SPELLBOUND

Vera felt as though she had fallen into a lake of fire. Her body seemed to be burning, then it suddenly went numb. She was currently suspended in the air. Yet she felt as though she was falling. Falling endlessly.r

That last arc of dark magic had hit her. And it had stuck her point blank since she had purposely put herself in the path of the attack, hoping to receive as much of the blow as possible so she could spare Azure from it. She had succeeded in her attempt. And now, her consciousness was leaving her. Her heartbeats had already been slowing down a while ago and had been beating in an irregular rhythm, seemingly threatening to stop. r

'Gideon...' she called out weakly in her mind. Was this the end of her? Why could she not get through to him? Were her desperate calls not enough to pull her Gideon out from his own depths of darkness? Why could she not make him stop? What must she do to help him be able to break free from the darkness that seemed to have consumed him? Why was she still unable to do anything properly? Even now, as the last descendent of the guardians of the ice dragons, she was still powerless in achieving what she had set out to do. Why was she so useless? Why was her fate so wretched?r

Hopelessness surged like a massive tsunami and swallowed her entire being. It seemed that even if she gave up her own life, she still could not do anything to change their fate. Was it because they were not fated to be with each other forever? Was it because that they were fated to be separated in the end?r

Vera had been determined to change that future she saw in her vision, but... it seems that no matter what she did, no matter what the outcome, one of them would still end up going. This time, it seemed as though it was her...? r

There was no way she would survive this. She had been hit straight on by his powerful magic. And she just... could feel like she was really going to die. Why... why could she not be with him and be happy together forever? r

A happy future with him... them together... was that really just too much for her to ask?r

Tears filled her eyes, and her vision started to darken from the edges. She was falling... dying... r

She then fell onto something solid yet pliable that had sent her body bouncing a little. Azure... her lovely big dragon... he had caught her again. 'I'm sorry...' she uttered in her mind. 'I'm so sorry.'r

As Azure slowly placed Vera back down onto the ground, Vera had been momentarily pushed up into a sitting position, causing the blood flowing from her mouth to drip onto her chest that had been exposed now due to getting hit by the powerful magic. That attack had seemed to have burned off her clothes and even singed her skin. r

The blood dripped down onto her mating tattoo and the black ink suddenly turned blood red. It spread out, following the patterns until everything turned into the same bloody red. r

Then Gideon started to scream. He fell to his knees. His hands flew into his hair, and they fisted tightly, tugging them hard. His mating tattoos also started to turn into the same blood-like etching that could be seen on Vera. Exactly like what was happening to Vera's tattoos.r

He screamed out in agony and the sounds were unearthly and had traces of mania. Anyone hearing it could understand that the pain was killing him and tearing him apart a��� from the inside. His screams were so moving that it even had the dark core pulsating along with his agonizing screams, as though a drum beating along with the rhythm set by the conductor. r

The dark magic that was seeping through him, also started to pulse violently around his body. Every scream that came from his mouth seemed to push out whatever darkness that was living and had settled so resiliently inside of him. At the same time, his mouth kept opening and closing as his lips twitched and pulled in certain shapes. r

"Veraa!!!" a name was finally formed. His lips had managed to form the correct moves and all the screams finally took shape into that name that he had screamed out. But that one word seemed to be the key to finally stop his agony. r

Again and again. Gideon continued to scream out Vera's name, treating it as though it was some kind of holy mantra, not stopping from uttering that name even though he could feel the vessels in his throat burst and bleed from the effort of his screams. He could not stop... No, it was as if he did not want to stop? r

Something complete dark was being forced out of his body as he continued screaming out that name. However, the effort of it was so immense, so much so that it was causing the core to tremble until it seemed to threaten to burst. r

Gideon's eyes which was purely as black as coal, now had turned back to its normal blue again. And the first thing that he saw when his eyes cleared up was his... his beloved Vera... his beautiful mate... and she was there... lying on a pool of blood. What was worse was, that pool of blood was her own!!r

His eyes dilated and he rose from the ground shakily. r

'No... no...' this word echoed repeatedly in his head as though he had no control over it. All the while, he was approaching her with leaden steps. His body started shaking more violently the closer he got to her. 'No... please... no... don't do this to me...' the more he looked at her still form, the more his vision shook, and a cloudy haze seemed to cause his vision to turn blurry.r

When he finally reached her, he fell to his knees as he reached out to gather her into his arms. r

"No!!!!"r