Chapter 47
Cal
The smell that greeted me as I crested the edge of the crater atop the Iron Rise was nothing short of revolting. The red glow of lava came next, the heat slowly building until I felt like I couldn’t take a deep breath for fear I’d be roasted from the inside.
My mouth twisted as I eyed the thin ledge running along the crater wall, beginning sixty feet or so above the bubbling lake of lava and slowly descending toward its surface.
A heavy breath left me as I muttered to myself, “This is not looking good.” I looked up to where Obitus peeked over the edge of the crater.
“You’re sure this is where I have to go? ”
Obitus. Sure , his thoughts echoed into my mind.
I was going to pass through to Hell. Somehow.
I’d state my case and ask the Blood Saints to help me get to the Darkness Beyond.
Petra had made her way there from Heaven with me in tow.
There had to be some way for me to get through on my own.
Maybe the imbued blade carried enough of her power it would allow me to cross realms. Or, if the Occulti had broken through to Hell already — and I was sure they had — maybe I could use their pathway.
Obitus chirped above me, his massive snout hanging over the crater’s edge as he peered down. His scales gleamed gold and red in the light of the lava’s glow, blue eyes molten as he watched me.
“Sure you don’t want to come?” I called, my voice echoing around me.
No. Eyrie. Stay. Here.
He didn’t want to go back to the eyrie. I was on my own.
“Here goes,” I muttered to myself, carefully stepping onto the ledge.
It was just barely wide enough for one foot, and pebbles crumbled and skittered down the crater wall, swallowed by the lava below.
Nope. Couldn’t look down anymore. I tried to keep my eyes forward as I took another awkward step, but the strip of rock was so thin I had no choice but to watch where my foot landed.
The heat pressed harder against me the farther I walked, the putrid smell clinging to the insides of my nostrils like a film. A constant stream of sweat trickled down my spine as each step brought me closer and closer to the lava’s surface.
This was fucking stupid. So fucking stupid. But it was the only thing I could think of, the only solution that had any chance at keeping Malosym out of the Human Realm and away from Petra.
My stomach lurched as a larger chunk of rock slipped from beneath my boot, my hands clambering for something to hold on the rough surface of the crater wall. Fuck.
Obitus trilled overhead. Cal. Careful.
“I’m trying,” I gritted out.
Cal. Stupid.
“Thank you.” Righting myself, I tried to will my heart rate to lower from its erratic pace, but it only beat faster as I continued my descent.
I pretended the ledge wasn’t growing thinner and thinner, that more of my foot wasn’t hanging off the farther I moved.
But before long, I had no choice but to turn inward, my chest flat against the wall.
I balanced precariously on the balls of my feet, my sweaty palms uselessly holding to the wall as if there were anything I could grab on to to save me from plummeting to an excruciating death.
A burning ache set into my calves as I shuffled along, my heels hovering over the ledge’s lip.
Obitus’ anxious footsteps sounded from above me, his huffing breath growing faster as he watched each step I took.
Until finally, there was nowhere left to step. The ledge ended. Nothing but flat, unscalable rock waited ahead of me. Beyond, a blackened boulder jutted from the crater wall. I had nowhere to go.
“Shit,” I whispered. And as much as I wanted to turn around and shuffle back the way I came, disappointment was heavy on my shoulders.
Jump , Obitus thought.
“I know it wasn’t the brightest idea to come here, but no need to make me feel shitty about it,” I called up to him.
Look. Jump.
The boulder protruding from the sheer surface of the crater’s wall was the only thing of note, the contours of its shadowy surface flickering in the glow of the lava. It was about six feet away, if I had to guess, and maybe two feet below me.
“There’s nothing there!”
Cal. Stupid.
I squinted my eyes again at the boulder, just to appease the driva who clearly thought me a fool.
“There’s nothing there,” I repeated, just as my gaze caught on a shadow I hadn’t seen before.
The shadow was a little odd, now that I really looked at it.
Almost like…an opening? Shit, it was an opening, surrounding a path disappearing into the darkness within.
Not a ledge. A pathway. A gloriously, beautifully wide pathway .
“Maybe Cal is stupid,” I muttered. I shifted as far as I could, trying to keep as much contact with the ledge as possible as I assessed the space between where I was and where I needed to be.
What was going to give me the best shot at making this jump?
A running start was impossible. Hell, even a regular jump was impossible when I couldn’t plant my feet side by side.
The only way was to launch myself from one foot and pray it was enough.
Gritting my teeth, I inched as close as I could to the where the ledge disappeared into the crater wall.
Obitus’ thoughts filtered into my head. Gap. Big. Idea. Bad.
“You’re the one who told me to jump!”
Mind. Change.
I craned my neck back, my eyes trailing the ledge to the entrance of the crater. Up there was solid ground, mercifully solid ground. But ahead was salvation.
Without another thought, I bent my front knee, throwing my entire body forward with as much force as I could manage. There was nothing measured or graceful about the way I careened through the air, my sights set on that shadowy path. Time slowed down, separated into individual heartbeats.
Beat. My foot left the ledge.
Beat. I was suspended over the searing heat of certain death.
Beat. Realization hit me that my launch hadn’t been powerful enough, and…
Thud. I collided with the lip of the pathway, my stomach caving as it made impact with the rock.
The packed dirt had little give as my fingers flexed and dug, trying to keep gravity from pulling me backwards.
My feet kicked, trying to find anything to gain purchase.
