Fifty-Five
F IFTY - F IVE
ESTRELLA
The journey to the Phlegathon took the entire morning after we bid the residents of the Tithe settlement goodbye with the rising sun. It had only taken a couple of hours for Caldris to awaken without me, seeking me out the moment he realized I was gone from the bed we’d shared. I’d spent those hours trying to draw Rheaghan into using his magic, exposing him to my powers constantly to no avail.
He’d still never thought to attempt them, and the reflexes I knew he must have remembered didn’t kick in to accomplish the task either. It had made for a very bittersweet farewell, even if we both suspected it would be a temporary thing. I wanted nothing more than to convince him to come with us, to take the brother I’d never known away from this place and attempt to remind him of all he had once been. Instead, I’d left him behind, offering him the peace that came with not remembering the circumstances of his death.
Not remembering that it had been his own sister, the very woman he’d desperately tried to protect from herself for centuries, who ended his life.
I reached up, holding out a hand for Belladonna as she shifted back to her living form and wound herself around my hand. As I passed her off to Medusa so the tiny creature could avoid the river and subsequent trial, my arm felt empty without her.
Caldris was quiet but supportive as we approached the river, words not needed between us in the moments where I stared down into the next river I would need to face. The river itself ran red, the water a mix of molten lava and hardened rock where it cooled as it flowed through the icy waters. The riverbanks were littered with skulls and bones, horrifying statues carved into the cliff face itself. A great winged beast with three heads perched atop the cliff where it had been carved into a collection of five skulls, his great, leathery wings spread wide as if preparing to take flight.
It was scaled like a serpent, so similar to the sea monster we’d seen only a day prior. But whereas that one had been beautiful and ethereal, this creature was molded from darkness and menacing even though it did not move. The craftsmanship that had been needed to craft such a statue was incredible, the dedication making me stare at the creature far longer than I should have.
I stared down at the lava, my blood boiling within my body already making me feel as if I was burning from the inside. The call of the river in my veins was what drew me forward, standing at the edge of the pointed cliff. The drop down to the river was too large for a human to survive, a blow that would shatter the bones of any mortal on impact. Caldris guided me toward the narrow, winding steps down to the riverbank that was made of human remains, the bones scattered about like sand.
I didn’t leave that cliff face as I stared down at the river below, unable to tear my eyes off the burning water. Flames burned atop the water, steam hissing through the air to form little clouds. If the fall wouldn’t have killed a mortal, the burning river would have certainly done it. With a swallow, I slipped my hand out of Caldris’s grip, following the instinct that had me pressing closer to the edge. He knew my thoughts, watching me with apprehension as I prepared to do the very thing that he would warn me not to attempt.
But there was no arguing with the need inside me, no more patience now that we’d come this close.
I sprinted the rest of the distance to the edge, diving off it face-first. My arms stretched above my head, angling my body so that I could slip through the surface of the water as smoothly as possible. I had to hope that the water beneath the lava wasn’t boiling, that it would only hurt for a moment before offering me a blissful reprieve from the pain I knew I would feel on impact.
I fell, time seeming to suspend in those moments when I closed my eyes and waited to feel the pressure of the water against me. I waited to break through the surface, feeling like I just kept falling.
And then I broke through, immense pain tearing through my body. First it was the horrible ache of the impact, the shattering of my bones that immediately worked to reknit themselves back together. My skull felt like it shattered into a million pieces, jagged edges putting pressure everywhere at once. That faded as I healed, the distinct scent of sizzling flesh reaching me through the water. My body burned, the lava and boiling water temperature consuming me in the flames. It felt as if my skin blistered, as if I would never reach the bottom and be freed from the eternal torment of brutal, endless heat.
I sank deeper into the water, my body unable to move through the pain, even though the panic that had started to consume me demanded I turn around. It warned of an impending death even I could not survive, a body melted into the Phlegathon never to be seen again. I’d reached the point of no return, the knowledge that I would never make it out of the water before it was too late.
So I swam deeper, heading for the volcanic rock at the bottom of the river. There was nothing to greet me there, no trial or Primordials waiting to cast judgment over me. With trembling fingers, I reached out to touch the rock at the bottom. My hand was red, the skin melted from my flesh to reveal the bleeding muscle beneath.
My finger stroked the rock finally, feeling as if this was my last breath. I didn’t allow myself to feel the panic or the fear, sinking deeper into the pain and just wishing it would end. I knew Caldris would feel it, that he would know exactly what my last moments were filled with, so I worked to pull the window closed on our bond, sheltering him from the moments that had to be the end.
My palm sank into the rock, fingers splaying across the surface as a current snatched me up, sweeping me away from it all.
I tumbled into icy waters, the temperature difference cooling my burns. My entire being throbbed as it healed, the cold putting my system into something of a shock. I trembled, my entire body shaking as I spun in a circle in that current, tossing head over feet and lost to it completely.
When I fell to the ground finally, the river spitting me out onto red sands beneath me, I felt like I could barely move. I wanted to cease to exist, the agony in my form making me lie limply for a minute as I fought to look around the place I had landed.
I knew I was not safe. I knew that this trial would not wait for me to recover, but I couldn’t bring myself to move.
A rush of wind hit the side of my face, capturing my attention as a great bird eclipsed the sun. I rolled to the side just in time to evade the mouth that opened wide enough to tear my head from my body, forcing myself to my feet. My hand perched on the ground supportively as I squatted, my gaze traveling up the winged creature from the cliffs beside the river. A giant winged serpent with four legs, I recognized it from the books I’d explored as a child. It was one of the myths Nothrek had no qualms sharing about Alfheimr, a monster straight from anyone’s nightmares.
