by Krista Rose
“Look, it must have brought us here for a reason, right?” I gestured to the book still clutched under my arm. “We won’t find it by hiding out in here. Besides, we need to find out where we are. Then we can figure out how to get back.”
Tanner grumbled, but couldn’t argue with my logic. “Alright, fine. But let me go first.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the oldest, and the most expendable. And if anything happens to you, Kryssa will kill me anyway.”
Aillel opened her mouth to say something, then thought better of it and closed it again. Tanner stepped around her, steeling himself as he headed down the hallway. I followed close behind, with Aillel trailing behind us, her eyes wide and curious as she peered into the other cells as we passed them. Thankfully, they were all empty.
We ascended the moss-slick stairs to a pair of plain, closed wooden doors. Tanner took a deep breath before pushing them open. They creaked loudly, but didn’t topple from their hinges.
We were at the back of what looked like an enormous atrium. Huge black pillars rose out of the stone floor, holding up the oppressive ceiling that loomed above us. More than half of the room was dominated by a massive statue of a man holding a flame in his hand. Even in the greenish, flickering light of the sconces at his feet, I could see that his face was scarred as if he had been badly burned. It did little to hide his expression though: haughty and cruel, his marble eyes filled with malice and hatred.
My blood froze looking at him.
“Who- who the hell is that?” Tanner whispered, his voice shaking.
“Phenos,” Aillel answered. Her voice was hushed, as if she were afraid she might wake the statue. She cringed behind me, her back pressed hard against the doorframe. “The Burned One.”
I understood, and glanced down with wide eyes at the book clutched to my chest. “You- you said Temple of the Burned, and it brought us here. Tanner, we found it!”
“Quiet.” Aillel looked around nervously, though the atrium remained empty. “We do not know what might guard this temple still.”
“But don’t you see? If the book brought us here, maybe it can take us back!”
“No.” Tanner shook his head. “We can’t leave yet. If this is the Temple of the Burned, then I have to find Felice’s soul.”
“Tanner, I don’t think-”
“Please.” He looked at me, desperation etched into his features. “It was the whole point of us coming here. This might be my only chance.”
I sighed. “Alright, fine. What are we looking for?”
“The Pool of the Damned.” He took a step forward. “That’s where her soul will be.”
Our footsteps sounded too loud as we walked across the atrium, passing the giant statue of Phenos. His cruel eyes followed us, as if demanding to know why we were in his temple.
“Where do you think the Pool is?” I whispered to Aillel.
“I am not sure.” She looked as nervous as I felt. “This room looks like it is the inner sanctum. Only the priests would have had access, which means the cells we were in were where the priests kept their sacrifices. The Pool would be nearby in an antechamber, where supplicants could gain access but the priests could still guard it.”
I shuddered at the word sacrifices, then frowned. “How many people do you think would honestly offer their souls to become those things?”
“I do not know.” We had reached a door along the far wall, and she pushed it open to peer inside. She shuddered once, then drew the door closed again without stepping in. “When the Elder Gods first became corrupted, there were many who did not understand. They were accustomed to blindly following the Gods and the First Race, who ruled most of the world at that time. If Phenos had offered power and immortality to those willing to give up their souls…”
Tanner growled. “I still don’t understand why Felice would do it. I mean, I understand why, but not how she would find out how to go about it. It has to be more difficult to separate from your soul than just taking off a pair of boots.”
“Yes,” Aillel agreed. “There are rites that must be done, sacrifices that have to be made. Old, evil magics that have to be performed.” She shrugged at my curious look. “I like history.”
“What about this?” I held up the book. “Did you ever hear of anything like this?”
“I have been trying to remember. I feel like I read something once about a book that could travel between the worlds, protecting those that held it from the Abyss. But that was a long time ago.”
“Worlds?” Tanner repeated, opening a door and sticking his head in. He jerked back and closed it. “Definitely not that one.”
“Yes, worlds. Destiny’s Circle, the Worlds of Creation? Surely even Vadrani have heard the story.”
“We have. I just thought it was a myth.”
She shook her head. “No. Not a myth. The worlds exist, though I have noticed that your Book of the Sun Children tends to oversimplify its explanation of them, and it does not mention the Abyss at all.”
“Can you do better?” he asked, though I sensed it was more for the sound of her voice than any true desire to learn about the cosmos. “And what is this Abyss?”
“To explain it all would take several days.”
“We have time.”
“I will try then. You remember the story of the beginning of time, when Destiny wept and created five worlds from its tears, correct?”
“Yeah, I never really understood that.”
“It is perhaps a metaphor, or perhaps not. Primordiums are beyond even my understanding. However, it states that the worlds were aligned as a ring, each connected to the others through the portals we call World Gates. Most have come to think this is literal, that the worlds have to be close to each other, or at least visible in the night sky.”
“They aren’t?”
“Even if they were visible in the night sky, they would still be hundreds of thousands of miles away from us,” I explained, then jerked a shoulder at Aillel’s surprised look. “I like to figure out how things work, too.”
