Chapter 4 #2
The sunlight’s warmth vanishes as we enter.
Inside, it is pitch black and so cold my breath turns to mist. I can barely see Anethesis, even though he floats right beside me.
Then, a pulsing purple glow blooms within the darkness, faint at first but growing stronger, illuminating the jagged crystal lining the cavern walls.
The tunnel opens into a vast chamber with a shimmering lake at its center, and suspended above the water in a gigantic cage is my beautiful Ashen.
At first, he looks so small, pacing in tight circles, little more than a black smudge against the enormous barred frame. But the moment I arrive in the chamber, his nose lifts, and the bright white of his eyes locks onto me.
He hisses, a sharp, high-pitched sound, but it quickly morphs into a deep, thunderous roar that shakes the stone around us.
He lunges at the bars, his body transforming in an instant into the fierce, massive protector I know him to be.
Smoky tentacles lash out from his back, striking at the cage with fury.
Then he cries out in pain.
A collar materializes around his neck, pulsing with cruel, binding magic.
Chains follow, first around his front legs, then his back, each one tightening with every struggle.
The harder he fights, the more mercilessly they constrict, dragging him down to the cage floor.
He thrashes, desperate, but the restraints only force him lower and lower until, at last, he is pinned, face pressed against the cold steel.
“No! Stop it! You’re hurting him!” I snap, my voice cutting through Ashen’s agonized roars.
“Hurting him? Impossible,” Anethesis replies, his tone cool and dismissive. “He is a demon of the void. They do not feel pain.”
“Yes, he does!” I scream, my hands curling into fists. “Let him up!”
Anethesis sighs as if I am the one being unreasonable. “He is doing this to himself. All he needs to do is stop resisting the collar.”
My jaw tightens, and anger burns hot in my chest, sending tears stinging at the corners of my eyes. “Ashen!” I call, my voice trembling despite my best efforts to hold it steady. “It’s alright. Please calm yourself.”
Ashen thrashes harder, his claws scraping against the floor of the cage as he tries to rise. The chains respond viciously, dragging him down again with ruthless force.
“Please, my darling!” I call again, swallowing the sob rising in my throat. “Calm yourself. For me.”
His roar tears through the cavern once more, but this time, it falters towards the end.
Slowly, reluctantly, the fight drains from his body.
He collapses with a defeated groan, his glowing white eyes dimming to a muted gray.
As his strength fades, the collar and chains shimmer and vanish, but Ashen doesn’t move.
He lies still on the cage floor, utterly spent, as if the struggle has left him hollow.
“See?” Anethesis murmurs, his voice almost mocking. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
I whirl on him, fury surging through me like fire. “Take me to him,” I snarl. “He needs me.”
Anethesis tilts his head. “I was hoping he would relax you,” he says with an air of disappointment. “But it seems he has done quite the opposite. We cannot predict the effect the first trial will have on you in your…condition.”
His gaze flicks to my belly, and his thin nose wrinkles as though he’s caught the scent of something foul.
“What are you talking about? What trial?”
Anethesis dips his head, his nod so steeped in false sympathy that, for a fleeting moment, I almost believe it’s genuine. I’m too tired, too confused, too angry, and that glimmer of doubt flickers dangerously close to hope.
“Let me make this plain,” he says slowly. “Perform these tests without resistance, and we will release you and your pet.”
My head snaps up, my tired eyes narrowing as I scrutinize him for any shred of truth. “You will?”
“All the Ithranor want is to go home, Princess. To leave this suffering behind.” His voice drips with sincerity, but it’s his next words that truly sink their claws into me.
“You offer us that opportunity. We can both get what we want. It’s no different from the collar.
Stop fighting, and this could be so easy for you.
” His gaze dips to my belly, his lip curling slightly. “For you and your little one.”
My thoughts race, a torrent of fears and desires crashing into one another faster than I can catch them.
Ashen, confined in his cage, his brilliant presence dimming with every passing moment until I can almost see through him.
My child growing inside me, larger and stronger than it should be.
The Grove, left defenseless without me. And then there’s him.
My husband. The man I have no right to love, yet whose absence gnaws at my soul every waking moment.
This could be my way out. My chance to protect them all without risking everything I hold dear.
