Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted - Chapter 352

Chapter 352: Ava: Purify
“What do you mean?”

You’ll need to draw the energy into yourself, he explains, and then overpower it with your own magic.

This is not what I expected. “Draw it in? Like… absorb it?”

He nods. Exactly. The resulting friction between your magic and the taint creates a sort of burning purification. It neutralizes the harmful energy and can even bolster your own reserves.

The idea of pulling this dark, ominous energy into my body makes my skin crawl. “And what if there’s too much? What if I can’t handle it all at once?”

Grimoire’s ears twitch. In those cases, you’d need to purify in stages or enlist help from other magic users. The stronger you are and the more magical capacity you have, the more efficiently you can handle these situations. This amount should be easy for you, especially with your recent expenditures at the wards.

I grunt, still uneasy about the whole concept. The thought of willingly drawing this taint into myself feels wrong on a visceral level.

It’s relatively easy magic, Grimoire assures me. It just requires fine control, which you’ve been improving lately.

His words are meant to be comforting, but they don’t quite hit the mark. Maybe because it feels kind of like he just told me to eat evil. It’s just wrong. “Does it hurt?”

Grimoire pauses, and that hesitation speaks volumes. It can cause fevers as your body fights against the toxic nature of the taint, he admits. But it doesn’t necessarily hurt in and of itself.

“Fevers,” I repeat, my voice flat. “Great. For how long?”

As long as it’s required.

So, a while. Not super cool, but we can’t just leave a mass of aggression-inducing taint—which really doesn’t sound right—around. It’s invisible. None of our wolves would be able to avoid it, even if they knew its scent.

I close my eyes, too distracted by how it’s not visually there, and reach out with my magic. It surges to my command immediately, as easy as breathing.

The taint feels like an oil slick on water, but light and fluffy, like clouds. It’s strange.

Good, Grimoire encourages. Now, imagine drawing that energy towards you. Like you’re inhaling it.

My eyes snap open. “Wait, literally inhale it?” My lungs cringe at the thought.

No, no, he says quickly. It’s just a visualization technique. You’re pulling it into your magical core, not your lungs.

Closing my eyes again, I inhale as deeply as I can, even as I let my magic touch the strange, icky energy before me.

Soon enough, it’s like some sort of magical siphon as it flows over my magic and into circulation.

As the first tendrils of tainted energy touch my magical core, I gasp. It burns, a cold fire that spreads through my veins. My teeth clench against the discomfort.

Keep going, Grimoire urges. You’re doing well.

I push through the pain, breathing slow and steady, continuing to draw the energy in. It feels endless, like I’m trying to drink an ocean through a straw. Just when I think I can’t take anymore, it slows down.

Now, Grimoire says, push back with your own magic. Overwhelm it.

I gather my strength, feeling my magic surge within me. It crashes against the taint like a wave, and for a moment, I’m afraid it won’t be enough. It’s like being too full after drinking way too much water, magic sloshing this way and that within me, making me sick.

But then I feel something give way, and suddenly I’m flooded with a rush of power.

The burning sensation intensifies, and I can feel sweat beading on my forehead despite the cold. My whole body feels like it’s on fire, and my magic slowly consumes the toxic energy I’ve drawn into my body.

I open my eyes, gasping for breath. The world spins around me, and I stumble, nearly falling face-first into the snow.

Only there’s no snow.

Just dirt and yellow grass in a wide circle around me.

Marcus is there in an instant, steadying me with a strong hand on my arm.

“Are you alright?” he asks, concern etched on his face.

I nod, not trusting my voice just yet. My whole body aches, and I can feel the beginnings of a fever setting in. It’s like my very bones are aching, and my teeth chatter, despite feeling as though I’m on fire.

Grimoire’s fox form disappears, and the heavy weight of his book form tugs at the strap of my messenger back once again. Well done, Ava. That was an impressive first purification.

“Thanks,” I manage to croak out. “Is it always that intense?”

It gets easier with practice, he assures me. And as your capacity grows, you’ll be able to handle larger amounts of taint more efficiently. It will take some time to filter it all out, but your magic will do that, even if you sleep.

I nod, still trying to catch my breath. I feel gross. Horrible. Sick.

“We should head back,” Marcus says, eyeing me with concern. “You look like you need rest.”

My legs feel shaky, but I take one step. Then another. Good; I can move. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Thankfully, this strange energy wasn’t anything more ominous than this strange taint. Imagine if it had been some kind of poison.

No, it was dangerous, Grimoire corrects my thinking. All it would have taken was one angry wolf to come under its effects. A violent wolf is always dangerous, but most especially when they aren’t under their own will.

My skin wants to curl in on itself at the thought.

“Was it left there, or did it travel there?”

That’s something I can’t answer. Unlike a leak, you can’t trace its source. It can travel hundreds and thousands of miles away from where it began.

Well, that’s ominous as hell.

Yes. Magic has consequences, and someone is ignoring them. Or they don’t care about them.

A breeze kicks up, and I shiver. But it isn’t from the cold, or the fever warming my body.