Chapter Twenty-One #2
The bridge cracked beneath my feet. The chains that had bound Ronan vanished, just like that. And as I tumbled backwards, barely catching myself, I saw Ronan standing.
His golden eyes burned with something I should have recognised sooner.
Triumph.
A knot formed in my stomach. I had been played. And Cressida, in all her terrible beauty, simply smiled.
“You failed,” she said.
The bridge continued to crack like breaking glass, and then it shattered completely, and I was falling, the rush of air tearing at me.
The descent stretched on, a blur of darkness and terror, until the impact came – a brutal collision that jarred my entire body.
My face smashed into something hard, but to my surprise, it didn’t feel like I’d fallen for minutes, only like a nasty tumble from a tree.
My head spun as I pushed myself up, disoriented and aching.
Cressida lifted her hand and traced invisible shapes in the air.
Then, a relic materialised as if plucked from the fabric of Corruption.
It was a sleek, wickedly sharp dagger, its hilt encrusted with emeralds.
Without hesitation, Cressida flicked her wrist, sending it sailing through the space between us.
Ronan caught it with ease. Not a flinch, not a flicker of surprise. He turned the relic over in his palm, appraising it the way one might inspect a fine piece of jewellery rather than a tool of destruction.
“Looks like I made the better choice.” He laughed, shaking his head as if genuinely amused.
“Which was what?”
“To put myself first.” He cackled. “For what it’s worth, I had fun watching you wrestle with that decision. Are you always this gullible?”
Heat crawled under my skin, but I kept my temper in check. Men like Ronan thrived on moments like these, and letting him know he'd touched a nerve would only please him more.
“You said you knew how to win The Cycle,” I gasped.
“Don’t believe everything you hear in Hell,” he scoffed. “Otherwise, you really don’t have a chance at coming out of this thing alive.”
He sheathed his relic in his belt and flashed me a mocking smile before he turned away and jogged out of the hall.
Cressida let out a soft hum, watching his retreat with what could only be satisfaction. “So much like my sister. Torment suits him . . . but you’re different,” she purred, stepping forward. “You are much more like me.”
She ran her claw-like fingers through the air once more, and with them, she brought forward illusions of smoke.
I saw a breathtaking palace, gilded in silver and gold, with towering pillars sculpted from diamonds.
Inside, chandeliers hung from encrusted ceilings, dripping with thousands of delicate gems. Treasure spilt across the floor from chests overflowing with gold, silken cushions stacked upon one another, and goblets encrusted with rubies resting on polished mahogany tables.
Souls meandered around, laughing and touching one another.
It reminded me of Temptation, only more.
Cressida stepped into the raucous, and held out a hand for me to join her.
“You could stay here,” Cressida said, her voice smooth, inviting, curling around me like silk. “Forget the struggle, The Cycle, the other domains, the games. Forget the pain. Here, you could have everything you ever wanted.”
I tore my gaze from the splendour surrounding me, forcing myself to meet her eyes. She smiled, probably sensing that flicker of temptation I was trying to push down.
“Everything you could ever want, all within reach. Yours for the taking. You belong here. You felt it the moment you stepped into my domain, didn’t you? That caress deep in your soul, telling you to take what you want?”
Her words sank into my bones, brushing against something I didn’t want to acknowledge. Because she was right. I had felt it. There had been a pull from the moment I stepped into the domain.
“You are not a hero,” she continued, her voice velvet. “You are not selfless. You take what you need, and you do not look back. That’s why you’re in Hell.”
I swallowed, forcing my hands to remain at my sides. The truth was staring me in the face. I was selfish, a thief. I had taken what I wanted and ignored the consequences.
A few stolen treasures. Food to survive. That couldn’t possibly be what landed me in Hell. Surely there was something else that had sentenced me to this fate.
“Be bound to me. To my domain. To Corruption,” Cressida purred. A simple bargain, but one that would cost me everything I was.
I already knew my answer.
“No.”
A gold cage, no matter how dazzling, was still a cage, and it would erode everything over time. The demon’s face darkened, the warmth in her expression vanishing as if it had never been there.
“No?” she echoed.
The walls trembled. The chandelier overhead flickered, its golden radiance changing to an icy white sharpness.
