Pandemonium, Addie did not expect. It’s what she got.
Her dad, screamed in front of her, pushing against the stone brick floor with all his might. His screams gave away his agony and effort in equal measure. His arms flailed with desperate strength—his will for survival fighting against impending doom, but the floor continued to consume him all the same.
Directly to Addie’s right, Christena seemed completely fixated on the task in front of her. She was whispering something under her breath, but best Addie could tell, her main effort was to continue the ritual. Her arms and body moved in a sickening conductor’s dance, directing Fluffy across the room. For a moment, Fluffy stared directly at Addie and Squishy but decided to ignore them, for now. Fluffy, too, was focused on participating in the ritual in front of her. She bounced across the room, wall to wall, just as Addie had seen with the old woman those few days ago. Same as then, she unerringly landed in the center of each wall before kicking off and running to the next, residual blue magic trailing behind her as she went. When Fluffy ran in front of Addie, she snarled but continued without stopping.
Squishy prodded Addie telepathically, then mentally shouted, “Do not hesitate! Move!”
Stupid. Addie thought to herself, even as she ran forward toward her dad. Stupid for just standing there without doing anything. Her dad was only a few steps away from her, but the closer she got, the more the floor consumed him. Dorple jumped off Mr. Lomain’s shoulder and landed on the ground. During those brief moments of sprinting forward, Addie’s panic overcame her: she might not make it.
His head was the only remaining part of him above the stone tiles when Addie finally reached him. She put her hand directly on the top of his head, just about the only place she could touch him, then yanked with all her might upon her soul bond. Squishy responded and together, they fought.
Christena began to laugh wildly even as magic pooled within Addie, unspent. “My ritual is not so easily overcome, girl. Go ahead, try to fight it!” She confidently spat.
Ignoring her, Addie continued to pull harder than she ever had before. If only she still had the power of her bond ignition.
Something blocked her from entering Realmspace. A metaphorical unyielding stone wall obstructed her path. Or more accurately, held onto her father with unbreakable strength. Addie couldn’t move him. The more effort Squishy and Addie poured into their soul magic, the harder Christena and her ritual resisted. Addie and Christena reached a deadlock, their souls fighting against each other.
The floor covered her dad’s mouth completely now, but he was still breathing from his nose. He stopped sinking— Addie’s magic resisted the floor’s pull, trying to shove her dad out into Realmspace.
Fluffy flashed in front of Addie, the blue trail behind her glowing much brighter than before. For a moment, it fiercely blinded Addie. Next to her, she heard Squishy growl.
“This isn’t working.” Addie managed through gritted teeth, mentally talking with her partner.
Trepidation and a slight bit of fear seeped through the bond. Addie wasn’t sure if the fear belonged to her or Squishy.
“You are correct. Stay here and free your father. I will take the fox as my foe.” Squishy replied.
Before Addie could say or even think, Squishy leaped away, crossing directly into Fluffy’s path, stopping her cold. Addie took that in for only a moment, then focused her attention back on the building power coursing through her soul. Her job was to free her dad. She had to trust Squishy to perform his own role independently.
Her focus moved back to the realm of her soul even as she continued to yank. The room around her fell away, Christena and Fluffy, Squishy, and the basement, it all fell away as she focused her intent entirely within the confines of her soul.
Her soul felt astoundingly beautiful inside her. It glowed and pulsed, echoing down a pathway against which rested her bonded partner’s soul. Her eyes did not see it. Addie closed her eyes as she focused. It could be her spatial sense, but Addie believed she could feel her soul, independent of the magic she shared with Squishy. Ever since her mad dash through the forest, if she focused, she could sense her soul and Squishy’s too. From the first time she activated her magic, she could feel it coursing, flowing through her soul bond.
Now, too, she felt her soul and visualized it. A point began within the center of her being: the beginning of intent. As her intent gained will and strength, it pulsed down, where it met Squishy’s soul, forming a new point within him, too. These two points echoed off each other, built upon one another. Waves of power generated and flowed between the two.
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Sometimes, it was just a single flash of will, a single intent passing from one soul to the other before their magic materialized.
This time, Addie focused her intent and sharpened it. She gave it the will to grow. A pulse ran through her soul, beginning within her, then pulsing out towards Squishy. He reciprocated her intent, agreeing with her will. This generated another pulse of power which rippled back to its origin: the center of Addie’s soul. Again and again, the two’s intents overlapped and grew with each passage. The constant repetition soon turned Addie’s initial pulse of will into a veritable torrent of magic.
Still, it refused to be released. The waves of power crashed against her, every bit of her concentration used just to maintain the magic and keep it from bouncing around wildly. Addie knew Realmspace was only a moment away, a tiny fraction of her current power required to enter. Something blocked her. Christena’s will battled against Addie’s— not fighting her, but denying her. A wall stood in between Addie and Realmspace. To break through that wall and drag her father out from the stone, she had to keep pushing her magic.
