Time passed, and Charlotte’s sixteenth birthday was on the horizon.

  Miraculously, she survived to this day. I wouldn’t say it was all my doing, but I liked to believe I contributed enough because she was surprised each morning.

  But that’s where the good news ended. Every day, she got weaker and weaker. Now, she barely left the bed after I pumped her full of my regeneration juice and suppressed the immense amount of magical energy she had.

  Although I could not naturally sense magic because I was null, my ability to suppress it allowed me to understand how hard it was. Charlotte’s one felt like trying to stem ten of my Pop simultaneously, and I could barely handle one.

  Today, on the eve of her sixteenth birthday, the maid told me her time was close. I sobbed like I never had before while I sat next to the bed, holding her hand. No one would believe I once hated Charlotte if they saw the scene today.

  But as Charlotte had taught me, the best friendships came from unlikely pces.

  The clock ticked as I held her hand. I could feel her vitality ticking away, and it scared me.

  I started pumping more and more regeneration into her and enhancing it. Enhancing my other abilities always had some backsh, so I rarely used it, but I did not care right then.

  Both my hands were csped around hers as I pushed more and more of myself into her.

  My eyes started going dark as I felt the regeneration take a toll on my body. I pushed it onto someone else, but the drain was still on me. However, it did not stop me, so I only pushed more.

  A death rattle came into her throat, signifying that her end was near. Hearing that, I tripled my push even though I knew that would be very deadly for me. I would survive if she did, and both of us had to.

  Something in me snapped, and for a moment, everything went dark. It was not the usual dark that people were used to when they lost consciousness. Instead, for a single minuscule moment, I felt it, the embrace of true oblivion.

  It was terrifying but simultaneously very freeing as if every thought, desire, and responsibility were reduced to nothing. It was something I could get used to, but as I embraced it, a thought fshed in my mind.

  ‘Charlotte’

  A rejection like I had never experienced pushed all that away as concern overtook me. Then, in this pitch-bckness, I emitted a light that started as a dim pulse but rapidly became more luminescent than the sun.

  My conscience returned to me, and with it, the feeling of earning a new ability. One that I do not think I could ever tell my folks:

  ‘Resurrection’

  I believed that I died and came back to life, which was more insane than anything I could ever imagine.

  “Are you alright, Simon?”

  My eyes widened as I saw Charlotte sitting on her bead, looking healthier than she had in a long time.

  “What?”

  She asked with a sly grin that held a lot of unspoken emotion.

  “You’re alive?”

  My hand trembled.

  “Yes?”

  With a speed that brought out a surprised squeak, I embraced her, the waterworks coming back in droves.

  “You’re alive!”

  “I guess so.”

  She answered, more and more strength returning to her.

  I could not help but be excited by the energy that streamed from my body as I jumped up and down.

  “Sit down, Simon.”

  She said with a smile on her face.

  “I can’t!” came my excited answer.

  She looked at me very amused before shaking her head.

  “Thank you.”

  She said.

  “Huh?”

  I stopped jumping up and down as I looked at her.

  “What?”

  “Thank you for being my friend.”

  It was so heartfelt that now I was embarrassed.

  “Come on, it is not that big of a deal,” I replied, face red and facing away from her.

  “Oh, is someone embarrassed?”

  “I am not.”

  Thankfully, the maid left us alone. I could not even begin to describe the mortification I would have felt if she had been with us.

  Heck, just Charlotte was embarrassing enough.

  Her face then took an expression I could not understand, though I had seen it before.

  “Simon, this might sound awkward, but I lo—”

  Our world went white.

  The st thing I did before my vision engulfed me was hug her as my instincts screamed danger.

  An ear-shattering *BOOM* followed the light.

  I could feel my body being flung, though oddly, there was no pain even as we made a hard impact on solid ground. I could no longer see the light through my eyelids so I opened them.

  I looked at an equally surprised Charlotte, who looked back at me. But that was not the interesting part. That was taken by the shimmering light coating both of us.

  “What—” “The hell—”

  We said simultaneously, only to be stopped by a roar piercing the night sky.

  I finally noticed my surroundings and saw us lying in a dirt indent in a grassy field.

  I was confused for a moment and looked around. There was no man-made structure in sight; only bits and pieces of wood and other materials were strung about.

  That confusion turned into horror as I noticed a giant bck mass floating in the distance, holding a loft with eight massive wings. One massive eye accentuated its serpentine body, and that eye was looking right at us.

  Its maw was wide open, and it was elongated, stretching from the base of its eye to the tips of its tail. Fingerlike teeth coated the sides of it’s mouth and those teeth chittered about as though they were real fingers. A horrifying visage that made me nearly piss my pants.

  Another realisation came upon me, which was currently suppressed by my survival senses, working on overdrive to overcome the threat.

  The area he was hovering over had been my vilge, and there was nothing there.