It shifted, rolling loose pebbles and leaves across the flattened grass. Within seconds, a small opening appeared in front of us. The dirt sunk in, creating a hole that widened just until it was big enough for one of us to fit through. As the debris cleared, the grass angled downward like a ramp, andthe faint glow of light poured out through the darkness. It looked like a torch hanging along a wall in the distance.
“You will find what you need down there, but not what you want.” The seer took a step away from the tunnel, motioning for us to walk forward. But as Kaiden took the first step, one of her hands wrapped around his arm. “Forgiveness, My Lord. Not only for yourself, but you must also forgiveher…”
“Forgive her for what?” he asked, the shadows receding just an inch at the mere mention ofher. Morrigan.
Before she responded, her eyes began to glow. The grey turned to white as they shone against Kaiden’s suffocating dark aura. Her voice dropped to a strange ethereal whisper.
“It began with seven, and it must end with seven.
So whispers the wind in the halls of the heavens.
Count not the stars that shiver and fall.
For one lights the path, and one ends it all.
When shadows grow long and the seventh bell tolls,
the circle will tighten around wayward souls.
Seek not the dawn when the night grows riven.
It began with seven… and itmustend with seven.”
When the light disappeared from her eyes, the old woman turned and walked into the trees without another word. I stared, dumbfounded, at Naaz and Kaiden, waiting for one of them to speak, but they were about as speechless as I felt.
“Well,” I broke the silence, “that was fucking creepy.”
Both Naaz and I held a torch in our hands, but Kaiden remained in the shadows.
We had been walking for a few minutes, greeted only by silence and empty halls. Built into the walls were rooms that resembled cells. Only, instead of iron bars, metal doors stood in their place. We hadn’t found a single person inside any of them.
I didn’t know whether to be relieved that we hadn’t encountered anyone yet, or concerned.
With nothing else to listen to but my own mind, I couldn’t help but recount what had just happened before the entrance opened. Blood. I glanced at Kaiden’s back, his markings secreting a darkness that hovered like smoke above his shoulders. Kaiden’s blood.
“The blood of a god,” I whispered to myself.
“What are you going on about?” Naaz asked, quiet enough that Kaiden didn’t seem to hear.
I leaned in, hoping to keep our conversation private. “The seer had told Kaiden that only the blood of a god could open the tunnels.”
Naaz glanced up at Kaiden in front of us. “But his blood opened?—”
“Exactly.” I felt my limbs stiffen a little, suddenly feeling like the person before me—whom I had known for more than three hundred years—might have been hiding something from us. Something really fucking important. Because if what the seer said was true…
A loud thump echoed nearby, and all three of us stopped in our tracks. Someone was nearby. Neither Naaz nor I risked using our magic, not wanting the glow to reveal our position even more. Instead, we both reached for our daggers as Kaiden’s shadows slid down to the floor.
“Put out the torches,” Kaiden whispered over his shoulder.
It took only a single glance to extinguish the flames, quick enough for the light to not have been seen from my eyes. With Kaiden’s darkness consuming the tunnel, we followed closely behind, ready to draw our weapons at a moment’s notice.
As we grew closer to the sound, I could hear a faint groaning. Whoever it was sounded to be in pain. That wouldn’t matter for much longer. I was sure that Kaiden would end them before we even had the chance to ask any questions. Just as we reached the room it seemed to be coming from, Kaiden turned to peek inside, and his shadows dropped instantly.
“Kaiden?” I asked, whisper-yelling from behind him. “Kaiden, what is it?”
The whites of his eyes returned slowly as the darkness retreated, and he gaped into the room with an expression that made my blood feel cold in my arms.Is it her? Did he find her?
If it was, the look on Kaiden’s face made me almost not want to see for myself.
