Chapter 23 #2
“What is this place?” Lukas reached back and took my hand as we passed between two towering trees.
He swung around a large boulder and held a vine out of the way. “The Fourth Realm.”
“It feels different here.”
“Because it is. It's the Realm most similar to the Third. A junkyard, of sorts.”
Our trail widened for a moment and then narrowed down again by a short rocky outcropping. “Junkyard?”
Lukas hopped over the edge and held out his arm. I grabbed it and he said, “All sorts are here. Humans, lost souls, different species. It’s chaotic with heavy turnover of leadership. We’re not staying here.”
The idea that it was like home was intriguing. “I wouldn’t mind checking it out for a bit.” He didn’t reply.
When I looked up, a massive castle loomed over us, in various states of renovation. Piles of construction materials sat on roofs and balconies alongside stacks of broken glass and stone.
“This is where we’re going?” There was nothing else around except for the pretty building.
“We can stand here and stare at it if you’d like,” he deadpanned.
My head jerked up. “What?” His lips curled a fraction of an inch. “Forget I asked.”
He waved me forward with an arched brow, and I followed by his side as we traversed a narrow path. It wound under a stone archway before we climbed an embankment.
When we reached the top, we stopped just at the mouth of the archway that turned out to be a bridge. I’d been so focused on our surroundings, that I’d missed the signs.
Lukas was uncomfortable. His neck was stiff, and he kept running his fingers through his hair. His eyes were darting right and left.
Whoever was in this castle wasn’t someone he really wanted to see.
My hands pressed to his chest, and he glanced down at me, covering mine with his own before focusing on the building behind me. “What’s wrong?” I asked softly.
He pressed his lips together and moved his legs, probably eager to engage in the incessant pacing and fidgeting he was prone to. I didn’t move out of the way.
“My kind isn’t welcomed here,” he stated.
“You just said there’s different species here, though?”
With a sigh, he canted his head. “I’m one of the Ancients. Nobody likes it when the boss pays an unexpected visit. Elijah will not be happy.”
It felt like he was holding something back but before I could ask, he said, “Let’s go.”
We reached the doors and paused, Lukas’s hand hovering over the wooden paneling. “He’s not in here. Neither is she.”
“’She’?” I repeated the word. He gestured at the entrance and the way opened before us.
A couple of servants hurried across the floor on the far side, paying us no mind and darting up a narrow staircase.
Black iron chandeliers swung overhead, with their short, stubby candlesticks flickering.
The ceiling was high and arched, with black iron beams and bowers.
Across from us was a short staircase leading to a wide hallway.
From where I stood, it looked like there was a quartz formation on the ceiling over there.
When we made it halfway across the floor, Lukas stopped. “Downstairs. He’s not here, but I’ll find him.”
He strode to the upper level with me hurrying behind him. A few people gave us curious glances, and one even paled. Soon, we were descending a staircase, with sconces that lit themselves as we passed.
Lukas was stuck entirely in his head and walking too fast for me to keep up without jogging. At one point, his arm swung out to stop me from tumbling.
“What are we doing?” I asked as he pushed the door at the bottom open.
“When I woke, this is where I was summoned.”
The room was large, constructed of rock and carved marble, with what I could only assume was an altar on the far end. There was a water feature, or maybe it was a natural stream, I wasn’t sure, circling the ceremonial stand.
“Why were you sleeping, anyway?”
His steps had slowed, and he paused next to an ornate, marble chair set across from the altar. “This is also where I met Kiam.”
While I continued to examine the room, I stated, “You really should try and smooth things over with him.”
“I killed the man who summoned me. Eternity is a long time without adequate rest.”
Not exactly an answer, but it made sense. I didn’t like being disturbed while I slept either, and eternity was a long time. “Are you going to go back to sleep?”
He turned his head and gazed down at me, his sharp green eyes freezing me in place. “If I do, I will take you with me.”
My heart thumped against my ribs. How the heck would he do that?
Lukas disappeared and reappeared beside a door tucked into a corner. He opened it, waved his hand, and then it shut with a resounding bang.
“Go to the altar,” he ordered.
There was a short walkway over the water, and I peered down at the liquid, as crystal clear as any that I’d seen around here. To the left, there was a gaping hole in the wall. It looked like the entrance to a cave, circled by roughhewn rock with a taper at the top.
