14. THYROS – darkness taking over #2
Ashley let Xandros pull her close, but even then, she kept one hand on her blaster, eyes sweeping the room. “Took you long enough, big guy,” she muttered, but the way she leaned into his chest betrayed everything.
Naeris and I… stayed where we were.
Awkward. Charged. Breathing hard.
The golden thread between us screamed louder than it ever had—relief, fury, fear, need—all tangled together so tightly I could barely breathe.
I wanted to crush her against me. I wanted to snarl at her for scaring me half to death.
I wanted to tear the universe apart for daring to bleed her. Instead, I just held her tighter.
“You’re hurt,” I stated in a rough voice that I barely recognized.
She glanced at the cut on her shoulder like it was an inconvenience. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” My hand twitched at my side. I wanted to reach for her so badly my fingers ached. Around us the others were lost in their reunions, soft words, trembling embraces, the kind of open relief I didn’t know how to give.
Naeris looked at me then. Her glowing skin cast warm light across the sharp lines of her face, and for a heartbeat, the rest of the chamber disappeared. I was so fucking angry with her.
Angry that she’d made me feel this… this helpless, gnawing terror that she might be taken from me before I’d even truly had her.
Angry that after millions of years in the Abyss, one defiant rebel had become the most important thing in my existence in a matter of days.
But mostly I was just grateful she was still breathing.
I took one more step closer, dropping my voice to a gravelly whisper only she could hear. “You ever scare me like that again, little rebel… and I won’t be responsible for what I do.”
Naeris lifted her chin, her eyes flashed with that fire I was already addicted to. The starmap on her skin pulsed between us like a living heartbeat. For now, that was enough.
Zapharos’ voice broke the heavy silence. “Let’s go. We’re getting out of here. Now.”
“No,” Nadine cried out immediately, stepping forward.
“Absolutely not,” Ella echoed. Her voice was trembling with exhaustion and fear, yet she seemed as determined as all the rest of them. She looked at all of us, glowing, disheveled, but unyielding. “All you golden boys… take your shirts off.”
Xandros let out a sharp, disbelieving laugh. “We need to get out of here. Now. Who knows what else this cursed place is hiding?”
Ella pointed at the massive wall, her glowing hand shook slightly.
“That’s exactly why we can’t leave yet. The map isn’t finished.
Our starmaps activated parts of it, but the biggest gaps—especially the center where the Dark Abyss should be—are still empty.
You three carry the matching pieces. If we press against the wall together, it should unlock everything. ”
Dravok moved without hesitation. He scooped Nadine up and slung her over his shoulder like a sack of grain. “We are leaving.”
“Dravok!” Nadine yelped, kicking her legs uselessly. “Put me down, you big oaf!”
I lifted a hand. “Hold on.”
Dravok paused. Nadine kicked him again. “Au! That hurt my foot, you brute!”
The tension in the chamber thickened. Zapharos’ golden aura flared hot as he took a step toward me, clearly ready to argue—or fight—if I pushed. But then Naeris moved. She crossed the short distance between us and took my arm.
Her fingers wrapped around my bare forearm, warm and surprisingly steady.
The simple touch sent a shockwave through me.
My breath caught. The golden thread flared so bright it drowned out the rest of the chamber for a heartbeat.
All the worry I’d carried through the flooded tunnels, all the rage at the cave-in, all the helpless fury at not being able to reach her fast enough, it all crashed into something softer. Something terrifying.
She was choosing to touch me. Not to stop me this time. Not because she had to. Because she wanted to.
After everything—after pushing me away, after telling me she owed me nothing—she was reaching for me. I would have torn the mountain apart with my bare hands right then if she’d asked.
Naeris looked up at me, her glowing skin illuminating the faint worry lines around her eyes. Her voice was quiet, but it carried through the entire chamber. “We need this, Thyros. I need this.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Even Zapharos stopped advancing. Dravok slowly set Nadine down. She rubbed her foot and shot him a glare, but she stayed close, muttering under her breath.
Xandros exhaled a long, defeated breath, glancing at Ashley like she was his entire reason for existing. “Fine. But the second anything feels wrong, we drag every last one of you out of here, kicking and screaming if we have to.”
Ashley smirked. “I’d like to see you try, big guy.”
I looked down at Naeris’ hand still resting on my arm. That small point of contact grounded me more than anything else in this ancient, haunted place. The danger was still very real, the guardians watched us warily, the air hummed with unstable power, and the wound on her shoulder kept bleeding.
But with her touching me, willingly, I felt something I hadn’t felt in centuries: Hope.
Dangerous. Foolish. Terrifying hope.
I stared at the massive wall, at the dark, empty center that seemed to stare back. My stomach twisted. I didn’t want to do this. Not because I feared the guardians or the collapsing stone. Because of what they would see.
My flaw. The large, ink-black void that covered most of my back, not a wound, not a scar, but something deeper.
A living darkness that had been part of me since the Abyss spat me out.
It looked like a hole punched straight through reality, swirling with faint crimson threads.
I had spent centuries hiding it, even from my brothers.
The Harrowed One had whispered to me through that darkness for as long as I could remember.
And now everyone would see it.
But then I saw the look in Naeris' eyes and reached for the hem of my shirt anyway. My jaw was so tight, I could hear my molars crack. I squeezed her hand once before I pulled the shirt over my head.
“Alright,” I growled, voice rough with everything I couldn’t say. “Let’s finish what Ashera started.”
I shredded the shirt to use part to take care of Naeris' arm. She tolerated it. She wasn't happy, she made that obvious enough with her stiff stance, but she didn't push me away, and I called that a win.
