Amon's POV

I step through the entrance, raising my arms again, ready to attack. The others follow me.

"We'll have to split up. I'll go find Caspian, and you take care of the rest", I say.

"Be careful," Milo says as I start walking in the direction of Caspian's and Arran's office.

"You too," I reply, shoot him a quick smile, and then focus on the job I have to get done.

I quickly walk through the dark corridor, ready to defend myself at any moment.

Suddenly, I see a silhouette in front of me. It's not Caspian. It's another one of his henchmen. As I step closer, I realize that there are two of them.

"We've been expecting you, Amon."

That was Caspian. I turn around and see him standing there, two more people next to him. One of them is Arran.

I narrow my eyes. So he isn't even gonna fight me on his own?

"I'm not impressed," I scoff, "I thought you'd have the guts to fight me alone. But then again, I already knew that you're a coward."

Caspian narrows his eyes at me. And even though he's trying to hide it, I know he's scared.

As he should be.

I raise my arms and move them around, charging energy all around me. I feel electricity pulse through my veins.

I clench my fists, and when I open them again, all five get thrown back a little. I could have made my attack stronger, but I want them to underestimate me first.

"Is that all you got?" one of them asks.

I smirk a bit. The sorcerers start shooting attacks at me, and I quickly pull a shield all around me. Two of them run up to me and attack me in hand to hand combat.

I dodge some of their punches and kick one of them in the guts as I blast the other away.

Then I see Caspian, Arran and another guy attack me.

I don't really know what I'm doing. I'm just following my instincts. I put my arms out to the side, charging and attack while my enemies are getting closer. Then I make an x with my arms, and they get blasted away.

I quickly turn around to fight off the others again.

Meanwhile, Milo's POV

Sophia, Philo, and I make our way to the entrance hall after Amon left to fight Caspian.

We encounter a group of people, and all raise our arms. But I realize a lot of them are children. We lower our arms again.

"Get your kids somewhere safe," Sophia says.

Everyone nods, and they get out. We keep walking, and soon, more people walk up to us. I know a few of them. I used to train with them as a kid.

"We're here to help," the guy at the very front says. It's Jasper, one of my childhood friends.

I smile and nod. "Thank you."

The group gets bigger, and we keep going. But then, another group of people is standing in front of us, ready to fight.

We all raise our arms. Alright, then. Let's do it.

The fight starts. Energy blasts fly through the air in every possible color. More and more people get here, and it's getting hard to tell who's on which side.

An attack hits me from behind, and I stumble to the ground. I quickly get back up, produce a shield, and turn around.

It was August. He was trained with me too, but since he's one of Caspian's most loyal follower's son, he was treated much better.

He smirks at me. "Hey, Milo. Do you wanna bet on how long you'll survive? I'll give you 5 minutes, max."

I grit my teeth. He's always been an arrogant asshole. I blast an attack at him, but he deflects it. He laughs.

"God, you're so weak! And everyone had such high hopes for you. Your mother must be so disappointed - oh, wait."

I take a deep breath, trying not to get mad. I start thinking about the things Caspian said again and gulp.

Then an attack hits me, and I stumble back. Before I manage to put up another shield, August uses a spell on me, and I feel a cut on my cheek.

I cry out in pain and feel blood running down my face. August laughs.

"Come on, is that all you got?", he asks me, floating above me.

I stare at the floor for a second. I'm weak. Why am I so weak? I wasn't always like this. What was different?

Was it just my mom? No, the trainers definitely had an impact. But what was it that changed?

Then I realize. I realize what my biggest issue is.

The very first lesson we were ever taught - and the most important.

Self-belief.

I don't believe in myself, and that's why I'm weak.

But Amon believes in me. And I know my mom would, too. So I'm gonna believe in myself. I have to. It's my only option, my last resort.

I'm the only person who can get me out of this. So I might as well believe in myself.

I need to do this. For Amon. For mom. And for everyone who ever had to or would have to suffer because of Caspian, including myself.

I get up and turn to him, determined. I wipe some blood off my face with my sleeve.

"You wish," I reply.

He raises his eyebrows, an amused smirk on his lips. I raise my arms.

I believe in myself.

I shoot an attack at him, and he stumbles back, surprised. I don't give him time to shoot back. I blast attack after attack until he eventually falls to the ground.

