Electricity crackled in the darkness as Everly slowly lowered her arms. The charred remains of her sister sunk into the mud, the scent of burned flesh hanging in the air as the smoke slowly dissipated.
“It has her,” she said. “The God has Raelynn.”
There was no fear in her eyes. No despair. Nothing but grim resignation.
“There’s no more time,” she said. “We have to keep going. We have to kill It.”
The air shimmered around her, waves of heat emanating from her. As I stepped closer, she wrapped her arms around me, and for a moment, I felt the dread in her heart. The bitter acknowledgment that after everything, this could be the end.
The end of our journey. The end of us.
My entire being demanded that I take her away from here. Save her. Protect her. Even if it angered her, she would forgive me eventually. She would see that I had no other choice.
A snarl ripped out of me as I held her, and she looked up, meeting my eyes. “We’ll face It together, Callum,” she said. “As we were always meant to. You waited two thousand years for this.”
“No,” I said. “I waited two thousand years for you. To hear your voice again. To see your face. To touch you.” My fingers stroked over her cheek, tucking back a strand of her long hair. Her scent surrounded me, and it was different than it used to be, but I couldn’t determine why. Part of my own scent had melded with hers, becoming one and the same. “For so long, you haunted me. The familiar face of a stranger in a hundred lifetimes. As if we were always circling each other, two planets in cosmic alignment, thrown into a continuous loop by the power of one another. I waited for you, before I even knew it was you I was waiting for.”
I kissed her forehead, and said, “To my last breath, I’ll fight for you. Beyond this life, beyond death, I’ll love you always.”
“I love you. My guardian. My demon. My warrior. We’ll find our way out of the dark. Your war will end. You’ll lay down your weapons. We’ll have peace.”
Onward we went into the dark depths of the mine.
Old wooden framing, covered with sprouting mushrooms, supported the narrow tunnels. There were bones, ancient and bleached, some still wearing the ragged clothes they died in. Miners, trapped here over a hundred years ago. Everly’s fire lit our way, but even my sharp eyes couldn’t see far in this oppressive darkness.
Strange cries echoed in the tunnels. The howls, clicks, and growls of numerous Eld creatures. The God’s rotten magic made their existence possible, and they were gathered within Its den like vultures eager for scraps. Everly’s flame would occasionally shine in the eyes of a beast lurking ahead, but they swiftly fled from us.
The ground rumbled around us, tremors running through the walls. Everly stopped, staring at the ceiling with wide eyes as pebbles dropped around us.
“How stable do you think these old tunnels are?” she said.
“Not stable enough. We need to keep moving.”
The tunnels went on endlessly. Twisting and turning, up and down. We at last came to a massive shaft, stabilized with wooden framing. Old, rickety ladders led further down into the dark. The salty stench of seawater emanated from below.
With Everly on my back, I climbed down. Water dripped all around us, trickling into the unknown depths. Everly sucked in her breath sharply, her grip on me tightening, and I paused. “What’s wrong?”
“I can feel the God,” she whispered. “It’s close. Like fingernails on the inside of my skull.” She kept taking deep, slow breaths as she strengthened her mental defenses. “It knows I’m here.”
We reached the next level of the mine, and as soon as Everly’s feet were on solid ground again, she leaned her hand against the wall of the tunnel, clutching her stomach as she closed her eyes.
“It’s just nausea,” she said. “My head is vibrating. We’re close, Callum. Very close.”
She straightened slowly, swallowing hard. She reached for the enchanted blade on her belt and drew it from its sheath, before continuing determinedly down the dark tunnel ahead.
The path sloped downward, and Everly’s light stretched ahead of us, illuminating a dead end. The tunnel had collapsed, massive rocks blocking our way. Everly frowned, stepping forward to lay her hand against the stones.
“There’s something on the other side,” she said, closing her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again and stepped back. She widened her stance, gulping in deep breaths.
She shoved her hands forward against the pile of rocks. They exploded outward, all but the largest boulders removed from our way by the force of her magic. I cleared the larger stones myself, bracing my shoulder against them to shove them aside and open the way into the cave beyond.
The cavern we stepped into was massive, filled with a strange gray light that didn’t seem to have a source. A large pool of pitch-black water stood before us, the surface as still and smooth as glass. Old mining equipment, rusted and rotting, was discarded here. Wooden crates were stacked in a pile, stained with age, covered with fungal growths.
“Someone else was here,” she said. “Do you smell them?”
I did. The scent of human fear hung heavily in the air, along with the subtle smell of blood. As we rounded the pool, Everly crouched down beside a small pair of boots and wet, blood-stained pants. Partially buried in the mud beside them was an old folded piece of paper, and Everly carefully held it up.
“Leon’s sigil,” she said. “From the grimoire.” She clutched it against her chest, eyes closed, her head shaking slowly. “Raelynn was here…she was here…” She stood, looking all around the cavern. “Where could she have gone? It must have…fuck, Callum, It must have already taken her.”
“Stay calm,” I warned her. “And keep your voice down.”
This entire space felt eerie, like something suspended outside of reality. The more I looked around, the more certain I was that something was very wrong here. The air was too still; the silence was uncanny. Even the smells that should have been present — wet dirt, stagnant water, damp rocks — were absent.
This place was a mockery; a stage without all its props.
Everly walked to the edge of the pool and knelt, staring into its depths. She turned her head, leaning down, frowning as she listened.
“What is it?” I said. I didn’t like her being that close to the pool. I didn’t like being here at all. I’d faced numerous gods, but I hadn’t felt like this since I last faced them in Hell. “Be careful, Everly.”
