The Guardian’s Echo

Veins of the Mountain: Penny

I finally blinked. The honeyed quality of the voice turned to ash, and I looked at Soren. Really looked at him. I could see the fear in his storm-clouded eyes. I didn’t answer the air, I spoke to Soren. “I’m not a mistake in the timeline,” I whispered. “And I’m not letting her erase my daughter.”

The melodic voice turned into a screech of frustrated static as I regained my autonomy. The silver mercury seeping through the doors began to sizzle, reacting to the flare of my lavender light.

I took Soren’s hand, and pulled him towards the heavy, iron-banded door I’d been drawn to moments before. A moth-eaten tapestry of silver stag hung over it, worn with time, and no longer hiding it.

The door was heavy. Soren threw his weight into it though, shouldering it open, and we burst through. The air changed instantly. The smell of dust and stagnant time was replaced by the scent of wet stone and something ancient.

The stairs were steep and slick. Every step through the darkness felt like I was moving through thick syrup. I felt as if I was dragging the weight of the present down with me, away from the reach of the voice and its spidery shadows.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, the space opened into a massive natural cavern. It wasn’t dark like I would’ve expected it to be — like the stairway had been. The walls were encrusted with giant, jagged, quartz-like crystals that pulsed with a soft, rhythmic light.

I stopped, mesmerized, watching the crystals.

“Temporal Prisms,” Soren breathed from beside me.

Inside of one, I could see my grandmother laughing in the shop in Chicago. In another, I saw a version of Aethelgard that I didn’t recognize — one where the spires were floating. I swallowed when my eyes landed on a third one. Anya’s face was in it, and she looked terrified.

At the center of the cave, the Silver Run River flowed through it. The water was a luminous mercury-blue, and it moved with a speed that defied gravity.

Soren was on high alert. I watched him trace the lines of the cavern’s shadows, his hand on the hilt of his sword. For a moment, he was caught in a moment of awe, watching one of the crystals. “They aren’t just Rosariel’s memories,” he breathed, turning to me. “They’re her hopes and dreams. And her fears.”

“And they’re mine too,” I whispered.

I moved closer to the river, and as I did, the projections in the crystals seemed to stabilize, becoming clearer. More vivid.

Soren scanned the cavern again before joining me at the water’s edge. “The caves are a neutral zone,” he started, realization lacing his voice. “Time isn’t a straight line here, but a circle.”

He looked at the river then, walked along its edge to the narrow gap where it opened out into the Vale.

“The river can carry us out,” he continued, examining the gap. “We just have to trust the house to let us go.” Soren turned back to me. “To let you go.”

I nodded, tying my knapsack around my waist so I wouldn’t lose it in the river. Just as we were about to step into the water, the honeyed voice found us again. Dust and small pebbles fell as the voice echoed off the crystals. It wasn’t sweet anymore. It was an angry command.

“Penny, come back!” It echoed with the sound of my grandmother’s voice, but it was wrong, rougher than the Chronos Trap Remnant’s had been. It was like someone trying to copy a memory.

I ignored it and reached for Soren’s hand. “We jump?”

His fingers laced with mine, and our lights wound together like a cord tethering us to each other. “And we don’t let go.”

There was no countdown. No hesitation.

We plunged into the water.

It was deeper than I anticipated, submerging us both completely, and yet I never reached the bottom. The water rushed around me, filling my ears until I couldn’t hear anything else. I couldn’t even open my eyes.

My hand stayed locked in Soren’s as we were moved through the water — by the water — barely having a chance to resurface for air before we were pushed through the gap.

Then we were falling. A scream was snatched from my throat, but it wasn’t out of fear. It was the kind of scream born from a rush of adrenaline, like being on a roller coaster. We hit the water again, and this time, my feet touched the river bed. I pushed off the ground and kicked upwards until I resurfaced. Soren was right beside me, pulling me to him as the current carried us downstream.

I pushed my hair back out of my face, a broad grin on my lips as a laugh bubbled up. Soren matched my smile, chuckling softly. We reached the bridge, and Soren caught the edge of the stone. He pulled us towards the river bank, and we climbed out of the water, still laughing, even as the adrenaline started to die.

I laid on the grass, soaking wet, chest heaving. Soren was beside me, his hand still firm and warm against mine.

I turned to face him. The sunlight reflected off his armor, the light refracting into hundreds of rainbows as it caught in the river water. Neither of us said anything at first. We just… existed.