“Welcome, Lyvia,” the voice hissed, this time from behind.
I whipped my head to the deep, slippery sound and my blood raced. The hairs on my arm stood on end as I turned to him.
Where are you?My panicked voice sounded in my mind, but Tiberius was silent. I felt his uneasy response, but it was different. He was further away yet as close as he’d ever been.
The owner of the voice snaked closer. Death licked at the skin of my arms, bare and bleeding from the battle in the cave on Kayj. The cold drip of blood steeled me, snapping my senses into place.
“Hello, my empress,” the voice wheezed.
A chill chased the words through my bones, and suddenly, a distant horizon appeared. Black, rocky landscape sliced across a desolate, gray sky. I blinked, and the world flipped. The ashy sky was now an ocean of night, and the rocky landscape twisted into ominous thunderclaps, the clouds hunting from above. Bile rose to my throat as the world rolled over itself again, and I pinched my eyes shut, my head lightening.
The Obscura surged to my palms and anchored me to the sticky ground, the world around me finally slowing and coming in clearly.
Obsidian stones surrounded me, stretching needle-like branches through the gray fog hanging mere feet above my head, obscuring whatever lay above. Mist slithered over the ground, a living blanket of smoke and fumes hiding whatever I stood upon.
The darkness hissed, and I whipped my head around, coming face-to-face with twisting ribbons of ink, folding over and underneath each other like serpents of shadow and night.
Little tendrils of death stretched toward me, and the shadows living within my own veins dove into my chasm of power. They surged back up with a line of golden light, as if they’d grabbed the Transcindiel by hand to face the threat together.
The foreign shadows reeled as they hit the shield of darkness. The creeping tendrils of death snapped back into the twisting knot of power, recoiling and uncertain.
“Death and Rebirth,” the shadow whispered, twisting and stretching into a long, thin form.
Shadows curled over each other, and the power of death twisted itself into the shape of a tall man. His features sharpened by the second and I forced myself to take a breath. My boots twisted in the hidden, sticky ground as I braced myself.
“Welcome to the Abyss, Lyviánala Natara. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The outline of black lips curled into a sharp smile as his features began to ebb and flow, lightening and darkening as he took form. Elongated, pointed ears speared through straight inky hair draping over his shoulders. The pits surrounding his pupils lightened to an almost white as his skin faded to an ashy gray. A line of pointed teeth flashed against the tar-like tongue he slipped out.
Black robes draped over his form as the shadows fell into place in a sigh, the long curtains billowing past where his feet would have been and disappearing in a smoky cloud just beyond where he stood. They crossed over his chest, leaving his too-long, gray arms bare. Curled black talons hung off his fingers, resting upon the shallow curve of his arms as he crossed them. My eyes traced the newly formed skin, shadows still rolling over one another as they settled into place like nesting eels. My gaze finally landed on his.
My heart drummed steadily in my chest, a reminder that I was still alive, as I came eye to eye with the God of Death.
“Hello, Tynan.”
CHAPTER TWO
LYVIA
Threads created through bonded magic require a sacrifice that is not entirely understood by mortals.
– Bonded Magic, 18thlevel, Living Library.
Lyvia – Tynan’s Gate
Tynan’s tongue slipped out of his mouth, the black, three-forked tip lingering a little too long in the air. My powers reinforced the dark shield with more strength as I shoved a sliver of rising fear in their direction.
Where are you?I asked Tiberius. My stomach twisted while the seconds of not seeing him stretched to minutes. A reassuring wave of warmth flooded my chest, but no voice came. He was close. And though I couldn’t see him, I feltwhole.
“I have much to share with you,” Tynan whispered, as he moved closer. My hands raised on instinct, and I took a step back. My foot squelched into a deep puddle of whatever slime I stood in. The black talon of his forefinger lifted in my direction,and a surge of Obscura power whipped from my palm on its own accord, slapping his hand away.
Tynan paused and cocked his head, the gray whites of his eyes widening as he stared at the shadow coiling back into my palm.
“Curious,” he mused, turning his hand over and examining his long talons as they clicked and folded over his palm. “My siblings would be furious to know their powers were capable of changing allegiances. Though I suppose, after tens of thousands of years, forces like ours will change.”
His eyes stayed locked on his hands for a moment, and my chest constricted as the heaviness of the fog from above and mist from below closed in like a cage. I forced a breath.
“Where is Kellan Astraeus?” I asked, my voice coming out stronger than I felt.
