7. Ilaris #2
The thudding sound I’d heard earlier came from it.
A steady booming, like fists pounding against it, begging to be let out.
Fear threatened to overwhelm me, and I stepped closer to Killian, as close as I could get without touching him.
His heat radiated through the space between us.
Not the searing fire of his magic, but something deeper.
Warmer. Making me long to close the final distance between us.
I convinced myself it was the need for protection. Security.
“What. . .” My voice cracked. I swallowed and tried again. “What’s on the other side?”
“You asked me my story, why I was in chains.”
I nodded. “Why?”
Killian stood perfectly still, his golden gaze fixed on the door with an unreadable expression.
When he spoke, his voice was quiet, stripped of all emotion.
“Behind this door is everything my people died to contain. Your people call the end of the age of giants the Great Sundering. This is what caused it.” His voice dropped, followed by the heavy breath of a confession.
“It was my fault. I dug too deeply. I wanted more. Giants had everything, and still, Prince of my people, I wanted to prove I was worthy of ruling. I wanted to give them something more, something greater to bring about the next generation. This is my discovery, my damnation.”
The words hung in the heated air. I should have been repulsed.
But I had my grandmother’s spirit. Instead of recoiling in horror, I found that his confession only piqued my curiosity.
He was the very giant I needed to speak to, the one who’d cause the end of his people.
It was a crime so vast I could only imagine the weight he carried, knowing that he was the reason the age of giants had ended.
No wonder he’d been chained, almost as though he were the guardian of the door, forced to look upon what he’d done while the world turned to ash.
Words formed on my lips, but before I could speak, the door groaned.
A deep, terrible sound of stone grinding against stone. I took a step back, certain I saw a crack, hairline thin, running through one of the spiraling runes. Something on the other side shrieked.
It wasn’t a sound that belonged in this world. It crawled inside my skull and nested there. I knew I’d hear that sound in nightmares for weeks to come. The urge to leave, to spin on my heel and sprint out of there was so strong, I had to physically hold myself in place.
“Old stories call the creatures on the other side many things,” Killian said.
“Devourers. The Hollow Ones. Endless Hunger.” He paused.
“My people called them the Unmaking. Few escaped from this door, but those that did wreaked havoc. And I was to blame. The door was sealed, the halls were sealed, and I was chained for what I’d done, imprisoned facing the halls, so when they escaped, I would be the first person they’d see. And rip apart.”
His jaw tightened, as though the words were bitter to say.
I’d guessed as much, but hearing his honesty tugged at my heartstrings.
I should hate him too. I should find a way to undo the blood oath and escape as soon as possible.
A being with his power, his might, his magic was deadly.
What would he do now that he was free to walk the world?
He’d bring about the end of the age of humans.
Mortals. That I was certain of, and he wanted me to help him?
No. Firm reasoning told me I could not. Yet that yearning lingered.
“We used all our magic, all our power to seal this. To bury what I’d done. We called upon magic too deep, too great, and in doing so, we brought about the Great Sundering. In sealing what we had unleashed upon this world, we destroyed ourselves.”
I couldn’t breathe. The giants had done this to themselves.
Thud.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, yet the door was clear in my vision. The way it shook and groaned, the sound from the other side, dark and inhuman. Fearsome. It made my blood run cold, sent my limbs trembling.
“Then you came along.” His molten gaze found mine.
“Your blood undid the seals, awoke me, freed me. But my fate is bound to theirs. If I’m free, they will find a way through the door.
They will come to vanquish this world and all who live in it.
That’s why I need you. I must find my four brethren and awaken them.
Their power, their magic will help me seal the doors and stop what is coming.
Because if it is not done, I promise you.
This breaks through if we fail. Not just here, but everywhere.
Every village, every city, every living thing, they will unmake.
They will savor every scream, and the age of mortals will fade, just as the age of giants did, and they will rule this world. ”
“I’ll do it,” I gasped. “I will help you. Please. Please, can we leave this place?”
“Do you understand why I cannot break the blood oath? Do you understand how dire this is?”
“I do. Please.”
“Time is short, the runes are failing, we have mere weeks. Perhaps less. They will not break through today, but they are coming.”
Thud.
The entire cavern shook. Jasper howled, a sound that raised every hair on my body. More runes flickered, some died, and for one terrible moment I saw movement on the other side. Something pale. Something wrong. Something with too many eyes, all of them shifting toward me.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t do anything but stand there frozen, my fears overcoming me. The Unmaking. The giants had dug too deep in their greed. They had found those who would end the world.
Suddenly, there was fire.
The embers under Killian’s skin flared to life, and balls of flame raced toward the door, slamming into obsidian.
Heat smote my face. Jasper pressed against my leg, whining.
The runes flared in answer, blazing brightly. The thudding ceased as flames leaped across the cracks, sealing them. Silencing the mouths that had been ready to scream.
“Now,” Killian said. “We can begin.”