“I can hear something. It’s…” She leaned closer to the water, and alarm shot through me.
“Everly…”
Her nails dug into the soil, her fingers clenching as her eyes widened. “Screaming. I hear screaming.”
With a shrieking sound like metal being torn apart, the pristine surface of the pool burst. Gargantuan tentacles burst from the water as a massive form filled the cavern. The walls cracked as reality fractured around us. I leapt forward, seizing her before she could be struck, and curled my wings around her as we hit the ground and skid through the mud.
A roar, loud enough to feel like it would split my head in two, shook the ground. Above us, the mutated body of the God flailed, tentacles writhing. Its limbs clawed at the stone as hundreds of eyes blinked and rolled across its repulsive form. With every howling shriek, the very fabric of this dimension shuddered, ripping like wet paper, exposing swirls of iridescent color that undulated with microscopic strings.
“Brace yourself, Everly!” I shouted, but my voice barely carried over the God’s roaring as we scrambled to our feet. Its body was constantly changing, morphing; Its interdimensional being unable to fully manifest.
Everly flung up her arm and the boulder beside her jutted upward, barely shielding us both from one of the tentacles as it whipped toward us. It shattered the rock, sending shards flying.
“You’ve come to me at last, witch!” The God’s voice was contorted, as if hundreds of voices were all screaming at once. “You’ll make a fine vessel when your soul is consumed!”
Its mouth gaped open, revealing a horrifying sight: a bulbous growth within Its throat, comprised of writhing, shrieking bodies. Contorted faces screamed, rotten hands grasped at the air, broken limbs sticking out at every angle.
Everly sprinted, dodging flailing tentacles as I took to the air, manifesting two large blades of aether, one in each hand. I flung one first, then the other, aiming toward the mass in Its gaping throat. The blades struck their target and the God bent backward, roaring in pain.
As Everly ran around the pool, she kept one hand outstretched toward its surface, rapidly muttering under her breath. The water was swiftly freezing solid, the frost creeping up the God’s slimy gray skin. As she dodged under the undulating tentacles, she slashed her knife toward them, opening vicious but shallow wounds in the God’s limbs.
“Petulant cunt!” the Deep One roared. “You will join your kin in my belly, hellion! Even your bravest warriors beg for release from their suffering.” It laughed, the sound echoing around the chamber as I dipped and dodged through the air. A distorted limb swiped toward me, claws the size of tree trunks slicing through the air.
Searing pain ripped through my wing and suddenly I was falling, crashing to the ground as my blood spattered across the dirt. My wing was torn open, my skin swiftly knitting itself back together, but the God’s claws were still descending.
Fire blazed over my head, the heat of it so great I had to turn my face away. Flesh was seared away, melting into putrid black slime that dripped around me like tar. Everly stood only a few yards away from me, arms outstretched, teeth bared as she conjured her fire. She maintained it until I leapt up and away, flinging herself to safety behind a boulder as the God’s attention turned to her.
“Foolish girl!” Its voice reverberated through the cavern. “Your petty magic cannot harm me.” Its flesh was rapidly reforming, but Its skin was still reddened and raw.
It was a liar.
Despite my aching wing, I took to the air again, determined to distract the creature so Everly could have her chance.
“Channel your magic through the blade!” I shouted, swooping over her head as I dodged another attack. The walls shook, massive stones falling from the ceiling. Everly had to move quickly, teleporting across the chamber before a boulder could crush her.
But she teleported directly into the path of one of the creature’s whipping tentacles.
She couldn’t move quickly enough.
Nor could I.
The tentacle struck her with an audible crunch of breaking bones. She flew back, hurtling through the air until she struck the wall and tumbled limply to the ground. The enchanted blade flew from her hand, spinning end over end until it struck the rocky ground and slid to the edge of the pool — then fell into the black water.
“Everly!” I flew to her side, dragging her out of the way before another tentacle could crush her completely.
Her skin was…cold.
“Everly!”
Her head lolled in my arms. Her blue eyes were dull, glassy as they stared at nothing.
The God’s laughter was like claws ripping through my ears.
“Her soul has fled, hellion!” It cackled. “Her body will be repurposed for My own ends. Can you smell it? Can you feel it?” The God leaned down, Its gaping jaws spewing hot laughter in my face. “Can you feel your spawn dying inside her?”
“You’re a liar!” My chest felt like it was caving in. This couldn’t be.
No.
No, no, fucking no!
The God’s massive tentacle descended, and I had to move too quickly to carry Everly with me. I flew into the air, an agonized scream tearing out of me as my fangs elongated, my veins running black as my body was consumed with shadow.
It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t.
She couldn’t be…
The cry that roared out of me shook the cavern walls. It stripped my throat raw. I couldn’t bear the pain — I wanted to tear my own heart from my chest to make it stop. All sense left me; my desire for self-preservation fled.
All that remained was fury. Agony. Hatred deeper than the cosmos.
I perched on a massive column of stone, facing the God as I conjured a blade in my hand, twice as long as I was tall. It felt as if I was splitting apart, my mind and body in disarray. All I could see was Everly’s eyes, the light gone from them, blood staining her lips.
The God was shrieking with laughter as the walls of the cave dissolved. Nameless colors swirled around us, sparking with long streaks of lightning. In the chaos, silhouettes of impossible architecture flashed — nameless shapes, imperceivable expanses.
Survival did not matter. My life was already gone.
Death was calling, and my time had come to answer.
But I would not go alone.
