14. Chapter Fourteen
Much like the thorns around the black rose at old man Albion’s house, these drag me deeper into darkness, only they don’t let me go when I find a magical object.
They drop me onto stone and wave above me like striking snakes.
Luminescent green moss grows up the sides of large stone bricks and matches the ground, which has smaller bricks that look the same.
Slow creatures slink through the darkness, only lit up occasionally by the moss.
Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!
I spin around and wave my hand back and forth. “Where exactly do you expect me to turn back to?”
Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!
I keep going after not finding a way to climb back up the flailing thorns.
Not that it would be wise, but I want to prove the voices wrong.
I rub my arms as the temperature drops and a foggy mist rolls across my skin.
The ceiling hums, low and raspy. Nothing moves above me to show the source.
Shadows rise and fall as the only wall decor.
I fly through the air so quickly that it takes me a moment to register the pain in my abdomen.
Before I can inspect for wounds, I’m thrown in the other direction by a massive paw.
I crawl backward until I’m far enough back to scramble to my feet.
The low lighting makes it difficult to tell what creature I’m dealing with and the locations of my attacker’s vulnerable spots.
I dodge massive white paws while searching frantically for somewhere to hide.
A tunnel appears ahead, and a small hope ignites my speed.
I slide into it as a whoosh of air hits my neck.
A pair of yellow eyes glow in the tunnel, and a low growl comes from their direction.
My choices are either the yellow eyes or the giant paw that’s still trying to swipe at me. Both options are immensely terrible.
The tunnel groans, and green light bursts through growing cracks.
The paws are peeling the tunnel in two to get to me.
I scoot backward, and the yellow eyes move closer.
The sound of teeth clanking together accompanies the eyes.
I hold out my dagger to stab the minute the beast is within range.
A second set of illuminated irises breaks up the dark, followed by a third and fourth.
The growls turn to desperate whimpers when all the eyes disappear as a horrific scraping sound disturbs the quiet. It’s as though the pack of monsters is desperately trying to hold on to the stone ground with enormous claws.
Whimpers and gurgled snarls pierce the dark, and the cracking and grinding pierce my ears.
I crawl toward the dying beast sounds, and a paw from the first creature slams down on my legs.
I roll onto my back and try to wiggle a leg free to kick it.
It sinks its claws into my skirt and tugs.
The rock sides are polished smooth, and my hands slip several times before I can sit up and stab into my captor four times.
It takes me stabbing in four more places for it to finally let go, and I hurry back the other direction to face whatever waits for me there.
Light leads me out the other side, and a cloaked figure has his back to me, facing five massive grey wolves that lay in pieces around him. Blood trickles into every crevice on the stone ground, flowing from tattered limbs and crushed furry skulls. The yellow eyes have dulled.
His hood is down, and I can’t comprehend what I see.
He’s darkness personified, shapeless and every shape at once.
My eyes can’t look away, yet that’s all they want to do as my mind screams with piercing pain from trying to comprehend him.
My skull might crack like the tunnel as the incomprehensible entity increases heavy pressure on my thoughts.
Don’t look into his eyes! Don’t look into his eyes! Don’t look into his eyes! We warned you! We warned you!
The blob, yet fully formed, dark man turns around, and I scream as his eyes suck in my sight.
I’m being swallowed by a gaze. Contact with his indiscernible irises tears when I’m knocked to the floor, and Zyon is on top of me.
My head tries to obey the strongest urge I’ve ever experienced.
It’s like my soul may cease to exist if I don’t lock eyes with the entity again.
Zyon holds my face tight and blocks my view with his body. “Neera! Look at me. Only me. Only me. Look at my eyes. Look at me. Not him.”
I scream and writhe as he keeps me from the desperate need that is destroying me not to fulfill.
My head being ripped to shreds is so painful.
Nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing matters, for I am as minuscule as an ant.
The realization is voracious, and I sink into my woeful uselessness.
Everything is absurd, and there’s no reason to exist. It’s unadulterated madness.
“Her mind is fracturing!” Zyon holds my face tighter. “Get yourself covered.”
“It’s your job to protect her!” Lazzus says.
“Only because you insist on it. I never wanted this responsibility, but your existence rips everything apart.”
“And you and everyone could be rid of me if you would help her break the curse, so you must not loathe my existence enough.”
