Out of the Darkness~ The Guild Leader Chronicles Book Five

Chapter Nine

Out of the Darkness

Nine

The Warlock

As the air thrashes and roars around me, I continue to freefall into what I'm sure will be a Valerio's version of torment. What my older brother fails to realize is that no prison world can hold me. Not now. Not with the insane amount of magic coursing through my system. I had thought I already felt the onslaught of powers Rullus had left me, but as I smack onto the ground in my new home, I feel those powers truly take root.

I scream in pain; both from hitting the ground, and actually feeling the powers from the diamond seep into my bones. I lie on the ground for what feels like hours. With each passing second, the pain gets worse. At one point, I even find myself asking if Rullus had made a mistake by trying to give one warlock so much power. How can I possibly harness all this power and not die? A warlock can only hold so much magic inside of them before it completely overtakes them; causing their death.

Moving during this time is impossible. All I try to do is sit up, and even that causes more pain. I stopped screaming long ago; somewhere around the time my throat became so hoarse almost no sound was coming out. Now, I'm still lying on the ground; just waiting for the pain to stop. I tilt my right palm beside me towards my thigh, thinking maybe the pain I'm feeling isn't from the diamond, but because I've injured myself in my fall.

I can actually feel the magic manifesting out of my palm as I try to heal myself. The pain, however, doesn't subside. If anything, it gets worse when I use my powers. Maybe the immense amount of magic is killing me. What had Rullus been thinking? There's no way one person can gain so much power!

Time continues to pass by, but I'm not sure how much until the sun begins to go down. I still can't move, so I resign myself to spending the night in the middle of the field I've been dropped in. I can't move anyway. I'm not sure if the pain makes me pass out, or simple exhaustion; but when the sun is going just behind the horizon, my eyelids become so heavy that it's useless to try to keep them open.

When I feel myself wake from the heat the rising sun creates, I brace myself for the pain to return. Instead of white-hot, kill me now, pain, I'm relieved and surprised to only feel sore. The feeling is almost like if you have a really bad cold. My whole body aches, but it's manageable. How did fully harnessing the powers from the diamond not kill me?

I tentatively sit up, scared the pain will return. I'm not sure if I can handle another day like yesterday. When bearable pain responds to my movements, I sit up fully. Staying on the ground, I stretch as much as I can. As my head clears a little, my first coherent thought is about Josie. And more specifically, the way her brown hair always framed her face.