Mathias

“You!” Mia shouts at the bigger man from the Opera House, her voice cracking with emotion. “Hey girly, miss me?” He asks mockingly. I have a suspicion who he is, but before I can do anything, Mia flies straight towards him, drawing her swords. “Mia don-!” I get out, but he’s already intercepted her charge, knocking Mia’s sword swing aside, grabbing her by the throat and whirling her back around to face us, pinning her arms behind her with his other hand.

Jesus fucking christ. “Please don’t hurt her!” I burst out, my stomach sick with worry. I do my best to control my shaking hands. We are far and away outmatched here. The only way I see out of this is to pull us all into my Kingdom, but Mia is already too far away for that to work. She’d be left behind.

Mathias smirks at my words. “She’ll be fine, as long as you give me what I want.” Damnit. That does absolutely nothing to ease my anxiety. I look to the rest of my guild. Paige’s shaking has intensified. She’s having full body shivers and, from the way her legs are violently quivering, wouldn’t be able to stand if Skylar wasn’t holding her up.

Skylar has a completely blank look on her face. Her eyes are glassed over as she stares at the ground, absently massaging Paige’s back. She doesn’t look at me, Paige or Mathias. She just stares at the ground, having completely shut down. Olivia has her fists clenched at her sides and is standing stock still. She knows as well as I do, that there’s nothing we can do here. Not while he has Mia.

I look back to Mia, who is twisting and writhing against The Enforcer, but has no hope of escaping his grip. He holds her arms easily, a wide smirk on his face. A shark’s grin. A predator’s grin. “We’ll give you what you want. Just please don’t hurt her.” I implore. I hate having no power in this situation. Mathias’ smile widens.

“Good, that’s more like it. Max? If the girl tries to escape again, kill her.” He says, almost casually, as if he was discussing the weather. Mia freezes in place and Max laughs. “Good girl. You and I are gonna get along just fine.” He says. A chill runs through my body, my anxiety only deepening at his words. He slowly bends down and picks up one of Mia’s swords, holding it to her throat. I gulp nervously, hoping to Gaia that she doesn’t move.

“Now that you can’t pull your little escaping trick, pay attention: I have a pretty fun innate ability. It’s quite potent actually, though it does come with it’s drawbacks at times. The main point is that I can inherit power and potential from other abyssals. That’s how I’ve gotten so strong - by taking from originally belonged to others, and now rightfully belongs to me.” He explains, and my heart sinks.

“I’ve had my strongest power reader check you out, and he’s confirmed it for me. You, far and away, have the strongest potential he has ever seen. You will be far stronger than I am, given time. Given what I’ve been able to find about your journey in the abyss, it’s taken you about three months to get this strong, which is an incredibly impressive feat in and of itself.” He says, his tone sounding almost congratulating.

“The really annoying thing about my ability is that I cannot steal from others. I can only take what is offered to me. I would sooner drain your power and leave you for dead, but such that it is, I offer a deal instead.” He licks his lips in anticipation. He’s been waiting for this for a long time. He nods his head towards Mia. “Her life, for your power.”

I look at Mia, her body shaking ever so slightly. She tries her best to remain still. Anger and fear is present in her eyes in equal measure. The Enforcer smiles, enjoying our reactions. Olivia stares, not moving a muscle. Neither Paige, nor Skylar acknowledge either one of them.

If only to delay the decision and buy myself some time to think, I ask the question on the back of my mind. “Why? What possible use do you have for my power if you’re already the most powerful in Sydney by far?” I ask, my voice quivering slightly.

“What relevance does that have to you, when I’ll be letting Max **** and kill your girlfriend if you don’t hand over your power?” He asks mockingly. My entire body tightens, and I find myself ready to explode at him in ****. Olivia takes a step forward, and he raises his hand.

“Calm down, I’m a reasonable man. I’ll answer.” Mathias says, almost looking offended. My face burns. This is absolutely humiliating. “The truth is that I have plans, for the greater good. I don’t have the power to see them done, without you. I’ll be saving many lives with what I intend to do.” He says.

I look at him skeptically. “Believe me or don’t, I don’t care. You asked, I answered. Now…” He says. The Enforcer tightens his grip on Mia, as she lets out a strangled gasp. “Hand over your power, or I’ll let Max loose on Mia. He has a pretty sick mind you know, whatever he has planned for her, it won’t be pretty.” Mathias threatens, stretching out his hand towards me.

Paige curls up into Skylar's arms, not even wanting to look at what's going on. Skylar holds her, still deadpan staring, unable to process. Olivia is shaking slightly herself. Her lips are pressed together in a thin line and I can see her repeatedly clenching and unclenching her fist.

My mind races, trying to decide what to do. If Mathias is to be believed, and I do have the potential to be stronger than he is, then my maximum level must be far above 300. If we could just get out of this and hole ourselves up in my Kingdom, we could train until I’m more powerful than him and beat him easily. But I can’t see a way out of this.

“Don’t do it Gem!” Mia shouts, and I look at her. “Don’t trust him! We don’t know what he’ll do!” She yells, tears streaking down her face. I hang my head. I’m completely outmatched here, ambushed because of a stupid mistake. And now I face an impossible decision: Ivy is a part of my power set. She’s alive because of my magic.

Giving up my powers to Mathias might mean killing Ivy.

"Tick tock." Mathias says, still grinning widely. Paige squeaks with fear. I’m paralysed with fear and indecision. Tears well up in my eyes. I don’t want to make this choice. I don’t want to choose between the lives of two people I love. I would give up the rest of my powers in a heartbeat to save Mia, but asking me to choose who to sacrifice is too much. I can’t do it.

I look around desperately to see if there's something, anything around I can use to my advantage. Nothing. Olivia’s fists tighten. My hands are shaking and my heart is pounding. The silence is agonising, the seconds slipping away before my indecision. Mathias draws breath, and my stomach lurches. Is this it? Have I lost Mia?

"FUCK THIS!" Mia screams, slamming her elbow back into The Enforcer's face and releasing a powerful blast of air. He takes a step back, grunting in surprise. "MIA!" I cry in desperation, as she turns around to follow up on her attack. The next moment is a blur. I don't even see it happen. One second, Mia's fist is flying towards Max's face.

Max rams the sword through Mia’s chest, in a shocking moment of ****. Mia clutches at the wound in surprise, as Max smirks. He twists the sword cruelly as my first love drops to her knees. My heart stops. Olivia gasps. Paige whimpers softly, her entire body shaking violently. Skylar stares, her gaze a thousand miles away.

A rush of emotion surges through me and pure despair erupts from my throat at the sight of my beloved. Max chuckles sadistically and rips the sword to the side, taking chunks of flesh from Mia’s chest with it. He steps forward and shoves Mia behind him. Mia faceplants gracelessly onto the road behind him, unmoving. The next moment I feel an impact into my side and I'm hurled towards Skylar and Paige. I turn to see Olivia having tackled me towards them.

"Kingdom! Now!" She barks. "But-!" I protest. "DO IT." My mentor yells. "I'll be seeing you, real soon." Mathias says, waving cheerily. The Enforcer starts to walk towards us, and in a panic, I teleport us to my Kingdom.