Chapter 66
Chapter Sixty-Six
Faylinn
Minutes, hours, or perhaps eons later, I awoke to the soft plunks of my blood as it slowly dripped onto the carpet. With a groan, I hefted an injured arm in front of my face, surprised yet not to see the aggressive wounds slowly stitching together once more.
I survived, I thought weakly. My head pounded aggressively, and my arms ached fiercely, but even that couldn’t dull the anticipation throbbing in my soul.
This is it. I could practically feel the room vibrate with expectancy, with untold secrets and guarded knowledge.
The crystal resting on my chest glowed in earnest, illuminating the entire small space for the first time.
If I reached across, my fingertips would easily press into each wall.
Despite the fact that we were well beneath the surface, there seemed to be no ceiling in sight; the stone walls simply stretched to unimaginable heights, so far above my head that not even the bright, pulsating blue light from the crystal could illuminate the top.
I spun in a slow circle, face turned toward the heavens, and my hands loosely extended by my sides.
There was something about this place, about this room in particular, that called to my soul and spoke to the vastness of things not yet understood.
It was overwhelming and grounding all at once.
I was only one person—a singular soul placed at this random moment in time and space where millions had come before me, and millions more would come after.
The insignificance was startling and sat on my chest like a ton of stone. Yet, at the same time, I was given the opportunity to alter the course of the future. The magnitude of my presence and decisions was overwhelming.
The voices I’d heard since entering the Valley were louder here, more focused somehow. There was power in blood—even more so in the blood of an immortal being.
“Your sacrifice is accepted, Guardian of Knowledge. Use our visions well,” the anonymous voice spoke again, a gratefulness and urgency reflected in their tone.
I had little time to prepare, even less time to ponder their words, before the voices rose as one, enveloping me in the song of the Keepers.
Memories and visions, histories and fables blended together too quickly for my mind to comprehend.
I felt my brain expanding, thousands of years of history stored deep in the recesses of my consciousness.
I groaned at the sensation, falling to my knees once more with my eyes closed. Blood dripped from my nose and ears, even falling in rivulets from my eyes like tears.
But still, the knowledge came.
I screamed in agony, retching on the floor so bile joined my blood. My fingers clawed the side of my head, desperately trying to ease the ache.
No more, no more, I chanted. But the spirits either never heard or didn’t care. On it went until it felt like my flesh was rendered from bone.
All at once, the pain stopped, the throb in my chest and head easing as time seemed to freeze. I tentatively opened my eyes to a thick string of blue light. It glowed with an ethereal beauty and, if I squinted hard enough, I could see the individual fibers that twisted together.
It was beautiful—a melody of moments coalescing together as one to create a symphony of life.
The fibers vibrated, pulsating faster and faster until they sprang apart, each individual strand careening straight for my supplicated body.
I opened my mouth to scream as the first strand burrowed deep within my skin, seeking my soul. Fire erupted through my body at the contact that grew to an inferno as more strands wound around my soul.
Blessedly, my world went black, and I knew no more.