Read: Part One, Part Two, Part Three

The pain was breathtaking. My body went rigid, and I felt my back arch off the floor. I tried to scream, but no air came. Whatever breath I managed became another stab. I could see dark waves rolling off of my body. They swirled and slithered from every angle of me. It was a fire. My body was ablaze with darkness. I continued my battle for air. I was at war with my body, and I was afraid I would lose. There was screaming in the distance. It was loud and pierced through the air. The sound was chilling. It was a wounded demon begging for rescue. And it was getting closer. And I realized—it was me. Those disturbing screams were coming from me.

Beyond the screaming, I heard something else.

“Nox?” Calum rushed into my view. I knew he would help me, but I didn’t want him to touch me. The dark flames would burn him.

“D…don’t!” I had to warn him. “Don’t touch me!” The words came out in a strangled scream. Please don’t touch me. My body wouldn’t listen to me. Calum kneeled next to me and reached out to grab me. “No!” My body thrashed in painful spasms; my voice was deep and gravelly like a demon. “Stay away!” I roared. I could see him mouth words to me, but I couldn’t hear him over my fiendish shrieks. His hand found the back of my hand and lifted me up. To my lips, he held a vial. Drink it? Is that what he wants? Calum tipped the vial up, and the contents flowed into my mouth. The crippling spasms began to subside. I swallowed as much air as I could. Breathing became the benign action it was meant to be.

“Nox? Can you hear me, lad?” Calum was still holding me. The room was in magical disarray. Torn books and scattered pages, broken vials and shattered glass, dried herbs, and crystals, all suspended in the air.

“What’s happening?” I gasped, still fighting for air.

“Can you sit up?”

“I think so.” I was still shaky, but I managed to sit up against a wall. The effort left me a bit lightheaded. Calum’s hands floated away from me, his movements slow and deliberate. There was a careful fear in his actions, as though quick movements might disturb the disaster—or set me off again. He backed away and observed the calamity.

“What’s happening?” I repeated, my chest heaving with greedy breaths. “What did you give me?”

“It was some of the potion I’ve been working on. How do you fe—”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted him. I had to let this out now. “Please Calum, I didn’t mean any of what I said. I’m scared and hurt, and I lashed out, and…”

“Nox. It’s okay, I know.”

“But you left.”

Calum sighed. Past the suspended debris of what was once his home, he looked at me.

“I hurt you.”

“You did. But I know you didn’t mean it.” He stood up and reached for one of the destroyed books. It refused his touch. A haze of darkness surrounded the book as Calum’s hand drew closer. He sank into a chair; his expression stunned as he regarded the disorder. “I left to get more ingredients from my garden, for the potion. I wasn’t leaving you,” he smirked at me. “This is my home, after all.”

I laughed a bit. For a moment, there wasn’t some magical bedlam hanging in the air. The heaviness between us dissipated a bit.  My heart didn’t feel so burdened. My body, though, that was another story.

“I suppose it is,” I said, panting. “I’m just lucky to be here. You could have let me die. Thank you for not doing that.”

“You’re welcome.” The warmth and tenderness in his voice were sincere. He studied the enchanted mayhem once more.

“Did I do this?” My eyes scanned the chaos, now that it had my attention. It was a magical devastation. Shattered glass and shards of crystals glittered in the air like morning dew. Books had exploded, and the pieces dangled by invisible threads. The old cauldron and the fire beneath seemed immune to whatever I had done.

Calum nodded, his face registering shock and awe.

“I had anticipated it would be bad, but this is beyond any of my imaginings. This is powerful.” I did this? I hadn’t tapped into my Magic for so long. But I’d never done anything like this.

“I don’t understand.” I was still winded.

“Magic responded to your body’s cry for help and did…” he waved his hands and indicated the chaos, “this.”

“What is ‘this’?” I tried to wave my hands the way he did, but moving my body was proving to be difficult.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is only a guess. But I believe, dear boy, that you’re not just Afflicted. Seeing this…it has to be more.”

“What do you mean?”

“I have reason to believe that you’re also Cursed.”