⋆˖☽ Chapter 10 ☾˖⋆
2097 Words
The red and silver moons began their crawl over the horizon, casting reflections across Whisp Lake. The wind carried a chorus of whispers through the snow-dusted treeline. The people were hurrying back behind the safety of the iron gates, leaving only a few stragglers fleeing in the freezing dusk.
Mira walked beside Mikaeus, her voice hushed to a murmur. Her dark gaze was fixed on his profile, but his golden eyes remained locked ahead. Beside them, Ondina's features were hardened into an unreadable mask as she scanned the darkening perimeter.
My eyes drifted to Emeric's broad back, then down to the snow-packed earth beneath our boots, searching the frozen dirt. The image of the green sapling in the square was still burned in my mind. Growing where it shouldn't. Thriving where it never could.
"Curfew!" a guard's voice barked over the valley. "The gates are closing!"
The armored guard marched through the remaining stragglers, shooing them inside just as our group reached the edge of Whisp Lake. His face was flushed red as he stalked toward us, eyeing our weapons and armor. "I announced curfew. I suggest you head inside the walls right now."
Mikaeus unbuckled the leather straps of his pack, letting it drop into the snow with a thud. "Do not worry about us. We can handle ourselves."
The guard let out a snort. "Just because you carry swords doesn't mean you can keep yourselves safe if the Cursed Moon rises out here again."
Mikaeus began pulling the canvas of a winter tent from his sack. "We have made our decision."
"Are you mad? We will not protect you out here." The guard looked over our group with disbelief.
"We do not expect you to," Mira replied, crouching down to help Mikaeus with the canvas.
A second guard jogged up, his breath pluming in the air, and rested a hand on the first man's shoulder. "Let them be. If they do not want to listen, it’s their choice."
"I am not cleaning up their shredded bodies tomorrow morning," the first guard spat. He glared at Mikaeus, letting out a sigh. "Suit yourselves. You've just dug your own graves."
The guards turned their backs on us, marching back down the snow-packed path and leaving us alone. I walked ten paces away from Mikaeus's chosen spot, pulled my pack from my shoulder, and let it drop into the snow.
"I will go collect some wood," Emeric announced to the group. Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and headed into the treeline.
Ondina crouched down beside me in the snow. Together, we pulled the heavy canvas from my bag, unrolling it over the frozen ground. I glanced sideways at her, searching the angles of her face for any lingering signs of pain.
"I made my decision," she said, reading my mind, her voice steady. "Though it is bitterly cold tonight." She grabbed the iron hammer and slammed it against a metal stake, driving it deep into the permafrost with a single strike. "The rest of you, however..." She paused, the hammer resting in the snow as she looked up at me. "What happened?"
I glanced over my shoulder. A few yards away, Mira and Mikaeus were busy setting up their tent. They were talking back and forth, and Mira was wearing that soft smile she only ever reserved for Mikeaus.
I took the hammer and swung it down, driving my own stake into place. "Nothing... happened."
Ondina raised an arched eyebrow. "Just because I haven’t said anything doesn’t mean I haven't noticed."
A tight knot formed in the pit of my stomach. "It isn’t the time for this," I whispered, keeping my eyes fixed on the frozen dirt.
"I won’t press further. Not—"
Crack.
The sound of snapping wood echoed from the forest. My hand whipped to my shoulder, my fingers wrapping around the familiar wood of my bow. Emeric emerged from the dark treeline with a stack of split logs and dry twigs. I let out a breath, my hand relaxing and dropping to my side.
Mikaeus stepped forward, placing his armored body in front of me and blocking Emeric from my vision.
"I will start the fire." Mikaeus reached out to take the smaller kindling from the top of Emeric’s pile.
Emeric's jaw locked. His hands pulled the logs tighter to his chest, his green eyes hardening before softening back into a restrained gaze. The two men stood there for a charged moment, both holding onto the same wood. Emeric's grip loosened. He shifted his hands, allowing Mikaeus to take the twigs.
The two of them walked side-by-side toward the center of our camp, their broad shoulders rigid.
Beside me, Ondina muttered something under her breath.
Mira appeared at my side like a silent ghost. Her head snapped toward me, her dark eyes like shards of ice. She didn’t say a single word; she didn’t have to. Any fragile kindness or mutual respect she had once regarded me with had evaporated, replaced by a silent fury.
The clatter of timber hitting the frozen ground broke the tense quiet. Emeric dropped to his knees in the snow, his leather-gloved hands shoveling the deep drifts away to expose the dirt below.
"If I don’t remove this base layer," Emeric grunted. "the snow will melt against the heat, and we will never hold a fire out here."
Wisps of black miasma curled and danced around Emeric as he knelt in the snow. It didn't linger on him—it was being pulled toward Whisp Lake. The dark mist collected above the frozen surface, swirling like a whirlpool toward the center of the ice before being sucked underneath.
A haunting, melodic hum echoed in my head. It pulled at my mind, whispering to me in a beautiful song. It coaxed me, looking into my soul and offering me my deepest, most forbidden desires—things I hadn't even dared admit to myself.
The winter wind picked up, rattling the bare branches of the ancient trees. My heart fluttered in my chest, an intoxicating warmth spread down through my stomach as the enchanting song grew louder, pulling me closer.
A prickling sensation at the base of my skull snapped me out of the trance.