When I reached the altar, what felt like a breeze wafted over my limbs.
It wasn’t a physical stirring, my hair and my clothes remained perfectly still, but I felt movement regardless.
Instinctually, my gaze dragged back to the cave-like entrance just to see Lukas standing there with his arms stretched out at his sides, palms turned up.
The urge to yell for him welled up within me, but I kept my mouth shut. Whatever was going on here, I sensed he wouldn’t be taking kindly to being disturbed. The air did begin to actually move, and with it, came echoing shrieks.
The sounds whizzed past my ears, faint before they pierced my eardrums and then fading when they slid by me. The noise made me fall to my knees with my hands clutching my ears. The screams echoed all around me, rising in decibels before turning to whispers, over and over.
Chills crawled up and down my arms and spine, and I squeezed my eyes shut, as if that would help all of this disappear. Something soft fluttered against the side of my face, and against my better judgement, I opened one eye.
A sickly looking face hovered, with greasy stringy hair dangling forward.
Whatever it was, its tattered robes touched my arm, and I batted at it, trying to get it to go away.
It was revolting to look at, yellowing and translucent, visibly missing very important bits of flesh that made it seem impossible to exist or be alive.
The being reached for me, its bony finger angling for me as if it would stroke my cheek with a loving caress. Before it could touch my skin, Lukas was there.
He seized it, and I scrambled backward, blocked by the altar. The man felt different. That is, the air around him crackled with static electricity, leaving a buzz in the air. The whites of his eyes were blotted again, making him seem alien. He opened his mouth, exposing dripping fangs.
The creature sucked into his open mouth and all I could do was stare. He shuddered and wiped his hand down over his lips, his gaze shuttering, and his legs bending. His eyes nearly rolled back in his head, and he shook his shoulders, with a look of sheer ecstasy covering his face.
The entire sight was so foreign, so other and out of place, that I had no idea what to do. Should I scream? Run? Call for help?
He ate an entire person . He did it as calmly as if he had drunk a bottle of water. And then he was so blissed out he reminded me of... Why was he bringing up these feelings in me right now? Everything was screwing with my head.
When I glanced back up at him, he was flicking his fingers, asking for my hand. Dumbfounded, I reached backward for the stability of the marble and pushed myself up.
He stared at me, rubbing his index finger back and forth along his bottom lip. His eyes flickered from black, to green, to black, and then green again.
“What... what are you doing?” My voice shook. “What was that thing? Why are your eyes doing that?”
Lukas stared at his hands, turning them over.
Then he massaged his chest and examined his arms. “Wraith. They were here when I woke. The power that was used to put me to sleep and then wake me still lingered here.” His gaze wandered to the altar and then back to me.
“I left it here, thinking it prudent. It was. It was contained within the wraiths.”
He circled the stone, leaving an arm extended and sliding his fingers together, touching something I couldn’t see. “It's a miracle Kiam didn’t take it,” he said thoughtfully. “Though, perhaps he didn’t need it.”
This was a side to Lukas I hadn’t had to witness before, the dark and malicious aura that surrounded him in full bloom.
It seemed to flow from every pore of his body, this deep and consuming power.
The way he was eyeing me sent my pulse hammering through my veins while he continued circling the altar.
His irises had transformed again. It was like looking into crystal clear, multi-faceted emeralds, and I could only guess that his eating of a wraith was responsible for the change.
“How will you get this power?” I asked, doing my best to inch away from the altar. It wasn’t that I thought he would purposely hurt me, I just didn’t know what to expect.
Suddenly, I was caged between his arms. He canted his head. “Where do you think you’re going?”
My breath hiccupped in my lungs. “Uh, nowhere. What are you doing? Why are your eyes like that?”
He slow blinked and then I was faced with the gem-like orbs again. “I consumed all the latent magic that lurked here. Every single one of the wraiths is gone.”
His arms tightened around me, and he took a step forward, leaving me with zero wiggle room. “But doesn’t that gross you out?” I paused. “Wait—there were more?”
Lukas licked his lips and glanced at mine “If Annalise wakes up Wyvon, I need every advantage I can get. I may be powerful, but Annalise and Wyvon surpass most.”