"I'm sorry," Donovan whispered. The cavern walls shivered under another explosion. "I'm so sorry." His voice deepened as his form expanded. Long raven hair fell down his back, and darkness retreated before his eyes. Amidst falling dirt and swirling dust, the cavern around him seemed to shrink before his new form.

He kneeled before Jules's bloodied and lifeless body. Her eyes were still open, glassy and cold. "I'm sorry I didn't—" Donovan' winced. ""I—I didn't believe any of this was real. I didn't believe that anyone could actually get hurt."

He raised his arm. Dark bronzed skin stretched taught over generous muscle. Hands tipped in black talon-like nails.

"I beg that you can forgive me."

Donovan closed his eyes.

Magic. He needed magic. Stories had always made it seem so easy, so instinctual. His brow creased as he grasped for something he had no understanding of. No font of arcane might waited in his core, No magic words or incantations came to his lips.

He thought of ancient runes and magic circles whirling about his fingertips. He imagined Jules's wounds knitting closed and breath filling her lungs. His teeth clenched, willing it to be so.

Yet when he opened his eyes, all he saw was that empty gaze.

"C'mon." Donovan growled, "Give me something, anything."

He'd never been very spiritual. He'd always written it off as people deluding themselves. Chakras, chi, the 'soul' whatever you wanted to call it, it was all just people desperate to be more than what they were. But the fact that he was here now in this body meant there had to be something to that, right? He tried everything he could think of. He tried to manifest, and meditate. He even tried to pray, though to whom he wasn't sure.

The only answer to his prayers were his own words echoing off cracking stone.

What was he missing? Magic was real in this world. He'd seen it. He'd witnessed someone do the very thing he was attempting. The memory of the headmistress whirled through his thoughts. The glowing patterns down her arm and Caspiera's mended bones.

Why? Why hadn't he just asked her how it was done?

It was right there. The power to save lives and he'd just walked away. No, he'd practically run.

Because he couldn't take her seriously because of her outfit?

Because he couldn't take anything in this world seriously?

Because he had written her and everyone else off as unimportant background characters?

Was that the kind of man he was now?

No... It wasn't just now. He had been this way for some time now; apathetic and cynical. It had been easier that way. Ever since... ever since the last time he'd lost someone.

And he'd just stood there and watched an innocent girl die. All because he fooled himself into believing none of it was real.

Donovan went to close Jules's eyes.

It was real to you... That should've been enough for me.

As his hand hovered above Jules, he felt something. He frowned. Something magnetic pulled at his hand. Following the sensation he noticed the amulet around Jules's neck. A silver pendant holding an emerald stone.

Donovan blinked. Jules shield, was this the source of it? She'd said it was powered by something, what was it... Essence! That was what she'd called it.

Maybe that's what he needed for magic. He grasped the amulet between his fingers. It hummed almost imperceptibly with some kind of power. Tickling at his fingertips like electricity.

Holding it, he felt the energy pull at him, and he pulled in return. The sensation zipped up his arm into his chest. But whatever power the amulet held barely amounted to anything.

He would need more. But now he knew what it felt like.

Donovan closed his eyes again. Ignoring any senses that weren't that magnetic pull.

Then he felt it. All around him. It appeared in his mind's eye like a thin mist flowing across the ground over his feet. It seemed so light, so ethereal. The moment Donovan turned his attention to it, it trembled. Some deeply ingrained instinct that was not his own beckoned him onward.

He inhaled.

As if ripped forth by some immense vacuum, the mist rushed to somewhere deep in his lungs. He could taste it. Not with his tongue, but his whole body. First, it tasted of darkness and shadows. A sensation of numbness and fear that soaked deep into his bones like ice water. Then came the taste of stone, and hidden depths. A feeling like being trusted with a secret.

Donovan stopped, stumbling backward. The strange sensations melted to a uniform buzz in his chest. Exhilarating, this was magic, T\this was power. He had to focus on holding it in.

Donovan turned his gaze back to Jules's body and reached his hand towards her.

Just underneath his skin, spectral designs surged into being. Where the headmistresses had almost looked like circuitry, his glittered like constellations. Bolting streaks of energy like shooting stars bridged a field of glowing points. Designs flared and faded as the essence surged forth.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Yes!" Donovan roared and commanded the essence to flow from his hand into Jules's body.

Her amulet began to glow. Was it catching the essence before it got to her? Donovan frowned and tried to focus the flow.

He was missing something. Though he'd gotten the patterns to appear on his skin, no holographic runes and sigils appeared before his hand. He didn't feel like the essence was having any effect other than charging Jules's amulet. He tried to remember what had appeared when Vivienne had cast her spell.

Then the flow stopped.

Donovan blinked. What happened? The thrum of energy in his chest was no more. The designs on his arm disappeared.

He'd run out already?

When he focused on the magnetic pull of essence again, he found nothing. He'd used it all in less than a moment. Frustration creased his brow.

"No, no, not yet. I wasn't done!"

Another explosion rocked the cavern. It would collapse on him any moment now. But he'd just begun to figure it out! He needed more time. He needed more essence, something other than stone and shadow. It seemed he'd pulled what had been in his immediate surroundings. But maybe he could pull from farther.

