Chapter Twenty-Four
Farren
As soon as the familiar murky darkness surrounds me, I let out a sigh of relief. The wounds that had started to appear all over my body immediately begin to heal, and I sit down.
I’m going to be here for a while. I can feel it now. How much I need to be here for me, but also for the Void itself. I have no idea how my being here could possibly be helping it, but I’m pretty sure it is.
I feel so at home when I’m in the Void, I always have.
The Void is a lot darker than it was before I was taken by the princes and couldn’t come here.
It still feels to me like there is a lot more to the Void than simply a walk through that gets me from A to B.
I know there is, there are creatures living here.
I found Oryn here. If the Void were just an empty, desolate space, then things couldn’t live here.
A noise to my left brings me out of my musings, and I slowly stand.
I may be at home here, but there are things in the Void that aren’t as friendly as Laikynn and his family. Things that would like to eat me.
A shiver of apprehension travels down my spine, quickly followed by excitement, and I reach behind me, pulling my axes free and twirling them in my hands.
I fucking love these things.
My eyes have adjusted to the darkness now, or maybe it’s getting lighter, I don’t know, but I can just about start to make out tall shapes all around me.
I would be tempted to say that they almost look like trees.
That’s an intriguing thought, but not one that I have the time to explore right now, because I am very definitely being watched by something.
Not watched. Hunted.
If it were Laikynn or one of his family members in the darkness, then they would have come up to me to say hello, and I wouldn’t have felt the need to call on my axes if it were a friend and not a foe.
Movement to my left has my gaze darting in that direction. Although I keep my body still, I allow my gaze to track the creature moving through the darkness.
I can’t see much, no defining features, but I do know that it’s huge, and that it probably wants to eat me.
It moves in complete silence, which for such a big creature is extremely impressive and makes it so much more deadly.
With a suddenness that I’m barely prepared for, it attacks, launching itself at me, and suddenly I can see it as clear as anything despite us still being surrounded by murky darkness.
Two heads, teeth as big as my arms lining the snarling snouts, as twelve eyes, six on each head, watch my every movement. I would be willing to bet that it doesn’t know that I can see it.
It towers over me, big enough that it could easily eat me in two bites. Its body is covered in spikes, sharp and deadly looking, and so black that whatever little light is around it, they seem to absorb it completely, darker than a shadow.
Perfect for living in the Void.
It hisses, a long, wailing sound, that instantly puts me on edge. I jump backwards as its jaws snap in my direction, determined to take off my head. My axes sing through the air as one of its giant talons heads in my direction, and it screams in pain as my axe slices through it like butter.
I seriously hope that it’s not one of those creatures where even their blood will kill you because I’m covered in it.
Fortunately, I don’t feel any burning or stinging, so I’m going to take that as a good sign.
I can’t do anything about it right now anyway.
Apparently, this fucking thing is intent on killing me.
This time, it decides to use its tails, plural, because of course it’s got more than one, and of course it’s very good at using them in order to maim me.
As I jump over one of the tails, swinging with my axe and slicing it, pissing it off more, it occurs to me that I need to end this as quickly as I can. I don't want the sounds of our fighting to attract more of these creatures.
It’s still distracted by the slice in its tail, and I creep closer, but it recovers quicker than I could have predicted, and I end up stumbling, my hand flying out to steady myself, as I make the mistake of touching the spikes that cover the creature, and I hiss in pain as I feel it burn.
I yank my hand back, jumping out of the way.
My magic immediately starts to heal the area, but it’s taking longer than it should, and I am now down to fighting with one hand, my non-dominant one, of course, and I’m covered in creature ichor that may or may not be harmful to me.
Yeah, I’ve had enough now.
It’s time to end this.
As I continue to dodge and dive out of the way of the various tails, heads and talons intent on ending my life, I weave together a spell, one that is strong enough to pierce through its chest and pull out its heart or hearts.
I’m not risking it having more than one, and all I do is piss it off by only grabbing one.
I’m building spells into the main spell to incapacitate it, to stop its magic, and to freeze it in place.