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With our roles determined, I jumped away from Addie, sticking myself directly into the slyfox’s path. I would protect my Lady. This orange fluffy-tailed creature would not surprise me again.
Vaguely, I could feel Addie’s battle of wills against Christena pushing through the bond. Addie reached out to me for power, and I reciprocated it, sending it back with an extra burst of energy. Then, I pushed that to the back of my mind. My duty was in front of me. I turned my focus away from the echoing power Addie continued to build within our souls, and I focused my attention fully back to my foe.
The orange foe runs directly at me. I flex my claws against the hard unyielding bricks below me and my instincts begin to make themselves known once again as the drive to fight begins to envelop me. I bare my teeth. Perhaps it is a smile, anticipation to battle the orange one again. Perhaps I am revealing them as a threat. It matters little.
The fox continues its run across the room as I prepare to intercept. I see the drive in its eyes, too.
“No, not it. Her.” I think vaguely to myself. To some extent, we are the same, both uplifted above our initial intelligence. I flex my muscles, ready to pounce on her all the same.
She flies past me. She flew past me?
I turn my whole body around. I swear her vulpine form is smirking at me. That dishonorable, wild animal. To flee from battle? Unthinkable.
Still, in a bit of shock, I shake my whole body. If it is a chase she wants, then a chase she will have.
I remember our previous battle, how the clever creature used fake images to fool my normal perceptions. Instead, I make sure my eyesight aligns with my spatial sense, confirming she is in fact where I expect her to be.
My feet hit the ground, claws doing whatever they can to help with traction as I chase after my prey. She no longer deserves the title of foe. She is simply prey, now. I hear her chitter at me, and I realize she is laughing! My muscles pump even harder to catch the slippery fox as we run around and around the room. I close in on her slowly at first, then with a final push, I pounce. My mouth aimed for her hind leg.
A moment of distraction, a loud bang sounds off just to my right: near my Lady. For a moment, I turn my head to confirm Addie’s safety, but she seems unaffected by the noise, her eyes closed in concentration. My moment of hesitation is enough for the fox to capitalize on.
She yips as she forces her extremely fluffy tail into my face, baiting me away from her leg even as I bite down. My teeth find fur instead of flesh, and she escapes once more, continuing her glowing run around the room.
I pump all four of my legs even harder as I feel shame running up my neck. The timing of that was too perfect, I realize. Perhaps she doesn’t just create fake images, perhaps fake sounds are within her skillset, too.
Her trick of sound will not work on me a second time.
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Addie’s body knelt on the floor with both of her hands outstretched holding onto her dad’s head. Her eyes remained closed in concentration as she delved deep into her well of power. Though she made constant and slow progress against Christena’s will, Addie worried she wouldn’t win fast enough.
Compared to when she first entered the room, her father sank much slower into the earth now, remaining buoyant largely due to Addie’s current efforts to push him into Realmspace.
“How is Christena blocking me!” Addie thought to herself, frustrated. In her mind’s eye, a great stone wall separated Addie from properly affecting her father. Addie’s power continued to build in great waves, echoing across her soul bond over to Squishy, where it was amplified and then sent back to her. Constantly growing and pounding against Christena’s wall of will.
But it didn’t make any sense to Addie. In order to use her own magic, she had to know both how it worked and have experience using it. For Christena to block Addie’s magic without even knowing what Addie was trying to accomplish seemed crazy. It maddened Addie. How could she block magic she didn’t even understand?
Addie’s mind kept flickering to this frustration, even as she tried to focus on building the power to punt her dad into Realmspace. It seemed impossible for Christena to block Addie so thoroughly without even knowing what she was blocking Addie from doing.
The power continued to pulse and grow in strength as Addie directed it, but she started to worry. Her magic was starting to grow beyond the limit of what was comfortable for her to manage. It started to hurt straining and opening up the bridge between her soul and Squishy’s in its relentless torrent— pushing past intent as it flooded from side to side without care.
Addie almost lost her grip on its direction. She had no idea what would happen if she lost control now. She wanted to avoid damaging her soul-bond at all costs, wincing as she remembered the crack she created when she overused her then-new powers to escape the manor.
The energy needed to go somewhere, and at this point, Addie felt certain that she couldn’t break through Christena’s wall.
The magic moved once again to Squishy with a thwoom of energy, and Addie braced for it to come back and hit her again. This time, it needed to be released. The wall stood before her, as sturdy as ever— unmoving.
“I can’t free him!” Addie thought to herself, panic and desperation building inside her. She prepared herself to receive her magic even as she dreaded what would happen if she lost control of it.
Then, in a moment of lucidity she realized, “Maybe, I don’t need to move Dad specifically.”
In an instant, Addie split her focus, one path of her mind continuing to direct that unceasing energy flowing within her bond. The other half of her mind moved to her spatial sense, and through it, to Christena.