Page 46 of Whispers of the Magical Forest

Violet's witch fire proved especially effective. It burned away their corrupted essence. Thanos wielded his blade with lethal precision. Each strike severed the shifters' connection to their power source before they could reform. Bas's Fae-forged sword sang through the air as well. He caught them at the moment they became corporeal and cut them down. Between Thanos's calculated strikes and Bas's fluid grace, they carved paths through the masses while Argies's dragon fire turned the air into a weapon. He superheated it until the shifters began to boil.

Marcus had done this on purpose. For each one we destroyed, the ritual grew stronger. Through my connection to the corruption network, I could feel how each ‘death’ fed more power into whatever Marcus was doing. It was like trying to empty a pool with a spoon while someone else was actively filling it with a fire hose.

Through spreading cracks in the walls, I glimpsed things that would give Lovecraft nightmares. The First Ones were beings of pure, unformed magic that existed before anyone had thought to write an instruction manual. Some looked like geometry having an existential crisis, while others appeared in colors that hurt my brain to process.

"Keep pushing forward," Gadross called out. His artifacts pulsed with copper light that momentarily stabilized everything around us. "Remove their connection before we cut them down. That will mean every shifter we take down weakens his hold on this section of the network!" Violet and I nodded and focused on that while keeping a stream of our witch fire flowing.

"Did you see that?" I asked as I drew strength from Bas's steady presence. His sword work had created a pattern that somehow made mynicotisapower resonate more strongly. "The corruption's retreating where we’ve worked our combined magic."

"It's working," Thanos confirmed as his blade found another shifter's weak point. "Your purity is growing too. Look at the walls where Violet's fire meets Argies's heat. The stone is returning to normal. We're bloody well winning."

Argies let out a sound between a laugh and a roar as his flames caught three shifters at once. Their forms dissolved into ash. "Then let's give them something to really fear. Violet! On your left!"

Violet spun, and her fire joined mine in a spiral that burned away a whole section of corrupted shadows. "Now that's what I call teamwork! Fi, can you redirect their energy like you did upstairs?"

"Already on it," I grinned. I was finding my second wind as I caught the shifters' power and turned it back on their companions. The pain was still there, but now it had a purpose. "These gits want to play with corruption? Let's show them what happens when it meets focused magic."

The shifters fell back as we pressed forward. Our combined attacks created a cleansing wave that pushed the corruption before us. Through my wound, I could sense Aislinn's presence growing stronger. We were carving a path straight to her.

"She's fighting too," Argies called out, hope mixing with the fury in his voice. "I can feel her pushing back against whatever's holding her. She knows we're coming!"

The tunnel opened into a massive chamber that made my stomach turn. Marcus stood in a ritual circle. He looked chuffed with himself as Dark magic writhed around him like angry licorice. But it was what he'd done to Aislinn that made bile rise in my throat. She hung suspended in a massive crystal structure. Purple energy coursed through her veins like toxic lightning, each pulse stripping awaymore of her essence. Through my wound, I could feel how the network was using her. I could also feel Violet and myself. Marcus was taking our natural ability to bridge magical types and perverting it into something horrible.

"Welcome," Marcus called. His smug grin made me want to throat-punch him. "You're just in time to witness the remaking of magic itself. The return to true power, before artificial constraints were imposed."

"Oh, do shut up," I snapped as I gathered what power I could despite feeling like death warmed over. "I've had enough of your awful villain rubbish to last several lifetimes. I have to say that the evil lair aesthetic is a bit on the nose, innit?"

Argies's control finally shattered. His dragon form erupted fully. His wings spread to fill half the chamber as flames poured from his maw. The temperature spiked so high it felt like standing in a blast furnace. The corruption in the walls actually began to steam.

"Release her," he snarled in a voice that shook the very stones.

Marcus just smiled. The expression made shadows writhe beneath his skin. "Release her? Why would I do that when she's finally fulfilling her true purpose? She and her friends are opening the way."

Cracks appeared above us. Argies backed away from them when the First Ones pushed against an invisible membrane. Their presence made my magical core vibrate like a phone set to silent. These weren't your garden-variety monsters. They were what magic looked like before anyone had thought to give it rules.

Then, I did something either brilliant or monumentally stupid. Probably both. Instead of fighting the corruption network, I embraced it. My wound became a handy connection point. The pain was immediate and overwhelming.Someone had replaced my blood with acid. Despite that, I began altering the signature.

"What are you doing?" Marcus demanded as he sensed my presence in his system.

"Having a proper laugh," I managed through gritted teeth. "Want to see a neat trick?"

I did something I rarely ever dared and reached for mynicotisapower. Next, I did something absolutely mental. Instead of trying to purify the corruption, I let it flow through me and twisted it back on itself. The effect was immediate and catastrophic. A bit like pouring Coca-Cola into a Pepsi machine.

The crystal structure encasing our trapped sister shattered like a mirror hit by lightning. It sent shards of corrupted magic in all directions. Argies moved faster than I'd ever seen him. His massive dragon form surged through the chaos. He caught Aislinn as she fell and cradled her against his scaled chest. His wings wrapped around them both.

Dragon fire erupted from him in waves of cleansing heat. He was burning away the Dark magic that had sunk its claws into her. The flames would have been destructive to anyone else. Not only was Aislinn bonded to Argies, she had also given birth to a dragon. It allowed the flames to only target the darkness while leaving Aislinn untouched.

"No!" Marcus howled, but there was something off about his fury. His response sounded calculated, and it made my instincts scream in warning. "The ritual-"

"Is buggered," Violet cut him off while I continued channeling power through my wound despite feeling like I'd been put through a magical wood chipper. "Time to pack it in, mate," she informed him with a snarl.

Marcus just smiled at her. It was a horrible expression. "Are you sureabout that?"

The chamber groaned as Marcus vanished through one of the reality gaps, the First Ones reaching for him as he passed. The corrupted power was building throughout the complex, each pulse making my wound burn hotter.

"The barriers are still weakening," Gadross announced. His copper artifact was spinning wildly. "Marcus already has what he needs from the three of you. He can use that to continue the ritual elsewhere."

"Gods, this day just keeps getting better," I sighed as more stone rained down around us. The wound in my side felt like it was trying to tear itself open from the inside. "Next time, I vote we skip the wine tasting and go straight to stopping the apocalypse. It'd save time, wouldn't it?"

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