Her voice dropped, low and full of certainty. “Corruption festers. It lingers, whether you acknowledge it or not.”
I held her gaze, jaw tightening, my pulse steady even as the walls of her domain seemed to breathe around me. “Don’t bet on it.”
Cressida’s lips pulled back in a snarl. She flicked her fingers, and the hall was swallowed by shadows.
They tore through the space, surging beneath my feet, curling up my legs, yanking me down into their depths.
The gilded grandeur of Corruption disappeared.
A cold rush spun around me, like a tornado picking me up and taking me elsewhere.
I gasped, breath catching as I landed on the soft, damp earth. I blinked as the shadows dispersed, and my vision adjusted as the domain around me settled into focus.
The gardens of Corruption stretched before me again, hedge-lined paths twisting into the distance, gleaming statues untouched by the chaos I had just left behind. But the demon was gone. The dome loomed behind me. Cressida’s palace. I would be happy never to see it again.
The test was over.
And I had lost.
My chest tightened as the realisation hit me. Did that mean it was over? Was Tobias lost forever? The thought clawed at me, but a voice interrupted before I could worry about it.
“You’re another Champion, right?”
I turned, my pulse still pounding. A young man with messy dark hair, caramel skin and a crooked grin stood a few steps away. His expression was open, almost friendly.
“I’m Felix,” he said.
“Nina,” I managed, still catching my breath.
Felix studied me, sharp-eyed but not unkind. He looked about my age, perhaps a little older. There was a kindness to him, and a casual confidence that felt out of place here. “You made it through Corruption?”
“Seems that way,” I muttered, though my voice faltered under the weight of my failure. “How was it for you?”
“Thought I was dead for a minute there, but I won the relic in the end,” Felix said, tapping his pocket with a triumphant gleam in his eye. “What a ride, huh?”
“I guess,” I replied, though my attention fell to the gardens. They were changing. The flowers lining the path started to wilt, their colours fading to an ash grey. And just beneath the flowers, green vines slithered inward, twisting through the undergrowth.
Felix followed my gaze but didn’t seem concerned. “What did you come up against, then? To get your relic?”
“Save a soul, or choose the relic,” I said. “Not a great choice.”
“Yeah, I had something similar. Save a Fury or choose myself. But it’s all a game, right? Even good choices mean nothing down here.”
“You saw a Fury?”
“Trust me, it’s as scary as it sounds. I’m going to be haunted for the rest of my days. Which is eternity now, so that’s great.”
We laughed, and something about him tugged at a distant part of me.
He was familiar, but not in the way of an old friend.
His easy way of speaking, the way he held himself, the quiet steadiness beneath his words.
He reminded me of Tobias. Not exactly, but enough to bring me back to my reality.
I had to earn every relic to get back to my brother.
Felix stretched his arms overhead before glancing sideways at me. “So, which domain brought you in?”
“Temptation.”
His brows rose. “Oh? What’s it like there?”
“Much like everywhere else in Hell,” I said. “Creepy.”
He chuckled. “That place gave me the creeps. Just you wait till you meet Yvette. She’s the Demon of Misery for a reason.”
I snorted. “Can’t wait.”
“How about Temptation? Your demon’s got to be better than Yvette?”
“I’m still waiting for him to show up.”
Felix frowned, hands slipping into his pockets. “Really? You haven’t met him yet?”
“Nope. Apparently, I’m the odd one out because everyone’s met the demon that dragged them here. Guess I’ll have to wait for the trial.”
He let out a low whistle. “Maybe you’re lucky. Yvette doesn’t stop drowning me in her grief. And she just doesn’t let up. I’m exhausted, and it’s just my first week in Hell. I can’t spend eternity with her, that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, you don’t seem miserable,” I pointed out. “Yet.”
Felix let out a short laugh. “Don’t let my smile fool you.” His gaze darkened, just for a moment.
“At least there’s something at the end of The Cycle worth fighting for.”
“Not for me. There’s nothing I want or need. I’m already where I’m meant to be.”
I glanced at him again, this time with sharper curiosity. “So, why are you even here?” I asked, hesitant but unable to ignore the thought. “You don’t seem like . . .”
“Like I belong in Hell?” he finished with a wry smile. “Yeah. You either.”
