The Land Where Echoes Breathe
1579 Words
The first thing Lucius felt was nothingness, a vast, suffocating emptiness stretching in every direction like an ocean without waves. He gasped, expecting air, but breathed in silence instead. It slid down his lungs like cold smoke.
When he opened his eyes, the world around him shifted like fractured glass.
A sky of torn shadows.
A ground made of memories.
Everywhere, the whisper of lost souls brushed against him like wind.
He had crossed into the land of the dead.
He pushed himself to his feet, swaying. There was no horizon, only fragments of places he had known, forest, stone, sand, all pasted together like a broken dream. But through the chaos, one thing shone a faint, flickering thread of light far in the distance.
Morgana.
Lucius’s heart lurched. “I’m coming,” he whispered, voice hoarse.
The light shimmered in response.
And then the world moved.
The ground beneath him twisted, rising and falling like breath. He took one step forward and nearly fell as the landscape changed, forest becoming red sand, sand becoming ice. He steadied himself, adjusting to the madness. Every step felt like walking through someone else’s memory.
Whispers rose around him.
Turn back… she is gone… you are not wanted…
Lucius ignored them.
Figures emerged from the fog, translucent shapes with hollow eyes. Spirits. Some watched him with longing, others with hunger.
One drifted close, touching his arm with icy fingers.
“You carry warmth,” it murmured. “Give it to us…”
Lucius jerked away and kept moving, his pulse pounding. The spirits followed for a while, but the faint light ahead of him pushed them back like a slow-burning flame.
He pressed onward.
The first trial came without warning.
A storm rose, made not of wind, but of screams. Voices swirled around him, each one familiar.
“Morgana, why didn’t you save her?”
“You’re too late.”
“She died because you were weak.”
Lucius clenched his teeth and pushed through as the wind tore at him. Pain slashed through his thoughts, memories sharpened and thrown at him like blades.
The citadel collapsing.
Morgana’s eyes going dim.
Her last breath against his shoulder.
He staggered, nearly falling to his knees.
But the thread of light pulsed again.
A heartbeat.
Morgana’s heartbeat.
Lucius forced himself forward, refusing to drown in guilt.
The storm broke.
He stood at the edge of a pale desert. The sand was warm, glowing faintly. When he stepped onto it, it shifted revealing shapes beneath.
Bones.
Not human, not beast but souls. They rose toward him, forming ghostly arms that tried to pull him under.
He drew Heartbane.
The blade burned with faint silver fire in the realm of the dead, the runes awakening for the first time since Morgana’s death. Lucius slashed through the reaching hands not harming the souls, but forcing them back.
He moved quickly, breath ragged, using every ounce of strength he had.
The desert narrowed into a path of floating stones suspended over a dark chasm. The air felt alive, buzzing with Morgana’s presence. He hurried across
Halfway, the stones shook violently.
A voice echoing up from the abyss froze him in place.
“Lucius…”
Her voice.
Raw. Broken. Desperate.
He turned only to find Morgana standing on the opposite stone, her hair flowing, eyes shining with emotion.
“Morgana!” he choked out, stepping toward her.
She smiled sadly. “Why did you come? You’ll die here.”
He reached for her hand
And she dissolved into mist.
A cruel illusion.
Lucius gritted his teeth, fury burning through his veins. “I’m not turning back.”
He leapt the remaining stones and ran toward the light.
The light led him into a valley of drifting flowers, each petal glowing with the remnants of a soul. The air hummed with quiet sorrow.
At the center stood a cage of woven luminescent strands, pulsing like a dying star.
Inside it
Morgana.
Her real self.
She sat curled, trembling, light clinging to her skin like frost. Shadows coiled around her, remnants of Aliath’s poison. Her hair floated weightlessly, as though underwater. Her eyes were closed, lips parted in a soft, pained gasp.
Lucius stumbled forward. “Morgana… Morgana, I’m here…”
Her eyes fluttered open.
She stared at him as if unable to believe he existed. Tears welled instantly, her breath shattering.
“Lucius?” Her voice cracked. “No… no, you shouldn’t be here, this place will destroy you.” She tried to rise, hands pressing against the glowing bars. Shadows lashed her arms, burning her with cold light.
