Disclaimer: I do not own Magic: The Gathering, only my own characters.

CHAPTER 49-Bloodbound

When Eva walked into the darkness, her blood froze. She knew this place from her nightmares.

(It can't be. I can't be back here again. The demon died with Arrathir)

A low chuckled echoed through the darkness, sending a chill down her spine. She knew that laugh. It had haunted her day and night ever since the day the demon had tried to rape her.

"Hello, precious," a voice whispered in her ear as an arm snaked around her waist.

"No…" gasped Eva "You can't be here. You're dead!"

"Did you really think death could keep me away from you?" laughed the demon "You're mine. 'Till death do us part' doesn't apply here."

Eva forced herself to turn and face the demon, to once again see the face that had caused her so much pain and suffering. As she did, she was shocked as the demon attacked her lips, ravaging her mouth with his own.

All her courage left her as he found herself once again in her personal Hell. She knew there was nothing she could do other than try to wake up, but unfortunately, ones does not merely awaken from a nightmare.

The demon was getting aroused. His left hand traveled down to Eva's breasts, groping them. She bit back a cry of pain as the claws dug into her skin. She would not give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream, but she couldn't stop the tears of pain and fear from flowing down her face. The demon laughed as he licked up her tears.

"I do so enjoy their taste," he commented.

Are you going to let him do this? Are you going to let him break you and become his bitch?

(Who…who is this?)

Eva, you're stronger than you think. Fight back against him! Show him you're not afraid of him! Fear is what makes you weak. You've got to face your fears to overcome them! You said you yourself. You can do it, Eva!

(Arrathir? Is that you?)

I believe in you, Eva!

Eva gritted her teeth. New warmth filled her, giving her strength. Surreptitiously bringing her right arm up, she formed a two-pronged fork with her index and middle finger. As the demon released her mouth for a breath, she plunged her fingers in his eyes, feeling them pierce the eyeballs. Before she could feel disgusted by the fact she had just literally poked the demon's eyes out, she followed with a knee to the crotch, the demon going down, clawing at his bleeding eyes and screaming in pain.

"I'll get you for that, bitch!" he yelled.

"For the last time!" said Eva, kicking the demon in the ribs "I am not your bitch! Hell, I'm not afraid of you anymore! You stay away from me, because next time we meet, I'm gonna really kick your ass!"

She turned her back on the demon and walked off into the darkness, enjoying the demon's screams of pain.

Eva awoke peacefully, simply opening her eyes and looking up at the night sky. She blinked, realizing she was on solid ground. Sitting up, she saw she was at the base of a mountain, the rocky terrain slowly sloping upwards and becoming rockier as it led to the mountain peaks. Over to her left, she could see Erik sleeping and Khell was on her right.

There was a faint flickering light in the distance and she could see a figure hunched by the light. She assumed it was Charles keeping watch by the campfire. She lay back and went over the events from her dream in her mind.

There was no doubt that the person who talked to her was Arrathir. Somehow he'd been able to give her the necessary strength to fight the demon. She knew what she had to do now. Reaching down the front of her dress, she pulled out the Amber Prison pendant. Getting up, she hurried away from the sleeping Keepers.

When Eva judged she had gone far enough, she stopped and kneeled. Placing the Amber prison on the ground, she tried to sense the mana keeping Arrathir sealed within the artifact. However, she was unable to find it. Frowning, she tried again, to no avail. Now frustrated, she just wanted to take the damn thing and shatter is against the ground.

(Wait. Shatter. That's it. I'll just Shatter the artifact and that should free him)

Gathering her mana, Eva sent a pulse of energy at the Amber Prison. A small crack appeared on the surface of the stone. The crack grew, running down the length of the amber. More cracks appeared, soon covering the entire stone in a network of small lines. Eva gently tapped the Amber Prison and it shattered into a million pieces. The body contained inside, now free from its prison, grew rapidly until it had reached its original size.

"So, how do we do this?" Arrathir asked his demon side. The demon had taken physical form in his consciousness and the two stood across from each other in the dark space.

"Simple," said the demon "We unite our bloods."

"Hasn't that already occurred?" asked Arrathir "I am a hanyo, so that means half my blood is demonic."

"Yes," said the demon "But your two bloods merely mix. They are not spiritually united and that is why your power is limited."

"And how do we do that?"

The demon grinned, flexing its claws. He slashed through the palm of his left hand, leaving a bleeding gash.

"My blood," he said, taking Arrathir's left wrist with his bloody hand. Arrathir winced as the demon's claw cut into his palm. "Your blood," continued the demon, pressing both their bleeding hands together, letting the two bloods mix. "Our blood," he grinned.

"That's it?" asked Arrathir, a bit disappointed.

"You were expecting something more flashy?" asked the demon "Now then, let's get to work getting that life essence back, eh?"

Eva was pleased with the result. Arrathir's body had been perfectly preserved by the Amber Prison and looked exactly the same as it had before it was imprisoned in the artifact.

"Hey, Arrathir," she said, stroking his rat ears "It's me, Eva. Well, we got to the mountains where we think the Keeper of Red mana will be found. We had to battle some viashino along the way, but we did all right."

"Listen, the reason I brought you here is because I have something important to tell you: I know you're alive. Before, it was just a feeling, but now I know for sure. See, I've been having these visions from your past and then you spoke to me in a dream, telling me the importance of not being afraid. At first, I didn't know what all this meant, but now I do. I don't know how, but somehow, you're alive inside me. Maybe your life essence came to me because we had a special connection or something."

Arrathir closed his eyes, preparing to search for his life essence.

"Don't fuck this up," said the demon.