A strange unease crept up my spine. The idea had crossed my mind before, but hearing it aloud made it real. “Maybe we don’t,” I murmured.
Felix stared past me, and that easy confidence drained from his face. “I used to think that,” he admitted. “Back when I first got here. But everyone from my village ends up dead sooner or later. It was only a matter of time until I disappeared as well. And look, I was right. Here I am.”
My breath caught, and I turned towards him. “Wait, hold up. What do you mean, everyone disappeared?”
Felix blinked at my sudden shift in tone. “It was just how things went back in my village. People died. Like all the time.”
“That happened in my village, too.” My voice was barely above a whisper.
“No shit?”
A sinking feeling lodged itself in my gut.
What in the flaming gods is going on?
Before I could ask him the dozen questions that surfaced in my mind, the ground around us groaned.
I paused in my tracks and looked back to see that the garden’s splendour had almost vanished.
The flowers had wilted. All of its lush wilderness had decayed.
The path had turned into a swamp, the vibrant green now murky and choked with reeds and clouded green water.
A rotten, foul stench drifted in the air.
And it got worse.
Because trawling towards us were fat thorned roots. I hadn’t won my relic, so did that mean I was still competing in the trial? Was I still playing Cressida’s game? Could I die here?
“And there it is.” Felix scoffed. “Corruption at its finest.”
With a final groan, the swamp gurgled and swallowed the last remnants of the garden. All that remained was the narrow path that lay before us that led out of the domain. That’s if we could reach that shimmering veil before the ground swallowed us up.
“Ow!” Felix yelled as he stumbled. His footing caught on the shifting roots snaking underfoot, and he toppled over, arms flailing.
I lunged forward instinctively, grabbing him by the arm and hauling him upright. He gave me a sheepish grin.
“We’ve overstayed our welcome,” I said.
But I couldn’t just walk away. I’d failed to secure the relic.
Tobias’s face flashed in my mind, the thought of him alone and vulnerable, hitting me like a hammer.
Panic gave way to something darker and more determined.
I’d come this far and couldn’t let it end here.
And here was Felix, who didn’t care whether he’d get to the end of The Cycle or not.
Maybe he didn’t have anything to go back to. Not like I did.
So, I did what I did best. My fingers moved lightly, soundlessly, as they slipped into Felix’s pocket. In one swift motion, I felt his cold, clunky relic. I slid it free, and he was none the wiser.
Agony suddenly ripped through me, fire igniting under my skin.
I fell to my knees, the relic clattering, almost lost to the swamp, as my hands clawed at my chest. Screams burst free from my throat as pain shot through my veins.
“What the—” Felix shouted. I saw him in my peripheral vision. I could see him picking up his relic, but I couldn’t say anything. I heard his following words through the haze of fiery pain. “You were trying to steal my relic?”
I caught his muttered curses, weak and trembling. "I hope you eat lousy tonight and . . . fire ants nest in your bed and—" He rushed off, leaving me to suffer alone.
I couldn’t blame him.
I just tried to take his relic from him. What was wrong with me? Maybe I did belong in Hell after all.
My veins were pulsing and moving, like beetles running under my skin. My hands were shaking, agony burning away at my bones. Even with the pain twisting through my body, I heard Cressida’s cruel laugh when she materialised from a puddle of gold.
“Oh, I do love a thing so willing to unravel,” she said, her voice dripping with mockery.
“I knew it the moment I saw you. You’d let yourself break apart if it meant getting what you wanted, including jumping straight into ruin.
You want to be corrupted more than any other Champion. You just haven’t accepted it yet.”
I attempted a scowl at her, even though my body trembled under the bite of pain.
Darkness crept into the corners of my vision, and I was on the verge of blacking out.
But I couldn’t give in. Not here, not in Corruption.
What if I lost my way, and Cressida decided to keep me as her plaything?
She could, couldn’t she? Bend the rules. Twist the game.
I had to leave for Temptation. I pushed myself to my feet, and scurried through the gardens.
“Don’t let that curse linger too long, sweet thing,” Cressida called. “I don’t think you’ll survive it.”
Rage blasted through me as I staggered out of Corruption. I just didn’t know if it was Cressida I was angry with or myself.