He reached the cage and pressed his palm to the surface. It seared him instantly, but he didn’t move.
“I’m not leaving you,” he breathed.
“You have to,” she begged, voice trembling. “I’m trapped because of Aliath’s curse. If you stay you’ll be trapped too.”
“I came to free you.”
“You came to die,” she whispered, shaking. “He’ll take you again… he’ll take everything…”
Lucius leaned closer, voice shaking with desperation. “Let him. I only want you.”
Morgana let out a sob, half despair, half fierce longing. “Lucius…”
The ground quaked violently. The flowers wilted. The valley dimmed.
The realm was reacting to their closeness.
Lucius slid his hand along the cage, ignoring the burning pain. “Morgana, lift your hand.”
“No”
“Lift it,” he demanded, raw emotion tearing through him.
She did.
Their fingers aligned, separated only by the shimmering barrier. The cage pulsed, cracks forming across the light like lightning.
Morgana gasped. “Lucius, stop! The realm will collapse!”
“Then let it collapse,” he whispered fiercely. “As long as I reach you first.”
She stared at him, completely undone. Her heart in her eyes. Her soul reaching.
The cage shattered.
Light exploded outward. Shadows screamed. Morgana fell forward but Lucius caught her, arms wrapping around her as if he would break apart without her.
She pressed her face against his chest, sobbing. “You i***t… why would you come here…”
“Because I love you,” he whispered, voice raw and trembling. “Because losing you once destroyed me.”
She clutched him tighter, her fingers digging into his cloak. “Lucius, this place isn’t made for the living. It will drain you. I can feel it, your warmth is fading”
He buried his face in her hair, letting the scent of her fill him with life. “Then stay close. I don’t need warmth. I just need you.”
Morgana lifted her head, eyes blazing with fierce, desperate love. “You shouldn’t have done this… but god, I’m glad you did…”
She kissed him.
Not soft. Not sweet.
But fierce and consuming like two souls recognizing each other across eternity. Like drowning and breathing at once.
For a moment, the dead world quieted.
Then all hell broke loose.
A roar shook the valley, a sound Lucius knew too well.
Aliath.
The remnants of the beast-god flared across the sky like a storm of black fire. The ground cracked, splitting open into glowing fissures.
The shadows that clung to Morgana surged outward, forming monstrous shapes.
Morgana grabbed Lucius’s arm. “We have to run, now!”
Lucius held her tighter. “If they come for you, they’ll have to go through me.”
“They will go through you,” she snapped. “You’re fading already!”
He felt it too. His soul was weakening, crumbling like ash.
The shadows lunged.
Lucius swung Heartbane, its silver fire blazing brighter than ever in the realm of the dead. He carved through the first wave, forcing them back. Morgana unleashed a burst of pale light, scattering the remnants of Aliath still latched onto her soul.
But more shadows formed. Dozens. Hundreds.
The sky split open, a funnel of darkness spiraling downward.
“Lucius!” Morgana cried. “They’re trying to consume your soul!”
Lucius grabbed her face between his hands, breath shaking. “Morgana. Listen to me.”
She froze.
“I don’t care if this realm hates me. I don’t care if Aliath wants me dead. I came for you. And I will get you out even if it destroys me.”
Her eyes filled with fire and tears. “I can’t lose you again…”
“You won’t,” he whispered.
The ground burst beneath them.
A chasm opened, pulling them toward its blazing heart. Shadows shrieked, swirling around Lucius like a storm. Morgana clung to him, screaming his name.
Lucius felt his soul tearing, threads of light ripping away from him.
He had seconds left.
“Morgana, take my hand.” His voice cracked. “Take it and don’t let go.”
She hesitated, terror and love warring in her eyes.
“Lucius, if I go with you… you’ll die. The witch said only one can return.”
“I know.”
“And you still want me to take your hand?!”
“Yes,” he said fiercely. “Because even if I die, at least you’ll live. And that’s enough.”
She shook her head violently, crying. “No. No, I won’t leave you again”
“Morgana.”
He slipped his fingers through hers.
Her breath broke.
The realm convulsed.
Darkness roared.
The chasm widened.
And the light beneath them flared waiting for her choice.
- Writer
