Seren
I feel different now.
Not healed. Not whole. Just...expanded. Like I’ve accessed a well of power that has no end.
I can no longer tell where Nyx begins and where I end.
The visions from the viscous pool replay endlessly, but they no longer paralyze me.
Where there was once only darkness, red veins now branch into new paths every time I close my eyes.
A sense of knowing forms deep within. Solutions to problems that once felt like trudging through mud, now feel easy, like gliding over ice. Where fear once held its grip, a raw, electric energy fills the void, straining to be unleashed. My shadows sense it, too. They’re more aware now. Obedient.
They are no longer wisps of smoke; they have the weight of spilled ink. When I touch them, they feel dense and cold, like plunging my hand into frozen, light-absorbing mud.
Kael is no longer the enemy. The hatchet is buried, though the ground is still too cold to trust. The coin in his pocket thrummed with a familiar energy, I knew the moment I felt it what I had to do.
* * *
We step through the seam in the wall. A musty, ancient smell as thick as fog consumes me, as if the chamber hasn’t tasted fresh air in decades.
Darkness drapes over everything like a heavy quilt, embracing me like an old friend.
Our footsteps echo in the void, our breathing the only sound in the hollow.
Kael illuminates his hands, the light flaring brighter than I expected. A cavernous space opens before us, mirroring the shrine in the Hollow like two sides of the same coin. This place feels older. Deeper. As if the city above grew over it by accident.
A pool of black water sits in the centre, rocks lining the edge to encircle whatever ancient secrets lie at its heart. Above, the ceiling is a jaw of glittering, black teeth, poised to snap shut.
A rush of air blows toward us, sending us both scurrying back toward the seam in the wall. Then, it’s gone. Shadow’s take me.
“What was that?” Kael breathes.
“I—I don’t know.”
Follow my child. She waits for you. Her voice slithers through my mind, sending shivers snaking down my spine.
The pads of my feet kiss the stone. My heartbeat vibrates through my soles as I approach the rocks. Another huff of air hits me, trailing my hair behind my shoulders.
“Seren—”
“It’s okay.” I say, the words meant more for myself than him.
Step by slow step, I make my way to the largest stone. A soft, high-pitched whine sounds from behind it—the cry of a dog in pain. My hands find the rough surface. I lean closer, peering into the gloom behind the rock.
The eyes greet me first.
My thoughts are wiped clean. All distractions vanish. A magnetic force pulls from deep within, pinning my gaze to those eyes. They radiate light—two pinpricks of pure, living violet, encased in black fur. Thick, coarse, and wolf-dark.
A gentle touch caresses the edge of my thoughts. It isn’t a sound, but a distinct consciousness.
I’m transported to another world—a lifetime where these eyes were my home. I see days of long-past happiness: nights spent curled up before a fire, my fingers intertwined in coarse black fur. A steady heartbeat mirroring my own. My companion and I.
Not my memories—but mine now.
Tears spill down my cheeks as I’m pulled back to the cavern, back to her. “My dear, old friend,” I whisper. “How could I ever forget you?”
I reach out, my palm meeting her fur without a flicker of hesitation.
The deep pit in my chest opens wider as a rush of shared emotion overwhelms. I lunge forward, cradling her neck as her whimpers grow louder.
The vibrations flow through me until I am nothing but a conduit between her sorrow and the cold, stagnant air.
“Eira.” I sob. “Wh—what are you doing here? How…how can you be here?”
She locks her violet gaze into mine until a thread grows taut between us.
Images flood my mind: the Triarch, a cloak of chains, a shimmering silver light descending upon her like a predator.
Where the light touches, it burns. I feel the searing heat of the brand as if it were my own skin.
I feel the whip of pure energy—the shock of her being dragged down into this hole to rot for a century.
My poor, poor girl.
She whines as I cup her face in both hands, wiping the tears that rain down her fur.
“Seren?” Kael shouts from the shadows. “Seren—what’s going on?”
I look at my friend. Decades of hurt and loneliness bury themselves in my soul, fusing with my own. Her pain is mine. And I will have vengeance for what they have done to her.
Galaxial eyes stare into mine, their swirling nebula of light bewitching me, sending a silent question down the connection between us: Who is he?
“Play nice,” I mutter under my breath, ruffling the top of her head.
Eira stands, taking her rightful place at my side as if she never left. A pang of guilt shoots through me, fresh tears flowing freely. How could I have forgotten her? An old life is intertwining with my own until I can no longer tell which memories are mine.
“It’s okay—I’m here.” I step out from behind the rock to face Kael.
His eyes, wide and unfocused, stare through me and land on Eira. The light drains from his pupils, the silver dimming to ash-grey. His breath catches. The skin around his eyes tightens, his expression hardening into a mask of disbelief.
“What…is that?” he asks, his finger trembling as he points to her.