Arrathir ignored his demon as he stretched out with his mind, trying to locate a source of black mana. If Chikuro was contained in his life essence, then the strongest source of black mana around him would have to be his life essence, assuming his life essence was still near his body.

As his mind drifted, he remembered what Demos had told him about Eva being with him, even in death. Arrathir started thinking about Eva, picturing her in every detail. It was the little things he remembered about her, like how she flicked her cards in impatience when her opponent took to long to make their move in Magic, or how she's toss her bangs out of her eyes with a small flick of her hand, almost doing it unconsciously, like a reflex.

Suddenly, he felt it on the edge of his consciousness: the presence of black mana. Re-shifting his focus to the presence, Arrathir gently coaxed it, trying to have it fill his consciousness.

"I believe in you, Arrathir," said Eva "You were the one who took me in after my parents died. You taught me about my powers and introduced me to your world: the world of summoners. Everything I've become, I owe it to you. Without you, I'm nothing, but I'm still here, and I'm still strong."

Now Arrathir could feel the mana. He knew this was it. He recognized the mana radiations as his own. He could feel the Keeper's power radiating from the mana. He knew that Chikuro must be able to sense him as well and was probably trying to get back to Arrathir.

His concentration slipped and he felt the life essence escaping him, Panicking, he refocused, trying to regain what progress he'd lost.

I thought I told you not to screw up!

Shut up! You're distracting me!

Arrathir felt his focus shift again and his life essence slipped a bit more out of his grasp. In a supreme effort, he grabbed it as it was about to escape him completely. He was exhausted. The constant mental strain was quickly wearing him out, and the more tired he got, the more his life essence eluded him. He felt it escaping again, but this time, no amount of concentration could get it back.

I failed. I…I was so close!

Don't you give up on this! You hear me? You get that fucking life essence back!

Arrathir tried again, but he knew it was hopeless. Every moment that passed, his life essence escaped him a bit more.

"So you see," said Eva "That's why you're not dead. If you were, I would be weak and powerless. I could never have defeated Arog or driven off the viashino. I can't live without you, Arrathir. It's because I love you."

With those words, Eva kissed Arrathir's cold lips.

Suddenly, Arrathir regained his grip on the life essence. Somehow, it was even stronger than before. It filled his entire consciousness and he felt a great rush of power as his life essence returned to his body. Opening his eyes, he found himself in his Soul Corridor once again.

He bolted for Chikuro's Soul Room door, but as he did, the door opened and the Keeper of Black Mana stepped out, looking panicked. Upon seeing Arrathir, his expression shifted from concern to pure delight. The spirit was bowled over as Arrathir glomped him, crying with joy.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" he sobbed.

"Never again!" said Chikuro, hugging Arrathir back "We can't be separated like this again. I love you too much, Arrathir!"

An awkward silence followed this statement. Arrathir blushed as he realized the double meaning of what the spirit had said.

"…In the heterosexual, platonic, brotherly way of course," Chikuro quickly added, embarrassed.

"Yeah, of course," said Arrathir.

"How did you do it?" asked Chikuro.

"The demon helped me," said Arrathir "We joined our powers in order to recover my life essence."

"The demon?" frowned Chikuro "And what did he ask for in return for his help?"

"I have to pursue Eva," said Arrathir "However, now that you're back, we can simply lock the bastard away and forget about our deal."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," said Chikuro "If the demon gave you power, I'm sure he can take it away."

"I don't think so," said Arrathir "We united out bloods."

"You what?" the Keeper screamed.

"It was the only way!" said Arrathir.

"Do you realize what you've done?" asked Chikuro "You've just accepted your demonic side! Now he can take over your body whenever he pleases!"

"He tricked me?" said Arrathir "That bastard! That's why you need to help me suppress him for good!"

"Oh, I plan to," said Chikuro.

As Eva waited beside Arrathir's body, nothing seemed to happen.

(Well, what was I expecting? A miracle? He'll be back, I know it, but it might take some time)

Eva shivered. The night air was cool and her dress wasn't very warm. She decided to go warm up by the fire before getting back to sleep, but first she needed to deal with Arrathir. She doubted she would be able to drag his body back to camp; she'd need one of the Keepers' help for that, so for the moment, she hid the body in a small cave formed by a flat rock jutting out at an angle from the ground. After making sure she remembered where the body was, she returned to camp. Unseen by her, Arrathir's chest rose as his heart jump-started, booting up his vital organs.

As Eva approached the fire, she saw Charles was holding watch, sitting on a rock by the fire.

"Hey," she said, sitting next to him on the ground.

"So, sleep well?" asked Charles.

"Yeah," said Eva "So, we finally made it to the mountains."

"Yep," said Charles "And somewhere up there, the Keeper of Red Mana awaits to be awakened."

"The last Keeper of Mana," said Eva "The end of the Awakening is near."

"It's been a long, strange journey," said Charles "But it was worth it. I've met some really great people: Arrathir, Khell, and you, Eva."

"Thanks," said Eva, slightly blushing.

The two sat in silence for a while, watching the embers of the fire glowing in the darkness. Charles' heart was beating so hard in his chest he was afraid it would explode.

"Eva?" he said.

"Hmm?" she answered.

At this moment, two important, monumental, epic events happened: Arrathir's eyes opened as his body regained motor skills, and Charles leaned over, kissing Eva firmly on the lips.

To be continued…

Author's Note: BWAHAHAHA! CLIFFY! You may notice this is the second update in two days. Where is all this inspiration coming from? I have NO CLUE! Enjoy it while it lasts!

Until next time, Arrivederci!