Page 124 of Memory of Ashes

The crevice widened ahead of him until it swallowed the landscape for miles. He could either follow it down or turn around and go back. But what was there to go back to?

With each step, he descended deeper until the dark sky disappeared, leaving only rock veined with a luminescent glow. The tunnels were endless. The whispers echoed louder within them. Where would they lead?

The smell of decay grew stronger the further he went. There had been no smell from this realm until now. He couldn’t stop himself from following it.

His foot slipped, throwing him against the rocks. He tumbled down through the narrowing passage until he struck the ground below. Breathing heavily, he came to a stop. The passages had opened into a cavern of jagged rock, filled with remains. The bones of thousands surrounded him.

His head swam; the whispers became louder until they were all he could think of. Their moans threatened to overwhelm him.

“Casyl.”

It was gentle, barely more than a breath.

His head snapped up, but the voice had disappeared. Was he going mad? Was he hearing things?

Then it returned, like an echo or a memory. It brought him to his knees. His vision blurred. The blue light beneath his skin flared.

“Amelia,” he whispered.

Was she here in this dark realm? She couldn’t be. He looked at the bones and his stomach lurched.

The feeling came as a wave of certainty. He didn’t know how or why, but he knew, the same way he knew the shadows obeyed him, that she was alive.

“I need to find a way out of here. I need to find her,” he breathed.

The shadows stirred eagerly around him, as if pulling him away from the sight of the tomb.

And for the first time since entering the Shadowlands, Casyl felt something more than fear.

Hope.

Chapter 30

Amelia

One month later

Amelia stood on the city walls, looking down at the land beyond. It was in eternal twilight. The sky had darkened gradually, as though the darkness had seeped from the gaping chasm in the earth and begun to consume the light.

Nothing seemed real. There was no joy or laughter. Death surrounded her. The stench was overwhelming as she walked the cobbled streets littered with tents.

The fae and humans had initially remained separate. The fae had opened the gates to save the surviving soldiers, forming an uneasy truce between them.

She understood their mistrust.

More of the smoke monsters had risen from the rifts in the earth, but they were content to wait, haunting the outside of the city walls as if something was stopping them. Amelia remembered how a scream had risen in her throat when they came close. Their tendrils of black smoke climbed the wall before being quickly withdrawn.

They rose from the rifts, almost gliding along the earth. Their forms were all different but equally terrifying, their true shapes distorted by the smoke enveloping them.

Despite the fae’s warnings, the humans had sent out a small group to attack one of the monsters. The black smoke had instantly smothered them, and their husk-like remains stood on the ground below, in the same position they’d died.

The human army’s numbers had dwindled to a few hundred—only slightly more than the fae’s. The fae had found a few remaining supplies in the palace and shared them with the human army, but even those would soon run out.

She wove between the ruins, avoiding the sick humans. She had tried to help them, but without knowing its cause, there was nothing she could do. None of the fae were affected.

She heard their voices before she saw them. They were fighting. Fae against human. This had happened multiple times over the past few weeks. With so many men trapped together, especially those who had been enemies, it was bound to happen. They had begun cooperating with each other; the shadow creatures were now their common enemy.

Tharos and General Atwood broke up the fight before the fae caused too much damage.