SPELLBOUND

Gavrael's legs gave out as he crumpled to the ground on his knees at the sight of his beloved's lifeless form slumped on the ground. Her throat and wrists were slit, and looking from the cut made, he could tell that it was done very neatly and with one vicious slash right across from right to left. It was obvious that they had drained her of her blood.

There was the sound of his sword falling on the floor and Gavrael fell over her body. His entire being was shaking and the moment he held her in his arms, he wailed in utter agony, calling out her name, begging for her to wake up – over and over, each time getting louder as though in the hopes that he could shout out loud enough to wake her, literally from the dead.

But sadly, she did not open her eyes again. Her warm body had already turned icy cold in his warm embrace.

His world came crashing down all over again and this time, there was nothing left, no hope… there was nothing good remaining in his life… it was all just pain and suffering and regret. He regretted leaving her behind. He should not have desired to live with her on the surface. He should have just taken her back to live with him in the Under Land. But it was too late. It was just all too late. He was late! If only he had arrived sooner. Maybe then he would have been able to fight back what had attacked her. Even if he could not, he would just take her and escape first while thinking of other solutions. That way, she would still have been alive! He roared out his grief and frustrations to the sky.

However, he could never accept it. Losing her was something he could and would never ever accept.

Brokenly, Gavrael loosened his grip on Evie's lifeless body. Then he slowly and gently laid her on the ground.

His eyes then ignited, burning with all the fury from the fires of hell itself. That was right, he could still do something. What was the use of the magic he had learned after all the sufferings he had gone through if it was not for him to use it now? Was this not exactly the reason why he desperately learned all these forbidden spells? It was all so that he could be with her. Only she could bring meaning into his life. She was his life itself!

He knew he had made that promise to his teacher never to turn back time. Claudius had told him that he would have to pay a very steep price if he did that and that was why he only dared to stop time just so he could stay with her longer. It had never crossed his mind to use the time manipulation spell to turn back time itself! But now, he did not care any longer. He was willing to pay any price, whatever it was, as long as he managed to turn back time. He was determined to reverse the hours and days right to the moment of that night when he had left her.

That was all he wanted right now. He just wants to return to that night, and he would never make the same mistake again. He would never leave her ever again.

Kneeling before Evie's lifeless body, Gavrael closed his eyes and threw his head back and faced the ceiling. He spread his hands out and began to call forth the powers of darkness.

Dark magic began to crawl from the ground, and it continued growing, getting bigger and bigger as Gavrael's eyes and body blazed, enveloped thickly by the devil-blue flames he had summoned. The dark magic made the entire land of Lirea tremble, and it was then that shadows emerged from the ground in every place, crawling upwards until the entire great land was covered in deep darkness.

Gavrael was howling inside the deepest part of the dungeon. His flesh was ripping apart from the supernatural forces being called forth. Blood began to pour from his eyes, mouth, and nose. But he ignored all that and did not stop and continued calling forth the darkness, not caring about his life.

His tremendous, never before seen powers shook the entire surface that even the dark faes in the Under Land felt the aftershocks of the tremors that travelled all across the land of Lirea. However, none of the dark faes knew what was happening, not even the queen mother, except for Gavrael's father and mentor – King Belial and Claudius themselves.

The moment the entire land turned dark, a shadowy and bluish light burst out from the vampire's imperial palace.

A smile suddenly spread across Gavrael's thin, pale lips – one that is serene, peaceful, and full of joy. He could feel it in his bones and knew for sure that he had succeeded in carrying out the spell before realising his vision was blurring at the edges and abruptly, everything turned dark.

…

When Gavrael opened his eyes again, he found himself back at that moment when he had just stepped out of the portal to finally return to Evie. He could not remember anything else that had happened. Everything – from the time since he had left the tunnel when he finally succeeded to leave the Under Land without losing his magic and memories, all the way up until that moment he had decided to turn back time – all the memories bound within those torturous days, since he found out she left and didn't wait for him until he found her dead, were all gone.

He left the tunnel with wide smile, thrilled to be setting out to find Evie and tell her that he could now stay under the sun and he was now more than ready to live on the surface with her forever. But he could not find her no matter where he went, crushing his heart.