“Make her stop screaming! Fix her!” Zyon roars.
“I can’t. We can only hope the madness hasn’t fully set in yet.”
“You’re an idiot, letting your hood fall.”
“One of the wolves knocked it off while I was busy saving her life. Why would you keep such dangerous monsters and not warn her about them?”
“Your ancient skull can’t recall anything! I don’t care if she lives or dies.” Zyon’s grip loosens for just a few seconds, and the pain intensifies so greatly I want him to slit my throat and end my suffering.
“Then why are you holding her mind together if you care nothing for her?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I should let go.”
“Do that, and I will rip you apart like I did these wolves! The curse needs broken this time, you bastard king!”
“Then get me a healer! I don’t know how much longer I can hold on, and I’m not skilled enough to piece her mind fully back together.
That’s outside the skills of a necromancer.
” Zyon turns his attention back to me. “Neera, you’re alright.
Gods quit screaming! How can someone scream for so long?
Let’s keep your pretty eyes green and purple.
Let’s push back the poison. Listen to my voice, Neera.
Latch onto it and don’t let the madness take you. Don’t give in.”
Zyon continues to talk to me, holding my face in his hands.
He’s the only thing breaking through the terrible pain that pierces at an unfathomable depth.
My body is on fire and being ripped to pieces while pressure pries my skull open.
Zyon is all that exists outside the agony.
He’s all that keeps me from surrendering to the suffocation of monster irises that make little sense.
Nothing about Lazzus makes sense. Why doesn’t he make sense?
“Neera! Don’t you dare give in! Stupid woman, you're so weak! This is why the curse is never broken. It’s always some stupid woman who isn’t strong enough!”
His words distantly infuriate me, and I try to break free from misery to punch him.
“There we go. That’s it. Let the anger override the madness. I shouldn’t be surprised this is where we’ve found ourselves. You didn’t even make it three steps up the mountain before you failed everyone you’ve ever cared about. So pathetic.”
I clench my fist, but my fingers fall flat. Heat rises from my chest to my face as he continues to insult me.
“I’ve never met a dumber person in my life. She’s told not to step over a red line her entire life and does so the first chance she gets.”
“You’re... an arrogant...” I thrash as the pain shoves the anger back down.
“I’m an arrogant what? Ass? Is that all you can ever come up with? Even your insults have no wit.”
“Prick! Fucking prick!”
He cackles. “Such a dirty mouth for a lady.” He looks to the side. “Took you long enough!”
“Sorry, Your Majesty. I came as quickly as I could.” A woman with a very long animal skull appears at the top of my head and rubs a potent ointment that burns my nostrils on my temples. She’s staring into my eyes nearly as intensely as Zyon still is and grabs something else from her bag."
“Can you help her?”
“Yes, I think you held it off quickly enough that I can reverse it.” She rubs my cheeks vigorously, and her bony fingers scrape across my skin. “Can you tell me your name, sweetie?” She rubs harder when I don’t answer.
It takes effort to push through the pain again. “Neera.”
“Good.” She adds another ointment that smells of cinnamon on my forehead. “You can let go of her now, Your Majesty.”
“Are you sure?” Zyon sounds like he might rip off her head if she’s wrong.
“I would not tell you to if I wasn’t.” She waves a floral scented cloth under my nose.
Zyon studies my eyes for a few seconds more before deciding he can trust her to let go. The healer rubs my face with more ointments, and under normal circumstances, I might be able to determine what they are.
“I am nothing in any realm,” I whisper.
“Hush, child.” The healer places jade leaves across my forehead.
“My purpose is insignificant and so small. It’s so small that it is nothing. I am nothing!”
“I thought you fixed her!” Zyon moves closer again. “Do I need to step in?”
“You’ll only make it worse.”
I whimper. “I am as the hollow.”
“That doesn't even make sense,” Zyon says.
“Nothing makes sense. I am nothing.” I close my eyes when the healer pours a thick liquid over my face. The pain leaks away and a heaviness replaces it until all I can do is close my eyes.
Tiny snores and the smell of lavender are the first things I become aware of, and it takes me several moments longer to open my eyes.
I clench my eyes and try to figure out where I am.
It’s not my bed with my mother and sisters, and several more heartbeats elapse before I remember why that wouldn’t make sense.