“Child,” Enkarthos's voice rumbled through the chambers of my mind.
I blinked hard, shaking my head. The whispering of the lake vanished.
“I am going to fall silent,” the great dragon continued.
My blood ran cold. Why? What is wrong?
His voice remained steady and peaceful, carrying the fading cadence of someone drifting off into a deep slumber. “Nothing is wrong. Everything will be alright. I am still here with you.”
Then why? My mental voice cracked. Why are you going to be silent again? Don’t… don’t leave me alone out here.
The silence stretched for a long moment before his ancient voice faded away into an echo. “Breathe, child… and I am… sorry.”
Sorry for what? Enkarthos! There was only an empty ringing. The grounding presence in the back of my mind vanished. He was gone.
My fingernails dug into my palms as I curled my hands into tight fists. "Why?"
A questioning look crossed Emeric's face. I blinked, realizing the group sitting around the newly flickering fire had gone quiet, their eyes locked on me. I swallowed the thick lump of panic lodged in my throat, stepping forward and crouching down in the snow beside Ondina to hide my trembling.
"Are you alright, Alanah?" Mikaeus asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
Beside him, Mira's jaw tightened.
"Everything is fine," I paused. "I was lost in thought."
Ondina shifted her gaze from me to Mikaeus, her voice cutting through the crackling of the small flames. "What is the plan?"
"There is no plan. Since we do not know how this monster works, we wait."
"Wait for Alanah to walk off into the night and get one of us killed," Mira muttered, the venom clear in her tone.
"Mira!" Emeric and Mikaeus both snapped in unison.
Mira jolted to her feet, her chest heaving. "I am going to get some rest." She shot me one final, scathing glare that promised retribution before turning away. "Find me if anything happens." The snow crunched under her boots as she retreated into the darkness of our tent, pulling the flap shut.
Mikaeus let out an exhausted sigh. "She is just stressed. She has been carrying far too much weight, helping me lately."
I stared into the dancing orange flames. That isn't stress. I’ve seen that look too many times.
"Should she have come, then?" Emeric pressed, his tone casual. "Luminethra needs you both. Perhaps you shouldn't be out here at all."
"When have I ever abandoned my duty to my people? This is part of it. Being here to face this monster is my responsibility."
"Is it?"
Cold panic fluttered in my chest. They can’t be fighting.
"You are different… what changed?" Mikaeus demanded, his golden eyes narrowing.
Emeric c****d his head up and to the side. "Changed me? You are the one who tries to manage everyone and everything around you."
"Because it is my duty to lead!"
"Enough!" I snapped. Both men flinched, their heads snapping toward me. "You two need to stop this. Right now."
"She's right," Ondina interjected. "We are a team. We can’t be breaking apart like this… not out here in the dark. Not now."
The tension hung suspended for another second before Emeric let out a defeated sigh, standing up to his full height.
"I am sorry," Mikaeus murmured.
"It—" Emeric started, but his deep voice was swallowed by the air.
The whispered, enchanting song rang in my ears again, washing over me in a tidal wave that forced every muscle in my body to relax before pulling them taut. Out over the frozen water, the black miasma answered the call, twisting and growing taller. The stench of pure rot flooded my lungs. My hand drifted toward my bow.
A delicate, glowing crimson butterfly manifested, fluttering in front of my chest.
I took a sharp inhale, desperate not to let it touch my skin. My hand raised on its own. My numb fingers stretched out, trailing just below its fragile wings. The butterfly fluttered toward the frozen lake, casting a faint, crimson glow over the white snow.
It’s coming. I fought with everything I had to move my jaw, trying to warn the others as the familiar trance took over my mind. My body stood up from the snow without my permission. Let me speak. Let me warn them. The butterfly stopped, hovering above the swirling miasma in the center of the lake. For a split second, the invisible hold on my muscles faltered. I seized the opening, halting my boots in the snow and forcing my frozen jaw to open.
"It’s coming!"
The haunting whispers twisted into a melodic song that reverberated off every frozen tree in the valley. The winter wind shifted direction. Churning storm clouds rolled in from above with unnatural speed, swallowing the moons. A ripple of blue and violet light ripped through the darkness overhead, followed by a bone-shattering crack of thunder.
The crimson butterfly drifted down, its tiny legs touching the surface of the ancient ice.
I ripped my bow from my shoulder, regaining full control of my own body. Heavy footsteps rushed up in the snow behind me.
A tectonic rumble groaned from the bottom of the lake, vibrating up through my body. Blinding lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking the spot where the butterfly had landed. The thick ice fractured, jagged, glowing cracks spread across the expanse of Whisp Lake.
Absolute silence followed.
Thick black miasma shattered the ice, sending deadly splinters of frozen water blasting into the night sky. A shadow rose from the freezing depths of the lake, its true form blurred and barely visible to the human eye, levitating above the treeline.
Six wings ripped free from the creature's back, unfurling against the storm-tossed sky.
It opened its mouth. A hauntingly beautiful whisper carried through the howling wind.
"What shall I do?"
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A Note From Kali Rae:
Hi everyone,
I hope you're enjoying Beyond Hollowed Echoes! Thank you so much for being a part of this journey.
A quick schedule update for next week: instead of our usual Tuesday and Wednesday releases, you will be getting both chapters at once on Tuesday!
- Writer
