Book One – Chapter 7

Expanding from within, adding layers of compressed shards around his core, Yves pushed back against the invasive veins. Simultaneously, he directed raw energy toward the Jabarrah, encasing it in the purest of shards. In this silent offering, he felt no reciprocation; the familiar neither took nor opened itself to the merging of energies. Since traversing dimensions, the Jabarrah had eluded the Vicha’s grasp. When shifting, he always shed all material essence, transforming into an ethereal presence confined and embedded within the shard structure that Yves became. This presence was diminished now, after sustaining the dome and intercepting the Vicha. Yves felt this reduction, but still, the familiar made no move to absorb mirror world energy.

Yves needed all he could grasp; it was a harrowing race against relentless consumption. Each intake of energy to fortify himself was met with the Vicha’s predatory advance — a perilous cycle where his internal growth was counteracted by the Vicha’s external devouring. The curse grew with him, through him, within and ever deeper into him. Yves strained to interpose layer upon layer between his core and the encroaching veins, but breaking free demanded more than fortification — he needed to sever the Vicha from himself.