“Right.” She gave me a slight smile. “The worlds are actually even further away than we can see, orbiting other stars-”
“Stars?” Tanner asked, opening a set of wide, carved doors. The room beyond was shadowed and unwelcoming, but a faint light shown from under a door on the far side of it.
“Stars are actually distant suns.”
“Huh.” He nodded as we started across the room.
“The only way to access these worlds is by traveling through the Abyss,” she continued. Her eyes gleamed in the dark. “The Abyss is the space between the stars, a sort of bend in the fabric of reality. You can travel incredible distances within it. With the right protection, of course.”
“The right protection?”
“Remember the white light we traveled in to get here?”
“That was the Abyss?”
She nodded. “Somehow, the book protected us. Under normal circumstances the pressure of traveling through the Abyss would tear our minds apart. Mages and scholars learned that years ago, when those experimenting with World Gate travel kept going mad.”
“Fantastic.” Tanner made a face; illuminated only by the dim light of the far room, he looked like an evil gnome. “That proves what I’ve always thought. Books will melt your brain.”
We reached the far doors, and I braced myself before cautiously pushing on them. They slid open, revealing a large antechamber. Evil-looking gargoyles sat in niches along the walls, surrounding a marble-lined pool that stretched more than a fifty feet across the center of the room. The water was filled with glowing white lights, which I at first thought were some kind of exotic fish; as we drew closer, I saw human faces rippling across the surface of the water, and I realized that the lights were, in fact, souls. Trapped souls.
“The Pool of the Damned,” Aillel whispered.
We stared at it for a long moment in silence.
Tanner finally cleared his throat. “So,
um… what do we do now?”
TANNER
Temple of the Burned
Alyxen stared at me, his face blank. Aillel studied the chamber, avoiding my gaze. Out of the corners of my eyes, the statues ringing the room seemed to loom closer, their leering grins and grotesque faces sending chills down my spine.
Aillel finally spotted something behind us: a hidden table behind the doors we had entered through. She lifted a small glass jar from the center of it and held it out toward me.
I took the jar from her, looking first at it, then at the Pool. I sighed. “I’m going to have to go in there, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Alyxen and Aillel replied in unison.
“Great,” I muttered. “I just cleaned this shirt.”
Alyxen’s brows drew together. “Uh, Tanner…?”
“It was a joke, Lyxi. Honestly, you two need to lighten up, or this will be the worst near-death experience ever.”
Aillel rolled her eyes and flicked her fingers at me. “Get on with it already.”
“Yes, madam.” I gave her a slight bow. “Into the Pool of Creepy Lights I go.”
I strode to the edge of the water. Looking down into it, I almost lost my nerve as screaming, pain-filled faces emerged from the surface, staring at me with horrified eyes before sinking back into the strands of light. Every few moments, new faces would appear: men and women, young and old, Elf and human. It seemed that Phenos had had no preference in the souls he had collected.
I swallowed, praying that stepping into the Pool would not make me one of them. Then, bottle in hand, I waded in.
The water was cold, burning cold, stealing my breath and instantly numbing my skin. It was like diving into a mountain river in the middle of winter with no clothes on- something I immediately regretted and yet could do nothing about. My teeth chattered uselessly in my head.
The glowing lights swirled around my legs as if inspecting me. The faces that appeared on the surface seemed even more terrified, as if echoing my fear of becoming one of them. I tried to watch every face as it appeared, searching for the one that was familiar, belonging to the girl I had loved.
I reached the center of the Pool. Though the water still only reached my waist, it felt as if it had already closed over my head. The cold made it hard to breathe, and my hands shook so badly I thought I would drop the jar. I couldn’t remember what it meant to ever feel warm.
Everything in me was screaming to run, to get the hell out of this pond of ghosts, to flee from the temple of the insane god Phenos who had trapped them here. I wanted to grab the book from Alyxen and escape into the light of the Abyss. I wanted to be anywhere except for where I was.
Felice, I reminded myself. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to remember. It was difficult with the cold clawing at my body, but slowly details emerged: the way her blue eyes had sparkled when she laughed; her blonde hair curling around her face, loosened by our lovemaking; the vulnerable look she had given me when I had told her that I loved her, as if she wanted more than anything to believe what I said was true.
I remembered the day she had gone missing. I had felt as if the bottom of my world had disappeared, all the lights around me going dim. And then I had found her again, in the woods outside Herrill’s house, and she had at last admitted to the tragedies of her life. So much pain, buried within her, so much anger.
All released with the surrender of her soul.
She had killed her incestuous uncle and the bastard he had shared her with, and that I agreed with. I had dreamed many times of ways to bring the two men back to life so that I could kill them again more slowly. But slaughtering her brothers and parents? Preying on her own family, in some sick need for vengeance? The real Felice would not do those things, of that I was certain.
How can you be sure? My doubts whirled within me, eating away at my resolve as the cold ate away at my skin. You barely knew her. She lied to you, left her soul in this miserable gods-forsaken place, and then tried to kill you. Twice. How could you know that she is not really that person, even with her soul? What if you return her soul, and she still wants you dead?
My heart ached at the thought, but I squared my shoulders. I was not doing this for me, but for Felice. Because I did love her, even if she did not love me, even if she had never loved me. She still deserved better than to rot within her own skin, becoming little more than a ravening, witless monster.
