Closing her eyes, she reached out with her mind. It was stupid, she knew, but she had to see if there was anything left.
Agony.
And such cold.
Involuntarily she gasped. That cold leached the warmth, the very life, from her body far more than her sodden clothes or the winter winds. It reached into her soul—into Hugo’s soul. Screeching, it broke what was there. Despair suffocated her. It was so familiar, that bone deep-cold, that anguish. She had been in a netherworld like it once before, chased by demons and wraiths. The only difference was her Nexus had guided her soul from that nightmare and back to him.
She cried out to him. Nothing. He was too far away, his cries merely fading echoes. She could not guide him back, but she could send him her heart, her love. She had meant it when she pledged herself only to him, no matter how far she had to go or how long she lived, her heart and soul would always be his.
I love you!
She willed him to hear, to feel that truth even as a blast of agony hit her, ripping through her belly. A cry wrenched from her chest and she stumbled backward, clutching at her stomach.
“Diamond! Don’t. Whatever Hugo is going through right now, he would not want you to feel it. I know it is a grave sacrifice,” Attion said, “but don’t reach for your bond. There is nothing you can do for him except keep your promise and work to unite the kingdoms.”
Diamond squeezed her eyes shut, biting her bottom lip until she tasted blood. Eventually, she nodded.
Satisfied, Attion sighed. “Come. Leave Hugo behind; the shadow demon will fight to return to you. He loves you too much not to. And we have a long way to go,” he stated, pushing a dagger into her hand. “This forest is still not safe. We must move quickly and rest only when we absolutely need to.”
“Over two months to Port Garrison, hmm?” asked Otekah, peering into the trees, his large fingers clutching his wet robes under his chin.
Attion frowned. “That’s what Firan said, so that is what we work on. And we cannot fly as you are with us; we must walk,” he pointed out, though there was no resentment in his voice. He glanced down at Diamond’s bare feet. “Hopefully we will find a village on this coastline where we can get you footwear, but I will not compromise on speed, my queen; if your feet get sore, we will take turns carrying you. We must get to that ship and hope Firan’s men arrive to help us sail it.”
Diamond swallowed the heaviness in her chest. She truly was leaving Hugo behind. “What if they don’t come?” she asked.
Attion blew out a breath between his pursed lips. “Then we figure out how to do it ourselves,” he stated. “Let’s get moving.” He gestured to the forest but looked back out over the ocean, his jaw tightening.
Diamond noticed the flecks of green in his brown eyes as they caught the light. She did not ask what he was thinking but, as he turned and walked into the shadowy sentinels of the dead forest, she followed without a backward glance.
Chapter 21
The darkness was consuming. Hugo tried to scream, but his body would not obey. He could feel it, that oily blackness working its freezing fingers into his flesh and bones. It was simultaneously tugging and pushing at his soul, taking his energy, his very life force and ripping it from his flesh. With no control over his body, he could not stop his joints snapping out and his spine arching.
Even through the pain he heard Griana’s voice. Chanting through hours of torture. Hugo had fought deep in his very soul against the nebulous wraiths who slashed at the energy binding him to his mortal shell. But he could not fight forever. He was losing this battle. His magic was being smothered.
Hugo knew he had reached the end of his strength. He could no longer fight the icy fingers of the wraiths. They speared his soul and dragged him from his mutilated body. He opened his mouth to scream. Silence. He tried and tried but nothing came out.
The wraiths dragged him into the swirling void that had appeared beneath them. Darkness swallowed him. Then there was nothing but the raging wind and ice that flayed his soul.
Hugo crashed into solid matter. Stone ripped at his skin. He gasped and writhed.
Pain. He felt pain.
Shocked at that revelation, he forced his eyes open. He brought a hand up in front of his face. He wiggled his fingers. Shadow rippled, but his limb still moved as he willed it. In one jerky move he was upright. Not believing his eyes, he wiggled his toes then picked up a piece of shale and dug it in his palm. Cursing, he threw it sideways.
