Page 335 of The Devil's City

To stop her from doing the worst, I’d taken the source of her magic. I’d taken her soul. And I knew, without a doubt, it was the worst thing anyone had or could ever do to her.

A choice will be made by the twin of her soul, to save her and damn the realm, or curse her, and save us all. A fate worse than death is the chosen one’s destiny.

Maddie’s warning, and the final words of Ava’s prophecy, came back to me in the most sickening way. This had been my choice, and this was Ava’s fate.

“Bring it back, Charlie!” Ava demanded, and she began to weep. “Bring itback!”

My grandfather had made clear that once a bond was broken, it could never be repaired. What was separated was destined to remain apart.

I tried anyway. I attempted to reforge the connection between us, taking the golden cord that was hovering between Oberi and me and putting it back into her.

It wouldn’t take. The cord sprang back, refusing to join with her again. It didn’t evenrecognizeher.

“I can’t fix it once it’s broken,” I grieved. “It’s… gone.”

Ava wailed, and unimaginable pain ached throughout my core and spread over my spirit, turning it to stone.Thiswas true suffering unlike any other. To be separated from the one you loved, and to lose the connection that brought you so close, was torture unlike any other. My bond with my wife was permanently severed. She had lost her Familiar, and lost her magic. We’d losteach other.

As Ava wept, I wasn’t sure if any of this had been worth it. At our wedding dinner, she insisted we were taking the lives ofblameless creatures for our own pleasure, and I’d done just that to her now. I’d taken away her innocent belief in our marriage and exchanged it for my own greed. I devoured her as my sacrificial lamb, and enjoyed every moment.

I regretted my decision to stop her, but it was too late now to go back and change it. I thought I had known suffering before— that living on the streets, growing up without a family, and losing the people I loved was the worst that could happen. But I was wrong. No suffering could compare to the feeling of losing oneself, because without Ava, I didn’t understand who I was anymore.

She was right to try and end this— to end it all. But she couldn’t anymore, because I had taken her magic with our bond, and I’d ruined her in the process. I wished we’d never met in the first place, because I never wanted this to happen to her.

Ava was always stronger than me, and that was clear now. Ava had tried to kill me, and she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t choose the world over me, but I chose the world over her, and it was a cruel thing to do. Ava loved me more than I loved her, because I had done this to her, and she wouldneverdo this to me. That’s what made her stronger than I could ever be.

To save the world, I’d taken upon myself unimaginable suffering, and it just wasn’t worth it in the end. I’d sacrificed myself, my love, and everything that meant something to us for the good of the world. That sacrifice ultimately meant nothing, because the world would continue to be a horrible place whether we gave ourselves up for it or not. The Warden would continue his rampage, evil people would continue to do terrible things, and there would be no heroes to survive to tell their tale… only villains who would always come out on top.

I tried to play the hero, because the hero always chose the world over the person he loved. I was wrong to do so, because the outcome I was promised turned out to be a lie. People saidif you did the right thing and were a good person, that it would always turn out to be a happy ending.

It was a false and empty promise that I made the mistake of believing in. I’d swallowed the lie that doing the right thing was always the best way, and doing good was just. Now I realized doing good could be just as harmful as being evil, and we didn’t get to decide the outcome. People who tried to make a difference were beat down by all the effort they put in to make the world a better place, only to find that nothing ever changed. It only got worse. Eventually, the world beat them down so much that the only remaining option was to give up.

I was no hero. Nobody was. I’d tried to make myself into something I wasn’t, and that had demolished me completely— and I tore down everyone else in my path.

Ava was always destined to be the villain, and she’d stayed true to herself the entire time. She had chosen me constantly in every situation, but this time, I’d chosen others over her.

It didn’t matter. Despite everything I’d done to protect people, our enemies were still out there, and they would rampage across the realms to continue this cycle of suffering that I could do nothing about. After this, we didn’t have the heart to fight them anymore.

Now that we were apart, there was nothing left in it for me… forus.

Just silence.