Chapter Twenty-Two: This is Where it Ends.

The scene is not what we would have imagined. I mean, this is supposed to be the most luxurious castle for the most powerful being that has ever lived in this plane of existed. We were sort of expecting grandiose and breath-taking. Not...dusty and drab. It just looks so...broken.

Dust covers a wrought iron and crystal chandelier like frosting on a cake, you can barely even see a glint or sparkle at all beneath all of the grime. The floors aren’t any better. The white and black marble squares, organized sort of like those on a chessboard, are covered in so much dust it looks as though nobody has even walked across them in ages. There are gilded paintings on the walls, but your guess is as good as mine when it comes to guessing what they actually were. The canvases may as well have been painted a bleak grey. Even the dual curving staircases were covered in dirt, as though nobody had descended them in a great while. This place was in such shambles it looked abandoned- certainly not inhabitable.

“It’s so….empty.” Kurai’s voice echoes down the abandoned cavernous halls, even though he hadn’t even spoken very loudly. “Do you think Lord Death could actually be….you know….dead? Is that why we haven’t heard from him…?”

“Shut up.” I snap, slamming my arm into his gut as I look around. “Don’t say things like that. He’s alive, he’s got to be. You heard the gargoyle- he’s just...sleeping.” I don’t want to even hear the words. My lord, the ruler of our realm- dead? It is implausible. It can’t possibly be true. Everything I know would be a lie, would be for nothing, if he was dead.

“Up the stairs and take a left, the wall ornaments will lead you from there…” The gravelly voice of one of the gargoyles perched on one of the banisters says.

“Thank you.” Kurai and I say hurriedly as we rush up the stairs. We didn’t want to be here any longer than we had to. Maybe if I got out of here fast enough, I could forget that I had ever seen the state of disrepair Lord Death’s estate. I could forget the comment Kurai made. I could continue to live as I was taught to. I didn’t want to doubt my existence right now, I couldn’t. After all, if Lord Death was...deceased, what sort of hope would we, his loyal soldiers, have? How would life function? Everything would turn to chaos if the looming presence that kept everyone and everything in line disappeared.

“Go straight until you run into Mica….” A wall ornament says slowly, “You’ll know it’s her when you reach her- she loves new people…”

We obey the instructions, running (or at least walking as quickly as possible without running) down the large hall. I try not to think about all of the empty rooms we rush past, some with closed doors, others gaping open to show beds that are still made, though covered in layers of dust, for guests that never arrived. I thought it was impossible for things not to change with time, for things not to age. But here, it seems the impossible has happened. Everything is exactly as it was left when the castle was sealed off years ago- the only change is the dust that has settled over it, revealing just how much time has passed. But other than that, everything is perfectly preserved, from the turned down beds to the half open wardrobes. Like I said before- an entire palace frozen in time, waiting for guests that will never arrive…

Well, so much for not thinking about it. Good going, brain. (Wait- did I just use actual sarcasm? Weird…) We come to a screeching halt (a very soft one, considering we weren’t allowed to make a lot of noise) when we reach a, more or less, dead end. There are two doors- one looks like it would lead to a dungeon (and trust me, I had seen dungeon doors before), except that the iron bars that would be about eye level for a doorkeeper or someone to see through, show an inky black substance instead of space. Like a black slime, or the substance that makes up the Gap. It ripples and swells, never touching the bars, but coming somewhat close. this is the door angled to the left, sort of like a fork in the road. The gargoyle mounted on this door is fashioned to look like half of it’s jaw has been torn off and is hanging on by a few threads of sinew.To the right there is an arched doorway, with an ornate handle and pretty carved accents towards the bottom. It is crafted of a light wood, with a sleek varnish. It would have been very pretty- had there not been gouges and chunks taken out of it by what looked like feral claws. The gargoyle on this one has a small bow behind a chipped ear, and a rather hideous birthmark on her upper lip to go with her crystal eyes.

“Hello darlinks!” The gargoyle with the bow calls out, blinking her stony eyelids over her sparkling eyes. “Voo-hoo! Mica is here to help you now! Over heah! Oh it has been so long since I have seen a person!” She coddles.

“Um, if I am permitted to ask, what is behind your door…?” I ask, stepping towards the ugly head (not that I would tell her that, she seemed to think she was rather beautiful).

“Ah, behind my door there is the highest tower. The old room of the late princess, the lord’s beloved young daughter. May she rest in peace. She was such a sweetie you know, designed me herself.” Mica grins. That would explain her appearance, she was designed by a child who probably had no idea what on earth she was doing.

“And behind that other door?”

