bertha, my sword, fell from my hands, clattering to the ground right in front of me.

At that instant, the light and whirling of power ceased. Silence engulfed the maze’s top. Suffocating.

“Jade!” Eli was quick to my side, hands gripping my arms and trying to haul me back to my feet. “Are you okay? What happened?”

Lifting my chin to look at him was difficult. Every inch of my body was too heavy to move, as if my bones had been replaced with lead, my movements sluggish. I tried to reply to his questions but couldn’t even manage to open my mouth or move my tongue to form words.

“Jade,” Michael began, coming over, too. “What’s going on?”

Again, I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t even blink.

Another bolt zapped my spine, and my entire body seized up. I let out a mangled cry as the pain zigzagged all over, every muscle recoiling and cramping. I collapsed onto the ground, tears welling in my eyes.

Eli’s frantic hands continued to run over me as they searched for a cause and a solution. His voice turned panicked. “Oh no. Jade! Stay with me, okay? Stay with me. What’s happening?” That last question was directed at Michael, but his expression remained just as bewildered as before.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “This isn’t supposed to be.”

“Jade!” Eli’s calls became stronger, more insistent. “Jade!”

Bertha lay out of reach, the magical glow gone and its blade now dull. Maybe if I reached out and grabbed it again, everything would go back to the way it was supposed to be. I commanded my arm to reach for it and fingers to stretch out, but nothing happened.

More pain shot through me at all angles. I curled into myself, whimpering. The stabbing was agonizing, and the intense pressure pushing down on me was crushing.

All I knew was I wanted this to be over. This pain was immeasurable. It was all I could focus on. Even the comfort of Eli’s touch had become lost to me. A loud ringing blared against my eardrums, making me wince and drowning out any other sound.

I wanted it to stop, but I didn’t know how.

Eli spoke again, his eyes wide with fear, but I could no longer hear his words. He paused, as if he was waiting for me to reply. When I didn’t, he turned to Michael, and his lips moved at a feverish pace.

My mouth was as dry as the desert. I desperately wanted to respond, but my mind was a muddled mess. Even my vision was beginning to darken. Exhaustion sank its teeth into me, but I didn’t want to slip away into unconsciousness. But forcing my eyelids to stay open was a feat in itself, and, before I knew it, they were drifting closed. Blackness swallowed me whole and carried me away.

As I floated in the blissful void of my own mind, pictures flashed before me. All familiar. All a part of me.

My memories.

Me, as the dark-skinned boy standing at the edge of the river’s shallow edge hovered before me, the image flickering like an old film reel. Even though the water was dangerously high from a recent heavy rain, the desire to jump in and prove to the other village children that I could swim was all over my face.

Instead of the scene gradually switching like the other times my past lives had revealed themselves to me, this time the image of me as the little boy exploded before my eyes, the pieces fading away into nothingness. Simultaneously, something pierced my heart, doubling me over and leaving a terrible feeling of emptiness in its wake.

Before I could dwell on it, a crowd of angry men, women, and children appeared in the first image’s place. Like before, the townspeople shouted curses at the woman with dark hair and fair skin—also one of my past lives—in another language. When a rock struck the side of my face, I cried out.

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