Chapter Seventeen: Let's descend
285 Words
But this time, it’s not just about what’s happening to him.
It’s about what’s being rewritten—in his mind, his memory, his bond.
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Chapter Seventeen: The Mirror Lies
He floated.
Not through water. Not through air. Through something else.
Thick. Cold. Familiar in the way nightmares always are.
Time didn’t pass here. It twisted. Looped. Pulled.
Sometimes he was eight again, watching Athena jump from a cliff just to prove she could fly.
Sometimes he was fifteen, watching her bleed in training and laugh through the pain.
Sometimes he was now. Kneeling. Hollowed.
And sometimes—he wasn’t himself at all.
A voice whispered through it.
Not loud. Not cruel.
Soft.
“She left you behind.”
Nyt tried to speak.
His mouth moved. His mind didn’t.
“She’s moving on without you. Standing in rooms that should be yours.”
He saw flashes:
—Athena at the war table.
—Athena giving orders, eyes bright.
—Athena smiling at Zara like she used to smile at him.
The bond flickered.
A tether stretched between stars. Pulled taut. And fraying.
“You’ve always protected her,” the voice said. “Always followed her. Always bled first.”
Nyt trembled.
“Isn’t it time she bled for you?”
He wanted to scream no.
He tried.
But the scream came out as a growl. Low. Inhuman.
Something inside him laughed.
And then he saw her—
Athena.
Not now. Not as she is.
But standing alone in a ruined hall. Crown cracked. Knees in ash. Eyes empty.
And beside her, a body.
His.
Nyt surged upward—fighting through whatever held him.
But the water had teeth.
And it pulled him back under.
- Writer