“Oh, that is the entrance to the Grand Labyrinth. Had to use some pretty complex spatial magic to fit it in there, you know. You sugars wouldn’t be able to get in there if you were just anybody, but Jackal already sent word of you down the line.” Jackal must have been the gargoyle we dealt with at the door.

“Benny! You grumpy old plaster mold! Wake up! These darlinks have got to use the Labyrinth!!!” Mica shouts to the mutilated gargoyle on the door to the left.

“Mm…? Oh shut up you noisy shrew, I know already. Geez, how did I get stuck next to the most annoying shedevil in all of existence…”Benny grumbles, peeking one eye open to glance at us before closing it again and going inanimate, just as Jackal had downstairs, before there is the same series of clicks and the door slowly creaks open. These gargoyles must be some sort of advanced security system. There isn’t any lock to pick- the gargoyles have to let you in, or you just don’t get in at all.

His door swings outwards instead of inwards, likely because swinging in would push it into the undulating dark mass behind it.

“Just walk in?” I ask.

“That’s right, Deah.” Mica nods.

I hold my breath and step forward, the slimy substance grabs onto me like tentacles and with a sharp tug, I am completely enveloped in the dark mass. Almost instantaneously, it spits me back out, into the Grand Labyrinth. Sconces and braziers light themselves at the presence of a living person, the flashes starting closeby, and setting off one another down the endless line of halls. I take a step to the side, and Kurai steps in after me.

“Impressive.” He rubs the back of his head. The labyrinth surely lives up to its name, each wall is stacked high with book shelves and cubbies for storing knowledge, but so much text can’t simply be contained in one hall- it is a maze of books, scrolls, and scripts. The older books, clearly what we were looking for, would be deeper inside.

* * *

It feels as though it has been many hours, but the gargoyles are as silent as ever- maybe they have no magical energy in this enchanted space, or perhaps there just aren’t any inside of it. I certainly haven’t seen any of them, come to think of it. We have walked past so many shelves, and searched so many of them, that I have lost count. Who knows what time it is, Kurai’s watch doesn’t work inside of here. And for all we know our sense of time could also be warped by the magic of this place. I have been leaving a trail of yarn as we go, just so that we don’t get lost.

“I think we should go back, we haven’t found anything and we’ve been down here forever. Besides, you’ll run out of yarn soon.” Kurai speaks up.

“No. I feel like we’re close. Really close.” I insist. Sure enough, after only another hour of trekking (of course I only assumed it was an hour- no real sense of time, remember?) the corridor we had been walking along, lit by sconces and braziers every ten feet or so, led into a pool of darkness, visible even at a distance.

“What is that?” I ask, pointing.

“I have a bad feeling…” Kurai complains as we start to approach the dark area.

“Stop complaining- hey look…” Above the arch that leads into the ominous area, scarcely visible because it is so far away from the last sconce, which was a good fifty feet away from the entrance to the area, there is a plaque. A marble one, the words chiseled into it. If, in fact, you could call them words. They looked more like-

“The symbols from the journal!” I exclaim. Surely the materials I needed would be just inside of this area. Then I would be able to prove my suspicions and put a stop to all of this demonic activity once and for all.

“Aura! Stop!” I run into the dark room, my night vision slowly taking effect. I can see a pedestal in the center with something atop it- only one book. Clearly there wasn’t going to be a lot of trouble finding out which book to use, because the rest of the large circular stone masoned room was empty.

“What are you scared of?” I shout back at him, stopping. He was all the way back at the entrance to the chamber, he hadn’t even set a foot inside. I was fed up with him trying to hold me back. Couldn’t he see this was important?!

“I just...I have a bad feeling!”

“What aren’t you telling me?!” I shout. “You’ve always been holding something back, keeping something from me! What in hell is it?!” I start to think that maybe I’m so angry my vision is swimming, but that isn’t it. I look around slowly. Glowing green glyphs are appearing all over the floor and walls- glyphs that didn’t really look all that friendly. I snatch up the absolutely huge book on the pedestal, about the size of my torso and probably as thick too, and start to run towards Kurai. How had he known there had been a trap in this chamber? There weren’t any signs that usually give away when magic has been cast- no scent, no charms or crystals, no charge in the air, no odd marking- wait….no….

He could read the plaque. He read the plaque. The plaque was a warning. That means he could also read the journal- which was why he was so upset when he saw it in my possession. Things clicked into place at the worst possible moment. There was a great shudder in the cavern that knocked my legs out from under me. Kurai, who had looked so dead set against coming inside previously, bolts inside as green lightning arcs across the curved ceiling.

“Aura!!” He helps me to my feet as the cavern shudders- and I glare at him.

“You could read that plaque!” I shout above the rumbling.

“Yeah, I know!” We have to shout just to hear one another, he looks very flustered, very upset.

