His Rival

In The Dead of Night

Hello everyone, Jess here!

This chapter's another short one (14.9 pages/ 5,241 words), but be sure to take breaks as needed.

If you have any questions or comments about this chapter, let me know; I'd like to hear from you!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

*Trigger Warning: Continuing Themes of Sexual Assault*

"Keith" you trilled, fire searing through your lungs with every tremor. It was a wonder that you could breathe out his name, or even keep your inflamed eyes peeled open as he barreled towards you. Before you could even blink, he had crashed upon you, the full force of his weight striking your lungs like a ton of bricks. It was a miracle you didn't shatter like glass right then and there as he tore you away from the fire, holding you so close to his chest that you could feel his heart thrashing against your ribcage.

"Stay still (Y/n)!" An otherworldly rush of ice gripped your spine at that uncanny voice, at how stone-cold Aster's expression was as he activated his powers. Just the sight of the azure glow encasing his hands chilled you to the bone, heart threatening to burst from your chest.

Time itself slowed to a crawl as he shot a dagger of pure, unrelenting ice your way, ricocheting through the air like a bullet as the frigid crystal sliced through your hair. Once the flames were severed from your scalp, Aster whipped his hands towards the white-hot flares surrounding you, his squadron's blasts lighting up the twilight sky as they fought against the silver blaze.

Barely even seconds after you had opened the vault under your bed, the one filled with every last picture and fragment of your first love, a surge of lethal, purified quintessence had burst from your fingertips.

With how your powers had shot at that vault without even a thought, it was as if the very quintessence coursing through your veins saw it as a threat to your life force. It had acted of its own accord, as if it had a mind of its own! And now it was threatening the very love of your life, screeching so loud that your face was turning blue.

"Keith, get away!" The white-hot flares were just a hair away from his exposed, clammy skin, his ragged breaths and hisses slicing through the air like knifes as he shielded you from the inferno.

"You're on fire!" members of Aster's squadron yowled. You couldn't help but wince as they yanked Keith off of you, as if the two strongest magnets in the universe had been cleaved. The force slammed your skull so far into the earth that stars crept into the edges of your vision, everything blurring together in a wash of pure agony and terror.

"No, I-" Keith glowered, labored breaths piercing through your eardrums, eyes practically glowing as he struggled against them.

A python wrapped around your chest as you saw sheets of ice encase his arms, horrified without measure by what they were doing to him. Or rather, what you had done to him, heart fracturing in more pieces than you ever thought possible once your eyes latched onto his charred forearm. That wretched scream that had burst from his throat, those wails of agony, had all been your fault!

One of the most lethal forces in the universe had attacked the one that meant the most to you, the one you had given your very life to protect! And it was all your doing, you had caused this! Tears streamed down your slate grey, parched face as each thought blew a crater through your chest, each breath stabbing you through the throat as if you didn't even deserve to breathe after what had transpired here. The realization alone sent a blast that shattered the ground beneath, sending you tumbling through a never-ending pit of despair, the soul sucking darkness swallowing you whole.