by Linsey Hall
His gaze clung to Sylvi, the only familiar thing here. His chest hurt with love for her. It was an old love, he knew that. They’d known each other a long time. He was certain of it.
Wasn’t he?
“Sylvi.” His voice broke as he pulled her to him. He kissed her, hot tears spilling down his cheeks. He thought the sensation was unfamiliar, but he couldn’t be sure.
She kissed him ravenously, desperately, then pulled away and backed up, tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Go.” He pushed her away. “We need all the time we have.”
She nodded and retreated. He turned to the tear in the sky, his chest aching. He focused his will on drawing up the flame that would cauterize the wound in the aether. Immortal Fire was immensely powerful. He prayed to the fates that it could do this.
He forced the flame from his hands, sending great jets into the sky. As soon as the water began to sizzle, he held his breath. The steam became so great that he couldn’t see the laceration in the sky.
Shadow fell over him and he glanced backward. Sylvi stood in the distance, her staff pointing toward him. Vines and moss had risen up at her command, forming a canopy over him meant to absorb the mist that fell upon him from the sky.
She was protecting him.
It gave him a burst of hope and energy that he directed toward the flame. It sucked the strength from him until he finally ran dry. He gasped for breath, grateful for Sylvi’s canopy of greenery.
When the mist had finally dissipated, he could see that the wound that tore through the aether into Hades was gone.
The waterfall was gone.
Sylvi’s footsteps pounded behind him. He turned. She flung herself into his arms.
“How are you?” Her gaze raced over his.
“I’m not sure.” He prodded his memory, finding more blank, burning spaces, but at least he still knew who she was.
He turned to look toward the lake, hoping to see it draining away down the river. Their plan all hinged on the lake being shallow enough to drain away quickly and be absorbed by the plants.
Sylvi’s head turned as well.
“It’s not changing,” she said. She swayed against him. “But we need to go. My mind is so fuzzy that I’m afraid I won’t be able to navigate us to an exterior wall.”
“I don’t know if it will matter, if the lake is draining so slowly. The vines will have strength for a long while yet.” The lake remained as high as ever. Lakes drained slowly, but with so much greenery to drink the water, he’d hoped it would be quicker.
It was a special kind of torture to know that they had almost made it. Because of Sylvi’s cunning and skill, they’d had advantages no god would ever have within the labyrinth.
But it hadn’t been enough.
Over her shoulder, his gaze caught on a withered black tree that struggled to survive near the lake’s edge. It had been hidden behind the waterfall that had flowed from the portal.
An ash tree. Though he couldn’t remember most of his life, the interaction with Yggdrasil burned bright. It was one of his most recent memories, and rage at the world tree for his loss cemented the memory in his mind.
Weariness and despair emanated from the tree, so similar to what had surrounded Yggdrasil.
He stepped back from Sylvi and grabbed her hand. “Come on.” He led her toward the tree.
“That tree is what Yggdrasil gave the labyrinth.” He pointed to the small tree. “It feels exactly like he did. Despairing, with an utter lack of will to continue believing in the gods. A lack of will to continue with life as the Ancient One knows it.”
She touched a small branch, bending it until it broke. “It’s dead. Despite all the water, it’s dead.” She shivered. “It feels hopeless. Lost.”
“That’s what inspired Yggdrasil to create the labyrinth. He’d lost hope in the gods. In the world. That’s why this tree is dead.”
“Evil bastard. He deserves to be dead.” Anger rang in Sylvi’s voice. Forgiveness wasn’t her strong suit, and Yggdrasil’s crimes were already impossible to forgive.
A thought nagged at Logan’s mind. With the lake still sitting here, they needed a plan to escape. This tree had been used to create the labyrinth. It was the piece of himself that Yggdrasil had given, and therefore it held great power. Could it be used to save them?
Purpose cleared the fog from Logan’s mind. Fear over losing his memory had partially paralyzed his higher reasoning. Terror for Sylvi narrowed his focus. He had to think. To remember Yggdrasil and what he’d lacked. And what he needed, so that he could fix this damned tree.
“Yggdrasil is the world tree. Neither good, nor bad. And not inherently evil. Above all, the world tree is life, not death or destruction. We have to give the tree what it needs to live, to shed the corrupt disease that fouls it. Once it lives, we’ll use the Retaliator’s heart to speed up time. It will grow huge like Yggdrasil and drink all the water in the labyrinth. Then you’ll be able to escape through the wall once they are no longer fueled by the river.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s—That’s genius. If it works. But how? What that tree needs is hope. The will to survive. How do we give that to a tree? Where do we find it?” She looked at him, her gaze as dark with hopelessness as the trees blackened bark.
A terrifying sense of purpose filled Logan’s chest. Pride and fear fought within him, neither the victor. “In me. I, Loki, am hope. Of all the gods, I am the unbending, single-minded will to fight against terrible odds. I am determination and drive personified. It’s what ruined things for us when I pushed you aside to accomplish my goals. But it will be what saves you.”
Sylvi shook her head frantically. “Don’t sacrifice yourself for me!”