Shit. He could feel pain. He rolled his eyes; of course he felt pain, Erebos fed on pain.
Ice and rock stretched into a never ending landscape around him. In the distance, whirlwinds of shadow raced over the ground, dragging people into their jaws then spitting them out.
A roaring to his right caught his attention. A similar funnel of darkness was heading his way, but this one was bigger, more menacing. It was then he saw them; hordes of souls surrounded him, beings who looked both corporeal yet not. Then the screaming began. It truly was chaos. No one paid him any heed as they turned away and stampeded. He was shoved and pushed. With no other choice, he turned and ran with the crowd, ignoring his nakedness and the pain in his bare feet as they landed on the razor-sharp shale.
He pumped his arms and legs, shoving the others aside. Their petrified eyes widened further as he charged past. Even shocked and newly thrust into this world, Hugo could tell those who had been here the longest. Their strange shadowy skin was rotting in patches, some of their limbs were twisted or missing, and their bodies were emaciated; but it was their faces, that sheer terror in their eyes, that caused him to run faster. No matter how fast he ran, the vortex closed in. A wave of fear and pain hit him. Terror raged in his heart as he glanced over his shoulder. Others were being sucked, kicking and screaming, into its jaws.
Screaming. So much screaming. It hurt his ears and his soul. His legs faltered and he fell hard, rolling down a steep rocky slope. He ignored the agony of the stones and rock flaying his skin. He did not want to suffer what was in the vortex.
Nearby, another vortex spewed more souls to the ground. Hundreds were dropped into the darkness of this realm, only to be swept away by the other whirlwinds. Something told Hugo the vortex chasing him was where it all ended. It was where Erebos devoured the souls that fed him.
He would not be caught.
Scrabbling to his knees, Hugo pulled himself up only to find himself faced with the most hideous creature he had ever seen. It stood at least four feet higher than him. A huge scaled mouth and teeth the size of his hand dripped black saliva down its thick chest.
Wide-eyed, Hugo gaped at its body. It had four arms, and each clawed hand grasped a vicious spiked blade.
Fear coated Hugo’s tongue.
It was covered in an exoskeleton that shone like obsidian and that shifted smoothly with its movements. Its wings extended to form bat-like leather sails, tipped with claws, but it was the creature’s eyes that were the most terrifying thing Hugo had ever seen: pure malice and a darkness that commanded him not to move.
His guardian thrashed and roared, ordering him to run. It knew Hugo could never beat this creature. But it was not in Hugo’s nature to run. He snarled.
The creature roared.
Icy breath covered Hugo, instantly freezing his limbs. There was nothing he could do as razor sharp claws speared his belly lifting him from his feet.
Hugo screamed as agony saturated his body.
The creature shoved its face into Hugo’s, its eyes devouring him as he screamed and thrashed, agony burning through his belly as those talons twisted, causing more pain.
It inhaled every scream Hugo released.
This has to end soon, Hugo thought, but it was more a plea. Exhausted, he slumped on the spikes in his belly. The creature huffed a chuckle as Hugo gave up. It lifted his lax body high and tossed Hugo into the path of an incoming vortex before it moved onto its next victim.
Hugo closed his eyes. It was no use wondering what he had done
to deserve this; he already knew. All those fae he had captured for Griana, the people he had killed, Jack’s father, General Edo, even Tallo’s death—they were all on him. He closed his eyes, praying the vortex would take him and end this miserable existence, but it wasn’t the vortex that touched him, it was a soft, broken voice that warmed his soul and healed his wounds.
I love you, that voice whispered.
Hugo swallowed hard. Hot tears ran down his icy face. His eyes snapped open, despair morphing into something else. He would fight those creatures again and again if it meant he stood a chance of finding his way back to Diamond. And he would find a way. If Sulphurious and Erebos had a way back to the mortal world, then he would find one too.