“ Fuck !” I ground out, clawing to keep myself from falling, keep myself from failing .
Obitus paced faster, the sound of his talons scratching in the dirt echoing through the crater. Cal. Danger.
My knuckles and fingernails were white, the heat growing noticeably higher the farther I slipped. I was going to die here, swallowed by the unforgiving Iron Rise. I wasn’t even going to die saving Petra. I was going to die because I couldn’t save myself.
Until my toe caught on a tiny divot, just large enough to stop me from slipping.
I jammed my toe further into the tiny spot that had saved my fucking life, using the other to slowly feel over the rock for another foothold.
Painfully slowly, I scrambled up the rock face, finally swinging my knee over the ledge and pulling myself up.
With one final heave, I flopped onto my back, my heart like a war drum beating furiously in my ears.
Obitus’ relief surged through my mind, mixing with mine. Surprised , he thought.
“Wow, thanks,” I shouted back, still laying on the packed dirt of the pathway. “Glad to know your faith in me ran deep.”
Obitus. Realistic.
I didn’t have it in me to think up a retort. As soon as my pulse stopped racing and I was mildly sure my heart wasn’t going to explode, I pushed to my feet. “Alright, Obitus. It’s time.”
Cal. Swords?
“Yes, I have both swords.”
Aegrabane?
“I have Aegrabane.”
Petra. Blade. Name.
I blinked, ducking just enough out of the entrance to the passageway to see Obitus’ blue eyes staring back down at me. “Does it need a name?”
Yes.
“Petra should be the one to name it.”
Cal. Wield.
My hand found the imbued blade at my side, closing over the hastily attached hilt. “Yeah, I’m wielding it now, but it’s hers to name.”
Keeperslight .
Keeperslight. The name settled into me, my grip tightening around the hilt. “Keeperslight?”
Yes.
It felt right. It felt less like it’d been given a name and more like it’d carried it along, we just hadn’t uncovered it yet. “Think Petra will like it?”
Yes.
“Keeperslight.” I nodded. But I didn’t care what the blade was called so long as it took Malosym from this world. “Okay. I’m going in.”
Cal. Alive.
“I’ll try to stay that way.”
Farewell.
The first dozen or so feet of the path were illuminated by the glow of the lava, the contours of the rock that made up all sides of the tunnel cast in red. Beyond that, though, it was black. The last of the lava’s glow faded into stark nothing.
With Keeperslight securely at my hip, I raised Aegrabane and entered the darkness, my free hand my only guide as it skimmed over the cave wall.
Darkness closed in hard and fast, along with a cottony silence.
Even the sound of my own footsteps seemed to be swallowed by this numbing sense of nothingness.
Had my sense of smell grown stronger because my other senses were dampened, or was that foul stench getting worse?
And the heat… Fuck. I trudged forward, my boots growing heavier with each step as my muscles fought to work.
I reached for the line connecting me to Obitus, but found nothing in its place.
I was on my own, well and truly, and an eerie feeling crept into my chest. Even hidden beneath this incessant, impenetrable darkness, I felt wholly exposed.
My movements slowed, an invisible weight pressing down harder and heavier with every step.
It was as if I was nothing but an insect beneath someone’s slowly descending boot.
Keep going. Just a little longer .
Pain. Weight. Heat. Darkness. Such dense, unyielding darkness.
A hand shot to clutch my chest as my ribs suddenly pulled inward.
Holy shit, my ribs were going to snap. Oh shit.
Oh shit . An invisible hand closed around my throat, joining the one around my torso as I fought against its grip to take in enough air.
Dizziness overtook me, my knees colliding with the dirt path and my hands following as I gasped. Aegrabane clattered beside me.
With everything I had, I tried to shuffle backwards, back the way I came where the air had been easier to breathe and this invisible weight hadn’t been so heavy. I’d be no use to Petra if I died here within the Iron Rise. What the fuck were you thinking, Cal?
Three red spots appeared at the side of my vision, pulsing in time with my raging heartbeat.
Oh fuck, that couldn’t be good. Consciousness was slipping away from me, and all I could do was try to catch it between my fingers like sand.
I grunted as I furiously attempted to blink away those red spots, but they wouldn’t budge.
Because, I realized, they weren’t red spots at all — but a dim, pulsing glow, coming from the rubies in Aegrabane’s hilt.
With my chest in the dirt, I pushed forward, all of my muscles seizing as I fought.
“Come on!” I rasped through gritted teeth, my hand slowly inching toward Aegrabane.
Gravity had increased tenfold, pushing down on every inch of my body with all the fury of the Iron Rise.
Was the Iron Rise collapsing? Was that what this crushing weight was?
With a final heave my hand closed around the hilt, turning it just enough to see the rubies. They were glowing alright, but why?
I prayed to every fucking Saint, Benevolent and Blood, that it was because I was close.
The tendons in my neck strained as I dug my fingers into the packed dirt and dragged myself forward, Aegrabane’s hilt still in my grip.
My body screamed in protest, my bones so close to snapping a part of me almost wished they’d just break and get it over with.
A roar escaped my painfully tightened jaw as the pressure increased, my head moments from imploding, I was sure of it.
Inch by miserable inch, I crawled through the dirt.
I could stop right here and die. I could halt my miserable crawl forward and succumb. I could give up, hand my soul over to the Sanguilite. And I probably would have if it weren’t for the one thing ringing through my mind over and over again, even as the inky darkness took hold.
Petra. Petra. Petra.