The Snapped Link

  The time had come to secure the latest mission Almawa had forced upon her. Yana stood before Vora in the center of the domain. The shadow army was already training in the distance under the shadow snake and shadow shifter's gazes.

  Vora had easily been accepted by the domain, its protector, and its keeper. Devon and Sisma watched her and Yana from a high perch on one of the shadow castle’s towers. Vora felt the tie between them, and it somehow felt extremely comforting. Power flowed into her from Devon and Sisma and up from the sands below her feet. It was a strength she had never known before. She trembled, eager to grow her power and be as she had been bred to be.

  "Vora," Yana’s voice was like a hammer on an anvil. The two warriors looked to each other—the Wao-Sho and the Pra. An electricity flowed between them that caused the air to crackle and smell like an electrical fire. “I liberated you, Pra Princess.” She spat the words out like they were diseased fragments of flesh refusing to leave her mouth. “I need you to be my familiar. No need to bow. You will not be my servant; you will be my ally. But I will not trust you without the tie.”

  Vora stiffened. She looked at the shadow shifter—the creature she had once coveted—now relegated to a subordinate role in Yana’s hierarchy, stolen from her. There was a flicker of resentment in her violet eyes, a sense that something precious had been snatched away.

  "I not only saved your life," Yana reminded her, her voice dropping to a dangerous low. "I pulled you from the madness of the husks and gave you inexhaustible power."

  Vora looked down, her shadow digging into the sand. "You saved a prisoner by making her a slave. You took my prize and turned it into a commander to be ruled by you."

  Yana looked to the shadow shifter, now an amorphous blob of shadow and silver light. “It is now yours to command.” She looked back to Vora. “And you are now mine to command.” Black light sparked in the depths of her eyes. “You will tie your soul to mine and be my familiar. You have no choice. Be my familiar or die.”

  Vora gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, but said nothing.

  Yana reached out, her hand glowing with a silver-black light as she attempted to force a Soul Tie. She reached for Vora's core, intending to stitch their fates together. But Yana’s memory was still incomplete—she had forgotten the fundamental law of the soul: a familiar soul tie requires the target to be wholly in agreement. If Almawa had demanded any tie or a servant tie specifically, it would never have mattered, but a familiar soul tie was a bond a hair’s breadth below that of a soul mate or a pet. It needed trust, respect, and a hint of longing.

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  The link began to form, a shimmering bridge of shadow and light. But Vora’s soul was not receptive. It did not bend to Yana’s more powerful will. Instead, it stiffened reflexively, and Yana felt as if her magic had hit an impenetrable wall. She could tell that her magic was on the verge of rebounding. She frowned and, instead of backing down, she stubbornly redoubled her efforts.

  "Refuse me at your peril!" Yana hissed, pushing even more power into the connection.

  Suddenly, the air screamed. The Soul Tie didn't just fail; it warped, folded in on itself, and began to slowly and painfully snap until the entire bond disintegrated and the magic that had been forming it snapped back like a high-tension cable.

  The backlash was catastrophic. Yana was thrown backward, her Soul Sea roiling as if it had been struck by lightning. Vora collapsed, coughing up black ichor, her form flickering between solid and shadow. The pain was blinding—jagged tears in the very fabric of their beings.

  Around them, the Dune Domain reacted to its mistress’s agony. The sky turned a bruised purple, and the sands began to churn in a violent vortex, rising up to wrap around both Yana and Vora. The domain began to force-heal the damage, but the spiritual wound remained. Yana clutched her head, her breath coming in ragged gasps. In her blind arrogance, she had failed the mission. She was weak and injured.

  She looked to Vora through the storm of black sands rushing all about her. “Sisma, Devon.” It was an innate instinct. She knew that they could heal Vora without issue. Vora was now part of the Dune Domain and, by extension, a part of Devon and Sisma.

  She watched as the Pra healed before her. Yana was still injured, the domain not wanting to let her go, but still she stood tall before Vora when the warrior shadow had been fully healed. “Choose me, Vora. If you don’t, I promise I cannot use you in my army.”

  A dark pool - like water - formed to their right - a portal.

  The black sands churning around Yana instantly stopped moving and fell to the dunes. Yana took one step and was at the threshold of the portal, and then she was gone. Devon and Sisma were at Vora’s side as the portal closed.

  “It has to be your choice, but having that connection can do nothing but help.”

  Vora looked into Devon’s eyes with contempt. “I am a shadow, not a tool to be used.”

  She hushed as healing magic filled her being. It was almost euphoric and she closed her eyes as her body quickly healed.

  Devon watched her quietly for a long moment, then turned to walk back to the castle as he spoke. “You are a shadow standing before the new fate master and a proficient shadow manipulator. If you are not careful, you will not only be her tool—you will be discarded.”