“You could read the journal too!” My tone is very accusatory.

“Yeah! I know!!!” He repeats the phrase with growing annoyance.

“You can read those glyphs-”

“To everything you’re saying right now- I know!!! Ok?! I’m an a*s- we can talk about this later! If we don’t get out of here soon we’re going to-” The green lightning cracks again, and everything seems to go in slow motion as the bolt hits him right in the heart. He slumps over, his heavy body dragging me down. I hadn’t realized he had been holding onto my arms so tightly his nails were digging into my flesh. My mind goes blank for a moment- his heart...Kurai took a bolt right through his heart...for me...the way he went motionless...he couldn’t be...No. No this can’t be- I was supposed to protect him! Not kill him!

“Damn...that actually hurt….” He coughs and shudders. It feels like a deep breath fills my lungs after being underwater for far too long. He’s alright. Well- alright might be too strong a word, he’s alive. Which is quite the improvement over being dead.

This time I help him to his feet. It seems the electricity really did a number on him- I can feel his muscles trembling and he can’t even stand up on his own. The lightning is coming faster and faster now, so many bolts it is hard to keep track.

“I think you were right- we should get out-”

“It’s too late...the boundary is up. And it’s not going down until one of us is gone.” He looks up at me with those steely eyes, slumping back to the ground.

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?! Why didn’t you tell me anything?! Why did you lead me on?! Why can you read those glyphs?!” I shout, shaking him. No way was one of us dying here, and no way was he going to get away with not answering my questions.

“I’m not a perfect person…” He coughs and smiles grimly, as though that should satisfy my rage.

“Come on! We’re leaving! Now!!!” I hoist him back up to his feet, but it feels like something far stronger than even the two of us combined pulls him back down. I whip around to see a swirling green void opening up in the ground, like some sort of portal into an endless abyss. His legs are already dangling inside. The only thing keeping him out of it is my stern grip on his arm.

“Kurai!! Stop playing around!!!” I shout, pulling back against the force. But in response to my trying to pull him out, the vortex pulls even harder. I let out a grunt and plant my feet, getting better leverage. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever done, but a few inches of his legs are pulled free. Then the vortex cheats again, increasing the strength of its suction.

“Agh! Stop that!!” I shout.

“Don’t let go!” Kurai yells at me above the howling wind of the portal. I look down at his face and can see the unbridled fear in his eyes. Neither of us knew where the portal would lead, and chances were it wasn’t a nice place. It would kill him if he got sucked into it completely.

“I will….agh!!....Never let you go!!” I shout, fighting the pain shooting through my muscles. I wouldn’t. I would never let Kurai go, not to this vortex, not to his evil girlfriend, not to anything that would ever hurt him. Anything that wanted to do him harm would have to go through me first. And Mama Aura isn’t an easy wall to push past.

I feel my legs buckle slightly as the portal grows ever stronger, each lighting bolt increasing its power. I brace them, pulling honestly as hard as I possibly can- and something pops. That something is my shoulder. This is the worst sort of thing that could have happened, I have always counted on my own body to be there when I needed it, training it to be so strong it couldn’t possibly fail me- but even my body has limitations. No matter how strong it is, when pushed to a certain point- it will break. I will break. The pain of my dislocated shoulder is agonizing, and for only an instant my grip weakens- that instant is enough time for his waist to slip into the portal. I brace myself and pull even harder, the muscles in my arms creaking like twigs just about to snap. I may be screaming, or yelling- I can’t really hear anything above the dirgelike pounding in my ears of my slow heartbeat and the howling screaming wind that whips around the circular chamber, as if a hurricane has instantaneously formed and is raging full force.

I imagine this pain is akin to what it feels like to be quartered, tethered to horses and torn apart limb from limb. That, at least, is exactly how my arms feel. Fatigue is growing stronger and stronger, making it harder and harder to keep pulling. Kurai has his teeth grit and his eyes squeezed shut, when he opens them- they look different. Strong, but I can still see the fear wavering behind the facade of bravery.

“I’ve changed my mind. You have to let go, Aura.” The words hit me like a rough uppercut, hard enough to fracture bone. Or at the very least, my heart.

“No!” I shout back, like a stubborn little child.

“Don’t be stupid! Even you can’t pull me out of this! Look at yourself! You’re falling apart! At this rate- it’ll suck you in too!” He sounds legitimately reasonable. But at this point in time, I am beyond reason. Something I never thought I would say. The portal seems to be getting smaller now- If I can just pull him out, it would close, and then everything would be ok…

“You just shut up and let me handle this!!!!” I lean back and yank, it feels like my arms are tearing apart from the inside and I let out a rage and pain filled shout.

It was a desperate attempt- and what happened next should not have come as a surprise.