The guardians’ crystalline eyes dimmed to a low, watchful glow.
Not once did I let my guard down, always watching them from the corner of my eye.
So did the others, I noticed. Even though the immediate threat seemed to have passed, the air still hummed with ancient power, restless, waiting, and far from finished with us.
Nadine was vibrating with urgency. “Move against the wall, please. We can’t leave until the map is complete."
Zapharos noticed my hesitation immediately.
His golden aura flickered with impatience, but there was a sharp, knowing glint in his eyes.
One I knew all too well, the same one he always used before pouncing on me.
I readied myself for a fight. He rolled his massive shoulders and flexed, making the golden starmap on his chest and arms gleam.
“What’s the matter, little brother? Scared you can’t compare to us?” He struck an exaggerated pose, biceps bulging. “Come on. Show us what the Abyss spat out.”
I shook my head, a reluctant smirk tugging at my mouth despite everything. I flexed my own arm in return, the muscle standing out hard and defined. “You have nothing I don’t have, golden boy.”
Dravok let out a low whistle, and his shadowed aura curled lazily around him. “Careful, Zapharos. He’s been hiding in the dark. Probably been lifting entire planets down there just to stay warm.”
Zapharos barked a laugh. “Please. My aura alone outshines anything the Abyss could produce.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” I muttered, but the banter felt good, familiar, grounding. For a brief second, it almost felt like we were back in the Hall of the Seven, trading insults, instead of standing in an ancient ghost city.
Naeris gasp pulled me back to where we were and reminded me that my back was exposed. The sound cut through me like a blade. I went completely still. Shit. I knew it was a mistake. I had never wanted her—or anyone—to see this. Not this living darkness that marked me as different. As wrong.
“Thyros…” Her voice was soft, stunned. “What is this?”
Defensive rage surged through me. I snarled and spun toward her, fists clenched. “It’s nothing?—”
By turning, I exposed my back fully to the others.
Zapharos grabbed my shoulder, grip firm. “By the Starfire… is this why you never went bare-chested around us? All these years?”
Dravok stepped closer, his very aura stilled in shock. “That’s… impressive. When did you get this?”
“I was born with it,” I snarled, fully defensive now, ready to fight if either of them pushed. The flaw on my back throbbed under their stares, the crimson threads inside it swirled faster, as if feeding on my shame.
“Hey. Hey.” Naeris stepped between us. Before I could stop her, she hooked her thumbs into her pants and shoved them down just enough to bare her left thigh.
There, perfectly aligned, was the same spot I had on my back. Her version was smaller, but it clearly depicted the Dark Abyss. A dark, elegant swirl of black and faint crimson, glowing softly with starmap threads.
Everyone’s eyes dropped to her thigh. A new emotion pushed through me: jealousy. It roared through me so fast and violently I nearly lunged. I wanted to rip the others' heads off for daring to look at her like that. Mine. She was mine?—
Naeris didn’t seem to notice. She simply pointed at the matching mark on her skin. “This is nothing to be ashamed of. Look.”
Zapharos’ hand loosened on my shoulder. Dravok’s shadows calmed. Even I couldn’t look away from the dark mark on her thigh, unmistakably the same as mine. For the first time in my existence, the flaw on my back didn’t feel like a curse. It felt like destiny.
Zapharos noticed my hesitation. His voice softened, just enough. “It’s not a flaw, brother. It’s just part of the map. Like everything else in this cursed place.”
I let out a low, bitter sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have the Abyss living on your back.”
Dravok shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing. He knew. All of them had always sensed that I carried a deeper darkness in me than they did.
Naeris pulled her pants back up and then her fingers tightened on my arm.
The golden thread between us pulsed warm, steady, almost reassuring.
I looked down at her and felt my chest crack wide open inside.
She didn’t flinch. She didn’t look away as she steadily pulled me towards the wall.
Zapharos and Dravok followed my example, and we pressed our bare backs and chests against the cold stone where the women directed us.
The moment our glowing starmaps touched the wall, the chamber answered.
Golden light exploded outward from our bodies, racing across the blank center like liquid fire.
New constellations blazed into existence.
Galaxies spun. And in the very heart it the Dark Abyss appeared—exactly where my flaw aligned—the darkness on my back flared and merged with the map. The empty space filled.
Ancient text began to write itself across the wall in flowing, luminous script, the same glyphs that had once covered the starmaps on our skin.
Dravok’s voice cracked, "Those are Nythor’s words. The prophecy he rambled in his madness back on that blood-soaked planet."
Then he began reading the text aloud for the ones who couldn't decipher it.
Ella’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widened with recognition. “That’s what Nythor was saying. Over and over…”
The words hung in the air like a judgment. My flaw—the black void on my back—was no longer hidden. It was part of the map now, perfectly aligned with the Dark Abyss. The place the Harrowed One called home.
I felt exposed. Raw. The insecurities I had buried for centuries rose like bile in my throat. Naeris was still standing beside me. She hadn’t pulled away. Her fingers brushed the edge of my shoulder, just above the darkness, and the simple touch nearly undid me.
I swallowed hard and admitted the truth I had never spoken aloud to anyone.
“The Harrowed One talks to me through it,” I admitted quietly, in a rough voice. “Has for as long as I can remember. Whispers. Promises. Threats. I never told anyone.”
The chamber was silent except for the faint pulse of the now completed map. Naeris’ hand stayed on my shoulder. Warm. Steady. Unafraid. And for the first time in my existence, the darkness on my back didn’t feel like a curse. It felt like the missing piece.