Becoming the door wasn’t like using magic or channeling power—it was becoming sothing else entirely, and the pain was beyond anything I’d experienced including temporary death and demon binding and all the tis the Fae had killed in training.
My body split. Not physically. taphysically. The wolf side pulling one direction, vampire side pulling another, and the hybrid contradiction between them stretching into a threshold that existed in all states simultaneously.
I was solid and liquid and gas and energy all at once. Was matter and antimatter occupying the sa space. Was life and death and the mont between heartbeats expanded into infinity.
I was the door. The threshold. The bridge between realities.
And it was agony.
Every cell in my body screaming that this was wrong, I wasn’t ant to exist like this, this violated fundantal laws of reality.
But the oath compelled and I held the threshold open because I had no choice.
The Root poured through.
Not entered. Poured. Like liquid darkness flooding through the gap I’d beco, and I could feel it moving through , could sense its hunger and vastness and absolute certainty that reality was food.
It was cold. Not temperature cold. Absence cold. The cold of void and entropy and everything ending.
And it was aware of . Knew I was the door. Was grateful I existed because without it could never fully cross.
"Now!" Morgana’s voice cut through the agony. "Inject now!"
Through the three remaining bonds I felt them respond—Riven, Draven, Thorne all stabbing syringes into their own hearts without hesitation.
The potassium chloride worked fast. Their hearts stopped within seconds.
And through the bonds I felt them die.
Not fade. Not slip away. Actually die. Clinical death. Gone.
"No—" The word tore out of but I was the door and couldn’t move, couldn’t reach for them, couldn’t—
Except their bonds didn’t break. Didn’t fade. Stayed solid and strong and absolutely present.
Their consciousness was anchoring. Through death. Through the bonds. Into .
I could feel them. Could sense Riven’s patience wrapping around , Draven’s clinical certainty steadying , Thorne’s feral protection shielding .
They were here. Inside the threshold with . Dead but present.
"Seal it." Eirlys’s command cut across everything. "Before The Root fully crosses. Seal the door with the Hybrid Queen inside."
The Fae magic hit like a hamr. Wrapped around the threshold I’d beco. Started pulling it closed with and The Root and my three mates’ consciousness all trapped inside.
"Wait—" I tried to scream but the door was closing and suddenly I was being compressed, reality folding around , the prison forming.
And Kael was still outside. His bond was dead. He hadn’t died with the others.
He wasn’t anchoring.
Through the closing door I saw him standing there holding an empty syringe with an expression of absolute devastation.
"Kael!" His na tore out of . "What did you—"
"I lied." His voice was hollow. "I’m not dying with you. Soone needs to stay behind. To make sure the prison holds. To protect it from the outside."
To protect it. He was sacrificing being with us to guard the prison from outside threats.
"No!" I was screaming now. "Kael, please, don’t do this, we need you—"
"You have three." He smiled and it was broken. "That’s enough. I’ll be here. Guarding. Forever. Making sure nothing breaks the seal."
Making sure nothing breaks the seal. He was condemning himself to eternal isolation guarding our prison.
"I love you." The words were all I had left. "I love you and I’m sorry I broke our bond and I—"
The prison sealed.
Reality folded completely. The threshold collapsed. And suddenly I was—elsewhere.
Not in reality. Not in the void between. Sowhere else entirely. A space that existed outside normal dinsions. A prison made specifically to hold The Root.
And inside with : Riven’s consciousness, Draven’s consciousness, Thorne’s consciousness. All three dead but present, anchored through bonds that transcended physical death.
And The Root. Massive. Ancient. Hungry.
We were sealed in together. The five of us—except Kael was outside, alone, guarding.
Four of us trapped inside with primordial darkness.
No escape. No return. Forever.
"This is—" I couldn’t finish because I didn’t have words for what this was.
"Cozy." Thorne’s voice ca from—not beside , more like inside , through the bond. "For a prison."
"We’re together." Riven’s patience wrapped through the connection. "That’s what matters."
"And The Root is here." Draven’s clinical assessnt. "Which ans we can fight it directly. From inside. Where it can’t escape."
Fight it directly. Right. That was the plan. Except The Root was the size of—I couldn’t even comprehend the scale. It was vast. We were four consciousness anchored through mate bonds.
The math wasn’t mathing.
"We’re hybrid-bonded now." Riven’s voice carried realization. "All four of us connected through you. Your hybrid magic running through all our consciousness. We’re not just four people anymore. We’re—"
"Unified." Draven finished. "One entity with four perspectives. Powered by hybrid contradiction. We’re exactly what Cassia needed and never had."
Exactly what Cassia needed. A unified force powered by bonds and hybrid magic fighting from inside the prison.
Maybe we actually could do this.
Maybe—
The Root attacked.
Not physically. ntally. Tried to consu our consciousness the way it had consud civilizations.
And we fought back.
Together. Through the bonds. With hybrid power that existed in contradiction to everything The Root was.
We were its prison. But we were also its enemy. Trapped together. Fighting forever.
And sohow—sohow that felt like victory.
Outside the prison, I could sense Kael. Couldn’t feel him through the dead bond but could sense his presence. Standing guard. Protecting the seal.
Alone. Forever. While we fought inside.
He’d sacrificed being with us to ensure we could actually win.
"We’ll find a way back to him." Riven’s voice was certain. "After. When The Root is destroyed. We’ll find a way."
Find a way. Right. Because defeating primordial darkness from inside its own prison was totally achievable.
The Root attacked again and we defended, and the battle began in earnest.
Forever.
Together.
Except for Kael.
Always except for Kael.
User Comments
0 comments from readers