As soon as I spoke, the eyes disappeared from view, and a shiver ran down my spine. I turned around to see Fleur looking shocked at one of the pages among a slew of documents. The only audible sounds were my own breathing and the pounding of my heart in my chest.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Fleur cursed, holding a page in her hands.

Fleur swiftly reached into her pocket without hesitation this time and pulled out a dull-blue spherical object—no bigger than a bottle cap, and flicked it with her thumb like a marble into the air.

The moment it hit the ground, it bounced with a rap on the floor and evaporated into nothingness. The atmosphere of the basement changing into that now familiar chill.

Fleur looked at me with knowing eyes, “We were too late.”

A powerful aura enveloped Fleur, not that I could see anything but I could feel it.

“Eli, I need you to get those documents for me and get out of here, we’ve-”

Fleur was cut off mid-sentence as a blur of movement caught my eye. In an instant, a powerful blow came flying towards the side of her head. But Fleur was quick to react, raising her forearm to block the attack. The force of the impact pushing her several meters to the side, but managing to stay on her feet.

A woman in her mid-twenties stood beside the table of materials where Fleur had been moments ago. Her blond hair flowed messily over her shoulders, and her white dress shirt and black dress pants were already tattered and torn.

Fleur came back to her senses, “Pandora.”

“Fleur,” the woman with the cold white eyes said. “Been a while.”

The tension in the room was palpable as Pandora waltzed by the table, running her fingers across the chipping wood, eventually bringing her free hand up to her chest, clutching the golden pendant around the chain on her neck.

“Do you even know the possibilities, the opportunities that can come from something like this?”

Fleur remained silent for a moment, her eyes locked on Pandora as the woman continued to pace around the room. I could tell that this was not their first encounter, the air thick with unspoken animosity.

Fleur narrowed her eyes, “I know the consequences, Pandora. These risks outweigh the rewards and you know that.”

“Risks? Ha!” Pandora laughed, her voice filled with malice. “You’re just scared, you always have been. But me? I’m not afraid to push the boundaries. To see what’s possible.”

Pandora looked over at me, her pale white eyes piercing my very soul. “And now you’ve gone far as to involve others in your personal affairs? Pathetic.”

Did Pandora have even more of a connection to Fleur than it seemed? Was she just getting me involved for her own personal gain? I turned my gaze over to Fleur, her stance tense and ready to strike at any moment's notice. I didn’t have the time or energy to question things right this second, Fleur needed my assistance and since it benefited me too, then so be it.

“Did they put you up to this?” Fleur chimed back at Pandora.

Pandora’s sly grin turned to a scowl, “What do you care?”

“Because you’re turning, you knew that would happen, didn’t you? It’ll kill you.”

The room turned to a deafening silence for what felt to be an hour, both Fleur and I looking at the golden-haired woman.

Pandora looked back down at the pendant around her neck, “I think it’ll do just fine.”

In a sudden burst of movement, Pandora launched herself at Fleur, her fists flying in a blur of motion. But Fleur was too quick for her, darting out of the way with a burst of speed that seemed almost impossible.

Both of them moving swiftly around with a speed my eyes couldn't keep up with or even comprehend. It was as if they were teleporting around the basement.

I took the opportunity I had been given and rushed for the documents on the table. Thanks to Fleur keeping Pandora distracted, she had given me just a mere moment to get what we needed.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Without having time to check, I grabbed the nearest pile of papers on the table and began running back across the room towards the stairs, dodging past chunks of concrete and wood being broken and flying by.

Fleur and Pandora were equally matched, neither of them gaining what looked to be any kind of upper hand. They continued to send flurries of attacks at each other in blurs of black, white, red and gold.

In what seemed to be an instant, Pandora appeared in front of me as I had just reached the stairs.

"Leaving is not an option anymore"

With another blur, Pandora had disappeared from my view leaving an agonizing flash of pain in my stomach, leaving me short of breath and reaching for air.

I fell to my hands and knees, letting the papers drop to the floor as I desperately held myself up off the cold floor. Saliva, mucus and sweat dripping from my face.

"Well, you two were much easier than expected."

Was it just from the pain or were my ears failing me? Pandora's previously silky voice had become a cacophony of noise, jarring to my ears.

