Chapter 21 - The Magic of Heartlink

Zachary hurled both fireballs with a roar, the blazing orbs streaking through the night. Aiden braced himself, teeth grit only for a sudden wall of water to surge up before him. The fireballs sizzled into steam, vanishing in a hiss.

Valerie stood at the Guild’s doorway, arms outstretched, eyes blazing. With a sweep of her hand, she followed the water wall with a blast of air. The wind exploded outward, catching Zachary square in the chest and launching him further down the cobblestone street.

“Val!” Aiden gasped, relief breaking across his face as she ran to him, dropping to her knees at his side.

“You okay?” Her hands searched him for burns.

“I’m fine,” Aiden said, though his chest still ached from the earlier blow. His eyes narrowed, following Zachary as he dragged himself up from the stones. “But something’s wrong with him. He’s…different...something worse than rage. I can almost feel it emanating off of him.”

Everly rushed forward, kneeling by Zachary, trying to pull him up. “Zach, stop this—”

“Get out of my way!” Zachary shoved her hard, sending her sprawling to the ground. His face twisted with rage, veins bulging at his temples. “If you want to be useful, then help me destroy them!”

Everly’s eyes shimmered with conflict, but she slowly, reluctantly nodded and stood, her hands trembling.

At the Guild doors, the reception crowd had spilled outside, whispers turning into alarm. Maximus stood at the front with his cane braced, Chloe at his side, Jaxson and Avery flanking them. Their eyes burned into Zachary, but no one moved yet.

Zachary’s lips peeled back in a snarl. “FIRE VORTEX!”

He thrust his arms forward, flames coiling violently. Everly gasped as the air rushed out of her lungs, her body trembling as Zachary ripped the energy straight from her. The fire swirled with her air, spinning into a screaming tornado of flame between his hands. With a final roar, he hurled it forward.

“Put up a wall!” Aiden barked.

He slammed his palms into the ground, forcing a barrier of earth upward, while Valerie layered water over the stone. The fiery tornado crashed into their defense, flames lashing outward in snapping arcs. Steam roared, cracks splintered through the wall.

Behind them, Maximus and Chloe slammed their palms down, raising their own wall with Jaxson’s and Avery’s aid. Earth, water, and magic fused to shield the crowd. Flames hammered against the barrier, sparks raining like meteors.

“Inside!” Maximus bellowed. “All of you, inside, now!”

The townsfolk scrambled back into the Guild Hall. Jaxson and Avery guided them quickly, while Maximus and Chloe remained outside, holding their wall steady until the flames died down.

At last, the vortex sputtered out. Smoke hung in the street like a funeral shroud. Aiden and Valerie lowered their scorched wall, sweat glistening on their brows.

Aiden exhaled, chest heaving. “It’s not Everly… it’s him. Zachary’s the one unraveling. If we stop him, we end this madness”

Valerie nodded, her jaw set. “Then let's stop him.”

Aiden glanced at her, eyes steady. “I’m going to get in close. We'll use Gale Plate to cover me while you accelerate me with wind. One hit to knock him out. Wish me luck.”

Valerie placed her hands over his. “Luck isn’t what you need. You’ve got me.”

Together, their Heartlink flared. Stone plates encased Aiden’s body, jagged but strong, and air swirled around him with faint trails of light. He clenched his fists, igniting them in flames.

“Give it everything you've got,” Aiden said, grinning grimly. “Remember, let's finish this with one punch.”

Sorry, Zachary, he thought, flexing his burning fists. This might hurt a little.

He launched forward. Valerie’s wind surged at his heels, lifting him and sending him gliding across the cobblestones like a phantom on skates.

Zachary’s eyes widened, the surprising speed catching him off guard. He grabbed Everly again, draining more of her energy with merciless hands. Mud bubbled up at Aiden’s feet, spreading into a swamp of rot that festered with poisonous fumes.

“Decaying Swamp…” Valerie gasped, covering her mouth.

Aiden’s boots sank for an instant, panic rising in his throat. Damn it—!

Then another gust lifted him. He rose higher, gliding above the muck on Valerie’s wind. He glanced back, saw her hands glowing as she strained to hold him aloft, and gave her a quick thumbs up.

Her lips pressed into a fierce smile. “Go!”

Aiden surged faster, fire blazing in his fists causing a streak of red in his wake. Zachary cursed, frantically raising a wall of earth between them. But Aiden didn’t slow.

“RRRAAAGH!”

He crashed straight through, shards exploding around him, stone splintering like paper. He burst through the dust cloud, face to face with Zachary.

For the first time, fear flickered in Zachary’s wild eyes.

Aiden drew back his arm. Flames coiled, the heat warping the air, and with all his strength he drove his fist forward.

The flaming punch smashed directly into Zachary’s face.

