Chapter 18 The Obsedian Gates - Part2
1240 Words
The scream echoed through the fortress long after it had fallen silent.
It wasn't the kind of cry born from physical pain.
It was desperation.
The kind that clawed at the soul until nothing recognizable remained.
No one spoke as Mira returned with a dozen Obsidian warriors, each carrying silver-forged spears etched with glowing runes. Their expressions were grim, but what unsettled me most was the fear they tried so hard to conceal.
Alpha Darius gestured toward the entrance of the fortress.
"This conversation cannot happen here."
Kael immediately stepped closer to my side.
"Then lead the way."
His voice remained calm, but I knew him well enough now to recognize the storm simmering beneath it.
He didn't trust anyone.
Especially not an Alpha who looked burdened enough to hide dangerous secrets.
The deeper we descended into the mountain, the colder the air became.
The stone corridors narrowed until only two people could walk abreast. Ancient braziers burned with pale blue flames that gave off no warmth, only an eerie glow that danced across carvings etched into the walls.
I slowed my pace.
Every inch of these tunnels told a story.
Not of victories...
But of warnings.
Massive wolves were carved standing shoulder to shoulder beneath a crimson moon. Behind them loomed towering figures crowned in jagged obsidian, their faces deliberately chipped away by time—or perhaps by someone who wanted them forgotten.
Silver script wound beneath the carvings.
I brushed my fingers lightly over the ancient symbols.
"They've been scratched out," I murmured.
Darius glanced back.
"They weren't scratched."
"What do you mean?"
"They erased themselves."
I frowned.
"Stone doesn't erase itself."
"Magic does."
His answer lingered in the silence between us.
Kael leaned closer.
"You've been staring at those walls since we entered."
"I've seen these symbols before."
His eyebrows knitted together.
"Where?"
"The manuscript beneath Moonrise."
Pieces of the prophecy flashed through my memory.
Geometric circles.
Interwoven silver lines.
Three crowned figures.
A fourth standing before them.
Not kneeling.
Standing.
My pulse quickened.
The carvings weren't depicting a war.
They were depicting...
A meeting.
Before I could voice the thought, Mira stopped in front of an enormous circular door fashioned entirely from silver.
Unlike everything else in the fortress, this door gleamed as though it had been forged yesterday.
Dozens of chains wrapped around it.
Each chain carried hundreds of tiny bells.
None of them moved.
Yet every bell rang softly.
The sound made my skin prickle.
"What is this place?" Rowan whispered.
"No one enters alone," Mira replied.
"No one leaves unchanged."
Four warriors stepped forward together.
Each placed a hand upon the silver door.
The runes blazed.
Ancient mechanisms groaned deep within the mountain.
One chain after another fell away.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The echoes rolled endlessly through the darkness beyond.
The final lock released with a deafening crack.
Cold air rushed outward.
Not winter cold.
Death cold.
I instinctively inhaled.
Immediately I regretted it.
The scent pouring from the chamber wasn't blood.
Nor decay.
It smelled like rain on old graves.
Like forgotten memories.
Like loneliness.
Kael's fingers brushed mine.
This time, he didn't let go.
The chamber beyond was enormous.
Its ceiling disappeared into darkness.
Massive silver pillars rose from the stone floor, each engraved with glowing lunar symbols that pulsed in slow, steady rhythm.
Between them stretched dozens of chains thicker than my arm.
All converging toward the center.
Toward one figure.
He hung suspended several feet above the ground.
His wrists were bound.
His ankles restrained.
Silver shackles circled his throat.
Long dark hair obscured most of his face.
His clothes—what remained of them—were stained with dried blood.
For one impossible moment...
I thought he was dead.
Then he breathed.
A slow...
Painful...
Broken breath.
My heart twisted.
"He can't be older than twenty-five," I whispered.
Mira looked away.
"He turned twenty-six yesterday."
The grief in her voice answered a question I hadn't asked.
"You know him."
She nodded once.
"He's my brother."
Silence swallowed the room.
Even Rowan lowered his gaze.
No wonder she'd looked haunted.
Every day she walked these halls knowing her own brother was imprisoned beneath her feet.
Alpha Darius stepped forward.
"His name is Cassian."
The name hung heavily in the air.
"He was my heir."
Kael finally spoke.
"What happened?"
Darius didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked toward Cassian with an expression no father should ever have to wear.
"Six months ago, he led a patrol to the Northern Glacier."
"The first seal?"
Darius nodded.
"They found it already fractured."
A chill ran through me.
"We thought the Weaver was still sleeping."
"So did we."
His jaw tightened.
"But something on the other side reached through."
Mira closed her eyes.
"It didn't possess him."
She swallowed hard.
"It invited itself inside."
As if hearing us...
Cassian stirred.
The chains rattled.
His head lifted slowly.
At first, I saw only exhaustion.
Then his eyes opened.
One remained a warm amber.
The other...
Was completely black.
Not dark brown.
Not gray.
Black.
Like endless night.
The chamber temperature plummeted.
Every rune on the pillars flared brilliantly.
The silver chains began vibrating.
Kael instinctively stepped in front of me.
His claws extended.
A low growl vibrated deep within his chest.
Cassian smiled.
Except...
It wasn't his smile.
It was too calm.
Too knowing.
Too old.
When he finally spoke...
Two voices emerged.
One belonged to the broken young man before us.
The other...
Sounded as though mountains themselves had learned to whisper.
"So..."
The second voice curled through the chamber.
"The Key arrives."
Every warrior tightened their grip upon their weapon.
The chains strained violently.
Silver sparks erupted around the shackles.
Yet Cassian never looked at anyone else.
Only me.
"You took your time."
My breathing hitched.
"I don't know you."
The smile widened.
"No."
"You merely forgot."
Kael took another step forward.
"Enough."
Cassian's black eye shifted toward him.
For the first time...
The smile disappeared.
Recognition flashed across that impossible gaze.
"You..."
The ancient voice sounded almost...
Surprised.
"The unfinished one."
Kael frowned.
"What did you call me?"
Instead of answering...
Cassian laughed.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't manic.
It was worse.
It was amused.
"The King will be pleased."
Every silver rune exploded with light.
The chains snapped taut.
Cassian screamed.
A real scream this time.
His own voice.
The blackness vanished from his eye as tears streamed down his face.
"Please..."
His words came out ragged.
"...make him stop..."
The plea shattered whatever composure remained in the chamber.
Mira broke first.
"Cass!"
She lunged instinctively.
Four warriors caught her before she reached him.
She fought them anyway.
"He can hear us! He's still in there!"
"I know!" Darius roared, pain cracking through his command for the first time. "That's why he's still alive!"
I couldn't breathe.
I wasn't looking at a monster.
I was looking at a man trapped inside his own body.
And somewhere beyond his eyes...
Something else was smiling.
I took one step forward.
Then another.
Kael immediately caught my wrist.
"Aria."
I turned toward him.
His expression told me everything.
Don't.
"It's dangerous."
"I know."
"You don't know what that thing is."
I looked back at Cassian.
He had stopped struggling.
His head hung low once more.
A single tear slipped from beneath his hair and disappeared onto the stone floor.
Quietly...
Almost too quietly to hear...
He whispered—
"Help me..."
My heart broke.
- Writer
