Chapter 46
Chapter Forty-Six
Nina
My home was just as I remembered it. Quiet cobblestone streets winding through rows of brick-built houses, their chimneys releasing gentle plumes of smoke.
After some time in the Domain of Lies, my memories returned, slipping back into place.
This place was plucked from my mind and made real.
I could hear the echo of laughter, the chatter of neighbours and the creak of old carts as they rolled over uneven stones.
The baker’s shop was a favourite, and the smell of fresh bread and croissants lured even more people in.
It reminded me of mornings spent running errands, Tobias peeking into the bakery window.
But it was all a lie.
The scene wavered, the edges of the houses rippling. I was only just beginning to understand how to control my magic. I could build illusions just as well as Leander could.
I hadn’t just conjured my memories. I’d trapped myself in them. Every scent, every sound, every brick and flower and faint shadow – it was all mine, woven together like threads in a tapestry meant to deceive even me.
“Leave, or fall.”
Hell often whispered to me when I was consumed by the lies. Hell didn’t like me to be pulled in for too long.
I ignored the tickle of the whisper and walked on through the illusion. The streets stretched ahead, quiet and still, but now they felt wrong – too perfect, too still.
My boots clicked against the cobblestones, and the sound echoed unnaturally as though the world held its breath. I had created this place and shaped it from fragments of memory and longing.
Was it the comfort I wanted? Control? Or was it just that I couldn’t stomach what Hell had turned me into? Couldn’t stomach facing my brother as the person I’d become.
But this wasn’t home. It was just another prison, like the village my brother and I had lived in for a century.
Even after everything, that truth was still hard to swallow. I turned away, and vanished from the memory, and emerged in a green forest.
Ahead, our cottage looked just as I had remembered it.
“Nina . . .?” A soft, doubtful voice rose from behind. “Is it you?”
I twisted around to find Tobias emerging from the trees, his movements hesitant.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. He looked just as I remembered.
The same as the day I was taken in by the fire and arrived in Hell.
His green eyes were like the forest – like our home.
They were wide and hopeful, his familiar gait carrying cautious curiosity.
I took a step forward. The ground rippled beneath my feet, a subtle tremor I knew wasn’t natural.
“It’s me,” I said, my voice steady though my heart raced.
His face brightened with relief, and a timid smile appeared on his lips.
But then he looked down at the shifting shadows underfoot, and he became unsure.
No doubt he noticed the otherworldly lustre in my eyes.
I wonder if he could see Hell’s flames reflected back.
They were inside me now, forever burning.
Tobias stepped back, and I attempted to hide the hurt in my chest.
The shadows flared and burst into flame in reaction to my grief. My emotions triggered the fires. I still hadn’t got it under control.
After all, everything was still new.
Tobias’s eyes bulged and his smile slipped. His expression had been replaced by one of obvious terror. That expression had become familiar to me now. Most of the souls in Hell looked at me in the very same way.
“You don’t need to be afraid.”
“You’re different,” he said, his voice quivering.
I nodded.
“W-what happened to you?”
I took a breath, steadying myself, and told him the truth.
I explained The Cycle, and the domains, and the throne I had claimed. My voice was calm, but with every word, I saw Tobias’s face crumble with sadness.
“But here, I can create whatever world we want. We’ll be safe and happy.”
“This isn’t real, though.” His voice trembled, and his eyes narrowed as understanding began to dawn. The ground beneath him cracked, the forest shuddering as though reacting to my own fear. “You sacrificed too much.”
A whisper brushed through my mind, warm and reassuring.
“Something is wrong.”
I tried to brush the voices away. I didn’t need to deal with the Essence of Hell. They could wait.
Tobias’s face softened, sadness replacing the anger in his eyes. “You’re not my Nina anymore, are you?”
I straightened, wanting my crown to feel like armour instead of chains. “I’m still me. But I’m more now.”
My heart ached for him.
I cupped his cheek, and stared into those forest green eyes that I missed so much—
Then I let my lie dissolve.
