City of the Dead

Chapter 18

My eyes flutter open as I hear a collection of gasps and panicked voices. My lips slowly curl up into a large, bright smile. I'm alive. I turn my head and see the panicked faces of the Noxi. It is amusing watching them as every slight movement I make sends them on edge.

What happened? Did the spell work? I'm breathing so something had to have gone right. If that's true then Delphine... Is she? I quickly scan the room expecting to see her motionless body lying on the ground. I give out a frustrated sigh and fill with disappointment to see Delphine alive and well. The only bit of satisfaction I get is the look of shock and confusion on her face when she realizes that I am alive.

"It can't be. It simply cannot be." She says with wide eyes.

"Did you miss me, Delphine?" I ask in an innocent tone.

"How...how are you not dead?" Delphine frantically flips through her spellbook, slightly tearing the pages but she doesn't care. She's desperate to find answers. And when she doesn't she slams the book down to the ground. Pages fly everywhere and the Noxi look on confused as their mistress falls to her knees and silently breaks down in tears.

"I don't understand. I did everything right. Nox should have been summoned. Unless you did something." She realizes. Delphine points towards me muttering some kind of spell. I'm still chained down so I won't be able to dodge whatever she sends my way. I fear I might be pulled back into death just as soon as I had gotten out of it.

The gem on her necklace shines bright as it always does but then its light suddenly flickers and fades. Before Delphine can inspect it the gem shatters.

"No!" The witch shrieks as the tiny shards slip through her fingers. For the first time, I see fear in her red eyes.

"No. What have you done?" She asks with shaking hands. "All of my magic, the souls, it's all gone." Delphine grabs me digging her sharp nails into my shoulders. "Do you have any idea what you did?" She asks enraged.

"You were planning on taking everything from me, so I took everything from you." I tell her calmly. "Now you will never get what you want. Nox, your crazed version of a peaceful world, that's all gone."

"Over a thousand years." Delphine says in a low tone. "Over a thousand years she says again." Then she suddenly bursts into a hysterical fit of laughter. I knew this would break her but not this much. She snatches up the ritual knife and holds it to my throat.

"I'll send you right back to whatever hell you crawled out of!"

As I attempt to shove Delphine off of me a burst of energy escapes from me. Delphine is sent flying backwards and drops the blade, and the force breaks my chains and frees me. But that's not the only damage the unexpected burst of energy causes. Cracks suddenly form that crawl up to the ceiling and cause pieces of it to collapse.

"The girl's a monster." I hear one of the Noxi say as they all start scrambling away like the insects they are.

As I stand here admiring my new strength Delphine sits on the ground laughing like a madwoman.

"Now I see." She says with a dark chuckle. "It's in you. Everything is in you."

"What does that even mean?" I ask frustratedly.

"You should know. Don't you feel it? The magic flowing in your veins. Who's the thief now?"

"What? This isn't what I wanted." I mutter to myself. It seems like Tinon didn't share the entire plan with me. I only wanted to stop Delphine. I never had any intentions of becoming her. I should have known he would pull something like this. Serves me right for putting all of my trust in a mystical stranger. I never learn.