AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Iknow to expect a fall as soon as I step through the portal, but the force of it somehow takes me by surprise. Once again, I fail to protect myself from the impact, and land inelegantly on my ass and my left arm.
“Shit,” I hiss between gritted teeth, acutely aware that Frances is watching me. She shakes her head disdainfully, but thankfully I’m spared her comments.
I scramble to my feet and take a look around. The darkness is oppressive and seems to go on forever. I start to shiver and wrap my arms around myself. There are countless doors everywhere emitting a soft light, so at least I can see something. Some of them can only be reached via narrow staircases, and others hover out of reach in the air.
How I hate this place. My thoughts wander to my previous visits. I recall the dark creature, one of the fallen, who pursued me the first time I was here, and then of course I’m reminded of Ty’s death and the horrific fight against Chiara. Grief and searing rage bubble up inside me.
Noah puts a hand on my shoulder. He seems to sense that I’m having a hard time and gives me an encouraging smile.
“It’s going to be fine; I promise. And we’ll be out of here before you know it.”
I nod. Noah takes his hand off my shoulder, extends it, and draws it in as if pulling on an invisible string. A door zooms toward us from somewhere in the distance.
“Come on, we need to move. The fallen can pick up our scent in here.” He offers me his hand. I take it and step through the door with him, Frances, Rain, and Arthos.
The next thing I see takes my breath away. In contrast to the darkness, which felt like a heavy, cold towel draped around me, I now feel a fresh breeze on my skin. Blazing lights dance through the air and warm my face. A wide plain stretches out before me, at the center of which I see ruins. Built up around them are dozens of little houses. They’re boxy, most of them whitewashed, reminiscent of some southern European village. There are little gardens in front of them with plants that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The lights seem to concentrate around these plants.
“Is that the temple?” I ask Noah.
He nods. “Yeah, the goddesses used to live there. We’ve since set up our homes in the ruined complex, but the central part, where the goddesses mostly lived, is still a sacred place for us. It’s been restored. Only Assembly members are allowed to enter it. There’s another place outside of the temple that used to be reserved for the goddesses. A small forest with a sacred spring. The goddesses used to pray there, and it’s said that some of their power and the power of the Odyss remains in the water there. Both the fallen and most Noctu are prohibited from going there. Only a few members of the Assembly have access to it, to check every so often that it hasn’t been disturbed.”
I’m still completely mesmerized by the new environment, and I let my eyes wander. The ground seems to be mostly bare rock, and yet plants grow here. I see a few patches of bluish grass growing around my feet. They emit a fluorescent light, as most ofthe plants here seem to do.
“Nature is different in this place,” Noah explains. “The plants all emit this glow when they need food. They attract the lights that you see floating around here. They are the energy of the Odyss, which provides light and supports all life. Everything would perish without this energy.”
He doesn’t need to explain to me where these lights get their energy. I know that’s what the dying breaths are used for. As horrible as that idea is, the scenery is beautiful and awe-inspiring. From a death elsewhere, life grows in this place.
“Can we stop talking botany now?” asks Frances. “Or do you want to keep discussing flowers for a while? If so, you can give me the ring, and I’ll get this thing over with.”
I roll my eyes and survey the temple again as we walk past it. A few walls are still standing. I can make out imposing columns towering into the air. The remains of individual rooms and a few isolated walls appear to have once had murals painted on them. But I can’t make out the details at this distance.
Noah chooses a path that takes us past the temple complex, but far enough away that hopefully we won’t be spotted.
“How many Noctu live here?” I ask.
“Oh, so now you’re squeezing us for information?!” Frances exclaims. “Do you really think we’re stupid enough to tell you our numbers and...”
“Around five thousand,” Noah replies. “But those are only the ones who live exclusively in the Odyss, and that’s not counting the fallen. Most of us live in the human world.”
“Why don’t you just go ahead and draw her a map and mark the place where the Tempes can most easily break through our walls?”
“Which walls? All I see is a bunch of rubble.” I give her a teasing wink.
“Very funny,” she retorts.
Okay, I guess we don’t have the same sense of humor.
“How many fallen are there, and why don’t they go into the temple area?” I ask Noah.
“The exact number is hard to estimate. They lead totally independent lives. Many of them work with us and fight alongside us, but there are plenty who don’t. Some of them are former Tempes. After they go past the point of no return and merge with their spirit, they come here. It doesn’t matter to us who they used to be, and they probably don’t even know themselves. They’re completely feral, animalistic, many of them acting totally on instinct, so you can’t reason with them at all. They know no boundaries; all they care about is their own survival. But they also know that they need us because we supply most of the odeon that keeps them alive. So they stay away from us and only roam around the temple when they need more odeon, or we go to them and wait for them to volunteer to fight.”
It’s a strange relationship that exists between the Noctu and the fallen, but it seems to work. I think back with horror to the dark creatures that I’ve previously had to face in combat. I really hope I never have another encounter with them.
As we continue on our way and I marvel at the unusual landscape, I have to secretly agree with Noah: the Odyss has its fascinating side too. I’ve never seen anything like it, and I can understand why he waxes lyrical about it sometimes.
When we reach the crest of a small hill, I discover a huge sea of dazzling flowers ahead of us. It stretches as far as the eye can see, except for a small clearing in the middle with a stone structure that looks like a tiny chapel.
The lights are especially concentrated above these flowers. They dance around, settling like butterflies on the peculiar plants, and then rising up into the air again. The whole place radiates a warm glow because the flowers also emit a warm, magical light.