“This—” my hand finds the top of her head, the muscle memory familiar and warm, “—this is my friend, Eira.”
“Friend? Seren, what do you mean friend?”
“Eira has always been part of me, even when I didn’t know it.” I peer down, her gaze finding mine as I give voice to her struggle. “After the war—after my demise—they imprisoned her here. They left her with nothing but the ghosts in her mind.”
“But…” He edges closer, his hand held high so his light can fully take her in. “You’re Seren. You aren’t Nyx. And even if she is inside you, there is no mention of a wolfe in the scriptures. This…this makes no sense.”
“Kael,” I step closer, Eira mirroring my movement.
“This is just one of the many lies your gods have fed your people. Eira has always been with me. She’s a part of me that was forgotten until the shrine awakened it.
” My fingers tangle in her fur as I give voice to my thoughts.
“Something has changed, The memories are blurring into one.”
“Seren. You’re Seren.” He steps forward, his arm falling as his light dims with his spirits. “This is not your life you’re recalling. You must see that?” His voice is gentle, pleading.
“I know. It’s hard to explain. But I feel as if I have two lives. The one I have now, and the one that came before.”
“The Seren I observed had only one friend,” he says, his voice breaking. “And that was her brother.”
I flinch as the words sting. “I know, I haven’t forgotten him. It’s just—” I tear my gaze away, looking out to the pool and the shadows circling above. “—this is bigger than him now. Forget it. You don’t understand.”
“I may not. But how are we going to escape with this…thing following us? It will draw attention.”
My nostrils flare. Heat builds inside me as I stalk closer, stopping only when his warmth touches my skin. “She is not a thing. And we will be fine—she is made of darkness. The shadows are where she will hide.”
Kael clears his throat and raises his arms, but offers no response.
I roll my eyes, my attention returning to the shadows suspended in mid-air.
Tendrils of black dangle above the glassy surface of the pool.
The water lies like a curtain of spilled ink—motionless, a featureless expanse where no light can penetrate.
A single tendril licks the surface, sending ripples streaming toward us.
“The shadows want me to go in,” I whisper.
Kael’s head whips toward me, his hair falling out of place and his glasses sliding down his nose. “You think that’s wise? After what happened in the last pool?”
I lift my shoulder in a fluid, easy motion.
“I don’t think we have much of a choice.
” Whatever waits down there isn’t trying to hurt me.
It’s calling me home. I can feel it. Eira whines beside me, her cold, damp nose poking my hand.
My fingers caress the coarse fibres of her fur—a habit I hadn’t realised I missed until now.
“Fine.” Kael says, his voice light. “If something happens, I’m coming in to get you.”
“Fine.” I mimic.
Stone crunches underfoot as Eira escorts me to the pool’s edge. I pause, watching the shadows suspended in midair. I strain my neck, glancing toward the spot the tendril is pointing to; a soft, violet light begins pulsing. “It’s…glowing.”
“Just—be careful. We have no idea what’s hiding down there.”
I ruffle Eira’s fur. That invisible thread of energy connects us again, and along it, her thoughts begin to travel into mine: I can’t lose you again. Please, be careful.
“It’s okay girl. I’ll be okay.” I bend to kiss the top of her head, my forehead touching hers in a silent embrace.
My toe edges the lip of the pool. I break the glassy surface, but this time, the substance is liquid—not the viscous gel of the first shrine.
I submerge slowly, my breath catching as the cold seeps in.
Water engulfs me, stealing warmth from my body in a single, merciless moment. Every muscle clenches in protest.
The cold burns. A sharp pain that feels less like water and more like a thousand tiny needles piercing my skin.
I wade toward the source of the glow. The water climbs my chest, then my back.
My teeth chatter, sending vibrations through my skull.
I force myself to breathe, but the air comes in short, shallow bursts.
All I can hear is the frantic drum of my heart—a wild, thumping rhythm that I’m certain Kael and Eira can hear, too.
Then the floor beneath me gives way.
My legs kick out into nothingness. My arms churn, but they only slap the surface, pushing me down rather than forward. I’m fighting, but I’m losing. The source of the glow is so near, yet it feels leagues away.
The sound of my gasping, wet breaths is loud—then it’s gone, replaced by the roar of the deep.
The cold consumes me, a heavy pressure wrapping around my bones. It steals my heat, and with it, my ability to think. It’s a numbing pressure that makes my hands and feet feel distant, unresponsive.
I can’t hold it any longer. The air bursts from my lungs in a stream of silver bubbles—a silent, final gasp rising away from me. Water floods in, a harsh, stinging sensation that replaces the burning in my chest with an overwhelming fullness.
I watch the violet light grow more distant; a beautiful, impossible promise. It’s peaceful down here, with only the silence for company. My vision blurs at the edges, until blackness consumes me.
The bubbles are gone.
And so is the struggle.