She was right. There was no way he could come back from pouring that much of himself into the tree. Would he lose all his will and determination if he gave it to the tree? Was he destined to lose not just his memory and his mind, but the core of who he was?
A harsh sob broke from Sylvi’s chest and she clutched at his shirt.
Even if he did lose everything, it had to be done. It all became so obvious the more he thought about it. So many of their efforts had failed, but this would not.
“When I was Loki, Yggdrasil put some of his hope into me. His hope that I would rise up against the gods and show them the error of their ways. Ultimately, I failed. Yggdrasil cannot take back the hope that was placed in me, but I can give it back. Along with determination and will to continue. To hope for the future. The tree will grow and suck up the rest of the water from the river Lethe. And Yggdrasil’s dark magic will break.”
Sylvi drew in a shuddering breath, ruthlessly composing herself before his eyes. Though even present-day memories of her were beginning to slip from his mind and leave aching holes, her ability to push aside her pain and continue in the face of terrible odds didn’t surprise him.
She was a warrior. It shone so bright through her that she must have always been, even if he couldn’t remember it. And he would see to it that she lived to fight another day.
She grabbed his collar and shook him, her expression fierce. “We’ll do this. Because you’re right. It’s the only way. And you’re a fucking hero. But I will drag you from here when it is over. And I will fix you. I will make you remember us.”
“You won’t be able to. I’m not just losing memories of us, but of myself. I’ll be a shell.”
Her face crumpled as tears poured from her eyes. “I will fix you.”
He cupped her face, knowing it was the last time he would look into her eyes and recognize her. “I love you, Sylvi. I’m sorry I didn’t come for you sooner.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We have a future.”
He could see in her face that she didn’t believe what she said. Logan wondered if he looked different to her, if the vacantness that was starting to creep in at the edges of his mind was becoming apparent on his face. He was barely holding onto a few scraps of memories of her and the golden,
overwhelming feeling that he loved her.
He prayed she’d remember him. According to the spell on the labyrinth, he should be forgotten by everyone who’d ever heard of him. But perhaps their love would help him cling in her memory.
He pulled her toward him and kissed her, pouring everything he felt into it. It was over too soon, but even the knowledge of what exactly he was supposed to do with the tree was disappearing. They were out of time.
He pulled away and leaned his forehead against her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Her voice broke around tears.
He stepped back and grabbed her hand, then turned to face his end.
Sylvi followed Logan toward the tree, stumbling through her tears. She sucked in a shuddering breath and dragged her sleeve over her eyes. If he was making this sacrifice, she had to hold it together to complete her part.
She stared at his back as he led her the last bit of the journey to the tree.
They truly were running out of time. She had moments left with the man she’d loved for centuries. They’d wasted almost all that time. And no matter how hard she vowed that she’d bring his mind back from wherever it went, she had no idea how to do that.
A harsh sob threatened to escape her throat. She swallowed it as they pulled to a stop in front of the twisted black tree. It was only a bit taller than her. She shouldn’t hate it. It wasn’t evil.
But she couldn’t help herself.
Logan didn’t look at her as he dropped her hand and widened his stance. She knew he worried that he had only moments left before he was lost and if he looked at her, if he touched her, she might not let him go.
“Remember us, Sylvi,” he said.
She frantically blinked tears away and looked at him. He’d extended his hands toward the tree as he did when he manipulated Immortal Fire. Instead of fire, a bright blue light glowed around his hands. His face was creased in concentration, his black eyes bright with determination.
The blue light stretched out from his hands. It reached the tree and clung, pulsing and glowing until the tree shimmered with color and eventually, with life. Bark turned brown and little leaves sprouted.
Sylvi dragged her gaze toward Logan and stifled her gasp of horror. He looked nearly gray, his face sagging and his expression almost lost. He forced more blue light into the tree and it started to grow slowly, brown branches and green leaves reaching toward the sky.
It was all happening too slowly. The tree needed to grow faster and it needed to do it without sucking out everything that made Logan who he was. The tree needed more than just the wind of time.
An idea came to her. She lunged forward and shoved the heart of the Retaliator deep into the tree’s trunk. Splinters pierced her skin and her knuckles burned, but when she withdrew her hand, the tree began to grow so fast she had to stumble back.
Time had taken over within the tree, accelerating until it was more than a hundred feet above them. The lake was rapidly disappearing. Losing the heart would make it harder for her to break through the exterior wall, but maybe it had saved a little of Logan’s memory.
She grabbed Logan, whose spell had broken, and dragged him back. He wouldn’t move on his own and she had to force him to follow her.
Logan had given all his will and determination to the tree. There was nothing left. He stood in the middle of the chaos, his face blank. A true shell of himself.
She crushed the wail that fought to escape her and grabbed his hand and tugged. “We have to go!”
He just stared at her, comprehending nothing. She pulled harder and he stumbled forward. Fates, it was hard to drag a man as big as he.
Sylvi spun and tried to run toward the labyrinth walls, desperate to find her way to the edge. She dragged him with her, a dead weight that stumbled along. She was going even slower than she had been on the way in. His weight was an iron chain about her, straining her muscles and the breath in her lungs. But she would never, ever leave him.
