Author's Corner

Thank you to raedrakon, Katamara and 5_Stirling_Heartstrings over on AO3 for the kind reviews!

Trigger warning: mentions of gore and body horror.

EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 61: The Binding

.

.

The following night presented a golden opportunity.

Augustus was leaving the kasbah at sundown and wouldn't be back until morning. Octavia had overheard the acolytes talking about it and resisted the urge to do a victory dance. She was still pretending to be sick, so she didn't have to worry about him asking her to come, and better yet, she had the entire day to sleep in preparation for the all-nighter she intended to pull. She had yet to drink any of the tonics Augustus had sent, instead opting to pour them out of the window.

He came to see her before he left to check that she'd been drinking them, and smiled when he saw the collection of empty vials.

"Are you feeling any better?"

"A bit. My head's still fuzzy, though." She glanced at the thick sword hanging from his belt. "What's that for?"

"Just a precaution." His eyes softened and he took a step closer. She managed not to flinch as he reached out and tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. "You don't mind me leaving, do you? It's only for one night. I'll be back before you know it."

She shook her head. "I don't mind. Good luck on your mission."

He trailed his fingers down the side of her face. "I'm sorry if I've seemed distant. Things have been . . . complicated."

"It's fine. I know you're busy."

"To be honest, I still can't believe you're real."

Her heart shuddered. "I'm not gonna disappear, if that's what you're worried about."

"Promise?"

It took every ounce of her strength to lay her hand over his and say, "I promise."

Grinning, he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Her body stiffened. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried not to concentrate on his warmth, or his smell, or the way he felt like home. Two halves are required to make a whole. Despite her own revulsion, her magic wanted to be close to his.

"You never were much of a hugger," he said with a chuckle. He was still smiling when he pulled away. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded. "Be careful."

"I will."

As soon as the door closed behind him, her expression soured, and she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand. She ran to the window and watched the sky turn from orange to purple. The nights here were always brighter than they were on Earth. Every inch of this world's sky was cluttered with stars. If the God Stars were real, were they among them?

Abandoning her spot by the window, Octavia crept towards the door. She pressed her ear against the wood and listened. Silence. Holding her breath, she turned the handle and stuck her head through the gap. Unlike the stronghold, no guards were roaming the halls. She tiptoed down the corridor and followed the stairs to a courtyard. Augustus's chambers were in the kasbah's central tower. Sticking to the shadows, she traversed three more courtyards before reaching her destination.

On the way, she passed through a building full of sleeping children. There were hundreds of them. The lack of toys unnerved her. Each room was pristine, and the inhabitants all wore matching flax pyjamas. The doors were marked with numbers one through fifty, fifty through one hundred, and so on. Octavia couldn't recall ever being in this part of the kasbah before. Who were these children? And why hadn't Augustus told her about them?

She didn't have time to investigate. She tried the doors leading into the tower and found that they were locked. Cracking her fingers, she unsheathed the Reikon Blade and drew the mark for 'open'. The symbol glowed before disappearing into the wood. A metallic click soon followed. Octavia smiled and slipped into the tower. She climbed the stairs and drew the same mark on the door to Augustus's private chambers, waiting for the click before trying to enter.

Starlight spilled in through the windows, illuminating the space. Her foot knocked over a little toy train. She picked it up and brushed away the dirt with her fingers, revealing shiny green paint underneath. A dusty train track snaked around the edges of the room. Placing the train on top of the dusty tracks, she gave the train a gentle push and followed its path with her eyes.

Avoiding the debris on the floor, she meandered to the other side of the room and paused on the threshold to the next. The wall to her left was marked with short horizontal lines. Augustus's initials were attached to the blue, whereas hers were in red. Each line also had a height and an age written next to it, printed in their corresponding colours. Octavia crouched and dragged a finger down the sandstone, avoiding the precious writing.

It was practically our second home.

She entered the next room, which had a very different vibe from the previous one. The floor was bare, and the furniture was sparse, consisting of a single wooden desk and a faded leather armchair. Octavia wandered over to it and skimmed one of the arms with her fingertips.

The Reikon Blade stirred in her hand. She placed it on the desk and watched as the crystal in it flickered to life. The sky changed from night to day, and the dust bunnies melted away. The sound of laughter poured into the room. Octavia lifted her head and saw a man standing on the threshold. He reminded her of Galen, only this man was much younger, and he wasn't in a wheelchair. The man scrunched up his nose and laughed harder as a little boy tackled him to the floor.

"He's down!" the boy yelled. "Quick, Vee!"

A little girl holding a tennis racket sprinted into the room. She pointed it at the man and grinned. Octavia's heart stopped as the girl opened her mouth and shouted, "You're dead!"

The man chuckled and faked a series of spluttering coughs. "Curses!" he cried.

The boy rolled onto his side and high-fived the girl. They giggled as the man pretended to take his final breaths.

