Page 125 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Summoning my magic, I visualize a massive bone white flame of fear before me.
“Open the door,” I order the guard.
He just stares back at me, his chin raised stubbornly.
I slam the flame of fear into his chest.
His eyes widen, and a shuddering breath rips from his lungs.
Pleasure floods my entire body as I increase that flame into a wildfire. That wonderful warm and sparkly feeling drowns out the panic and the stress and the anger about yet again being two steps behind the Icehearts. It soothes all of my fears, all of my insecurities, and all of my sorrows.
I keep increasing the strength of my magic until the guard’s knees start shaking.
“Open the door,” I demand.
His face is white with fear as he stares back at me, but he still doesn’t open the door.
More, more, more, my soul urges.
Leaving the wildfire of fear in his chest, I cut off the flow of my magic. Harsh coldness, full of panic and fury and regret, crashes over me. The sudden change is so violent that I almost stumble back a step.
While blinking to clear my head, I summon a black flame of despair and shove it straight into the guard’s chest.
That wonderful pleasure floods me again, and I draw in a breath of relief.
Fear alone apparently isn’t working. Probably because he has been trained so well in withstanding torture. Part of that training must involve the ability to ignore fear, after all. But one thing he can’t protect himself from is hopelessness. It doesn’t matter how strong-willed he really is. If I change the entire core of his personality into someone who feels that everything is hopeless, there will be no reason for him to keep resisting.
Increasing the strength of my magic, I shove it down the connection and straight into his chest until that black flame of despair is so massive that he breaks down in hopeless sobs on the ground.
His hand is still handcuffed to the left door handle, so it juts up at an awkward angle, but he doesn’t even seem to notice it. All hope, all light, all the defiance and resistance bleed from his eyes as he kneels there on the ground before me and stares up at me, his gaze full of fear and despair.
Power thrums inside me.
I am a fucking god.
With this power, I could lay the world at my feet.
Part of me wants to. Desperately. I have to be careful of that. Irefuse to become a new Jessina Iceheart. I don’t want to rule the world. I just want freedom. And revenge.
“Open the door,” I command.
His head slumps forward in defeat as the endless despair drowns his entire soul and breaks all resistance. There is no protection against my magic. He would rather have died in pain than open this door. He would never have lost hope on his own. But none of that matters in the face of my power. I can simply change him until he becomes who I need him to be. Someone who is overwhelmed by despair and who considers all resistance pointless.
Hopelessness clings to his entire body as I pour my magic into him until I break his will completely. A cry of despair rips from his lungs.
Twisting on his knees, he places his palm against the door and murmurs something under his breath.
A pulse shoots through the air.
I stagger back from the force of it as the shockwave hits me straight in the chest.
It stuns me enough that I lose the grip on my magic.
Cold regret and burning rage rush in to fill the void.
Again, my mind urges me.Do it again.
Gritting my teeth, I drag in a controlled breath while forcing myself to ignore the urge. The more I use my power to create emotions from nothing, the more I want to keep using it.
