Cybelline studied the stumpy little tree atop the moss covered rocks, it had looked harmless enough. but the first time she had touched the barrier, it nearly bit her hand off.

Now, to get home she would have to reach across the barrier and touch the damn stump. She sighed. For once, she wanted an adventure where all she had to do was lay in bed and watch Netflix. That's not too much to ask for right?

She looked at the stupidly beautiful land around her. It was truly beautiful, the most beautiful place she'd ever seen. The little acre of farmland, the crystal pool of water that was the color of sapphires, the air that was sweeter than any air she'd ever breathed.

And it could have been hers. After all, this was created based on her deepest desires.

Then she saw the crystal coffins where Ithos and Myrai laid, and with a small, imperceptible shook of the head, she readied herself.

She reached out and touched the barrier.

It was even more pain than she'd experienced when the mage had used the blood curse on her. The scars that had been healed now tore apart. And she was once again a bloody child, her blood drenching her clothes instantly.

In her past life, Cybelline had experienced every kind of pain. She'd been punched, knifed, and shot at. She'd been burned and bruised until many parts of her were just scar tissue.

But worms had crawled into her skin and was ripping it apart for a second time.

Do you really think you can force me to open the gate? A voice seemed to whispered. Come closer and I'll devour you.

Cybelline spat out a mouthful of blood, she'd bitten her own tongue to stay focused.

No. She thought back viciously. Shut up, if you know what's good for you.

Foolish mortal. The Source sighed. I am much more powerful than you. I am the reason why the Fae and Folk were so powerful.

Really? Cybelline scoffed. Because from what I've hear, it's Queen Titania who was in charge, not you.

That Fae? She was powerful. But she could never completely control me, nor I her. We did a lot of good. The voice said, contemptuous. But, she never let me eat any Sparks.

She didn't just hide you when she died. Cybelline realized. She locked you in here so that you couldn't devour any of the Sparks and people out there. You would've been out of control without her.

The Source said nothing. Cybelline knew the truth. The Source may be the giver of magic, but it was also a hungry magic eater.

Cybelline ignored the pain. "Who killed her?" she demanded.

Someone whose power was far above mine. The voice was a little hesitant. Someone even I would not want to anger.

Cybelline ignored the blood that seemed to pour out of her like small rivers and continued to push forward.

She had never been burned by fire and ice at the same time, and now she had the pleasure, she was gonna kick the ass out of the Source.

She knew she could not give up, if she gave up, she would die. And this was just the barrier. She still needed to get past it and touch the damn Source.

There. Her arms were through, she pushed harder and harder. Her shoulders and her head were through the barrier. It took forever, but after an eternity, she broke through the barrier.

She was covered from head to toe in blood. It was like the pig blood scene in Carrie, but in this case it was her own blood.

"That wasn't so bad." Cybelline said after wiping the blood from her eyes.

"You're still alive?" The fox asked incredulously. He sat at the barrier looking at her, his eyes wide. "That's impossible."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Cybelline said sarcastically.

Red shook his head, "But you're just a child, even those old caretakers had to try multiple times before they could make it through."

Cybelline wiped her bleeding hands and grimaced, there was definitely internal bleeding.

"Be careful. If your Spark is consumed by the Source, you're dead." The Fox cautioned.

"Yes, well I assumed that if it ate any part of me, I would die." Cybelline turned around, "What do I need to do?"

The fox thought for a moment and scratched his head, "Fight it."

"Great. Thanks."

Turning to the tree, she reached out with both hands and grabbed the trunk.

A power that she's never felt, rushed at her. She felt as if she was standing in the face of a wave the height of a building, except it was made of lava. Then it turned into a hurricane, wind and water hitting her body like knives. Lightening and a dense black fog that felt like death surrounded her. In the face of such power she was nothing. And yet, it did not burn her immediately.

It roared and raged at her, flooding into her veins and racing through her muscles, consuming everything in its path. It was a wildfire that had found a morsel to gobble up. She was the food that it had been waiting for.

Foolish mortal. How can I refuse when good food is right in front of me. But it is always fun to toy with my food first.

