Chapter 32 Crossing the Rift
Crossing the Rift
ANNA
Blake and I stayed on the training grounds until the only light in the sky was the stars shining down on us. He healed my injury and I made him train me.
Harder than I’d ever trained before.
I didn’t have time to be weak like this.
I could feel it—this power, a mage’s power—within me as certainly as I could feel my own heartbeat.
You know it’s there but there’s no proof until you can gain control of it.
It burned through my veins like molten metal, ready to mold into whatever I wanted it to be, and right now, I wanted strength.
My strikes were more brutal and my plated arm guards were reinforced with everi.
I could easily block his blade with them.
It was nauseating to be weaker than Melanie.
I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand that she thought nothing could be changed.
I couldn’t stand so much being withheld from me still.
I couldn’t stand that I still didn’t know who my mom was and why someone took her from me.
Why?
My everi twisted and rushed through my arm, taking form in a white ethereal mist as it clung to my sword.
It clashed against Blake’s, thrusting back in shock, his everi flaring to life in the form of crackling electricity.
It wrapped around his hand to the tip of his finger like thorny vines in a ghostly blue hue.
My body was tightening and coiling in ways I’d never experienced before. It was like my everi was trying to escape and I was its prison. I screamed as it took hold of me, my body succumbing to the intense presence of energy within.
“Anna!”
Soon, Blake’s presence was at my side but I couldn’t see anything.
His touch, his presence, his everi; it was like cool water pouring over my burning flesh as it enveloped me.
Then there was a stillness within me that took me under.
I awakened in the torch-lit chamber where the ominous black mass of swirling energy thrummed with radiating waves of intensity. The Portal Room. I was in Blake’s arms, my body heavy, and my mind struggling to process what happened.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, staring into the mass-bending doorway before me. It looked like a molten galaxy of stars and empty space.
Blake’s eyes were lowered as if he’d been asleep where he sat, his back against the wall.
“Anna,” he said, his eyes lifting as he focused on me.
“Your everi was behaving erratically. I took a chance and brought you here, and it seemed to stabilize it,” he said.
I heard him but it made no sense whatsoever—and I was too busy watching the way the ripples churned inward like a black hole.
“Are you really a prince?” I asked, the thought randomly passing my lips.
Blake’s breath was on my neck.
“Unfortunately,” he said.
“Are you related to the same Aryus from the play?” I whispered.
His lips hovered at my ear. “One and the same.”
I twisted in his lap, feeling more alert than I was when I awoke.
“Is there really something called Bloodmist?” I asked.
Surprise flickered in his features.
“You’ve been talking to an Aurkai,” he said.
“Yeah, Roslyn and Melanie.”
One eyebrow shot up in a look of harassment as if having to explain himself because of Roslyn or Melanie was a chore.
“Roslyn is a fool and Melanie has ulterior motives. The Realm operates within additional energy layers than what you are used to here on Earth. It is because of that and the mages’ ability to manipulate energy that the Realm is in this predicament.
There are consequences for our ancestors’ endeavors.
The rift did not occur naturally as many would have you believe. It was torn open.”
“Torn?” I asked. “By what?”
Blake shrugged. “It was a long time ago. But it does not matter. What she said is true—the Bloodmist is one of many threats the Realm faces.”
Melanie’s words haunted me. “She said there was something in the Bloodmist—what did she mean?”
Blake’s expression darkened. “It is said that the dead are still trapped there, bound by the curse itself—they are called wraiths. They cannot escape the Bloodmist, though, and I believe the curse, the rift, and the Bloodmist are all related and a solution for one may change everything. Either way, we have to accept we may not find a way to save Valyria. That is why we have come here, for either a way to save it, or so that our people may flee.”
“But Melanie said only a few could make it through,” I said quietly.
Blake frowned. “There are many in the Realm, like here, that would not survive the journey through the rift.”
My chest tightened. A hollow ache opened inside me as I thought about having to leave this world behind. Now, I understood Roslyn’s stress. The weight she carried.
“I have not given up, Anna,” he said. “It is a long shot. But we have time. Things are stable—for now. Though you should know, there are at least ten other ways the Realm could tear itself apart before oblivion is upon us.”