Each of the hydra’s three heads watched me as it opened its mouth and roared its fury, making me move slowly as I stood to full height. I fought to keep my movements cautious, not to alarm the beast with any sudden threats as I reached behind my head to grab my swords. The creature lunged anyway, forcing me to pull them free with more speed. I swung them in an arc, narrowly missing the beast as I dove sideways. The gaping hole of its mouth stunk of rotting meat as it grazed by my head, the second mouth heading for me the moment I dodged. I struck with brutal efficiency, curving both blades inward in a calculated strike.
Each highly sharpened blade cut through the creature’s neck, slicing a narrow piece from the center of its throat as they ran parallel to one another and emerged out opposite ends as my arms crossed. Ducking out of the way the moment the head rolled to the ground, I recentered myself and turned back to face the beast once more as I readied my stance and brought my swords back to their natural position at my sides.
The hydra floundered for a moment, a deep, rumbling roar coming from one of the mouths that still waited for me. Blood bubbled from the gaping wound where the third head had been, dripping like acid down its scales as something moved within the neck. My horror knew no end as the scales regrew, extending the neck from the place where I had cut it. But instead of simply regrowing the head I’d already disposed of, the neck grew longer, diverging into two paths where there should have been one. It was a slow, meticulous growth that I could do nothing but watch as each scale appeared, the top of the neck curving as the bones and flesh sprouted to form two new heads.
“Fuck,” I muttered, dodging when one of the new heads lunged for me. The ferocity in the movement was all revenge, all hatred and anger. Before the creature had simply wanted to eat me, but now as it chased me around the arena, I knew the matter had become deeply fucking personal. A tail whipped into the side of my ribs, knocking me sideways as the bones shattered. One of my swords flung from my hand, skittering across the mix of sand and rocks to land at the hydra’s feet. The monster stepped on it with a massive taloned paw, scowling down at me with too-intelligent eyes.
I adjusted my grip on the only sword that I still held in my hands, considering my options as I worked to evade the next strike. I was too slow, leaving me with only one choice.
I ducked beneath the creature’s mouth, grasping the hilt of my remaining sword in both hands as I slid beneath the hydra’s belly. I stabbed at the scales there, desperately trying to penetrate what I had hoped would be soft underbelly. The sword bounced off, the vibrations of the impact rattling my wrists and arms and making them ache. The hydra moved its massive body, huge feet coming for me as I scrambled to get out from beneath it.
It knocked into me with the side of one of its necks, curving and colliding with itself as I tried to race out of its grasp. There was no freedom, no vulnerability to be found as I turned to face the thing. I released my sword that would prove useless to me, letting it fall to the ground as I focused in on the power at my disposal. Without my magic in this trial, I’d have been dead on sight. I wouldn’t have stood a chance, and the injustice of that knowledge fueled the fire of rage in my belly.
For all the Fates claimed they had plans for me, those plans seemed to involve my death more often than not.
I screamed at the beast, matching the roar it emitted as it moved. It was too fast for its size, seemingly an impossible feat as it raced to cross the distance between us. The threads slipping off of it felt too hot to touch, burning my palms and as hard as rock as I grasped them in my hands, the sizzle of my flesh distracting me from my purpose.
When the first head came too close, I wrapped the threads of its own life around it, holding it still and squeezing with all my might to hold it against all the odds. The threads tore at my palms, drawing an anguished scream from me as it sank into my burning flesh, cutting through muscle and bone alike. I did the same with the next head that came for me, wrapping it up in the threads and holding it still. Pinned between the two heads, I waited for the others to maneuver toward me, holding my position until the last possible moment. Only when I held the red-eyed stare and watched flames gather in the depths of the third’s throat did I finally release them, moving with all the speed in my legs to duck beneath them and run .
Fire followed in my wake, a trail of flames that caught each of the two heads I’d held prisoner, engulfing them as they screamed in pain. The hydra writhed in pain as its own fire sank into its open mouths, traveling down its throats, distracted by the death I hoped would be permanent. I watched from the corner of my eye, waiting for the two heads that burned to regrow.
The hydra was weakened by the loss, stumbling sideways as it fought to regain its balance. As it looked for how to continue forward with the stumps that did not seem to heal. The flames eventually died out, instead burning like embers that spread down to the hydra’s chest. I suspected I could wait for it to continue spreading, but there was no telling how much damage the hydra could do while I waited for that. Using the distraction to my advantage, I searched for my blades. The sword I found gleamed in the red sand, the metal red and overheated from the fire it had been caught in. I swallowed as I glanced down at my already burning palms, at the mess that had once been my hands.
Pushing through that pain, I raced toward the hydra, grabbing the sword up off the ground as I went. The pain was immediate, an agony I could not tolerate spreading up my arm. The flames engulfed me, giving me mere moments to react. With a single sweep of my sword in a wide arch, I severed the two remaining heads from the creature. Touching the blade to the top of the wound, I forced it down into the sizzling flesh with both hands, cauterizing the wound and hoping that it would be enough.
I did the same with the second, dropping the sword and stumbling to fall onto my back on the sand. The flames left me, my viniculum glowing with gold as it fought to fix the damage to my body. Skin slowly reknitted, covering the flesh that made us all. My body felt weak and drained, but I used the last of my energy to raise my head and stare at the hydra, watching for any signs of life. It remained still on the ground, the embers spreading through its body until it turned to dust and bone, a breeze catching it and spreading ashes on the wind.
I sighed, dropping back down to the ground beneath me. Relief was immediate.
As was the exhaustion that tore me into the depths of sleep, the vague foggy vision of a man stepping up beside me. His golden eyes gleamed as he smiled down at me, telling me to rest now as he gathered some of the ashes from the hydra into a vial.
Using the last of my energy, I let my eyes drift closed as I raised a hand, the sight a gruesome mix of flesh and bone, of skin and muscle.
I gave Khaos the finger as I fell into darkness.