Chapter 30
Sera
Nothing.
I feel nothing.
No warmth. No chill. No sensation at all.
And it’s silent.
Like death.
Only, my mind is very much alive.
Did Persephone live like this? I wonder. Is she… here? I can still sense her memories. But she’s not present. Which is really confusing.
Does that mean I’m my own person, just… with her history?
If I had a head, I would shake it.
Actually, no. If I had a head, I would scream.
Instead, I’m left to simply think. For hours. Days. Weeks. I have no concept of time here. No understanding of where I even am.
The anchor I once felt to Maliki is gone. I can’t hear him or feel him. Same with Morpheus and Hades.
My mates.
My fae.
My future…
Demeter has taken everything from me. My sight. My senses. My taste. My touch. But not my soul.
And not my mind.
That thought continues to linger and repeat. Mostly because I can’t find a single memory of Persephone existing in this state. Her recollections cease the moment she was sucked into the void with Demeter, shortly after losing her deer, Delos.
So did she not truly experience the state of no existence? Does that mean the other Omegas are oblivious as well?
Is this just some unique torture for my reincarnated soul?
Or does Demeter not realize that I’m still mentally here? I wonder. She spoke to me earlier like she knew I could hear her.
But she also spoke to me like I was Persephone, like I remembered her as my mother.
Perhaps she always speaks to her daughter’s entity, not realizing that she isn’t truly here anymore. Just a memory.
Except, Persephone’s essence is more than that. Her link to Hades is what fuels this plane. I felt that when I escaped it before—the connection between Persephone’s soul and the prison Demeter created.
Only, it’s stronger now. Inescapable and impenetrable.
“This new link to Hades is exactly what we need to bolster our world.”
Her words spoken… I’m not sure when… reverberate through my consciousness now.
The “new link” must be the one he has to me—Sera—not Persephone.
However, Demeter never acknowledged my name or my presence here. Only her daughter’s.
Because she thinks I’m her.
But I’m not.
I’m Sera.
Mate of Maliki, Morpheus, and Hades.
Although, I never bit Hades back. So our link isn’t quite complete.
Just like his connection to Persephone.
It’s enough that his power thrives through my being, but it’s not on the same level as what I felt with Morpheus and Maliki.
No, that’s not quite right.
It’s not on the same level as what I feel with Morpheus and Maliki.
Wait…
Am I sensing them?
Or something else?
I tug on the strand of energy, curious. It’s… it’s cold, I think. Which means I’m feeling something. Much better than nothing. I would welcome a bucket of ice cubes at this point.
The icy tendril tugs back, causing my mind to blank for a moment. It’s surreal. Unexpected. Utterly welcome.
But is it truly happening? Or have I finally lost my mind?
Another yank has my awareness blinking in alarm. That’s real.
I think, anyway.
When the essence pulls even harder, I simply… follow. Which is such a strange realization, as I didn’t feel connected to anything before, but I swear I just released my hold on something. Like I mentally untied myself from a tether, thus allowing my being to be guided elsewhere.
So strange…
And I’m starting to feel even colder, a sensation that would normally concern me. However, I greet it with an internal smile, willing myself to freeze. Whatever it takes to feel again.
Who knows how long it’s been since I last experienced life?
This place is timeless.
A horrible plane of nonexistence.
A web I long to free myself from…
The presence clutches me closer, dragging me faster.
I can almost feel my feet moving, except I have no legs.
It’s… it’s bizarre.
It’s amazing.
It’s terrifying.
Because what if it stops? What if I suddenly lose this feeling?
I almost freeze. However, the tendril propels me forward with a chilling blast, and colors begin to form. I could almost weep at the sight. The blistering blues. Silvers. Golds.
It’s a swirl, one that has me wondering if this is it—if I’ve officially fallen into a permanent state of lunacy.
Being trapped with only my mind is the worst kind of punishment. A horrible way to spend eternity.
That word, that word… hmm…
Yes, Demeter mentioned it.
“May you rot… for eternity.”
She uttered those words to Hades, telling him to… to rot.
Rot where? Rot how?
And what did she mean by “pit”?
She mentioned that as well, something about his pit of despair.
I’m still thinking about that as more images begin to form, which is interesting, as I don’t think I have eyes.
Or rather, maybe I do… How else would I be able to see right now?
I try to move my head but can’t truly feel anything. No neck. Not even eyelashes to bat.
Oooookay, I think. Maybe… maybe I really have lost it. But at least it’s pretty here? Kind of like the stars in that cave with Maliki…
The empty hollow inside me pangs, my heart… missing… broken… shattered.
