Chapter 27 Promises Made #3
He suddenly crushed me to his chest, holding me tight.
“Of course. Of course, I will be coming back for you. Alexandra, you’re mine, not just in this world but in them all. Now do you understand?” he asked, making me nod, my tears no longer held captive but flowing freely down my cheeks.
“I love you, Atlas.” I sobbed into his neck as he held my head cradled there.
“I love you, my little warrior.”
I cried harder, and he gave me the time I needed to calm through the heartache. One that didn’t hurt as much now he had promised to come back for me.
“Ready?” he asked a second time, and I nodded, wiping away my tears before approaching the Rift with him by my side.
I looked back at the endless soldiers standing before me, their armor glinting beneath the fractured sunlight.
The metallic rhythm of their weapons, the soft murmur of whispered prayers, and the heat of their anticipation filled the air.
They were ready. They were going home. Yet none of them knew what they would find there, what world awaited beyond that shimmering veil.
The air buzzed with courage and dread, a mixture that made my chest feel too tight.
The Rift loomed before us, invisible yet palpable, humming like a caged storm. My skin prickled at its pull, the static charge whispering against my flesh as if it recognized me.
“Here goes,” I murmured, mostly to myself.
The sound of the Rift began to rise, a deep thrumming that filled my ears and chest. It was the same song I remembered, that terrible, beautiful hum that called to the scars it had left behind.
I closed my eyes and focused on the rhythm of it.
The vibration danced beneath my skin, awakening something inside me that had lain dormant since the day this all began.
Bands of light flickered across the darkness behind my eyelids, pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
Bright. Dull. Bright. Dull. Each pulse tugged at me, urging me forward, and I could feel the warmth of my markings spreading across my skin, burning with purpose.
I didn’t have to look to know they were glowing again, a halo of pale fire tracing every scar, every mark the Rift had ever claimed as its own.
But then, when the feeling started to turn painful, another presence joined me, and Atlas entwined his hand with mine, both of us absorbing the Rift’s power.
We then waited for the right moment, the point when its energy matched mine, when the hum shifted into harmony. Then, gritting my teeth, I forced myself to focus. My eyes squeezed shut, my mind clinging to the rhythm, matching each flare of light to a single movement.
I would open it.
I would not let it take me.
Finally free, the Rift’s song softened, fading from its furious crescendo into a low hum, then silence.
The forest seemed to exhale with me, the air thick and damp, carrying the scent of wet moss and rain-soaked soil.
I looked up to see the incredible sight of another world past the veil, a shimmer image as if seeing the reflection of land in rippling water.
“It worked! You did it!” Atlas said, his voice full of awe, his eyes wide as if he had been transported into a dream. The thundering celebration roared behind us as news travelled through the ranks. The Rift was finally open.
Warm hands cupped my face, the touch gentle, reverent, grounding me in the here and now.
I smiled faintly, closing my eyes once again, not ready to surrender the peace of that single touch.
His voice reached me, low and smooth, the way he rolled the R in my name was a sound that always felt like a caress.
“Alexandra… you did it, you saved us all.”
I swallowed hard, took his hand that had held my own through it, and told him, “We did it.”
He grinned so big, pulling me close to kiss me, whispering over my lips, a single word…
“Together.”
The marks on his skin glowed faintly, alive with the same power that pulsed through him, making me wonder if his tattoos were now glowing like my scars were?
“It’s time,” he said, and tears stung my eyes again, before I could stop them. I tried to hold them back, to be strong for him, but my lip trembled, betraying me. The sadness spilled over in quiet sobs once more.
His expression softened.
“Remember my promise, for it is also my vow. As long as I have breath in your world or mine, I will find you. I will come to claim you, Alexandra… I swear it!” he said with his forehead to mine as my hands fisted in his tunic, trying to keep him here for as long as possible.
I could barely breathe, my heart twisting painfully at the thought of him leaving. I wanted to beg him to stay, to tell him not to go, but I knew better. I knew his world needed him, he couldn’t turn his back on the people waiting beyond the Rift.
“And I promise to wait for you… always.” My voice broke on that last word, and he pulled me in for one last hug before having no choice but to let me go.
After that, I was forced to watch as he was the first one to step inside the Rift, after signaling for his men to follow. However, just before his world could claim him, he looked back one last time and mouthed the single word in return…
“Always.”