Chapter 32
Lorali
F ootsteps echoed off the high chamber walls. Lorali was deep within the winding bowels of the temple, the vault settled deep into the very earth beneath the city. Sage was above giving a sermon to the citizens about the year to come while she was within the vault, completing the conveyance. Or so they thought. She couldn't help looking over her shoulder, afraid someone would follow her, knowing she was about to break every rule she had ever learned. But no one did. With a quickening heartbeat Lorali approached the vault door, sealed shut and attuned to the magical signatures of only the arch and high clerics. To anyone else it would look as if it were another part of the neverending stone walls in the basement. But those who knew where to look knew better.
Placing her hands against the stone, Lorali focused her magic, willing it to merge with the stone and unlock the door. She had only been inside once before, after she was ordained as high cleric, to attune her magic to the vault itself. It had taken days of etching her power into its crevices, convincing the magic to accept her. It still took time now to coax the fickle old thing open. Time she didn't have.
Her eyes were closed as she poured all her focus into the door, trying to open the locked vault with its sharp, needle-like magic. Once Daeson freed Eldric, it wouldn't take long for guards and Sage to figure out what was happening. Her time was limited and the faster she completed this, the more time she and Eldric would have to run and escape Athera.
The wall rumbled beneath her palms, magic finally settling into the stone. Light traced a path, spreading and seeping through the carved grooves and illuminating the dark hall. She stepped back, watching the stone shift and move until a perfect passageway, just big enough for her to enter, opened.
Breathtaking—that was the only word Lorali could use to describe the vault as she stepped inside and the rock shifted closed behind her. Water dripped from stalactites, sounding like rain as it fell into the deep subterranean lake. Iridescent crystals were scattered within the stone, refracting light like glittering stars in the lucerna glow, like the stellanium crystal inlaid within her bracers.
Lorali hurried down the narrow path to the lake's edge, nose wrinkling at the smell of burnt matches and sulfur that only got stronger as she neared the water's edge. Each breath came from her mouth, trying to avoid the off-putting stench as she saw the narrow strip of raised stone she was searching for up ahead. A bridge, high above the lake and supported by only a few thinning limestone pillars, connected the tight spiral staircase before her to a rock formation in the middle of the water. It stood tall against the test of time, the resting place of the Sylvean circlet for all these years since the Order usurped the Atheran government long ago. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought. This place was beyond ancient. It was timeless. A rare beauty, one of the few remaining caves in the world with an abundance of the iridescent stellanium crystals. A place that had been stolen for nothing more than power.
Her footsteps were steady and sure as she ascended, hand running along the stone on one side as she climbed to the top of the spire. Nausea roiled over her as she glanced back toward the ground and out across the thin stone bridge with nothing on either side but a long drop into the deep green water. Her mind raced, imagining what horrors awaited within it if she fell below. Even if there weren't any, one slip and it would just be broken bones and water filling her lungs. Her life ending in failure before it ever really began. Her inner voice tried to calm the fears attempting to take root, to soothe them before they grew .
It's not that bad, her mind whispered to her instincts, trying to shut them down.
But you shouldn't be doing this. This is wrong, they whispered back. A stone dropped into her gut as all the doubts began to flood in at once. Everything she had been pushing past for weeks to get to this moment came crashing down on top of her. The danger, the betrayal, turning against everything she had ever known—
Lorali pressed her hands into her face with a frustrated groan as she shook her head.
"No, no, no, no— focus ," she told herself. She tried to fight the thoughts, push them away as she always did. But her heart still raced, her mind still whirled, her breaths came in quick puffs as if she could never get enough air. Panic sank its claws into her mind, searching for purchase and not wanting to let go.
Lorali was rooted to the spot, so terror-filled that she could only fall to her knees. She pressed her fists into her eyes and just struggled to breathe in through her nose, breathe out through her mouth.
In, out. In, out. Breathe, breathe, breathe.
Her heart still raced but her mind cleared enough to think back to the last time she felt like this, with Eldric in their warm summer months. How he had placed her hands upon his chest, over his heart, and breathed with her. The words he had said for her until she was okay once more.
With every breath, you are safe.
Her chest shuddered as she placed her palms over where her own heart lay beneath her robes, voice croaking as she whispered. "With every breath, I am safe."
Her voice felt weak; even she didn't believe what she was saying. But some sparking ember lit within her chest, some remnant of his warm embrace. As if he were with her.
With every heartbeat, you are strong.
Salty tears streamed down the planes of her face. She did not brush them away as she rose on her knees, clutching the fabric as she stood. "With every heartbeat, I am strong."
Looking down the length of the narrow stone, her breathing calmed as she acknowledged that yes, it was dangerous. Terrifying, even. She had every right to be afraid. But she could not let that fear control her. She was strong enough to listen to that fear and channel it into something new.
With every moment, you are loved.
Lorali neared the edge of the landing, to where it connected with the stone bridge. Pebbles crumbled beneath her feet, cascading down from the edge. The cavern was filled with a long silence before the sound of a distant splash broke the stillness .
"With every moment, I am loved."
She took the first step.
She looked down to make sure her feet did not miss their mark and tried to ignore the depths below. Scared and afraid, her mantra became a rhythm.
“With every breath, I am safe.” One more step —the stone beneath her feet was narrow and slick. Her shoes had little grip and threatened to slide beneath her weight.
“With every heartbeat, I am strong.” One more step —and with a steady breath, Lorali spread her arms out to keep her balance.
“With every moment, I am loved.” One more step —as her words echoed off the stone cavern walls.
With one wrong step, she would plummet. But that would not happen. Death was not in her future. No matter what obstacles came her way, she refused to give up.
She would not allow it.