I then decide to add an extra one to disintegrate the hearts once I have them, just in case.
This is a creature that I have never come across before.
I don’t know how it works, I don’t know what it is capable of, and because of that, I won’t take any risks.
If I’m being honest, I have no idea if the spell I am building is going to work. I’m running on pure instinct right now.
After another close call with its tail, I gather my magic and launch the spell at the creature. The threads of it weave together in the exact way that I had envisioned, and within a few moments, it has been executed perfectly.
I watch in shocked fascination as the creature's hearts, there were three, burst free of its chest, and it immediately freezes, its eyes rolling back into its heads as it drops to the floor with a thump heavy enough to shake the ground.
I guess it was its magic keeping it from making a noise.
The hearts themselves are bigger than my torso. They’re huge, and I don’t think I quite appreciated just how big the creature was.
The hearts explode into glittering dust, and I simply stand there and study the beast as I slowly put my axes back on my back. I have no idea what kind of creature I’m looking at. Even though now that it’s not trying to kill me, I can get a better look at it.
One thing is for certain though, it is living and hunting in the Void.
Killing it took a lot of magic, more than I would have thought possible, and if another one were to appear now, I know that I wouldn’t be capable of taking it down.
It’s been a long time since I have had my magic this drained. My father, or I guess not father, whoever the fuck he was, used to drain my magic regularly. I got used to fighting without it, but this level of exhaustion feels more than that somehow.
A sound behind me has me spinning around, readying my tired magic and my axes appearing in my hands in preparation.
“You killed it,” the familiar voice of Laikynn mutters, the shock evident in his tone.
“Laikynn, thank fuck it’s you. I didn’t want to have to fight off another one,” I reply, lowering my axes. “I don’t think I have it in me to kill another one of whatever the fuck they are.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to kill that one. They plague the Void, impossible to kill,” he replies, watching me closely.
“Maybe this one is different somehow? Maybe it was already weakened by something else before it attacked me?” I question because I’m not really sure how else to explain how I killed the creature that according to Laikynn can’t be killed.
Laikynn’s eyes move away from the creature and look at me, “Yes, maybe. I am actually here for another reason. We were told that you would be here.”
“By who?” I ask curiously. I didn’t even know I was going to be here, although that doesn’t really mean much these days.
“That is of no importance,” Laikynn replies vaguely.
I can’t say I’m surprised that he’s refused to answer my question. People rarely do. Although, thanks to recent events, I think I probably have a fairly good idea of who told them that I’m going to be here.
“Was it one of the Fates?” I ask with confidence.
Laikynn looks confused for a second and then shakes his head, “No, no, the Fates have no control here.” He ploughs on before I can ask any questions, not that he would answer them anyway, “No, it has come to my attention that you are looking for the Leabhar Nam Marbh.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline. That is not what I thought he was going to say. It takes me a moment to process his words properly, but when I do, I look at him with surprise.
“Yes, I am. Do you know where it is?” I ask, the excitement in my voice evident.
Finally, we might be moving in the right direction. I’m aware that it hasn’t really been that long, but we don’t have a lot of time to rescue Ignatius and the others before the balance is tipped, and we had no idea where to start.
“I am bound, and I cannot say what I wish to,” Laikynn says apologetically.
I smile, “That’s okay. I’m used to that now.”
He nods his big head, but continues to explain without any prompting from me, “The last known owner of the book was a man known as Magistrate Godfrey. It was passed down from father to son in that family ever since they stole it from where it was originally secured. Of course, no one has been able to prove that they stole it or that they still have it. We know though. There are still those who remember.”
“Godfrey?” I ask. “That’s the family who has it? Are you sure?”
Laikynn nods, “Specifically, the Magistrate Godfrey’s family. Don’t confuse it with one of the other Godfrey families. The family estate is in Retuinea, on the outskirts.”
Damn it.
“Son of a bitch. Thanks, Laikynn. I’ve got to go,” I say quickly.
He nods, “Understood. I’ll see you soon.”
