Page 76 of Fated

I swallowed hard, guilt clawing me. “He—but he is the reason you’re dead, Mom.”

“Yes, I know that, sweetheart,” she said, her voice calm without a hint of anger or blame. “You crossed paths with him for a reason. You can trust him. Go—go with him, Areya. Don’t stay in Cresinthia. Youmustgo with him. Do you understand me?”

Her presence began to fade, the air around her growing thinner. Pain exploded in my chest, sharp and unrelenting at losing her again.

“I understand, Mom,” I said, desperately clutching at her, frantically holding on, but her arms were no longer around me, and I found myself holding nothing but air.

“I love you, Areya,” she whispered, her voice drifting.

“I love you too, Mom,” I cried out, broken as the last trace of her dissipated.

And just like that, she was gone again.

Only blackness remained, and then—fire. It felt as though my entire body had been engulfed in flames, as if acid was coursing violently through my veins. The pain was everywhere, all-consuming, swallowing me whole. My throat tore open in aviolent scream as I was yanked from my dream, the torment dragging me into a brutal, agonizing reality.

I was awake, but couldn’t open my eyes. The pain was too overwhelming, fused with every nerve of my body, burning and searing my flesh as if ripping me apart from the inside out. I could do nothing but scream, thrashing wildly against the invisible force ravaging me.

“AREYA!” Ash’s voice reached me, but sounded distant, swallowed by the roaring fire that had become my world. The pain was so loud, so deafening that it smothered out everything else.

I couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t catch my breath. Just when I thought the pain couldn’t get any worse, another wave—larger and more terrifying—crashed into me, forcing my body to arch and writhe in a desperate futile attempt to escape the torture.

“It hurts—it hurts!” I choked out. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold on. The agony felt endless, as if it would consume every last piece of me, leaving nothing behind. Each new wave shattered bones I didn’t know could break, stretching my muscles until they ripped apart. My skin burned as though doused in fire. Voices hovered at the edge of my awareness, but I couldn’t make out their words. All I could do was fight and fail to escape the unrelenting torture.

“Areya,” a voice whispered in my ear, and I latched onto it, desperate for a lifeline, anything.

It was Ash, and he sounded so … afraid.

“Areya, listen to me; you have to stop fighting it,” he pleaded, his voice shaking. “Your body is fighting the magic, but you have to let it in.”

His strong arms wrapped around me, holding me tightly, rocking me.

“Make it stop, Ash, please!” I screamed, barely able to force out the words through the terror and agony ripping me apart. The waves came faster, harder and I felt warm drops landing on my face. It took me a moment to realize—Ash was crying.

“I can’t, Areya,” he rasped, his voice broken. “You have to let it in—youhaveto.”

Another tear fell on my face, mingling with the cold sweat clinging to my skin.

“Areya, find that place inside of you where your magic belongs and guide it. Guide the magic there.” Panic laced his voice, his grip tightening.

Summoning what little strength I had left, I forced myself to focus, to push through the unbearable, screeching pain. Scouring the depths of my being, I searched for that place of which he spoke but another wave of agony slammed into me, my body seizing up, convulsing.

“It’s not working!” he cried, his voice raw with abject terror. “Please do something! Help her!”

Just as I thought the pain would consume me entirely, a slight ease washed over me, a doorway forming in my mind. It stood open and somehow, it was clear that all I had to do was take a step through it, and all the pain would go.

Drifting toward it, I felt my mind begin to detach from my body. The closer I got to the door, the duller the pain became, the quieter everything felt.

But then, Ash’s voice pierced the haze, splintered, desperate.

“I need you, Areya—please don’t leave me.”

I don’t want to leave you, Ash.I needed him too. We had so much left to do, so much to learn and face—together.

At the threshold of the doorway, the urge to cross grew nearly overwhelming but I fought against it. With every ounceof willpower I had left, I shoved myself away from the door, forcefully pulling my mind back into my body. The moment I did, the pain came roaring back, flooding my senses again. But for Ash, I would fight it.

I searched inside myself, clawing through the pain, trying to remember the night I had first used my magic. Where had it come from?

And then, there, hidden deep inside me, was a tiny glowing ember, the magic’s spark.

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