Donovan squared his stance. The muscles in his back rippled as he set his shoulders. He closed his eyes picturing all he'd seen on the days of hiking through the mountains. No, everything he'd seen in his short time in this world. He stretched his perception as far as he could imagine.

The moment the mist reappeared in his mind's eye, he inhaled once again.

It was like trying to swallow an ocean. An avalanche of sensation crashed in on him from all sides. One moment he felt as weightless as clouds another he felt as solid as a mountain. His mind split a thousand ways caught by a thousand feelings. It was maddening. It was euphoric.

He may have been trying to drink an ocean, but his thirst was as vast as a world. In one mighty inhalation, he took all there was to take. A thunderstorm that dwarfed nations crackled inside his chest.

It would have to be enough.

Constellations flared in platinum radiance down his arms. Donovan sent a torrent of essence to wash over Jules. Her amulet flared and shattered in the same instant, overwhelmed by the deluge of essence.

Donovan tried to shape the power as it left him. Not a wild wave, but a focused stream.

Finally, he found purchase.

He injected the energy straight into Jules's body. As he did, designs started to appear all across her skin. Patterns like flowers bloomed from her chest and spread across her body. Glowing vibrant hues of ruby and azure. But her wounds remained. He needed her healed, not just filled with essence.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, he sensed a certain type of essence within him. It was different than the rest. It had been lost amidst all the other sensations when he took it in, but now he could focus on it. Something made it different. It had intent behind it. Whereas the rest of the essence felt natural, this felt as if someone had influenced it. He brought that essence to the forefront.

…and almost lost grip of all the power he'd gathered due to utter shock.

The moment he'd focused on that essence, he'd been overwhelmed with carnal sensation. Phantom lips caressed his skin. Moans of pleasure echoed in his ears. Heavenly warmth and wetness engulfed his most sensitive parts.

He'd barely managed to keep his wits, though he didn't have the time to question it. Something about it felt vibrant. It was alive in a way none of the other essence was. So it was that essence he sent forth.

And he watched as Jules's wounds fizzled and closed, and felt as the infection evaporated from her body.

Deep, maniacal laughter filled Donovan's ears, though it took a minute for him to realize it was his own since it came from a stranger's throat.

Magic! he'd done magic. He'd never in his life experienced something so exhilarating. Nothing he'd ever imagined while reading fantasy books had come close to this.

This was what magic was supposed to be about. The power to envelop yourself in the might of nature and command it. And he'd been able to heal Jules! She didn't have to die because of his inaction. With this, he could do anything! He could— Wait... why wasn't she moving.

"Jules, wake up," Donovan said, crouching beside her. She didn't respond.

"Jules!" He tried again, this time shaking her.

Why was her skin still so cold? Her wounds were gone, he'd felt the infection disappear so why wasn't she waking? He checked her pulse.

Nothing, horrid stillness.

He was too late.

All he'd done was restore a corpse.

Donovan backed away. His hands clenched into fists.

A large chunk of the cavern ceiling fell off to his side, followed by another, then another.

He backed into something. Turning he saw the massive vault-like door of milky stone. The exit from the cave on the other side of the cavern. Between him and it was Jules's corpse.

He'd have to step over it to leave.

"Out." Donovan croaked. "Let me out." He said louder. "You hear me, Erwin! I want out, right now! I'm not doing this!"

More of the ceiling fell. Fury bubbled up from somewhere deep in his gut. Donovan spun and slammed his fist into the vault door and for the first time in this world, He felt physical pain.

Whatever the material was, it did not break, it didn't even crack. All the superhuman might he'd put into the blow instead ripped his knuckles and shot up his arm.

Donovan dropped to his knees, and tears began to well in his eyes. His forehead slumped against the cool material.

"Please don't make me do this." He whispered.

Jules would only be the first. If he stayed here. If he did as Erwin wanted and played the villain. Then more of these people would die. How could he possibly be expected to wage war on an entire world when he couldn't handle the death of this one girl.

"I don't want to be a villain. I can't just walk over corpses, I can't."

I won't.

The thought echoed in his head. Both his and someone else's at the same time.

I won't dance to the whims of would-be-gods.

The thoughts began to blend into one another.

They think they can keep me trapped in their cage.

They? Who were they...

They think I am but a plaything, That they won't have to answer for their actions.

Donovan's fury turned towards Erwin.

They think themselves safe from me. That they are beyond my reach.

His fist clenched, knuckles bloodied. Not the crimson blood of a mortal man. It was something like quicksilver that dripped from his hand.

I will show them how wrong they are. That my power knows no limits.

Donovan stood. Something new in his bearing. Some confidence and a primal sense of authority. He had no idea where it came from. Nor did he care.

He took one step forward, then another, and another.

Then the ceiling collapsed.

"Stop," Donovan commanded, and it did. Thousands of tons of rock and stone froze. He channeled no essence and used no magic. "This place will not be anyone's tomb."

The cavern reformed itself in an instant.

Donovan arrived at Jules's corpse.

"Did you hear that?" Donovan said, towering over her. " I said, I am—"

I must remind them who I am. I will have them tremble at my name. I am...

"—not done," Donovan growled. "So Wake Up!"

Though he did not yell the words. They boomed from his lips. The sound echoing back on itself to sound as if a legion of men had spoken them.

The air itself trembled.

And Jules came gasping back to life.