I took a breath. That was good news. There was still time.
Wait.
Ten other ways it could tear itself apart?
I stared at the swirling depths, wondering what it felt like to touch its sleek surface.
“Your everi is still not fully settled,” Blake said. “Are you alright?”
Destructive images flashed through my mind, my vision fading in and out. If the energy on Earth was already causing this, what would be left of me on the other side? I swallowed, my throat hollow.
It didn’t matter. This place was holding the secrets of my past hostage from me. They called to me, begging me to return. I’d never escape my desire to know who I was, to understand my place and to quell this fury within me.
“I want to see it—the Bloodmist Void.”
Blake gaped at me.
“What?” he asked.
“I need to see it. I need to understand. How can I decide if I want to go there without knowing what I’m up against?” I said, my body tingling as I stood. “The incredible power that exists there. The rift itself is potent with layers and layers of energy I’ve never felt before. I need to see it.”
Blake stood, his hand taking mine.
“Anna,” he said hesitantly.
I held my breath, certain he’d deny me what I wanted.
“Are you sure?” he whispered. “You understand that just passing through the rift could kill you, right?”
I licked my lips and slowly breathed as I shook, my eyes still staring into the folding and rippling layers.
“I do,” I whispered.
There was a moment of pause, a deep hesitation and it washed over me like a crushing tidal wave. It was fear. Blake’s fear.
Of losing me.
Then, his everi, warm and familiar, encased my body like plate armor.
“I will take you,” he said, “but only with my everi fully surrounding you.”
I nodded.
“And Anna,” he said.
I looked at him, my heart racing.
“You must do exactly what I say, no matter what, even if I tell you to leave me,” he said.
I swallowed hard and nodded less enthusiastically.
His oft-guarded features watched me without the usual stoicism. Was he worried? A shiver ran down my spine. Fear? Excitement? I wasn’t sure, but I wasn’t concerned. Not as long as he was by my side.
He was even more handsome when his mask slipped and his emotions were etched into his expression.
If I were going to die, at least I’d have him as my last image. I cursed internally. What was I doing? My only focus should be crossing the rift and here I was admiring this man beside me. It was as if a God had spent a lifetime carving him from marble before bringing him to life.
Melanie was right.
I was a fool.
It didn’t matter what lay ahead, because he was here with me.
I needed him.
Deep within my soul, I needed him.
He would keep me safe.
Warmth surrounded me.
I squeezed Blake's hand, the swirling black molten substance consuming me.
While the portal was only a thin veil within the archway, the world we entered became dark.
There was no light but the energy was pulling at every part of my body and the strangest sensation overtook me.
It was as if I’d lost Blake for a moment but there was a blinding light the next.
I couldn’t see anything but I felt his hand in mine again.
The floor was beneath my feet again but a weight hit me that I’d never experienced before.
I nearly collapsed but Blake caught me against his chest, holding me against him.
“You are alright,” he murmured.
I took an unsteady breath. My body was in shock. The air was different, purer, as if pollution didn’t exist here. It felt like I’d breathed in life as I held onto him, my eyes still shut tight.
Everything was different.
My everi was ripping through my veins as if caught in a violent storm. Blake’s energy cloaked me like a shield. The intensity of my surroundings lessened enough that I could open my eyes again.
Blake was watching me, his expression soft with concern. His energy was soothing and there was no way he could ever convince me that he was a threat to me. I’d never felt safer than I did here with him, in a strange place where the air I breathed was foreign.
He eased me forward, encouraging me to stand and I let him guide me as I stood on my own.
The light was coming into focus more and more as I looked around.
We were in an enormous room with a glass dome ceiling.
Gold columns braced textured walls of white stone.
The portal was at the center. The same black swirling substance was contained within, but this portal was far more significant.
It was no longer a thin sheet of black within an archway but a black mass twice my height and the same length across.
Around it, two golden arches crossed over at the top and contained the portal like a cage, creating four quadrants as points of entry. The arches seemed to radiate energy.
“Why is it bigger than the one in the school?”
The hum of the pulsing energy was louder than at Nightfall.