Unbound Divinity: The Art of Divine Inconvenience

The Shadowing of the Ballroom

Chapter 9: The Shadowing of the Ballroom

The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and something older, something hungry. In the silence of the pitch-black room, the only thing Calista could hear was the frantic, synchronized beating of their two hearts, chained together in the dark.

"Aether?" Calista whispered, her voice barely audible over the growing hum of the violet barrier.

"Still here," he murmured back, though his breath was shallow. "But I have to say, the vibe in here just took a nosedive. Zero stars. Would not recommend."

"Can you see anything?"

"Only your eyes, actually. They’re doing that glowing silver thing again. It’s quite dramatic. Very intimidating."

"Good," Calista said, her hand tightening on her hilt. "Because we aren't alone."

She didn't wait for him to respond. She channeled a surge of her remaining divine light into the rapier. A blinding, cold silver flare erupted from the blade, slicing through the gloom like a scalpel.

"Whoa!" Aether hissed, squinting against the glare. "Flash-bang warning next time?"

"Look at the walls, Aether!"

The ballroom was no longer filled with elegant guests. The mortals had been herded into the center, frozen in a state of magical stasis. Creeping down from the ornate cornices and emerging from the shadows of the banquet tables were lean, spindly creatures made of pure, dripping ink. They had long, multi-jointed limbs and white, featureless masks for faces.

"Shadow minions," Aether groaned, leaning his weight into hers as they both stood back-to-back. "How original. Honestly, does nobody have an imagination anymore?"

"Less critiquing, more moving!" Calista barked. "They're circling us."

"I see them. I also see that my hand is still tied to yours. If we’re going to do the tactical combat thing again, can we skip the nursery rhymes?"

"No promises," she said, lunging forward as the first creature leaped.

Calista’s blade whistled through the air, shearing through the shadow's arm. It didn't bleed; it just hissed and dissolved into black mist before knitting itself back together.

"They’re regenerating!" Calista shouted, parrying a second strike. "The barrier is fueling them!"

"Then we need to hit the source!" Aether yelled, stumbling as his leg gave a momentary twitch. "The stage! The artifact is right there!"

"I can't clear a path and keep you upright at the same time!"

"Then let me handle the path!" Aether said, a familiar, mischievous glint returning to his tired eyes. "I can’t blast them into oblivion, but I’ve still got a little chaos left in the tank. I just need to play dirty."

"How dirty?"

"Watch the ice sculpture!" Aether shouted.

He grabbed a decorative silk napkin from a nearby table and gave it a violent, magical flick toward a massive, six-foot-tall swan made of ice. The sculpture didn't melt; it simply groaned as if it had suddenly gained a mind of its own.

"Hey, tall, dark, and featureless!" Aether called out to the group of shadows blocking the stairs to the stage. "Check the floor!"

With a snap of Aether's fingers, the ice swan shattered. But instead of falling apart, the fragments zipped across the marble floor like heat-seeking missiles, coating the polished surface in a slick, supernatural frost.

Three shadow minions lunged forward, only for their long limbs to spin out from under them. They collided with a crash, sliding straight into a fountain of spilled raspberry punch.

"Did you really just make them slip?" Calista asked, her jaw slack even as she expertly decapitated a fourth minion.

"It’s effective! And funny! Comedy is a powerful weapon, Calista!" Aether gasped, his face turning a shade paler. "Now run! My knees are about five seconds away from a total strike!"

"Hold onto me!"

She didn't wait for his consent. She hooked her left arm around his waist, practically carrying him as she charged through the gap he'd created. They scrambled up the steps toward the stage, the violet hum of the dome growing so loud it felt like it was rattling the teeth in their skulls.

"There it is," Calista breathed, skidding to a halt.

In the center of the stage, resting on a velvet plinth, was a tall, ornate glass jar filled with what looked like dried leaves. But the moment they got close, the leaves began to pulse with a sickly, dark red light.

