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No choice? White-hot fury lances through me at his pathetic excuse. Adrian sold us out and betrayed us all.

He meets my eyes briefly, shame and regret flickering across his face. "Azrael hired me long ago to find the one prophesized—"

Azrael's words send icy tendrils of fear creeping down my spine. "The one who will die by my hand," he finishes, smug satisfaction rolling off him in waves. His eyes glint with unrestrained malice. "You shouldn't have ever been born, little prophet. Your existence is a mistake that I plan to rectify. One I thought that I had already handled with your mommy."

He moves toward me like a predator hunting helpless prey. Each word he utters feels like a physical blow.

"You were foretold to stop Moretemis's destiny. To prevent the dark future, we have long worked toward." His lip curls in a sneer. "But I will end you, here and now, before you can fulfill that tiresome prophecy."

My chest tightens short, sharp breaths cutting through me. My mother? Oh god, this can't be happening. Horrible scenarios taunt me in a frenzied whirl. Tears ambush the corners of my eyes and nausea twists in my gut like a knife. I'm itching to scream, to throw a punch at fate itself, but despair shackles me, heavy and unyielding. Besides me, Rhyland's roar rips through the air, a raw sound of torment. I snatch my sorrows and shove them down deep—no room for tears, not yet. My mind flips a switch; fear gets shelved, and I gear up for battle. Truth first, breakdown later.

Azrael's promise rings with absolute certainty. He will kill me before I ever embrace my true power. The prophecy dies today at his hand.

Lucian pipes in with his own disgust. "Anakin fucking Skywalker reborn. Figures your obsession with dark magic would lead to this." spitting at Adrian.

Erik moves closer toward me, ready to strike any second. Azrael extends an expectant hand toward me. "The crown. Now." His arctic voice allows no defiance.

"Yeah, sorry, that's not gonna happen," I say with a mix of anger and sass.

Rage ignites within me, burning away paralyzing dread. Magic detonates through my veins, howling for violent release. It's more potent and easily accessible. With a primal scream, I force them both back through the oozing portal with a nuclear fireball. The doorway seals shut, leaving no trace.

"Dani, run!" Erik shouts urgently.

Rhyland seizes my arm bruisingly tight as we take off headlong into the woods. We race on, breaths sawing loudly. We sprint recklessly through the trees until my legs strain and our lungs burn. Our panicked gasps and crunching footsteps echo chaotically. My feet scarcely touch the spongy earth, propelled by some unknown force. Glancing back, fear jolts my limbs to life as I quickly see Erik and Lucian sprinting behind us. I see no sign of pursuit yet. But they'll return—of that, I'm dreadfully certain. Azrael can piggyback off my ability to teleport between worlds. This is going to put a fucking monkey wrench in this entire operation.

As we sprint through the woods, I can feel my lungs burning for air, just like Adrian's betrayal burns in my gut.

Barreling on desperately—a frothing river slashing the forest ahead.

"Jump!" Rhyland bellows. We leap as one into the mountain runoff's lethal embrace. My spine screams in protest at the glacial chill shredding through me. The very air is ripped from my lungs.

Vicious currents instantly pull me under into a blurry aquatic hellscape. Lungs spasming, I battle toward the distant sunlight above. I break the water with a ragged gasp, clinging weakly to Rhyland.

Seconds later, disaster strikes. The ruthless river tears our entwined hands apart, indifferent to our panicked cries. Rhyland is ripped into the rapids—my anguished scream is lost in the roaring currents.

"Rhyland!" I scream hoarsely, but the churning water quickly swallows him whole.

Lucian and Erik also disappear as I latch onto passing debris before being wrenched free again and again. The freezing water saps my strength as I frantically try to reach the shore. But the current keeps dragging me back no matter how close I get. My vision blurs with fatigue. Ahead, the river plunges over a waterfall's edge.

I'm sucked back into the dark depths, hands futilely grasping at the black void. Terror rises as I sink farther, lungs screaming.

Suddenly, I feel the rocky bottom and push off with my last vestige of strength. I break the surface, gulping air greedily before the rapids sweep me over the falls. The world spins sickeningly as I free-fall through the misty spray. My gut drops, and my nerves jangle with adrenaline. A blood-curdling scream tears from my throat as I plunge toward the yawning abyss.

Everything goes black as the freezing waterfall envelops me. My breath is crushed from my lungs on impact with the churning pool below. Paralyzing cold penetrates my core as the merciless currents toss me like a rag doll.

Which way is up? I can't tell, vision useless in the murky water—my chest spasms, demanding air. I have only seconds of consciousness left.

Is this my fate? Without warning, alone and afraid in this alien realm? Despair threatens to pull me under, along with the dark water.

I'm almost relieved when the cold drags me into numb, painless oblivion. My thoughts grow sluggish and disjointed as I sink lifelessly into the depths.

So this is how my light winks out prematurely...

The End. For now…