Octavia picked up the Reikon Blade and launched it at the wall, shattering the memory. Hot tears poured down her cheeks as the feelings that the dream butterflies had erased attacked her all at once. She covered her face with her hands and tried not to choke on her sobs. When she lowered them, the room was back to normal.

The spellbooks were all stored in the bottom drawer of the desk. She sorted them into piles before reading the table of contents in each one. Eventually, she came across a chapter called The Binding in a book titled Spells and Rituals Volume 3. She flicked to the page and read the passage in its entirety. Her stomach turned as she studied the illustrations that accompanied the gruesome text. By the time she was finished, she was sure that she was going to vomit. It was getting harder to breathe, and her head felt like it was full of ice. She closed the book and shoved it back into the drawer along with the others. Galen had been right. She wasn't safe here.

Hearing footsteps, she grabbed a letter opener from the desk and spun to face whoever they belonged to.

Augustus's eyes were full of sorrow. "Octavia," he whispered. "Let me explain—"

She lunged for him with the letter opener. Before it could make contact with his face, her entire body froze. Her heart hammered in her chest. It was the only thing that still moved. She tried to speak, but like everything else, her vocal cords were locked in place.

Augustus raised his glowing hands and sighed. "It's not what you think. I know it looks bad, but I would never hurt you." He inched closer. "You feel it, too, don't you? Like you're not quite whole? It's because we aren't. Apart, we're incomplete. But together . . ."

Her magic danced inside of her, straining to be joined with his.

"Our parents were wrong," he continued. "The Banishing wasn't the answer. Removing our magic would have killed us. The Radiant One can't live without it, and neither can we. But we can't live like this, either. Half isn't enough. That's where the Binding comes in. To become a true vessel, we have to perform the ritual. It's the only way to bring the Radiant One back to life."

"It won't work," she growled, regaining control of her voice. "You'll kill us!"

"We aren't like everyone else." He moved even closer and slid the letter opener out of her grasp. "It'll work," he said. "I know it will. There won't be any pain. I'll be with you the whole time."

Her eyes blazed with hatred. "Unless you ask your lackeys to cut your heart out first."

He winced.

Octavia's eyes shone with fresh tears. The drawing in the book depicting two hearts stitched together was now engraved in her mind. And as if that wasn't grisly enough on its own, the ritual called for a third participant that would act as a vehicle for the original pair. To accomplish this, Person C's heart had to be removed and replaced with the combined hearts of Person A and Person B. If done right, the operation would allow two people to merge themselves into a single body. That was the theory, anyway.

"Don't cry," Augustus breathed, cradling her face in his hands. "It's going to be all right. You'll see. Please don't cry, Vee. I love you. I love you so much . . ."

He lifted the spell and smiled at her. She responded by wrapping her hands around his throat and shoving him against the wall. He grunted as his back hit the hard sandstone, but did nothing to fight her off. The tears streamed down her cheeks in rivulets, coating her lips with the taste of salt. She clenched her teeth and squeezed harder.

Her magic rebelled. Star-shaped burns appeared on her hands, searing her flesh and making her cry out in pain. She loosened her grip on Augustus's neck before letting go. Her hands were covered in angry red burns. Her own magic had attacked her. She couldn't believe it.

"Amazing," Augustus wheezed. "We still can't hurt each other." He rubbed his neck and flashed her another smile. "That settles it, then. Come on. It's time to wake the cadets. They'll sleep all day if you let them."

Octavia's eyes shifted to the window. Dawn was rolling in fast. But how was that possible? She couldn't have been in the tower for more than a couple of hours.

"What cadets?" she asked. "I don't remember seeing any—"

She gasped. The children in the barracks.

"They had nothing left to live for," explained Augustus. "Until we offered them a place in our ranks. Most of them were slaves or orphans before we found them. They have a greater purpose now. They're helping us build a better future."

Octavia glared at him. "Is that why Asuka went to Ebisu? To buy slaves for your army? For fuck's sake, they're kids!"

"So were we."

She shook her head in horror. "Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

"I want justice!" he shouted, scaring her. She'd never seen this side of him before. "I want justice," he repeated. "What we went through . . . It wasn't right. People think that if they have a good enough excuse, they can abuse children and get away with it. Ever since I was small, everyone always said that because I'm a stand-in for a god, I'm not allowed to act human. I don't want to be a stand-in, but I don't want to be human, either."

"Why are you killing demons, then? Because it sounds like your precious cult is the problem, not them."

His eyes shone silver. "They're the reason we got separated," he whispered. "The ngea are the oldest demons in existence. If I hadn't been taken, you wouldn't have forgotten about me. I never forgot about you. And I never stopped loving you. Not for a second."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Why can't you just trust me?"

She flinched when he shifted closer. Her eyes strayed to the Reikon Blade, which was lying on the ground behind him. He followed her gaze and sighed. She watched him lean down and pick up the dagger, before stuffing it into his robes.

"You're either with me or against me," he said. "The choice is yours."

.

.