Why can’t I sense my mates?
That chilling touch pulsates, making me focus on the sensation once more. Maliki? I try to whisper to it. Is that you? Or… or is it Morpheus? Hades?
No one answers.
However, the frigid strand continues to throb, sending pulses of icy energy into me as we move.
Where are we going? I wonder, dizzy from all the blurring blues and silvers.
The gold is blistering in the distance, seeming to be like an orb of some kind. So bright and intense.
I wish I had eyes to shield. A hand. Something. Because it’s really starting to hurt.
But that’s good, right? I want to feel.
Pain… pain is welcome.
Just like the chill.
Who are you? I wonder at the tendril, a shape seeming to form.
Only it’s more of a blob.
Translucent, too. Blue? Silver? I can’t… hmm.
Another yank almost makes me stumble. I glance down, searching for legs, then release a mental gasp at realizing I can control my sight. Er, or my viewpoint? I… I don’t think I have legs, though. Or a neck. But definitely seem to have eyes?
This is so weird…
Wind whistles by me, alerting me to the reawakened sense. Hearing.
It’s loud.
A terrifying swirl, one that reminds me of a harsh winter storm.
I nearly wince.
But shapes begin to form in my vision, distracting me from the violent whooshing sounds. The colors don’t change, all blues and silvers swirling around that blistering golden sun.
Only… only, I think… I try to blink, but I can’t. I have no eyelids. No lashes. Just… just eyes.
Is this how Pip feels? I wonder dizzily. I never saw him blink. But he could narrow his gaze. Maybe he… Wait.
I glance down at where the strand is pulling me, the ghostly hand making me gasp inside. Pip!
The essence doesn’t acknowledge my mental shout, just keeps pulling me toward the light.
But now that I’ve thought of him, I’m certain that’s the being guiding me now. It’s Pip. My Pip. My familiar.
Only… only… I’m translucent, too…
I realize that with a start, seeing my own tendrils connecting to his.
Oh, stars… Oh!
This is bad. So bad. So weird. So… I…
Another breeze nearly knocks me sideways, but Pip is determined, his movements erratic as he pulls me toward the glowing orb.
The silvers and blues around it are other spirits, their translucent essences similar to Pip’s and my semitransparent forms.
It’s like a terrifying dream.
Only, Morpheus would never let me fall into a nightmare.
I try to call for him. For Maliki. For… Hades.
If I possessed lips, they would part.
Because I sense Hades. His agony. His fury. His terror.
He’s close…
I attempt to look for him, to find my mate lost in this glittering cave.
Or, I think it’s a cave, anyway. Maybe a tunnel is more accurate. Everything appears to be spiraling, causing the source of the wind.
It’s like a swirl of color, violent and beautiful and chaotic.
And cold.
Death.
I shiver inside, the juxtaposition to my inner energy making me dizzy. Because I… I’m a creature of rebirth. A resurrected spirit. A Goddess.
My eyes seem to widen, taking in more of the sights around us as realizations settle deep within my being. I’m pulsing with life…
The baby.
Stars, I feel the creation thriving within me.
Which is… impossible. I’m a soul now. No corporeal form. But I’m carrying two heartbeats. Or, maybe that’s not accurate. However, I sense two thriving vitalities inside me.
One belongs to me.
The other is the life I created with one of my mates.
My thoughts begin to spin, making me dizzy as Pip drags me closer to that blistering cyclone.
Everything feels so alive. So complex. So consuming.
I’m trying to understand my surroundings, comprehend what I’m feeling, determine how I arrived here. Pip… Pip found me. But how? I was in the plane of nonexistence. How did Pip save me?
And where is he taking me?
His movements are frantic, his energy pulsing through me in waves of anxiety. He’s hurrying, and he’s afraid of something.
No. Not something. Someone.
Demeter.
She’s here. Talking. Humming. Throwing her energy around. Acting as a conduit of some kind. I… I can sense her. Yet I can’t.
It’s all so complicated and unbelievable.
However, the song she’s singing… I… I know that tune.
From the garden, I think, dizzy again. She sang it every day.
A song about the harvest. About gardens. A lullaby of a sort.
Persephone knew it, too. Used to hear it during every visit. It was what Demeter sang to calm her nerves, to nurse her into a state of compliance.
Only… only that wasn’t the true intention. Demeter was a nurturer. A mother. A protector.
But the last time Persephone heard that tune, it was used to sing her to sleep. For eternity.
Everything inside me seems to stop.
The world… the world unfolding beneath a new light.
A new memory.
Of the day Persephone experienced the deepest of betrayals.
By the Alpha she trusted most…