The Third Ring (The Sanctum #1)

Prologue

Prima

The depth of the hollow abyss had nothing on the profound recesses of my mind.

The cold, dead shadows that surrounded me had nothing on the darkness within my own heart.

The primitive solitude, the wild silence, clutched me within a foreign grasp.

I was a stranger in my own body, searching for an absolution that would never come.

The death I thought I had died but hadn’t. No matter how greatly I wished I had.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d lain here, at the bottom of the endless chasm, how much time had passed since Valin had made his choice and banished me to its depths.

Painfully aware of every bone beneath my skin, I gritted my teeth as I rose in the gloom.

I blinked repeatedly to clear my eyes and waited for the world to stop its spinning.

There was no source of light down here, but it didn’t matter. They’d given me the tools to adapt.

I shouldn’t be alive. My body should have broken against the stone, limbs poised at various unnatural angles, blood pooling beneath my shattered skull. Instead, I had a headache and a rage in my stomach that knew no bounds.

Was this mercy? Or a punishment?

I gazed around at a new world, a dark and empty void. The cold air made me shudder, and I cursed my bare arms as I stepped forward, remembering what Valin had told me just hours ago. Had it been only hours? I wouldn’t know.

“We don’t know what they’ll make us do,” I muttered in memory, mimicking. “You’ll need your full range of motion.” Though even the skintight fabric hugging the rest of me did little to stave off the chill.

I cursed Valin for everything he was and everything he’d been.

Measured steps allowed my enhanced vision to adjust to the darkness.

Coarse and gritty dirt speckled with dying blades of grass supported trees so tall, I couldn’t see the tops of them.

I held onto a trunk and stepped over one of their fallen brethren.

Something damp hung in the air. Not quite rain and not quite a mist, but something in between, dense enough to soak through my thin clothes but not so thick as to obstruct my vision or force me to seek shelter.

Viscous mud sloshed under my boot as I stepped down on the other side of the log.

I lifted my other foot to take another step but paused, listening.

A quiet grinding sound, slow and laborious—and so low, I almost didn’t hear it—reverberated through the tree, as if something was awakening from a long slumber.

I knew nothing of this place, but I knew something was wrong. Very wrong.

I reached tenuously along that thin tether in desperation.

Valin. Where am I? What have you done?

Another sound echoed from my left, closer, almost a snort. I turned cautiously in the dark, eyes narrowed. A rising stench joined the cold, wet air. Something new, something foreign, something wrong.

It emerged from the trees slowly, padding toward me on gigantic white paws.

I froze. Large, wild animals were gone. They’d become extinct years ago, along with the humans. And yet, here was one now, stalking toward and eying me as if daring me to make the first move.

It appeared catlike, but it was at least twice the size of a panther, if my hazy memory of such beasts wasn’t failing me.

I’d never seen one, only traced the shape with my finger in an old book from my father’s library.

It was certainly larger than the few remaining feline and canine companions we had back home.

But nothing of the size of the thing before me existed anymore. At least, it wasn’t supposed to.

The colossal head held a powerful jaw and sharp eyes.

The hard ridge of the sleek back flared into four legs, the hind limbs slightly larger and longer than the ones in the front.

Glistening white scales so fine and soft they had the appearance of cobbled leather shone upon the surface where thick fur should have been, and feathered wings as tall as I was sprouted from its back.

Even without taking its tremendous wingspan into account, one paw was the size of my head.

It approached me cautiously, sharp eyes glowing bright red, but stopped a few feet away as if waiting for something. I didn’t blink as I peered back, holding its gaze, focused.

It lunged.

As silently as it had slinked from out of the trees, it lurched forward, teeth bared—and passed right through me.

The twitch of my fingers was the only sign I’d done anything, and yet the beast landed behind me as if I were only a shadow. Another talent they’d given me.

The creature skidded, whirling back around.

It lunged again as I materialized and rammed into me full force.

I slammed into the mud. My head ricochetted off the hard soil under the muck and my vision spotted.

Winded, I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the beast’s claws.

It swiped at nothing but dirt as I darted back to my feet and ran.

Fallen limbs snapped behind me as the monster destroyed them in its pursuit. The pounding of its massive paws against the forest floor made the ground vibrate, but my footing was sure.

My eyes flicked left and right, looking for an escape, but as fast as I was, the strange creature seemed to keep up. Panic strained my lungs. Eventually, I would tire, and I couldn’t afford to play the guessing game of which one of us had more stamina.

I leaped over a small boulder, but my toe caught on the stone as I hurdled over it, sending me tumbling on the other side.