The wind of the vortex whipped at his naked skin sending stones and dust to flay him. Snarling, Hugo flipped himself back on his feet and ran, throwing others from his path, ignoring their screams and desperation.
He had to survive, to escape this place and to return to his mate. Together they would stop Erebos once and for all.
His guardian urged him onward, never letting him give up. Hugo lost track of how far he ran, how many monsters he avoided. Shale skittered from under his feet as he fought to climb a slope. Cresting the hill, he looked across the vast, empty tundra.
Inside, his guardian growled.
Look harder, it urged. There. There is our purpose, our salvation.
Hugo saw it. A pinprick of light in the distance. What is it? he asked, already beginning to move.
It is life. It is light. It is our reason for being here.
Our reason? panted Hugo as he scrambled down the other side of the slope.
Yes, together we are a guardian. She is our purpose for existing, answered the dragon.
Hugo wanted to scream at him that Diamond was not here, that he couldn’t protect her, but a solid wall of bone and muscle slammed into him from the side, stealing his words. He grunted as he landed, rolling down the rest of the slope.
The creature leaped after him.
Hugo flipped onto his cut and bleeding feet. There was no point in running. He would not get far. Wincing at the pain from the soles of his feet, he faced the creature, a mere shadow prowling around him.
Shadow!
Hugo kicked himself. Attion called him a shadow demon. Yes, it writhed around everyone here, but it had always been his to control.
The beast chuckled as if sensing his intentions.
Hugo forced himself to calm. He was a warrior. He could fight this thing. He bent his knees and circled it. The creature mirrored him, its mouth stretching into a parody of a grin. Black saliva ran down its scaled lips, dripping onto its chest. Whilst he moved, Hugo concentrated on the shadow. It was then he felt it. A flicker of warmth in his chest. It was weak but it was there. Diamond’s magic. That merest spark he had taken from her when he took her blood, when he became hers.
The Lord of Chaos may have taken his body and his magic, but he had not been looking for Diamond’s.
Hugo’s resolve hardened. In his hand appeared a shadowy blade. It was small and barely there, but it was better than nothing. The creature extended its wings and spun. Simultaneously, Hugo slashed that dagger of shadow across the creature’s wings. The creature’s talon sliced through Hugo’s skin, splaying open his flesh.
Where Hugo expected blood to pump from his wound, there was nothing, only pain.
The creature stopped in its tracks, opened its arms, flung its head back and inhaled Hugo’s yell.
Hugo did not stand around; clutching his side, he darted around the creature and sprinted away. He had mere seconds. Panicking at the presence of the creature, other souls began to scream. It snapped open its eyes and found another, weaker victim.
Hugo ran until his lungs burned and his feet were nothing but a slippery mess.
Get to the light. Reach the goddess, urged his dragon.
Hugo swore, wishing he could fly, only now acknowledging the stumps on his back and the pain in his heart. He roared as he remembered how Thorn had carved off his wings, leaving him broken and bleeding. It had been easy for the darkness to swallow him whole. As if his anger and grief had summoned it, another creature appeared in front of him.
This time, Hugo forced the shadow at his fingertips to obey. A dagger appeared in each hand. He grunted, trying to command it to stay, to become more solid.
He met the creature head on, calling on every trick and manoeuvre Tallo had ever taught him. Within minutes they were both bleeding, shadow leaking from their wounds as if it were blood.
Hugo was learning how these things fought—viciously and with anger and greed. It was not devious or clever. It wanted only his pain. It wanted only to feed, to sustain its own existence and that of its master.
Hugo ducked, kicked and slashed. Without the weight of his wings, he was off balance and vulnerable, learning just as much about his own ethereal body as he was about his enemy.
It was not enough.
The creature’s strength was immense.
The blade Hugo brought down landed upon the armour on its shoulder, bouncing out of Hugo’s grip. Hugo swiftly pivoted and used his other blade to swing at the vulnerable spot of flesh at the front of its neck. As his blade cleaved into it, the creature reached around with its wing and sliced its talon down Hugo’s back. Agony tore through him. No matter how hard he tried to hold in his screams, he could not.
