Chapter 229: Drain

Chapter 229: Drain

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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.

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23rd March 2012, New York City

(Jasmine Sayre POV)

I nodded at him. I looked towards my love, Selene, who was a lot paler than usual and looked quite green. She had unshed tears in her eyes. She jumped at me and kissed me. She gave me an intense look but didn't say anything. She didn't need to. I could feel it through our telepathic bond. Feelings of unconditional love, fear, and worry.

I gave her a hesitant smile and turned away. I created a portal towards Central Africa, "See you on the other side."

I stepped through and went forward. I could only hope that tomorrow, I would still be myself when I came back to them.

The sight that appeared before me was as breathtaking as the first time I ever discovered this place. I ignored the portal closing behind me as I admired the view. It was a cave that was as large as an entire stadium. There was a small body of crystal clear water in the middle. There were no stalactites or stalagmites, just a smooth spherical surface that made up the walls and the ceiling. The ground itself was almost entirely smooth. It was like someone had created a perfect dome in the middle of a large deposit of Vibranium.

But what made the sight magnificent was the fact that the entirety of the walls and floor were glowing with a faint blue light. The spring of water was exactly underneath an intersection between ley lines and whatever ambient magic that arrives in the water is immediately absorbed by the vibranium and spread through the hill. As far as I know the entire hill was charged with magic, making this one of the best places a wizard or witch could visit.

Honestly, I never cared about the capacity. Mine were huge, like honestly, I could wipe out continents if I chose to, and I have rarely exhausted my magic in my long life. Still, seeing it drain like this felt disconcerting to say the least. It was like someone was ripping a blanket off of me, removing the warmth that I always felt.

Unfortunately, the magic absorption was far more important than I told my family. The main reason why I had to drain it, was the fact that since I was planning on replacing my magic, I needed to make sure that the trinity, the mind, the soul, and the body, would be connected. It was the main reason why I was so afraid of going through with this ritual. People with cosmic energy cores instead of magic were not bound by the trinity, because they were beings of energy. As a reference, mortals are beings of matter, once the body dies, the mind and soul are released and the individual dies. A celestial, for example, while they could bond into a body of their choosing, are mainly beings of energy.

Destroying their bodies does nothing to them; they would just reform later. Their mind is contained inside their souls, meaning that only attacks against the soul could kill them. It was why the god killer was probably so feared. The necro sword was probably a soul based weapon that was powerful enough to kill celestials' souls in their physical shells by affecting their presence, their soul.

By removing my magic, and the Death's imprint there was a good chance that a core of cosmic energy wouldn't be able to replace the magic in combining the trinity that made up my reality. For me to fully exist, I needed for my mind, body, and soul, to remain separate entities and yet connected. It was the basis of my existence, of my humanity. It was why I was so scared of what this core of cosmic energy would mean if my ritual succeeded. Would I stay human, would I become nothing more than a beast, would I still love my wife, my daughter, my siblings, or would I become nothing more than a being of apathy, that saw how pointless existence was at its base and will choose to let things go the way they are without interfering in the slightest. I didn't know and that was the scariest part.

My magic was almost fully drained now. I could visibly see that the entire cavern was a lot brighter, the vibranium having absorbed my magic. I could feel the seconds ticking, until I was completely drained, and I fell back unconscious in the water. And yet, I wasn't unconscious, my body simply was. It was a very odd feeling. I could feel my body, my mind, my soul, exist separately, only chained by the ritual itself with my magic being completely drained.

Finally, the second part of the ritual began. It was weird, to have such an outside view of something this abstract, this conceptual happening in front of me. I didn't see what was happening; my body had shut down, and yet I could see it without my eyes.

I could feel the temporary artificial chains that bound my trinity, absorb the cosmic energy needed to replace them permanently. It was going well, for a while, until suddenly, something inside my soul overwhelmed the connection. Something couldn't be bound with the cosmic energy. What the hell was happening. It was impossible. How could my magic be able to handle it but not the cosmic energy which was far more potent.

I could feel the link between the trinity breaking. The agony I felt couldn't be described with simple words. It was like someone was killing me, splitting me to pieces on a fundamental level. I couldn't handle it, the agony. I was prepared for this to be my death. There was nothing I could do. I wasn't the one powering the alchemical ritual, meaning that I couldn't even try to affect it in any way.

I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the inevitable. The ritual had failed as I died. I felt a comforting coolness surrounding me, reassuring me and stopping the pain. Was this death? I didn't know, but at least, I would die without any pain. I tried my best, but I guess that wasn't to be.

Was this the end of the Morrigan? Perhaps it simply was my time. Perhaps this was preferable, to the identity death that could have happened to me had the ritual succeeded. My main regret was the fact that I would leave my family alone in a very troubling time. As for the multiverse, I didn't give a fuck about it. After all, I would be too dead to care.

These were my last thoughts before my mind was scattered like grains of sand.