Heart pounding, I scrambled to my knees and flattened myself back against the rock as the beast bounded clear over my head, landing with catlike agility on the other side.

It turned slowly toward me, lowering its neck and narrowing its eyes.

The creature growled. A low, bloodcurdling sound that reverberated in my chest, and my breath caught in my throat.

A rustling from somewhere off to my right pulled my attention away from the brute prowling toward me.

My heart plummeted to the pit of my stomach as another pair of glowing red eyes emerged silently from the tree line.

A snap of a twig announced a third pair of piercing eyes as they appeared a few feet away from the second.

I cast a frenzied glance at the opposite cluster of trees but another glowing gaze waited there as well.

They loomed silent and steadfast, scrutinizing me, each as large as the first, wings twitching closed at their sides as they padded forward.

In a blind panic, I clambered sideways on hands and knees, grasping at the nearest branch. I leaped to my feet, holding it before me like a sword, keeping the sharp bough between myself and the violent beasts.

They hesitated, watching in silence. I swore I saw curiosity in those keen red eyes.

But it vanished in a blink, replaced with a savage glare as all four of them stalked toward me.

I held my ground, brandishing my makeshift weapon, my brain buzzing with a thousand possible outcomes, none of which ended in my favor. Tears welled in my eyes.

I was about to die. Truly die this time.

The first beast raised its massive paw. I took one last shuddering breath, eyes closed, and sent a prayer to the gods despite my newfound doubt that anyone was on the receiving end.

A long, slow whistle cut through the silence.

The beast paused, ears twitching. It cocked its head to the side, eyes gazing past me into the wilderness.

It lowered its paw and took a few steps back.

I stared in awe as it unfurled its massive wings.

The others mimicked their leader, beating their wings in a movement so graceful I found myself mesmerized by it.

As one, they lifted into the air, rising fast and gliding smoothly up toward the trees behind me.

I stepped around the stone at my back, peering out into the forest, but only more darkness and stillness greeted me.

“Thank you,” I whispered, my voice almost reverent.

Perhaps someone had heard my prayers after all.

I dropped my gnarled branch, my knees weak and my arms heavy, and took a few steadying breaths while glancing around at my surroundings.

It could have been better; nothing but dense forest, a thicket of trees that I couldn’t see beyond.

I listened intently but there was an eerie absence of any sound. No flowing water, no woodland critters, not even any insects. My skin prickled at the ominous lack of life.

Shoulders slumping and a sigh on my lips, I did the only thing I could.

I started walking.

What felt like hours later, I heard the faint trickle of a stream.

I followed it to a small bush with various vibrantly colored berries.

As I held a bundle of the strange fruit in my palm, examining them, I noticed the entrance to a cave not far beyond.

The stream still peeked through the trees behind me, visible to the cave opening, so I decided that this was a good place to stop.

Exhaustion settled in my bones as I trudged into the cave, hardly bothering to lift my feet. I wanted nothing more than to fall to the stone floor, curl up, and go to sleep. But I had to ensure the area was safe first, free of those fearsome catlike beasts or any other potential predatory creature.

Most of the tunnels became narrower deeper in, so that even I couldn’t fit within them. The ones wide enough for me—or the creature I had seen before—to fit through were far enough away from the enormous open cavern in the center and easily defendable. Satisfied, I plopped down with a groan.

For the first time since landing in this strange world, I took a deep breath and allowed my shoulders to relax. As the last traces of adrenaline leaked out of me, I pulled my knees up to my chest and shuddered from the cold.

I was alone. Entirely, irrevocably alone. And it would probably be that way for some time. Perhaps forever.

Whoever had whistled clearly had no intention of being seen. And I wasn’t so sure there had been anyone there at all. Not a person, at least.

For now, though, I could rest in the cave knowing that creature couldn’t get to me, at least not without alerting me to its presence first. And in the morning, I would find something to eat and drink from the stream.

Maybe I could fashion a weapon from the fallen limbs and the various rocks.

Maybe I could bring some materials back to the cave to build a proper shelter.

Maybe.

All I could do was take it one step at a time, survive one moment to the next. Luckily, survival was a concept that I was all too familiar with, even if I was no longer sure why I should bother staying alive.

I rose on shaky legs. As weary as I was, there was still something that needed to be done.

I found a sharp rock in the corner of the open area and went to the highest wall of the cave to carve a name into it, a title for the place that would shelter me in a new world.

First in the old language, the language of my father, then in the language of the long-lost humans, the one my mother had taught me.

Archí.

Beginning.