The breath shuddered in and out of her lungs as she ran, fear for Logan and herself breaking through.
Would she ever make it out in time? At this rate, no. They were moving so damn slowly without his cooperation.
But she couldn’t leave him.
They finally reached the towering walls of the labyrinth that surrounded the clearing that had held the portal and Yggdrasil’s tree. She spared a glance behind her.
The tree loomed, two hundred feet tall at least. Its branches speared the sky. She turned back to the labyrinth and followed her memory. She prayed she wouldn’t have to stop often to re-consult the Architect’s knowledge in her staff. They just didn’t have time.
“Come on, Logan!” she yelled, tugging him along, her arms burning from the strain.
She felt like she’d been going miles when the ground began to crumble beneath her feet. She stumbled and looked down. The tree’s roots were breaking through. The labyrinth wall to her left broke apart, great stones falling and crashing around her.
Without her ability to aetherwalk, the stones would trap her here forever. Or Logan, if they fell on him. Distant roars sounded from other parts of the labyrinth as walls crumbled.
The great tree’s roots were destroying the foundation of the labyrinth. They’d be crushed beneath the walls before they ever neared the exit. It brought nightmare memories of when the Architect’s domain had crumbled around them.
Logan had saved her that time. She had to save him now.
But how? She didn’t have the magic to restore the walls of the labyrinth before they crushed her.
Or did she? The thought suppressed the panic whirling in her mind. To fix the labyrinth, they’d used Yggdrasil’s tree and the Retaliator’s heart, but she hadn’t used the Architect’s gift.
She needed the map to find her way out, but with giant stones threatening to crush her with every step, she needed to stop them more. Her idea wasn’t perfect and she had no idea if it would work, but she had to try.
She drew her staff from the aether and consulted the map one last time, memorizing as many turns as she could. She then touched the tip of it to one of the still-standing labyrinth walls. It took her precious seconds as the world collapsed around her, but she managed to gather her focus enough to force the Architect’s knowledge into the walls of the labyrinth.
When the last of the Architect’s gift had flowed from her staff, she opened her eyes. A quick glance at Logan showed him as mindless as before. She forced despair aside and began to run again, dragging him with her and praying that the Architect’s knowledge would work to restore her creation.
She hated the maze that had stolen her love from her, but she didn’t want to be buried beneath its rubble for eternity.
Soon, the walls stopped crumbling. As she heaved herself and Logan along the path, she realized that not only had the walls stopped falling, they were rebuilding themselves.
Into something new. Through the sweat that dripped into her eyes, the stone looked gray rather than brown as it had been, and smooth rather than rough. The plants that had been fed by the river Lethe were falling away, shriveled and dead without its dark energy. In their place were beautiful stone arches and turrets, walls became buildings and courtyards. Elegant stairs led to second story balconies.
The change was mind boggling and fast, but Sylvi never stopped running, praying that her memory of the map would get her at least close to an exterior wall.
Eventually, the fog that had hovered over her mind dissipated. There were still burning holes in her memory, but the memory loss had stopped.
Did that mean that evil spells on this place had finally failed? She stumbled to a stop, desperate for a reprieve. Her lungs and muscles burned. She no longer remembered which turns to take, but maybe it wouldn’t matter.
Sylvi turned and pulled Logan toward her, wrapping her arms about his stiff body. He felt like a mannequin in her arms. No memory, no will. Nothing but the face she loved without all the things that made him special.
> Tears poured from her eyes as she tried to control her breathing. She focused on the lawn outside her house, desperate for her aetherwalking to finally work. She couldn’t aetherwalk to Moloch, but perhaps she could aetherwalk away? Because of the sheer amount of magical energy required, protected places usually only barred entry, not exits. And with the labyrinth’s dark magic destroyed, it might work.
Her heart soared when she felt the familiar pull. Freedom was so close! When she opened her eyes, she stood under the night sky at the university, her arms wrapped around Logan.
Please let him be back to normal. Home felt so normal that he must be too. She pulled back and looked at him. His gaze was lost, staring somewhere into space.
Grief almost sent her to her knees. She clung to the cold bite of the air, the comforting familiarity of home. Anything to keep her from breaking down.
He’d sacrificed himself for her.
And she’d failed to save him in return.
She stepped back from him, utterly unsure of what to do and so heartbroken it felt like her chest was a barren wasteland. He walked away, heading toward her woods. Just as Sylvi was about to set off and grab him, his familiar green magic swirled around him.
Moments later, he was a falcon, flying off through the dark night toward places unknown. Instinct, not memory, must have propelled his magic.
This time, she did fall to her knees. Sobs shuddered out of her. Loki was gone. Well and truly gone. He’d taken a piece of her with him.
As she watched him fly into the darkness, she understood that the terrible magic of the labyrinth hadn’t broken him entirely. It should have, but it hadn’t. He might have lost his mind and everything that made him who he was—his will, determination, humor, and cleverness—but he wouldn’t be held captive by anything.
He could still fly free.
He was protecting himself the best way he knew how. And she was glad for it. But that meant she didn’t even have a piece of him.