I don’t bother questioning him. There isn’t any point, and I have something bigger to do.
The magic of the Void wraps around me as I ask it to open a door back in the guy's apartment at Black Onyx.
“Farren!” Reaper exclaims as I suddenly appear in front of them in the middle of the seating area.
“I know where the book is!” I exclaim.
“Is that blood?” Kill asks me.
Wave my hand in the air, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not mine.”
“That doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t worry,” Storm points out, raising his eyebrow expectantly.
“He makes a good point,” Zev replies.
I throw my hands in the air. I guess I’m explaining this then.
“A creature in the Void attacked me, and I killed it, and obviously got covered in its blood,” I explain quickly, barely taking a breath.
Loki inhales sharply, “I have never smelt blood like that before.”
“Well, it’s a Void creature,” Rival starts with a frown. “I didn’t even know that it was possible.”
“Guys, I found the book,” I repeat.
“Wait, the Leabhar Nam Marbh?” Reaper asks. “You’ve found it?”
I take a breath. Things are getting a little bit twisted, and if I don’t slow down, then I’m not going to be able to explain it properly, and everything is going to take even longer.
“Yes. Laikynn told me that he knew where it was, but he couldn’t tell me how he knew or anything else other than its location,” I explain.
When they all look at me expectantly, I continue, “He told me that the Godfrey family stole it, and that it’s been passed down through their family for generations since they first stole it fuck knows how long ago. ”
“Wait, Godfrey?” Rival asks, making the link before the others.
I nod, “It’s in my father's house.”
“No fucking way!” Loki exclaims as he sits up straighter.
“I definitely didn’t expect that,” Mayhem agrees.
Zev opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, his eyes turn white. “We need to head out and get it as soon as we can. It's not safe at the house.”
“Does Farren have time to shower first?” Mayhem asks. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea for her to be walking around looking like she does and covered in the blood of an unknown creature.”
“That’s a good point,” I reply as I look at Zev questioningly.
Zev frowns slightly. “You can, but it needs to be a quick one.”
“I can do that,” I reply as I head toward the door to my room.
“Wait, Farren, is the Void working how it’s supposed to now?
” Reaper asks. “We’re going to need it to get to your father’s place.
It’s going to be difficult to explain to the Headmaster why we want to leave, and not have him think that it’s something frivolous if we were to ask for permission and take the horses.
Plus, from what Zev has said, we need to get there quickly. ”
“I managed to create a door to get me back here, and I got into the Void with no problems. So, I think so, we can try. What about Hades and Khaos?” I ask.
“Let them know that we’re going to your father’s place and why.
We should be fine without them though, we’re only going to get the book.
Once we have it, they can meet us back here, and we can all go through the book together to see if we can find how we’re supposed to enter this realm,” Storm suggests.
“Sounds good. I don’t want them to have to leave the Underworld if they don’t need to,” I reply.
“Exactly,” Kill says. “We’ll prepare some stuff to take with us just in case. Will there be any staff at the house that we need to talk to?”
I shake my head, “I doubt it. No one was there by choice, not really, and they would have taken off as soon as whoever was investigating my father's death cleared them to do so.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about that then,” Rival says.
“Give me five minutes and I’ll be back out and we can go,” I say.
As soon as I get into my bedroom, I open the bondlines to Khaos and Hades.
“I’m really sorry to bother you guys,” I start.
“You could never bother us, Ren,” Khaos replies immediately. “Hades is in the middle of something, but he will be listening, and I can fill him in if he misses anything.”
“No problem,” I reply, and then go on to explain what’s going on and where we’re going.
“Okay, be careful, and if you need us, just send a message through the bond link and we will be there immediately,” Khaos replies.
“I will. I’ll let you know when we get back, and if you’re free, then we can go over it,” I reply.
“Sounds good, Ren.” He replies, “Things are quite complicated here, so we may not be able to make it, you might have to read it without us.”
“No problem,” I reply. “Stay safe, and let me know if you need us as well.”
“We will, Beautiful,” Hades’ voice comes through, and I smile as I close down the lines.