Because I stumbled.

In the next few moments, my feet grapple to find purchase, my stiletto heels try to dig into the granite floor and leave jagged carved lines as I am dragged forward by the hungry force of the vortex, wanting to consume everything in sight. I feel my entire body twist at an ungodly angle as I am halfway inside of the vortex, still clinging to Kurai as if my life depends on it. Inside of the portal, I can hear an odd chanting- childlike and spine tingling. My raven hair whips around in the wind, tickling his face in a way that would almost be comical- if we weren’t both about to, you know, die.

“Let go!!! Try to pull yourself back up!!!” He screams, he is already entirely inside at this point, the only thing keeping us connected to the outside are my legs, desperately spread and hooked in an almost spider-like position on either side of the portal, trembling as if ready to give way at any moment, sending us into the portal, sending us to our deaths.

“Aura!” His voice changes- it doesn’t sound like just him, and it doesn’t just sound angry. It sounds furious. And it almost resembles the voice of Doctor Franz, of two people trying to speak at once.

“I told you already!!” I scream, “I will never let you go! And I will never let anything hurt you!” My heart feels as though it is shattering all over again, all of those pieces that I had somehow managed to tape and glue together inside of me, had managed to pass off as normal, as complete- it was falling apart. The frail bindings that had kept it together were giving way like strands of thread against a pair of sharp scissors. This was is. This was how we were going to die. This was how I was going to die. How my life was going to come to an end.

But...I’m not done yet...am I? No...it can’t be….we aren’t done yet...I never even understood these feelings in my chest...it can’t….it can’t be over…

And then there are arms around my waist, hoisting me up and out of the aggressive vortex- there is…..hope. But who? Who else would be down here…? Unless- Oh God…

I glance away from Kurai for a moment to look over my shoulder. A cloaked figure with gleaming green eyes that almost seem to glow is pulling us back up. He is wrapped up in chains, heavy ones at that. His skin is a ghostly pale, from what I can see of his arms as they pull with a slow, but never wavering strength. He says nothing, nothing at all, as I cling to Kurai and he drags us out of the depths of the abyss.

I look back at Kurai, and I can see his face for just the slightest instant, his arm back out of the vortex and the rest of him coming after, I can see him for just the slightest instant-

Just before the portal snaps shut.

There is a wet crunching sound, the sound of the abrupt severing of flesh and bone, as his arm is severed from his body, and a wet splat as it falls to the now charred ground.

The wind stops.

The lightning stops.

The arms around my waist stop pulling.

The glyphs stop glowing.

The breathing in my lungs stops.

Everything- everything stops.

Even the heart in my chest.

And then- it shatters. My heart shatters, exploding into bleeding fragments that cannot be expressed in any other way that the first lamenting, deranged, and drawn out shriek that has ever passed my lips. And it, unlike everything else, it doesn’t stop. It goes on and on as I claw at the ground until my fingers bleed.

Gone.

All gone.

Everything is gone.

He can’t...he can’t be gone.

If he is gone, what is there left for me?...

I pick up the severed arm and clutch it to my chest, rocking back and forth as I scream, and scream, and scream. My front becomes soaked in blood- but I don’t care. I don’t care about anything but this blinding pain in my chest.

And then, I feel a hand smoothing back my hair- a cool hand, a calming touch. I don’t want anyone to touch me. I don’t want anyone to even try to come close to me- I am prepared to shriek at the person as I whip around, but I come face to face instead with the man I both revere and fear the most. Normally I would be concerned with how he perceived me, but right now? He was just another person pissing me off.

“Aurora Isadola Nightingale…” A small smile forms on his pale lips as he stares me right in the eye, my chest heaving for air that won’t come, trying to work up screams that my training tries to stifle.

“You look just like your mother.” I freeze. It is as though my entire world has exploded just after my heart, breaking and cracking and flying everywhere- making such a mess I don’t know how I’ll ever piece it back together again. Don’t know how I’ll ever be whole again…

“Vincent…?” My voice doesn’t even sound like my own. I don’t recognize it at all. It sounds broken, hoarse from screaming...weak.

He chuckles softly and pushes the hair back away from my face again, tenderly, gently, lovingly. In a way nobody has ever touched me before.

“Nobody has called me that in a very long time….”

*End of Book One*

Reviews

[EmaleighLynn]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH *continuing high-pitched female screaming*

For someone who knew some of what was coming, I have a very extreme reaction.

I WANT KURAI BACK. He's seriously one of the best things in this book. I can't help but laugh about the severed arm thing, though, because HOW MANY OF MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS HAVE TO LOOSE ARMS BEFORE I SNAP?! I can't wait to see what happens in Book Two!!!