Free Web NovelChapter 246: Chapter 246
She tried to turn back and get away from it, but her feet refused to move, rooted to the spot as though some unseen force had kept her locked in place.
Instead of allowing her to flee, it tugged at her, drawing her closer to the dead animal.
It was the same pull she felt before with the dead rabbit, the same inexorable call as the glowing threads. The taint clinging to the bird lingered thickly in the air now, heavier than before. It carried the stench of death and something unfamiliar, an unholy blend that made her skin prickle.
Logic screamed at her to run. Whatever force was at work here could not possibly mean her any good. Yet even as her instincts urged her to escape, she knew deep down that walking away would mean abandoning the answers she had been desperate to find. And wasn’t that the very reason she and Ragnar had spent hours in the library, skimming through texts?
If this was going to bring her even one step closer to understanding what was happening to her, then she would have to stay. She would have to face it with as much bravery as she could muster.
The magic holding her in place loosened the moment she took a hesitant step forward, toward the lifeless bird. With every inch she closed between them, her awareness sharpened. The taint surrounding it thickened, pressing against her senses like a suffocating fog.
Fear should have coursed through her veins when the strange energy reached for her—when it brushed against something buried deep within her, something that had lain dormant for years. There had been a flicker of apprehension at first, but when it faded, what replaced it unsettled her far more. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
She wasn’t afraid. Instead, a strange thrill shot through her, accompanied by a morbid curiosity that twisted uneasily in her chest. It was the kind of fascination that should have frightened her, yet didn’t.
Slowly, she crouched lower, bringing herself closer to the bird. Her hand lifted of its own accord, hovering just above the still form. Somehow, before anything happened, she already knew what she was about to see.
Glowing threads flared to life beneath her skin, running along her arms like veins illuminated from within. The same glow blossomed across the bird’s body, outlining it in delicate strands of light.
But unlike the threads within her, the ones on the bird were faintly, flickering weakly, as though struggling to remain whole. She sensed that they would continue to dim the longer the creature remained dead, until eventually they would fade entirely, dissolving into nothingness.
"The threads are a creature’s life force. The very essence of their being, tethering soul to body."
The words echoed directly inside her mind, spoken in the same haunting voice that had followed her through her dreams.
Circe flinched, nearly toppling backward in her shock. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She wasn’t sure she would ever grow accustomed to someone else having access to her thoughts. It was clear now that the entity in the cave could not only control her dreams, but slip into her waking mind just as easily.
Questions flooded her all at once. What did the woman want from her? Why reveal herself now, after all these years? Why was Circe the only one that bore this affliction among her siblings?
But before she could finish that train of thought, the voice spoke in her mind once more.
"Your magic is fueled by the life force of others. Yours is a kind of magic coveted by many."
Magic Circe knew next to nothing about.
Her attention was drawn back to the bird and the steadily dimming glow of the threads woven through its small body. Instinct told her the animal had been dead for quite some time, yet its appearance contradicted that knowledge. There was no stiffness, no rot. The bird looked perfectly preserved, untouched by decay.
The magic that had reanimated it had been snuffed out the moment she realized that a carcass stared back at her.
The taint clinging to it must have been responsible, she realized. Whatever magic lingered there had halted the natural process of death.
Before now, she hadn’t even known such a thing was possible.
Her hand must have drifted too close, because her finger brushed against one of the bird’s feathers. The instant contact was made, the world around her dissolved.
Images flooded her vision in rapid succession. Open skies, vast and endless. The presence of other ravens flying alongside her. The open mouth of a cave. Then a sweeping view of dense forest far below, seen from above in a way that made her stomach lurch, as though she herself were soaring through the air.
These were memories, Circe realized. But they didn’t belong to her. They belonged to the bird lying dead at her feet. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
She was witnessing its final moments, the last sights it had seen before death claimed it.
The experience felt as though it lasted minutes, stretching unbearably long, but she knew it couldn’t have been more than a few seconds.
She jerked her hand back sharply, and the visions vanished at once. Sound rushed back into her ears, the world snapping into place around her. The woman’s voice in her head had gone suspiciously silent and Circe didn’t know what to make of it.
Circe pressed her hand to her chest as though burned, her breaths coming fast and shallow. Her heart pounded violently, threatening to tear itself free.
"Why was I able to see that?" she rasped, her voice shaking around the tight knot lodged in her throat.
She spoke the words aloud, though they were meant only for the being lodged within her mind. "What are you? What is happening to me?" Circe demanded.
The woman remained eerily silent. Quiet now when Circe needed her answer most.
She lowered her gaze. When Circe spoke again, her voice was barely more than a whisper.
"What am I?"
For a fleeting moment, she thought no answer would come. The wind blowing around her came to a halt.
Then the woman spoke.
"You were born to raze kingdoms to the ground and fell armies. You are destined to right your mother’s wrongs." She said, her voice calm, and unwavering. "You are death."