Cybelline gripped the tree, You arsehole. I will go home and this will end badly for you. Better if you let me go now and do what I say.

The voice laughed. Badly for me? I can see into your mind. Little one. Abandoned at a young age, what have you done in your life that has not been steeped in blood.

Will your new family love you, if they knew the monster you were? Will anyone? The Source asked her.

The voice whispered in her mind. You thought you could start over in this world. But will anyone love you if they know your sins?

And what if they betray you again? Little fool. How could you trust again?

In her hand appeared a stone the color of onyx. It was a rare protective stone that Solara had given her. Solara had told her not to use it unless she was about to die. Now was a great time. Cybelline crushed it and a layer of white light covered her body like a cool cloth.

She had ignored magic. She had stuck her head in the sand, thinking that if she had nothing to do with it, it would have nothing to do with her.

Look at you now. Dying in paradise. The voice sighed. You could have been safe and happy here, if only you hadn't been so foolish.

Ignoring the voice, Cybelline closed her eyes and searched. When she was in the tower and searched for the books, she had felt a strange vibration, a sense of coolness that was different from everything else in the environment. She knew that it was magic, even if she didn't want to admit it to herself that she could feel magic around her.

She knew because she had felt it in herself, right above her heart. It was a spot that always felt a little different than the rest of her body. She knew that it was the Spark. She had to get to it before the Source got to it.

If there had been any magical teachers in her vicinity, they would have died of an heart attack, seeing what she was about to do. But, luckily for Cybelline, there was no one who could teach her.

Finding her spark, she ignored the fire in her veins and examined it with her mind's eye. This again, shouldn't have been possible. After all, the ability to look inside one's magic rested on having active magic. Unbeknownst to Cybelline, she had borrowed magic from the attacking source and turned it into her own.

The was no bigger than her fingernail and lay quietly dormant, a little black ball that looked like a shiny marble. She frowned, that would not do. She pushed it with her mind.

Fight. She told it. She pressed it harder.

It did nothing.

The voice was confused. I wanted to hear you beg for mercy first. Tiny mortal, you are hard to eat.

Thanks for the compliment. I have been told that my skin is thicker than a city wall. Last chance for you to give up. Cybelline concentrated on the task at hand.

It is no matter, the magic you have is inconsequential. Solara's white magic flickered and dispersed.

Cybelline closed her eyes and looked for the dormant spark. She commanded it once more. Fight. If you're really a part of me, then fight this. We have to go home. They're all waiting for us.

Cybelline thought of the children, Ithos, and Myrai. She would give them a chance. And if it ended badly then at least she tried. She trusted herself and her judgement, they were family because she chose them.

The hurricane of power now came at her at force, ready to eat her spark. It burned into the little thing. In a flash, half of her spark was gone.

The source giggled. How will you fight me now? Your magic is useless.

Cybelline's body began to glow red hot as more of the Source's magic rushed at her.

Red closed his eyes, unable to watch another human being be consumed.

Magic filled every fiber of her being. It touched the spark, which still lay dormant. Cybelline's mind was overwhelmed by the pain of power, it was working now to consume her soul.

Cybelline's last thought was the look on the children's faces as she had left them.

She roared in anger and pushed with all her mind. FIGHT.

The spark which had been a little black ball seemed to have heard her. Only a quarter of it was left as the magic of the Source worked to consume the rest of it.

BOOM. The little Spark came to life as it went from black to bright, shinning white. It glowed like the sun within her body. And like light, it burned away the invading magic.

Magic paused, confused at the light that emanated from the spark. What was this magic that defied the Source? No magic in the world could, as all magic was a part of the Source.

The little bit of light began to grow bigger and bigger until it turned into a bright ball of shinning fire. It ate all the magic that invaded Cybelline's body. From the red hot magma, to the razor wind, the icy water, the dark mass of fog, the crawling vines, and the white gold light. It ate everything the source had thrown at Cybelline's body.

Cybelline opened her eyes. But instead of her eyes, two void of gold stared out at the source. The light of her spark had filled her eyes completely.

The source sensed something was wrong. This was not power that anyone should have. Not fae. Not folk. And certainly not humans.

