Ariane:
That first step nearly stole the breath from my lungs.
It wasn't the thought of climbing all of them, though I didn't look forward to that either—it was that the staircase wound into oblivion, coiling like a serpent of stone, a reminder of all of the unknown I was facing.
Each step of those stairs I made dragged against me like it carried the memory of every soul I had ever failed. Every drop of blood I couldn’t stop. Every cry that I was too late to answer. With every thought that plagued me, I wondered if that was the intention with the endless stairs to nowhere.
To not only torture me physically but mentally as well.
My mind drifted to Seris… I couldn't help but pray that he was okay and beg the holy lands that they made it out of the bog safely.
Gods, I'm tired.
The kind
