Obsession is the height of passion, but what does one do when they find themselves enthralled with their enemy. Talamayas Sol loses his mother when he stumbles upon a mage in the deserts of his territory, and he is plunged into a despair he's never...
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Hel screeched, and Wren did so with him, falling to his knees as the vampire realized that his control was slipping. At a certain point, a beast stopped fighting if they knew it was futile, as Hel had, but now it saw an escape and was clawing at him from the inside. Blood poured from his eyes as if he was weeping, both from him and Hel as their magics fought and tore at each other from within their bodies.
"Wren, release him," Kopje begged.
The grand mage was suddenly so close, and Wren hadn't even sensed his approach. Anyone could kill him right now and he wouldn't see them coming, not with all of his being scrabbling to keep Hel from breaking free.
"It's all right." Kopje touched his forehead, and his skin was so cool compared to his feverish state. "Our allies are here. Please, rest."
Wren lifted his eyes to Kopje to see the truth of his words, and the man gave him a nod, now supporting his back as they both rested on their knees. Out in the fray, Wren could sense the Arcs and the Shades, their allies, coming closer to back them. There was still fights left to settle, but they would have to be without him. If he held any longer, he'd die and Hel would still live.
Letting go of his spell released the built up heat within him, and Wren teetered as a rush of cool light magic flooded to replace the dark magic he'd been holding onto as puppet strings. Chains of magic snapped and retreated back to him, and Wren gasped for air as a roar shook the area from Hel. How the man could move was beyond Wren, but he flew, right through the frontlines with such force and so much lightning that no one could stop him.
Luna didn't even bother with a shield because Hel breaking it would devastate her, but the Aurion girl didn't move. Perhaps Meredith was surprised, frightened, or both, but Wren gave Kopje a push and the man knew what to do. Wren had lived long enough and his life wasn't worth half as much as the heir to the Aurions and the mate of one of their allies. If Meredith died, so did their alliance.
Kopje grabbed Meredith and took her to the ground with him to get her out of the way, and Wren turned to face Hel Valk. On his knees, the same pictures flashed before his eyes as always. The idea that one's life flashed before their eyes just before death wasn't often true for mages who died in an instant, but in the span of the ten seconds it took Hel to get to him, Wren's called to him.
Nothing great or profound.
Just faces.
The children who's used to run at his feet in the Song territory, all so jealous of how powerful he was. The admiration. The love. The crimson eyes of the woman he'd taken from this world faced him, with that look of surprise just before everything had been crushed, and Lieder's tears dripping on Wren's face during the last night of his life.
All seemed normal.
It was the last face that had him clenching his hands as he stared at the ceramic tiles awaiting his end. Crimson again, but they were Tala's. The way they glowed when he laughed, how they darkened when he growled about something he hated, the way they'd refused to leave him in the bathhouse the night before. All of them had been together, and Tala had reiterated that no one killed Wren, but him. It might as well be the man's mantra for how he lived that line. Why was Tala the last one he thought about?