You've won, child. The Source conceded, I will let you go. Leave this place and go back from where you came. You can even take your friends. Leave now.

The Source needed to get rid of Cybelline as soon as possible. Before she realized different she was from the rest.

Cybelline felt the Source's uncertainty, and flexed her hands, "Do you really think it's going to be that easy?"

Damn it. The Source thought.

She smiled, "My turn."

She closed her eyes, and remembering the feeling of power that the Source had attacked her with, began to replicate it. Slowly, the magic of her spark began to spread from her chest and throughout her body.

Thus, not knowing any magical laws, any theory, and or training, she followed the most natural path. In doing so, she would break every magical rule ever written.

The light on her skin shone brighter and brighter until she glowed like the sun.

On her hand, a pool of gold took the shape of a sword, it glowed white hot, and left streaks of light as it moved through the air.

Impossible! The Source cried as it felt the fire of the new power and shuddered.

It was the oldest, most magical thing in this world. The fae and folk, even human mages were created from the Source. How could there be anything more powerful that it in the world?

"You should not have tried to take what was not yours. You should have let me go." Cybelline's voice was now filled with a magnetic power that the Source wanted to bow and worship. This was stronger than anything it had known. It was power that the Source could not, did not, want to refuse.

"Come." She commanded the Source. "You're mine now. With my magic I erase your consciousness. You will become what you should have been been in the beginning. Power without sentience."

And just like that, the Source left the tree. It was a multi-stream of colors. Black, white, gold, blue, brown, red.

CRACK. The barrier around the tree broke, as the Source broke through, its light flooding out of the barrier like light peaking out after a thunderstorm. It roared into the sky in beams of light and changed the blue into a river of color.

The large river over colors covered the sky. It danced like the Aurora, the light soft yet blindingly beautiful. It struggled like fish caught in a net as it tried to escape from Cybelline, trying to get away from her sword. It would open the barrier if it had to and go out into the world. Anything to leave the little demon.

Cybelline made a face, "Look, all I wanted to do was just stab the tree, you just had to make it harder didn't you?"

With a sigh, she looked at the gold sword in her hand, "Go. Take it all."

The gold sword seemed to unravel itself until it became a thick, long thread, quickly it rose into the sky, and wove itself through the river of light. The gold thread sank into each part of the light until gold was woven throughout the entire thing.

The river thrashed and twisted, trying to free itself. But it was all useless. Slowly, it began to quiet down until it became a large, peaceful ribbon in the sky. Multicolored and golden, it stretched as far as the eye could see.

Cybelline beckoned and the river flow towards her and dove into her body. It lifted her body into the air as it encircled her, and as she absorbed all of it. A cocoon of light and power encased the child as the transformation occurred.

In that moment, the child seemed to grown into a woman. Her legs became longer, her body elongated as her black hair turned into a reddish gold and fell to her waist. Her features which had been childish, now blossomed like a flower in spring.

Her body, which had been scared, now healed itself completely, not a blemish could be seen.

Two large black wings slowly unfurled. Darker than midnight, they now had iridescent markings that shone a multitude of colors. Her ears which had been pink and human, now grew tips that only Fae and Folk had.

Her feet touched the ground as the multicolored cocoon broke.

Red watched, open mouthed as the new person, a woman of perhaps sixteen or seventeen emerged, her wings flapping gently as she landed on the rocks, next to the blacked, gnarled tree.

With a gentle wave of her hand, the wings disappeared as if they'd never been there before, her ears were round again. Her skin, which had shone like the sun, turned human once more.

Cybelline opened her eyes. Two startling green eyes, the color of spring, stared out into the world.

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Author's note:

Thank you all for the reads, comments, and votes! I love that you've all be a part of this book's journey as I continue to weave this tale, and I hope I haven't disappointed any of you. It's been a hell of a year and I couldn't, wouldn't, have continued to write it without knowing that I was writing for such a lovely, supportive audience.

So for all my readers, I want to say thank you. Your support, votes, and comments (especially the comments) make me so happy. I read through each and every comment as they come in, and I appreciate and value every comment on this book. Love you all, and thank you so much for reading!

Sincerely,

Dramatictealeaves