"You don't know anything about me, August," I say as I stand above him.

He looks scared and tries to attack me, but it's weak, and I deflect it. I smile. Who's the weak one now?

I move my hands, and his arms and legs get tied up. With the final flick of my wrist, a piece of tape sticks itself on his mouth.

I smile at him. "See you later, August."

I levitate him over into a corner where he's gonna stay until we're done with this battle, and then he's getting locked up as he deserves.

I turn back to the battle, looking for another opponent. I smile to myself. I'm not weak after all. I just needed to believe in myself more.

Let's keep this going. Let's finish the battle and make things right.

Meanwhile, Amon's POV

For a while, I fight all of them. But honestly, this is taking way too long. I'm getting sick of this.

I charge an attack more powerful than anything I've ever done before. Two of my opponents get blasted away and hit the wall at full speed.

For a second, I stop in my motions and look over. My purple glow was much darker than usual. I didn't mean to make the attack this strong. Are they dead? Did I kill them?

Caspian takes advantage of me being distracted and charges an attack that hits me in the face.

My nose is bleeding, and there's a cut on my forehead. I groan. Fuck, I need to get myself together.

I attack all three of them again and blast one of them away. I quickly use a spell to tie him up. Then I focus on the two leaders, Caspian and Arran.

"Letting me into this world is your biggest regret, isn't it?" I ask Caspian, feeling the blood run down my face.

He doesn't reply. He just shoots an energy ball at me. I deflect it.

"I expected more from you, really," I add, and I see the anger in Caspian's face.

I turn to Arran for a second and hit him with an unexpected spell that flings him through the corridor. I shoot the rope spell at him and then focus on Caspian again.

"Let's end this, Caspian. Just you and me. Prove that you're better than me," I keep going.

He narrows his eyes. "You shouldn't be here. You don't belong in this world."

"Well, that's kinda on you, isn't it? I mean, you're the one that told Milo to bring me here. I never chose this. I never chose to get torn out of my life to fight your battle. And yet I did because I found someone that deeply cares about me - and that I care about. I never did it because I was told to. I did it for Milo. And I know what you and your men have done to him. I know what kind of person, what kind of monster you are. You deserve this, all of this! You had it coming for years. You're no better than Azrael, and I should have seen that so much sooner."

Caspian stares at me angrily. "Are you done? I don't care about any of what you're saying."

"Of course, you don't. I don't think you've felt love in years. I'm not even sure you're capable of feeling emotions. Well... Apart from fear, huh?"

I raise my arms. Caspian does the same to defend himself, but I'm faster. He flies through the air and lands on his back a few feet away.

I walk up to him. I realize that not only did my spell throw him into the air, it also cut him. There are cuts everywhere on his body, and he's covered in blood.

As I'm standing here above him, I realize that I would have the power to give back all the pain he has inflicted on Milo.

I could use the morsus curse. I know how to use it. Not because I learned it, but because I feel how to do it.

I've had this feeling a few times before, just knowing what to do and following my intuition and - it working out. I have no explanation for it, but it works.

I could torture Caspian. No one could stop me from giving him what he deserves.

I look at my hands. Sparks are emerging from them, but they're not purple anymore: They're pitch black.

I stare at them. What is happening to me? Who am I becoming? No, I don't want this, I don't wanna become a bad person.

This isn't me. Milo is right. I can't do this.

Caspian would deserve it, but that doesn't mean it's right to do it. I stare at him lying on the floor, bleeding heavily.

I take a deep breath and quickly wipe away a tear. Then I move my hand and stop Caspian's bleeding. I tie him up with the rope spell.

I walk over to the other sorcerers on the ground who are unconscious but not dead. I tie them up as well.

I wipe a bit of blood away with my sleeve and realize that the job is done. I fulfilled the mission.

I just look at all five of them for a moment. I know I made the right decision. I'm not a horrible person, unlike Caspian.

I might not be perfect, but I try. I really do. I wanna be a good person. We all make mistakes, but I think the will to do good and our intentions are what eventually make us good people.

I raise my arms and move the sorcerers away, so they're all leaning against the wall.

I notice that my glow is as vibrantly purple as ever. I smile to myself.

I made the right call. I know that.

I'm back on the right path.