"That's not the tea," Aether wheezed, his grip on Calista’s shoulder tightening until it was painful. "Oriana was right. That’s a Soul-Siphon. And it looks hungry."

"Wait, the energy," Calista gasped, her knees buckling. "It's... it's pulling."

The silver glow of her rapier flickered and died. She felt a cold, hollow sensation starting in her fingertips and racing toward her heart. It was like her very essence was being drawn into the red vortex inside the jar.

"Calista!" Aether reached out, his hand shaking.

"I can’t... move," she whispered, her eyes wide with terror as she watched the silver light bleed out of her skin, physically drifting toward the jar in thin, shimmering ribbons. "It’s taking it all."

"No, no, no," Aether muttered, his golden eyes darting between her fading face and the jar. "It’s tuned for divine justice. It’s specifically looking for pure light to eat."

"Help... me..."

The artifact's pulse increased. The dome overhead flared, and a massive bolt of dark energy arced from the ceiling into the jar, readying a final, lethal surge that would drain her permanently.

"Listen to me," Aether said, his voice suddenly calm, devoid of all his usual theatrics. "Stay behind me."

"Aether, what are you doing?"

"I don't have a core to protect anymore, remember?" he said, flashing her a small, sad smile. "Nothing in there for it to steal. But I’ve still got plenty of chaos. And chaos is a very bad dinner."

"Don't you dare! You’re too weak!"

"Probably," he admitted. "But I always was a sucker for a grand finale."

As the jar emitted a blinding red wave, Aether threw himself forward. He didn't use a shield or a spell. He simply lunged across the plinth, draping his entire body over the Soul-Siphon, his chained wrist slamming down beside it.

CRACK-BOOM.

The impact was thunderous. The dark red pulse hit Aether squarely in the chest, but instead of drawing his energy out, the feedback loop stalled. Aether’s residual, jagged chaos magic clashed violently with the refined hunger of the siphon.

"Get away from it!" Calista screamed, reaching for him.

"Stay back!" he roared, his voice cracking.

The air around him warped. Aether’s skin began to flicker. One moment he was solid, his tuxedo coat torn and dusty; the next, he was wavering like a mirage in the heat. The purple veins in his neck glowed with a terrifying intensity.

With one final, agonized groan, Aether funneled every last scrap of his existence into the object beneath him. There was a sharp, crystalline shriek, and the jar shattered into a million dull pieces. The red light vanished.

The violet barrier overhead groaned, sputtered, and finally dissolved, leaving the ballroom in the dim, natural light of the moon coming through the high windows.

"Aether!" Calista scrambled toward the stage, her strength returning the moment the siphon broke.

She reached out to grab him, to pull him back into her arms, but her hands passed right through his shoulder as if she were grasping at smoke.

"Whoa," Aether whispered, looking down at his own palms. He looked down at the pink chain on his wrist; it was still there, but it looked dull, like it was made of plastic instead of magic. "That’s... that’s a weird look for me."

"Aether, stop it," Calista said, her voice trembling. "Stop doing this."

"I don't think I'm doing it on purpose this time, darling," he said.

He tried to sit up, but his form was flickering violently. He was becoming transparent, a ghost-like silhouette of himself, glowing with a soft, dying amber light.

"Your hand," Calista gasped, watching as his fingers began to dissolve into shimmering sparks at the edges. "You used it all. You gave it all up."

"Well," Aether said, his voice sounding like it was coming from the end of a long, deep tunnel. He looked up at her, his golden eyes still bright even as the rest of him faded. "At least... I didn't lose... my volume."

"You idiot," she sobbed, finally managing to scoop the fading, weightless version of him into her lap. "You absolute, selfless idiot."

"Careful," he whispered, his head lolling against her chest. "I’m very... aerodynamic... right now."

He let out one long, quiet breath, and his form shivered, turning almost completely invisible in the

moonlight. Calista held on as hard as she could, her fingers clutching at the empty air where his heart should have been.