Chapter 45 End of A Phase

“Mateo?”

I felt my knees weakening as I locked eyes with a hooded figure in a dark cloak in front of the gate. His voice sounded like a hoarse whisper, but it was loud. And it made my skin crawl even more. I couldn’t see his entire face, as half of his upper face was covered by the hood. But I could clearly see his red, glowing, menacing eyes.

“Yes,” he said in an eerie voice. The man grabbed two iron bars of the gate slowly, showing long and dirty nails. The little skin that I saw was pale, and he looked super skinny, only skin on bones.

“Who are you?” I asked, “And what do you mean you have Mateo?”

The man stretched his hand beyond the iron bars of the gate. He opened his palm. Instantly, red-orange dust appeared from his fingers and created what seemed like a circle of firework in the air. In the middle of the circle, appeared a boy in a dark void.

I couldn’t breathe.

The boy looked at me with fear in his eyes. He looked emancipated and sick that my heart sank even lower to the ground.

“Ari?” the boy called to me.

My feet moved on their own. Before I knew it, I was already running to the gate. “Mateo!” I tried to grab the boy inside the magical circle, but the man pulled his hand away from the gate and stepped a few feet back. It was my turn to grab the iron bars and tried to reach him.

“No!” I cried out, “What have you done to him? What have you done?”

The man grinned widely. His red eyes glowed even more. Somehow, I felt the night darkened.

“Don’t touch him!” I cried out desperately, “He has nothing to do with any of this!”

The man’s grin turned into laughter. He kept his palm open, revealing Mateo in the magical circle. Mateo, who had recognized me, started to bang on an invisible wall, as though he was trying to break through the magical circle.

“Ari! Please help me!” the boy cried out, “Please! Please let me out!”

“Hello, Lady,” the man said, still with a huge grin, “My name is Bar, a warlock. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I don’t f*cking care who you are!” I screamed while grabbing the iron bars hard. “Release Mateo!”

“Oh this?” the man raised his hand where the magical circle was displayed, then he closed his palm. The magical circle dissipated, and so did Mateo.

My eyes widened. In that instant, I banged the gate, and I forgot all of my fears about the man. I didn’t care about my own fear. “Bastard! Bring him back! Bring him back!”

Bar laughed again, to the point his shoulders were shaking. Then he opened his palm, revealing the magical circle and Mateo inside it again.

“What have you done to him?” I asked again, more like a desperate whisper.

“In your absence,” Bar explained, “He had a critical moment. Nothing big, just that he had been in a coma for a few days.” His grin widened even further. “I might have a hand in that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I collected his soul before it was time for him,” he said, “If his soul had gone too long from his body, he will eventually forever unable to go back to his body. Meaning he will die.”

I froze for a while. I didn’t even feel like breathing.

Is this my fault? I kept asking myself the same question. I thought being in the mansion would have kept dangers from the people around me. There have never been many people around me, but Mateo… he was special.

And his soul was suffering because of me.

My eyes felt hot and there was a huge lump in my throat that it hurt so much to speak. “Release him,” I said painstakingly, “Please… He is just a boy. He doesn’t deserve–“

“Why don’t you open the gate, walk out here, and retrieve his soul yourself?” Bar said.

My mouth became cold. I was not supposed to go out of the mansion because many Underworlders would want to get me, the Lady. Lots of things had happened in the span of a few weeks that made me believe some of these creatures really wanted me dead. I felt much safer inside the mansion.

But Mateo… He was just a child. Surely, fate or God or any other being up above wouldn’t be that cruel to take his soul away before due time? He was just a child who wanted to be normal but couldn’t. And he had no choice in the matter.

“If you don’t come out, I will make sure his soul will never return to his body,” Bar taunted again.

“No!” I cried out quickly, “No, no, no, please… I’ll come out.”

I couldn’t let Mateo die just like that. Despite his chronic illness, I couldn’t… I wouldn’t lose the hope that he would live a long, good life. And at that moment, I had the choice to save him.

So, I push the gate. They were never locked in the first place. Lex told me they were magically sealed, so only the people from the inside of the mansion could open them. But once I took a step outside, I would be free of the mansion’s protection.

I would be on my own.

My hands didn’t hesitate to push the gate. I took that step.

“Now release him,” I demanded. I had one hand still touching the gate so I could come back inside quickly if I needed to.

The warlock only grinned. Then he closed his palm. This time, however, the magical circle crumbled into dust.

In shock, I forgot all the princes' warnings. I ran to that magical circle. “No! Mateo!” But all I could grab was the red-orange glow. My eyes shook heavily and my feet became weaker. A sob was threatening to come out of my throat when Bar said, “Don’t worry, Lady. The child’s soul is already in his body. He is safe.”

Relief found me immediately. But then I realized how stupid I was.

“But now you are the one who is not safe.”

Dark vines suddenly lunged at me from every direction. They bounded my arms and legs so tightly that I couldn’t move. When I wanted to scream, the vines covered my mouth. I struggled to break free, but the vines only kept increasing. Until they covered my nose, and it became harder to breathe.

The vines tightened around me until I had no more air to breathe.

“You’re a fool, Lady,” Bar said. I saw him fiddling his long hands, laughing madly at the sight of me unable to breathe and move among his vines. “You fell into my trick so easily. I never had that boy’s soul. No one can take a soul from a body except the Dark Lord himself.”

So, I was stupid. I shouldn’t have trusted him so easily. Ironic, isn’t it? I prided myself in my intellect, and yet I fell for a stupid, simple trap. Panic built up inside me, paralyzing my spine and making me dizzy because I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t breathe. I was being suffocated.

“And now that you are here, I shall use this chance to kill you,” Bar said, “See, I am just a lowly warlock but I am a faithful servant of the previous Dark Lord. And none of these princes are worthy to become the next Dark Lord.” His voice was full of venom.

“So, you must die in order for the Dark Lord’s seat to still be vacant,” he continued, “Because either way, with or without a Dark Lord, war will break eventually.”

My vision blurred. My chest being pressured by my lungs to take in air but I couldn’t. Out of reflex, my muscles underwent spasms because of the lack of oxygen. I could feel my consciousness going down the drain.

No matter how much I fight, I couldn’t get out. I couldn’t even breathe. The brief panic attack that I had didn’t help either, it only made me lose more oxygen from my body.

I was not ready to die. I didn’t want to die.

I…

My eyes were becoming heavy. Before I knew it, tears streaked down my cheeks as I finally stopped struggling to break free.

I had given up.

Perhaps Tony and Lex were right. I was just another cycle to them. Another phase. And my deadline was approaching, one oxygen molecule at a time.

One more tear fell on my cheek. But just as I felt death approaching me, I heard his voice.

“Arianna!!”

It was too late, though. Because I knew then, my time was up.

Just like that, I had died.