Page 47 of Torn Ivy
And I know which side I’m on.
My power ripples again, but this time, I direct it with a single thought. Every insect, every rodent, every tiny life form on the campus becomes an extension of my awareness. I can feel the Wraiths moving and can track their progress through the gaps in reality they think no one else can see.
Come on, you fuckers. You are blind, and you don’t even know it.
Lightning crawls across the sky as I push away from the wall, my power humming with deadly purpose. Time to show them that they picked a fight with the wrong girl.
In nature, it’s not the strongest that survive, it’s those most responsive to change, and change has never been a problem for me. Only this time, it’s not just my face or my name… it’s everything.
I move through campus like a ghost, my power rippling reality around me. The Wraiths think they’re hunting me, but they have no idea they’ve just become the prey.
I spot Echo first, her energy signature a discordant note in the symphony of life around us. She’s perched on a rooftop, eyes scanning the grounds below.Time to make my first move.
With a thought, I send a swarm of moths spiralling towards her, infusing them with chaos. As they near Echo, their wings glow with eerie purple light.
Echo notices too late. The moths explode in a burst of chaotic energy, momentarily blinding her. In that instant of distraction, I’m there, moving myself through time and space with something that singswitch powerto me.
She whirls, hands already weaving some dark spell, but I’m faster. My power lashes out, wrapping around her like living vines. They sink into her skin, injecting havoc directly into her system.
Echo’s eyes go wide as she feels my magick invading her. “What are you?” she gasps.
I smile, letting a bit of Poison show through. “Something you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it with crayons. You are now obsolete.”
With a twist of my will, I shatter Echo’s connection to her own power. She screams as it tears away from her, leaving her drained and powerless.
Echo collapses, her body convulsing as my frenzied energy ravages her system.
One down, four to go.
I grin. This is the most fun I’ve had on the job in a while. But I don’t have time to revel in this small victory. Already, I can sense the other Wraiths converging on my location, drawn by Echo’s scream. Good. Let them come.
Shade materialises from the shadows first, his form rippling like sentient darkness. “What have you done?” he snarls, seeing Echo’s prone form.
“Eradication of the weakest,” I reply, letting my power flare around me. The air shimmers with the stench of ozone.
Shade doesn’t waste time with words. Tendrils of shadow lash out, aiming to flay the skin from my bones. But my magick is faster, transmuting the darkness into butterflies that dissolve into mist.
His eyes widen in shock. “Impossible.”
I smile, feeling the chaos sing through my veins. “You have no idea what you’re fighting.”
With a thought, I send a wave of mutated insects swarming towards him. Each one carries a spark of my magick, ready to explode on contact. Shade tries to disperse into shadow, but my power is already there, infecting the darkness itself.
He screams as the madness invades him, twisting his essence. I watch dispassionately as his form unravels, scattering into wisps of tainted shadow that dissipates on the wind.
Two down.
A whisper of sound is my only warning before Silence appears behind me, their hands already reaching for my throat. But I’m not there anymore. My power surges, shifting me through space in a burst of purple energy.
I reappear behind Silence, lightning flickering between my fingers. “Nice try,” I taunt. “But you’ll have to be faster than that.”
Silence whirls, their eyes widening as they take in my transformed state. They open their mouth, but no sound comes out. Instead, I feel a pressure building in the air around us, like reality is being compressed.
With a thought, I shatter the silence they’re trying to impose. The pressure explodes outward in a wave of sound that shatters windows and sends Silence stumbling back.
Before they can recover, I’m on them. My hands clamp down on either side of their head, and I pour anarchy directly into their mind. Silence screams, a grating noise like nails down a chalkboard, as my power overloads their senses.
They collapse, their power broken, and their mind shattered.