I held on to that thought, took a deep breath, and lowered myself beneath the surface.
Under the water, everything was changed. The random spears of light transformed into true ghosts, clustered around me like glowing vultures around a half-dead beast. The water was so cold my jaw ached, and my lungs already longed for air.
Worst of all, I could feel my soul as it tugged against my skin, struggling to escape. It was a terrible, wrenching pain, tearing at my sanity and making me want to scream.
Let go, the ghosts whispered in my ears. Breathe in. There is no pain here.
Then why are you screaming? I wanted to shout at them, but kept my mouth shut. I was certain if I breathed in that awful water, I would be lost.
My lungs began to ache. My skin burned with cold. Agony pounded against my thoughts, blending with the voiceless murmurs of the souls.
Let go.
Breathe in.
No more pain.
Tanner.
The last voice caught my attention just as I had started to drift. I turned, my movements slowed by the icy water, and there she was: wraithlike and transparent, her eyes full of anguished sadness I had never seen before.
Why are you here? Her hair floated around her face as she pushed the other souls away.
Because I love you. The words were locked in my throat, but I prayed she could hear them anyway. Because I made a promise.
You cannot save me, Tanner. She gestured helplessly. I am already lost.
Bubbles escaped from my nose as my strength weakened. Black spots began to dance in front of my eyes. I needed air. Still, I stayed, staring at the soul of the girl I loved. I held the jar out toward her. Come with me.
You must go. Worry clouded the pain in her eyes. You will die.
No. More bubbles escaped. My lungs were on fire. The ghosts in the water stared at me, hunger burning in their eyes. Not without you.
Her face was torn with indecision. Tanner-
The black spots were blooming before my eyes. Even in my mind, her voice was growing dim. The voices of the lost souls grew, a soothing melody, urging me to accept my death.
No more pain. Let go.
No. Felice’s voice held a strength I had never heard. She swirled around me, driving the other souls away. Her face hovered before me for an instant, her lips mere inches from mine as she stared into my eyes. I hope you know what you are doing.
Then she dove into the jar, her glowing light trapped within it.
I pushed my numbed legs against the bottom of the pool, bursting through the surface with a huge splash. I coughed and heaved, dragging sweet air into my lungs as I struggled to wipe stinging water from my eyes. Waiting for me at the edge of the pool was Aillel and Alyxen, their expressions tense and afraid.
“I did it!” I held up the jar proudly, staggering on frozen legs toward them. Felice’s glowing light flickered within the jar like moonlight on water. “It wasn’t easy, but I found her!”
Their expressions did not change, and I realized with a plummeting sense of dread that they were staring behind me. I glanced back.
Ringing the edge of the Pool were seven gargoyles, their faces twisted, grotesque and gleeful, where there had been none before my submersion. As I stared, one of them slowly spread its wings, and another stretched its taloned fingers.
“Tanner.” Aillel’s voice shook as she drew my attention back to her. “Get out of the Pool.”
“Um, what are those?” I asked in what I thought was a remarkably calm tone. I began pushing through the water toward the edge.
“Fal’en. Living statu
es and guardians of the temple. They will rip us apart if we don’t get out of here.”
“Well, you know what they say.” Behind me, I heard the scrape of stone on stone, and bit back a whimper. “It’s not truly a bad day until you’re facing dismemberment.”
“Get out of the Pool, Tanner,” Alyxen repeated, his eyes wide and panicked.
My legs were too numb to move quickly. I staggered through the water, shivering and terrified, watching the anxiety grow on my friends’ faces. Alyxen knelt at the edge of the pool, holding the book out toward me. Aillel gripped his shoulder with white-knuckled fingers.
“Hurry,” she muttered. “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
“I’m trying,” I gasped. My breath was trapped in my lungs, as if I were still under the surface of the water. I clutched Felice’s soul jar to my chest, reaching out desperately toward the book with my free hand.
Three more feet… two more feet… one more…
I grabbed hold of the edge of the book, relief coursing through me. “Cedralysone,” I shouted-
-just as a stone-taloned hand descended onto my wrist.
The fal’en’s face was an inch from mine, cruelty engraved in every line of its stone face. I started to yell, even as the book flipped open and the familiar white light began to surround us.
Alyxen let go of the book and yanked the creature off my wrist. “Tanner-”
And then we were all sucked once more into the blinding white Abyss.
LANYA
7 Syrthil 578A.F.
Cedralysone
It was ridiculous. I paced around my bedchamber, my frustration all but vibrating off my skin. Two days had done little to curb my anger; if anything, the sly looks of the Court had inflamed it. I had been raised on a farm, so I had no illusion that my virginity held some mystical significance. And yet, how dare they bet upon my innocence, as if it were as meaningless as the coins lost against a few cards?
When I had expressed my feelings to Aleydis, he had listened, though his demeanor had remained one of unconcern. “I can abolish the betting, if you would prefer,” he had said with a shrug, “but I am afraid that it would gain us few friends. There is little to do in Cedralysone besides speculate and gossip. If I take that away from them…” He raised his hands helplessly.
