[JP] Obedience
[companion piece to this]
She did everything precisely right. There was no reason it shouldn’t have worked. She shouldn’t have had a single problem making it work.
And yet, it wasn’t working. The tension, the emotions running so high through everyone in the room kept pushing at her as she attempted the chant yet again. The power was there, in her and flowing through her, just as she’d been taught to channel it, and nothing was happening.
She should’ve handed the crystal and the volume to Merle. Should’ve just admitted that she didn’t have the power to do this and let him finish it. Gone back to making her little potions and performing simple, inconsequential spells with Madison, doing what she was good at.
She couldn’t say why she wasn’t doing just that, except that she was…angry. She could do this. There was no reason she couldn’t do this.
She re-read the passage, the cadence of her voice growing harsher with her frustration. Merle edged towards her, concerned, but she paid him no mind. She pushed harder, willing the magic to flow. She opened herself up to it completely, to any and every strand of energy she could grasp for. It’s dangerous to do so, but she didn’t see another choice. This had to work. It had to work. It wasn’t just Baileigh she was trying to save here, it was every other victim that had lost a piece of their life to this creature. It strengthen her resolve and allowed her to ignore the dark promises that whispered through her mind along with the darker, stronger magics.
Obey, she commanded them, and the whispers shrank back.
As you will it.
The spell exploded like a sonic boom, silent, but visible, felt. Millions of little stars, razor sharp and white hot shot through her veins. They cut. They burned. It was terrifying, it was thrilling. She was the conduit of more power than she’d ever in her life dared to wield, and she nearly lost the very core of herself in the riptide. If she’d fought it even for a moment, she would have, but she let it pass through her and pour out where it had to be channeled.
There was nothing left of the creature’s head by the time it was over, nothing but a greasy smear of black. She felt emptied, drained of every ounce of energy, but her fingers wrapped tightly around the edge of the counter as she fought to keep herself upright. Did it work? she tried to ask out loud, but couldn’t manage to make her jaw function properly.
“…You could’ve warned me it was gonna hurt like that,” she heard Baileigh grumble, and if she could have laughed, she would have.
I did it, she thought smugly, sinking down to press her cheek to the counter, unable to keep her body upright any longer.
She’d done it. That was all that mattered.