8

8

I chant out loudly, the candles going out one by one in succession around us as though a puff is wafted in succession, followed by the fire. A second of darkness before all explode back to light with a combustive boom that creates tiny sparkles around the room. Like pouring lighter fuel onto a tiny ember of a flame and igniting a volcano eruption of light.

Cornel jumps to his feet in alarm, crying out in anguished pain like a dying animal, his body stiffening and twisting as he fights the internal agony. He grasps his heart with both hands, clutching at his chest as though to claw out what it is I am causing, before falling to the ground in a heap. Slumping down in a heavy unceremonious clatter into a deadweight of non-motion. I watch, undeterred and unaffected as he lays groaning and writhing, just as Cora returns, cradling the vial and bloodied dagger against her bosom, eyes wide as though she’s still reeling from what I made her do.

She gasps at the s