Zachary went flying back, his body spinning. Aiden landed heavily, chest heaving, his fist still glowing from the strike. For a heartbeat, he thought it was over. But as Zachary twisted midair, their eyes met. A sly smile crept across Zachary’s face.

No… Aiden’s stomach dropped.

Zachary slammed into the cobblestones and rose almost instantly. Dust clouded around him, but shards of stone flaked off his cheek. An armored plate of earth and air shimmered faintly across his face, cracked but intact.

He must've used that Rift magic armor he used against Gortin.

The shattered fragments that sprayed outward ripped into Aiden’s Gale Plate, tearing chunks of stone from his armor. Aiden staggered back, teeth clenched as pieces of his protection crumbled away.

“Aiden…” A weak voice cut through the haze.

Everly.

She stood, hunched over beside him now, tears streaming down her face, her legs buckling. She collapsed, but Aiden caught her before she hit the ground. He eased her into a sitting position cradling her head.

“Everly, you need to retreat back to the Guild. You can't take much more—”

Her hands clutched his sleeve desperately as she pulled her self up to face her husband. “Zachary! Please, stop this! This anger… it won’t fix anything!”

Zachary’s growl rumbled low in his throat. A dark aura bled from his skin, thick and heavy. His eyes glowed with twisted fury. “Silence your tongue.”

Everly shook her head violently, sobbing. “You're hurting me Zachary, don't you see that?! This isn’t you. This is the darkness your father used to poison your mind! This isn’t the man I fell in love with!”

For the briefest moment, something flickered in Zachary’s eyes. Aiden saw hesitation, a faint crack in the madness.

But then Zachary’s gaze dropped to where Aiden was holding Everly. His face twisted with rage, the dark aura pulsing violently.

“You...betrayed me…” His voice deepened, guttural. “You side with them. With him!”

“No, Zachary!” Everly cried. “Please—”

“I don’t need dead weight anymore!” Zachary roared.

The darkness surged. Power exploded outward, a wave of unease flooding through the street. Windows rattled. The very air vibrated with malevolence. People still peeking from the Guild doorway shrank back, clutching one another.

Aiden’s eyes widened, breath catching. What… what is this?

He didn’t get the chance to question it further. In a flash of black speed, Zachary blurred. He appeared before them and struck upward with a devastating uppercut.

“AIDEN!” Valerie screamed.

The blow cracked into Aiden’s chin, launching him into the air. His body flipped, spinning helplessly as he flew back toward Valerie. She threw out her hands, whipping up air to slow him, but his quick decent caused him to crash down with a brutal thud, bouncing across the cobblestones.

Valerie skidded to his side, panic in her eyes. “Aiden—!” She lifted his face, and gasped.

His jaw hung at an unnatural angle, shattered. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

“No… no, no, no!” Valerie pressed trembling hands against his face. “Please! Stay with me!”

His eyes fluttered, pain radiating in his muffled groans.

“Heartlink magic—we need Restorative Spring!” Valerie clasped his hand tightly, tears streaking her cheeks. “Please, Aiden, focus with me!”

Weakly, he squeezed back. Their joined hands pulsed with a faint green glow, soft and healing. Valerie guided the flow, channeling it into his broken jaw.

Snap… snap… The bones shifted piece by piece, grinding together until they locked back in place. Aiden winced but endured, the pain easing with each pulse of light.

Finally, he opened and closed his jaw slowly, testing the healing.

Valerie stared with pleading eyes. "Aiden? Are you okay?"

“It's a little sore… but I'll be fine,” he rasped.

Valerie exhaled in relief, pressing her forehead to his. “Don’t scare me like that again.”

But her breath caught. Her eyes widened in horror.

“Aiden…look.”

They both turned.

Zachary stood in the center of the street, one hand wrapped tightly around Everly’s throat. She kicked weakly, her hands clawing at his wrist. Her skin had turned pale, veins darkening as the very life drained out of her. Darkness streamed visibly from her chest, sucked into Zachary like smoke into a void.

“Stop it!” Valerie screamed. “You’ll kill her!”

Zachary’s lips moved, but the voice that came was not his own. It was deeper, twisted, echoing with something evil. “If she won’t give it willingly… I will take it. All of it.”

Everly’s body sagged. Her arms dropped limp. Her head rolled to the side as the last threads of shadow left her and poured into Zachary’s body. With a flick of disgust, he tossed her aside. She struck the ground with a sickening thud, her body angled in an unnatural pose.

“No!” Aiden pushed up, fury igniting in his chest.

Zachary began to rise. His feet left the cobblestones, his body hovering, consumed by the shroud of darkness. The aura swelled, oppressive, pressing on every heart in the town. His eyes were no longer human—only pits of black. From his mouth seeped tendrils of shadow, curling in the air like smoke.

Aiden’s blood ran cold.

“It’s time,” Zachary rumbled, his voice layered with the growl of something inhuman. His mouth split in a grin of oozing darkness. “Time for you to know true despair…and enter the void.”