Tobias’s form quivered, and then retracted, light beams piercing his body. It burned through his form, until he was gone.
I was alone once more in the Domain of Lies.
I waved a hand, and let that new well of power surge. I couldn’t tell where Hell started and ended, only that there was something powerful running through me all the time.
The warm light vanished, replaced by gloom.
I was back in my throne room. Soaring arches and lofty windows reflected Hell’s red light across polished stone. A large staircase led to an elevated dais where my throne sat, framed by crimson flags. Beyond the arched windows, a swath of towers soared into the sky.
The city of Lies.
Soon, it would be heaving with souls.
The gates to Hell had been opened for a week. Hundreds of souls had already entered the realm. My new order brought every single one to my domain first.
I had plans for all of them. Trials that would strip them bare, reveal their secrets, and give them to the demon who would punish them appropriately.
Shadows coiled along the floor like restless creatures. They belonged here, a flicker of magic in my domain. But I sensed they somehow purred for Salazar. Like calls to like.
Felix entered, his expression tense. “I’ve got some bad news.”
“Go on.”
“Tobias is gone. We’ve checked purgatory . . . we’ve checked all new souls and he’s not among them.”
“He’s got to be somewhere.” My voice is cutting.
Felix cleared his throat. “But . . . that’s not everything.”
My eyebrow lifted.
“Word has spread that some of the demons are gone,” he said.
“What do you mean gone?”
The whispers of Hell started muttering intensely in my mind. “Nina, Nina, Nina . . .”
“There’s been a disturbance in The Crossing. The Furies were attacked. Apparently, several demons fled their domains, and went somewhere else . . .”
“This could mean the end of the realm . . .” The whispers were screeching in my mind, and I had to press my fingers to my temples for relief.
“Who’s gone?” I groaned.
“Nobody knows for sure . . . but I think Alexei leads them.”
“I’m not surprised.” I sighed. “Find out who’s left, and bring them here. Take Selene with you.”
Before he left, I vanished from the room and materialised in the damp tunnels beneath my domain.
The place had an earthy stench, the cold air foul on my face. I moved swiftly through. At the end of the passage, the tunnel bent right, revealing a domed cavern with dozens of cells.
I stepped into the gloom, and towards the largest dungeon cell. The figure was hunched in the corner; they looked incredibly vulnerable, and innocent.
“Hello Jules,” I said softly.
The soul looked up with weak, sad eyes.
“What should I call you now?”
I frowned. “Nina will do just fine.”
“But you’re not Nina anymore, are you?”
I sighed and crouched before the bars. “I need your help, Jules.”
His eyes widened slightly, and I took that as a sign to continue.
“Demons have escaped Hell,” I said. “Several of them have left, and I don’t know how, or what their plan is, but I just know their absence threatens the existence of Hell.”
“There was a rumour once,” he whispered, voice low, as though the walls might be listening. “Rumours about relics that could tether one realm to another. A connection across time and space.”
My breath caught. “Could this tether serve as a . . . doorway?”
He nodded. “Yes, if demons somehow had their relic, they could cross realms and still hold dominion over their domain.”
A chill slid through me. I whispered aloud, barely trusting myself to say it. “So they’d keep their power, as long as their souls in Hell remained bound to them.”
“In theory, but they would need their relics, and they’re just rumours—”
“They’ve left Hell,” I whispered. “I don’t think it’s a rumour.”
Jules seemed afraid, and held himself as though a chill had just come through. I could only feel the heat. The flames seemed to be ever burning inside me now.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, straightening.
Jules didn’t reply, but pushed himself into the corner of his cell, with his back turned to me.
The whispers tickled in the back of my mind. They were always there, soft yet unrelenting and impossible to escape.
“Nina, Nina, Nina . . . you must find them.”
“Yes, but how am I meant to find demons who have escaped the realm . . .”
“Demons, demons, demons . . . you must rally all those you control.”
“And what if they don’t listen.”
“They will all kneel. You are their Queen.”
I stepped backwards into flames and vanished.