As she picked up the papers right in front of my view, I rolled onto my side to look across the basement.

The messy table had been split into pieces, leaving powders and glass all over the floor. The cabinets, chairs and other furniture had been ripped to shreds, and wedges of concrete from the floor and walls were broken off in chunks.

In just a matter of moments, the basement had become a mess of a fierce battleground.

Fleur had keeled over much like myself, with cuts from mere punches and kicks. With both of them on seemingly equal footing, Pandora had quickly gotten the upper hand and turned the tables drastically.

"Ugh-" I tried to speak, to say anything, to call out to Fleur, but nothing would come out.

All I could wish for was to be back in my own world, simply sitting at my secluded table in the library. A much easier life where I was greater than all my peers. Surpassing everyone with my mind and not being weighted down by my physical strength.

I watched from the floor, feeling helpless as Fleur struggled to regain her footing. Blood trickled down her face from a gash on her forehead, and her clothes were torn and stained. Despite the pain, she refused to yield.

Pandora's voice resonated through the room, distorted and dissonant. "You're a fool, Fleur. If you hadn’t given up way back when, we could’ve both had this power, this influence. But you were a coward."

Fleur pushed up, her legs shaking as she took a defensive stance. "You could never know what I felt," she said, her voice filled with a mix of determination and pain. "I did what I had to do, cowardly or not I had to protect myself."

Pandora laughed, the sound echoing in the chaotic space. "Protect yourself? Is that what you call it? Abandoning everything, running away like a scared little child?"

Fleur's eyes burned with intensity as she spoke, her voice steady despite her injuries. "You don't understand. This power, this fake power, it corrupts. It twists everything it touches. Look at what it's doing to you."

Pandora's grip tightened around the golden pendant as it started to sear away at the skin on her hands, her eyes wild and frenzied. "This power is given me strength, given me purpose. I won't let you stand in the way of someone trying to achieve their broken promise!"

Fleur gritted her teeth, her body swaying as she fought against her pain. "This promise was never meant to be fulfilled, Pandora. It was a lie, a trap."

Pandora's laughter grew louder as she looked to be becoming more insane with every passing second, her voice filled with madness and desperation. "No, you're wrong! We were meant to go forth together, to become something greater!"

With a burst of corrupted energy, Pandora lunged at Fleur once again. Her movements were no longer swift and controlled but wild and erratic. It was as if the pendant's power was consuming her from within.

Fleur defended herself as best as she could, her strikes becoming slower and weaker with each passing moment. She desperately tried to find an opening, a chance to strike back, but Pandora's onslaught was relentless.

I struggled to my feet, my vision blurred and my head throbbing. The world around me seemed to spin, but the urgency to escape propelled me forward. I hobbled towards the stairs, stumbling with each step. Fear gnawed at my core, urging me to leave this nightmare behind.

If I could get away, I could call for some kind of help. But from who? Is there anyone who would care enough?

But as I reached the foot of the stairs, Pandora appeared before me in a flash of distorted movement once again. She swung her arm, striking me across the face with a force that sent me sprawling to the ground once again. Pain radiated through my skull, and darkness encroached on the edges of my vision.

Pandora stood over me, her breathing heavy and erratic. She crouched down, the horror of her contorted face mere inches from mine. "You thought you could escape, didn't you? Leave us behind?"

I struggled to form words, my voice barely a whisper. "Please... Just let me go."

Pandora's pale eyes glinted with a mixture of anger and madness. "You don't understand, do you? This power, this pendant, it's consuming me. It's changing me. And I can’t, I won’t let anyone interfere with what I've become."

Desperation filled my chest as I stared into those deranged eyes. I knew I couldn't reason with her, couldn't make her see sense. All I could do was try to survive, to find a way out of this nightmare.

Her voice was now a screech, like a horrific demon. “Try, try, try and get away! I dare you!”

But just as I began to crawl away, a shudder ran through the room, a brief respite from the malevolence that hung in the air. The atmospheric chill that Fleur had somehow created prior, subsided, or broke. Like a brief shattering of glass.

And then darkness swallowed me whole, and I fell into unconsciousness, my body too battered and exhausted to fight against the pain any longer.