They arrived cleanly without the expected dizziness.

Atheline’s hand came to his chest, but the surprise was still present.

’This is unexpected, I thought I would be vomiting blood by now’

"We’re here."

Her voice came, low, meant only for his ears.

Atheline nodded once but didn’t respond immediately, because everything suddenly felt wrong.

’I celebrated too early’

There it was again, the same churning followed by pressure on his body but stronger this time.

The teleportation did increase his symptoms, as expected.

He turned slightly, just enough to mask his motion, and brought his handkerchief to his mouth.

He took a deep breath, then lowered it, nothing was visible. Lilith hadn’t noticed his movements.

The metallic taste lingering was the only sign remaining. The blood felt thicker than last time and had come with more vigour.

"Shall we go?" He said.

Lilith stared at him for a moment then frowned.

"We really need to rest for today," she said and squeezed his hand," the inn is already prepared."

Atheline smiled and nodded.

She pulled him forward, a step in front of him.

’This is exhausting’

Atheline let out a small exhale.

He took a step forward to match hers but the capital seemed to have held a grudge against them.

It happened before any of them could react.

Atheline had just taken his second step while Lilith had stepped off the platform fully.

Something suddenly shifted in the air. He was the first to feel the horrifying change.

This was a disruption that had been so well timed that they both failed to notice it beforehand.

An assassination.

The execution was in the most ridiculous and unexpected place.

The realisation sent a cold shiver down his body. He reacted immediately.

"Don’t..."

He tried to move forward faster but it was too late. The teleportation circle he was standing on had reactivated.

This one wasn’t the usual quiet clean activation with manipulators guiding its patterns and aether but far worse.

It was violent, the magic patterns flared up immediately overloading the teleportation circle.

It burnt through the patterns, destabilising the four anchor points in an instant.

This all happened in under a second.

It was clear that someone had tampered with it, not to stop it but to break it and Atheline was caught right in the middle.

The ground underneath his feet cracked as light shot from the cracks, almost blinding him.

A violent familiar pull seized the place he was standing, clearly trying to teleport him.

Lilith’s hand slipped.

Her grip hardened around his hand, almost breaking the bones but none of them felt it.

"Don’t move..." she said almost desperately as she instinctively tried to pull him towards her, away from the active circle.

His gaze locked onto hers and for the first time, only confusion remained.

Atheline couldn’t come up with a solution for what was happening, everything was just moving like a blur.

The surge spiked this time stronger and faster. The teleportation circling was too overwhelming.

It was collapsing inwardly but that wasn’t the worst fact.

The circle didn’t have a definite destination, it was collapsing on itself and randomly picking a destination.

His mind snapped into place.

’I can’t leave her here, what if I die or go to a place that’s basically unsurvivable with my strength ’

He knew Lilith wouldn’t die or get hurt that easily but he was still nothing but an extra, fate could just chop him off the world census and life would go on for everyone except her.

’I don’t want to die’

His grip around her hand tightened.

"Hold on tight," she said," I’m going to enter the circle."

Atheline nodded his heart in his hand. This was a live-or-die situation.

"Okay."

Behind him, the circle started to pull him deeper into the spell. He could feel it, he was about to teleport.

His gaze went to Lilith, she seemed unable to pass through the magic circle, as though an unbreakable barrier had been installed.

’What am I doing?’

He knew if he fully teleportated with her hand in his grip she might lose it. He couldn’t allow that.

’Please light, protect me’

His grip loosened. Lilith looked up at him in confusion. Her eyes started to cloud over the moment she met his gaze.

"Let go," he calmly said.

One of them had to remain calm.

"No!" She shouted.

"You’ll find me," he reassured her," I know you can do it."

That seemed to rejuvenate her but she didn’t let go.

"What if you go somewhere I can’t find you?" She rejected.

Tears had started to fall.

"You’re Lilith, you get everything you want and...."

The force gave one final drag. His grip shifted, sliding out of her arm.

Her expression cracked into something he couldn’t fully place.

"Nooo!"

Her shouts were the last time he heard before the world tore him away.

.

.

.

The moment he vanished, Lilith felt as though the world had come to a stop. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Her hands were still outstretched, fingers curled around nothing. The place he had just been standing was empty.

For a second, her mind refused to believe it, because he was there, right in front of her a moment ago.

Things like that just didn’t happen.

On the platform, the light disappeared followed by overwhelming silence.

Reality returned and with it, understanding.

Her pupils shrank, and the tears that were about to fall stopped.

"No!..." she said quietly almost to herself.

The ground beneath the teleportation circle cracked even further as her pressure started to affect her surroundings.

The four manipulators froze. They had seen teleportation fail, seen accidents but this wasn’t it. It felt different too deliberate...someone had tampered with the circle under their very noses.

Lilith lowered her hand slowly while occasionally clenching it. Her head tilted slightly, as if trying to make sense of something that didn’t fit.

"Where is he?"

No one answered, no one could.

The nearest manipulator stepped forward cautiously.

"The array is... it destabilised. We don’t know where..."

He didn’t finish because her gaze snapped to him, and in that moment he understood something very, very important.

He had said the wrong thing.

"We don’t know?" She repeated softly.

The air changed immediately.

The pressure in the room increased, the platform cracked even further, and the manipulators could feel their cores shaking in their bodies.

Even the room itself felt as though it was going to break.

This was enough to alert the capital’s security. The teleportation hub was a major transit point.

Her hand ran through her hair, her gaze filled with contained madness.

"You.. you don’t know?" She echoed again, her voice breaking in the process.