My eyes flick to Anethesis. His gaze hasn’t wavered, and I swear I see the faintest trace of satisfaction in his expression.
“What is the first test?” I ask, my voice steady despite the desperation raging inside me.
He exhales, long and measured, as if savoring my surrender. “Thank you for seeing reason, Princess.”
The cavern fills with sound as the lake churns below, the water twisting and frothing violently, the purple glow pulsing like a heartbeat.
I glance down, the flickering light slicing through the darkness.
Ashen rises shakily to his feet, his white eyes locking onto mine, reflecting the same mix of worry and confusion I feel.
“The Test of Veils,” Anethesis intones, his voice reverberating with unnatural power.
The purple light flashes across his face, casting shifting shadows that make him look even more sinister.
“Here, you must discern what is real and what is illusion. If you succeed, your ability to see through the false will grow stronger.”
“Wait,” I say, my voice cracking as the light grows brighter, stinging my eyes. “What do I do?”
“You are Awakened.” His gaze pierces through me. “You will know.”
I open my mouth to protest, but before I can utter another word, Anethesis raises two fingers and taps my forehead. It’s a gentle touch, but it feels like the weight of a mountain crashing into me.
My vision explodes into darkness, and I feel myself falling backward, weightless and untethered, plummeting into nothingness. Forever.
The air shifts and my eyes flash open, and suddenly I’m no longer in the dark cavern with Anethesis.
My breath fogs as I stand in an open courtyard bathed in pale moonlight.
Surrounding me are towering walls of glass, each panel polished to a gleaming perfection that reflects my image back at me, dozens of me, each one distorted, stretched, or twisted in ways that make my stomach lurch.
The maze stretches endlessly in every direction, the mirrored walls shimmering like liquid silver.
Anethesis’ voice echoes in my mind, cold and distant. “Find the truth, Amara. Or let the maze claim you.”
I step forward, and the glass seems to ripple under my gaze. I reach out a hand, my fingertips brushing a surface colder than ice. The moment I touch it, the world around me shifts. The moonlight dims, the mirrors flicker, and suddenly I’m not alone.
“Amara?”
I whip around. The voice is achingly familiar, a sound I thought I had forgotten.
My mother stands a few feet away, her gentle smile tugging at my heart.
She looks like the phantom of someone I once knew, her memory so lost and clouded in the forgotten edges of my mind.
Still, some things I can never forget. Soft brown waves of hair framing her face, the warmth in her eyes, the same rich brown as mine, a balm I didn’t know I still craved.
“Mother?” My voice cracks, and I take a step toward her.
She opens her arms. “Daughter. You’ve been so strong, but you don’t have to fight anymore. Just come home.”
I falter, something twisting in my chest. It’s her voice, her face, everything about her flawless, but it’s too perfect. Too clean, too untouched by the years that should have changed her. My gut twists.
“You’re not real.”
Her smile withers, and her eyes glisten with tears. “Amara, it’s me. Don’t you recognize your own mother?”
I step toward the mirror, my hand reaching out instinctively, even as a voice deep inside me screams that this isn’t real.
But I want to believe it is her. Desperately.
Every part of me aches for the chance that this could be true.
To feel her warmth again, to be with her under the dappled sunlight, her fingers brushing gently through my hair as birdsong fills the air.
The longing is so strong it burns through me, a cruel, aching need. I would give up everything for it.
But it’s not real. It’s a glamor.
A sudden flash of bright orange light sears my vision, and I stagger back, wincing.
When I look again, the mirror is engulfed in flames.
Blistering, suffocating, all-consuming. The heat presses against my skin, and my mother’s form flickers within the inferno.
She shifts, flashing between the woman I remember and the unrecognizable, charred figure left after the fire stole her from me.
Tears sting my eyes, but I clench my jaw against the tremor threatening to break my voice. “I’m sorry,” I whisper, my words trembling despite my resolve. “But you are not real.” My voice hardens, cutting through the illusion like a blade. “You died, and you’re not coming back.”
The flames flicker and die, vanishing as if extinguished by my words. She stands before me again, whole and untouched, her smile soft and bittersweet. For a moment, I think she’ll speak. But she doesn’t.
The mirror shatters, splintering into a thousand glittering shards, and with it, she disappears.