Chapter Three
M y emotions feel muted.
It’s almost as if everything is bottled up inside. After spending so much of my life cuffed, bound, or caged, the feeling is far from calming. I need to feel free again. I need to feel her again.
I want out of this place… this void.
The Between is what Forsythia called it.
I had known from the moment I woke up here that I was not in the Ether. Nor was I in the earth realm. But the overwhelming nothing had caused me to panic and seek shelter inside of myself. Giving myself over to the only protection I could find.
My fear and shame had me reverting into the scared child, hiding while his kin were slaughtered. I hadn’t even recognized Forsythia when she found me.
“I am weak.”
“Lucian, you died.” Three words from my mate cut me like a knife.
“Yes. I am a weak mate. I died in battle and left you to carry on.” My own pity and shame lacing my voice heavily.
Perhaps she would be better suited to leave me here. Thankfully that thought comes and goes just as quickly. Unfortunately, my mate is not set to let my pity party go as easily.
“Lucian Holt. Don’t you dare act all pitiful. You saved my fathers life! You have been through so much and you are still standing when other would have fallen by now. You are one of the strongest people I know. Now, I will not stand by and listen to this any longer, so stop speaking poorly about my mate!” Her voice is as strong as the conviction that rings through it. She truly believes what she says.
Her confidence buoys my own. I would never leave her to deal with this terrible foe alone. I think of Blake, my new brother, and correct my own thoughts. Not alone. She will never be alone. I also recall the pain I felt when I thought my mate had died, and I realized that I could never do that to her. No, I will fight with every breath in my body to outlive this amazing woman, for the simple knowledge of never being the cause of those feelings for her ever again.
For the first time since I arrived in this place, I feel– something…
“I think we are getting close.”
Forsythia’s voice flows to me from the golden ball of light I have been following.
“I think you’re right, Lucian. I can feel Blake’s tether. Just keep going okay? I don’t exactly know how this works.”
Well that is… reassuring?
Although, it is not as if she has been the Noctifer Witch for very long, and travel to the Between certainly did not come with a training guide. Perhaps I should write one? Maybe just a chronicle of her tale. Something to share with the magickal world of the earthen realm so they know of her heroics.
I had never really considered writing anything like that before, but now that the thought has been planted, I cannot seem to shake the idea. Her magnificence deserves to be recorded. After we defeat the creature of course.
Oh, and get back to our bodies. Opposable thumbs would be much more useful to write with.
For the first time, I have a goal in my life. I have something to look forward to. A bright beacon in my future. My future with my family.
Pushing my essence along, I continue following Forsythia’s ball of light, but I slow down as the chill washes over me. Suddenly this void feels as though it is pinching me and though I have no sense of direction, I think I am spinning.
The feeling is nauseating and I scream out for help, but no sound escapes me. I scream and scream, trying to get her attention. I can’t see Forsythia’s light anymore, so I can hope that I have not lost her in this place.
That fear does not get much of a chance to take hold, before my brain is violently assaulted with cold.
Freezing, binding, suffocating cold.
I cannot move, hear, or see.
Surely the Gods have not seen fit to have me die… again?