Chapter 21
Twenty-One
MANU
ELLNESARI, PRESENT DAY
I ’m once again forced to walk the wind with Castiel, and the trip is just as bad as before. Telar also tags along, and I have a feeling King Ruel trusts the prince of Lynx as far as he can throw him. Telar must be the king’s watchdog.
I’m disoriented at first, but when my head stops spinning and I take a couple of deep breaths, I realize we aren’t in Aquila anymore.
The air is much cooler at our new location, and the terrain is dry and brown.
I don’t see any greenery, not even a patch of grass.
And that is as much as I can discern—we’re surrounded by a thick fog that not even the sun can penetrate.
“Where are we?” I ask.
“We’re at the edge of the Valley of Lost Souls,” Castiel replies.
A touch of cold runs down my spine, making me shiver. I hug myself, rubbing my arms up and down. “Now what?”
“Now you enter the Valley of Lost Souls and find the Magna Vis,” Telar answers in a much ruder tone.
“I don’t even know what it looks like,” I grit out.
“No one does,” Castiel chimes in.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I throw my hands in the air. “How am I supposed to find it, then? Does it even exist, or are you banking all your hopes on some half-baked Ellnesari myth?”
“It isn’t a myth,” Telar replies through clenched teeth. “You’re wasting time.”
I cross my arms. “It’s not a waste of time to gather as much information as possible.”
“You know everything we do.” Castiel moves closer, placing his hands on my arms. “I’m confident you’ll know the Magna Vis when you find it.”
His beautiful eyes are sincere, and they make me relax a bit. “Okay. How do I enter the Valley of Lost Souls?”
A flash of guilt shines in his eyes, but I don’t react fast enough before Castiel shoves me forward, and I fall into a foggy abyss.
Son of a bitch! I scream as I claw at the air.
The fall seems to go on forever, which means every single bone in my body will break when I reach the bottom.
No wonder that motherfucker pushed me. I wouldn’t have volunteered to jump off a cliff.
After a while, the fog seems denser, and I sense some resistance that eventually slows my descent.
When I finally reach the bottom, I’m going at snail speed and barely feel the impact.
Not turning into a flat pancake doesn’t give me comfort, though.
I don’t know where I am, I can’t see a thing, and I’m not picking up any scent that could clue me in about my environment.
Now I know why they call this hell pit the Valley of Lost Souls. Who would be able to find the exit? I fell off a cliff, so in theory, I could climb back up. But without visibility, it’s impossible to know where the damn rocky wall is.
I stretch my arms in front of me like a blind person.
I’d rather not hit a tree or a rock face-first. The ground is rough but flat, at least. I take a few steps forward, and when I don’t find the foot of the cliff, I rotate.
I’m not sure how long I keep walking in circles, trying to find a wall to climb, but it’s an exercise in futility.
Maybe there truly isn’t a way out. Panic spreads through me like a flash flood, constricting my lungs and making my heart race.
I throw caution to the wind and start to run, desperate to find a way out.
I keep going until my breath comes in bursts.
My cheeks are wet—I don’t even know when I started crying.
I’ve never felt more alone and lost in my entire life.
Suddenly, the ground disappears from under me, and I fall hard down a hill. I cover my head with my arms as my body keeps rolling over gravel. When I finally stop, I have so many scrapes that I can’t pinpoint all the spots where my skin was rubbed raw. My entire body is on fire.
I sit up and inspect what I can see. My leather jacket and jeans are torn in several areas, and I’m bleeding. And despite protecting my head, my forehead is tender. Upon touching it, I confirm I have a gash there too. My fingers are smeared in blood.
Just when I don’t think things can get any worse, goose bumps rise on the back of my neck.
I’m no longer alone. I jump to my feet and expand my senses, trying to hear beyond the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears.
I hear a low growl, and a moment later, a pair of glowing amber eyes appears in the fog.
I don’t wait for it get any closer. I know a predator when I see one.
I turn and run in the opposite direction.
The beast gives chase, not bothering to be stealthy.
The loud thump of its paws hitting the ground clues me in that a massive monster is chasing me.
I can run fast, but it’s gaining on me. Shit, if only I had a weapon.
The fog begins to dissipate, and ahead, I see the shape of a bare tree. I aim for it, not knowing if it will be high enough to avoid getting mauled by the beast breathing hard on my neck. I just hope the wood isn’t rotten.
I look over my shoulder and regret my decision immediately.
Something grotesque with gold fur, demented yellow eyes, and fangs for miles is within striking distance.
It’s going to pounce on me in the next second.
The tree is near, so I jump, but not before the beast swats at me with a claw and lacerates my back.
“Aargh!” I yell as I fly through the air.
I hit one of the lower branches hard and grunt.
But there’s no time to ride the pain—I have to keep moving.
Using every bit of strength I have left, I pull myself up and climb without looking down.
Only when I reach the top do I glance at the bottom.
The fog isn’t as thick as before, but it isn’t completely gone.
I don’t have a clear view of the monster, but I see its shape circling the tree, and it’s growling.
It’s not trying to climb after me, though, so I allow myself a moment to breathe.
But as my body begins to relax, every open wound in my body seems to burn with the fire of a thousand suns.
Resting one cheek against the tree trunk, I let out a ragged cry. I have zero hope that I’ll get out of here alive. But it’s not the prospect of my unavoidable death that’s making me miserable. It’s the fact that I never got the chance to tell Karl I never stopped loving him, not even for a second.
I close my eyes and whisper, “Karl… I wish I could see your face one last time.”