The creature speared him with its clawed hands and opened its jaws, breathing in the screams that poured from Hugo. When it had taken every bit of Hugo’s pain, it tossed him aside.
Hugo sprawled upon the stony ground of Chaos, waiting for the vortex that would end him. He closed his eyes, imagining large violet eyes and long silver hair. He reached for the small part of Diamond that he could touch, the only thing that could grant him comfort and bring beauty and purpose to him in such a desolate place. That tiny bit of magic that was their soul bond sparked to life, joyful at being acknowledged. Warmth invaded his wounds, healing him, knitting his body back together.
Pushing himself upright, Hugo heeded his dragon. Staggering to his feet, he ran towards the glow in the distance.
Time became lost to Hugo. Whenever despair won and he wanted to give in, a creature would come for him. But with each agonising defeat he suffered he grasped onto Diamond’s tiny gift of magic, and the piece of her soul that lived inside his; each time, they healed his broken bones and ripped flesh before a vortex could claim him.
In the darkness and cold of Chaos, he fought, naked and exhausted; when nothing but screaming and despair filled his ears, he remembered his purpose and his promise to return to her. He tried desperately to tell Diamond how much he loved her, to tell her to fight for her lands and her people. Not knowing if Diamond could hear him was a different sort of agony.
He grimaced as another razor sharp stone cut his foot. He would find a way to return to Diamond, to join his soul with hers again, even if he had to endure an eternity of Chaos to do it.
Chapter 22
The village was eerily quiet. Dread raised the hairs on the back of Diamond’s neck and fingers of fear crept up her spine. Birds, which had returned to the ravaged forest, did not twitter here. The only sound was the wind rustling through the branches of the fir trees. There were no voices, no laughter, no animals, no signs of life at all. It was ghostly and utterly wrong.
It was one of many villages they had discovered, but something warned Diamond away from this one.
Small dwellings built of wood and mud sat in a large clearing, separated by a small dirt road, a road that led towards the coast one way and into the forest the other way. Along the roadway, carts of rotting produce and fish stood abandoned or overturned.
Diamond and her companions all wrinkled their noses as the stench blew towards them on the breeze.
Attion swore under his breath.
Diamond hated that she knew what had happened to these people. Ragor’s army had been here. They were likely all dead. She cou
ld only hope that they had been some of the souls she had released from captivity to find their true place in Eternity.
“Come on. We need to see if there is anything we can use,” she stated and headed out of the treeline.
Attion and Otekah followed silently.
The skin on the back of Diamond’s arms prickled uneasily, but they needed to look around. They needed supplies and food, if there was any to be found—though looking at the carts, it seemed unlikely.
Doors and window shutters hung off their hinges, hinting at the violence with which this village was attacked. Behind the row of houses and tiny shops lining the main street, Diamond spotted a small cottage whose door and windows looked intact. Hesitating, she studied it. It was probably a better bet for blankets, clothes and food than the buildings that appeared trashed. She pulled her small blade and headed towards the cottage.
Dirt crunched under her boots as she crept up the front steps. She carefully lifted the door latch. Her heart banged in her chest as she pushed it open. Loosening her limbs but tensing her core, she readied herself to fight. She looked inside.
Nothing.
No sound. No attack. Nothing.
Dust motes swirled around, disturbed by the new flow of air.
Much to the chagrin of Attion and Otekah, she stepped inside before they reached the steps.
“You’re supposed to wait for us, my queen,” Attion scolded her.
Rolling her eyes she promptly informed him, “My lack of magic has not stolen my ability to fight, Attion. You know I can fight better than most warriors, and I will not be mollycoddled or followed everywhere I go—it will drive me mad,” she hissed.
Attion growled, his eyes flashing greener than she had ever seen them. “Your safety is my responsibility. And you are a queen; surviving to secure help for your people is yours,” he chastised her.
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