Beneath the Black Gate
1290 Words
Falling feels longer when you know death is waiting below.
Kael’s body slammed into mine midair, his arms locking around me like iron bands.
Protective.
Unyielding.
Possessive.
The heat of him shielded me from the jagged rock tearing past as we plunged deeper beneath the mountain.
Wind screamed in my ears.
Dust and ash choked my lungs.
Below us, darkness opened like the throat of something ancient and hungry.
Then
Impact.
Kael twisted at the last second.
We crashed into a steep stone ledge hidden inside the abyss.
Pain exploded through my shoulder as we rolled across rough rock.
Kael’s body took most of the blow.
Mine landed against his chest.
Hard.
Breathless.
Alive.
For several terrifying seconds, I couldn’t move.
Above us, the broken cave ceiling was only a distant crack of torchlight.
Far away.
Unreachable.
The mountain had swallowed us.
Kael groaned beneath me.
I pushed up immediately.
His face had gone pale.
Too pale.
My stomach dropped.
A jagged shard of black stone had pierced his side.
Deep.
Too deep.
Blood spread across his ribs.
Dark and hot.
“Kael.”
He opened his eyes slowly.
Silver still glowed there.
Sharp.
Alive.
“I’ve had worse.”
I stared at him.
“You are literally impaled.”
“That is still not my worst injury.”
Despite everything, a strangled laugh escaped me.
He gave a grim half-smile.
Then his face tightened.
Pain.
Real pain.
Silver had hurt him before.
But this?
This was worse.
I grabbed the stone.
His hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
His jaw hardened.
“That is Black Stone.”
I frowned.
The jagged shard shimmered faintly with blue-black veins.
Almost alive.
“Why does that matter?”
His gaze darkened.
“It grows deeper if removed carelessly.”
Wonderful.
Murderous magical rocks.
Exactly what my life needed.
I looked around us.
We stood on a wide ledge inside a massive underground cavern.
Above: darkness.
Below: deeper darkness.
Far beneath, glowing blue rivers of strange fire snaked through stone like veins.
Massive pillars rose upward, carved with ancient wolf symbols and crescent marks.
The air smelled of sulfur, ash, wet stone…
And old magic.
Something ancient pulsed here.
Breathing.
Watching.
The Black Gate.
I could feel it.
Not see it.
But feel it.
Like a heartbeat beneath the mountain.
Kael sat up with a hiss.
I crouched beside him.
“You need to stay still.”
“I need to move.”
“For once in your life, listen.”
His silver eyes lifted to mine.
Dangerous.
Sharp.
Then unexpectedly amused.
“You order kings often?”
“Only the arrogant ones.”
A rough breath escaped him.
Almost a laugh.
Then his expression shifted.
Softer.
His fingers brushed soot from my cheek.
Too gentle.
Too intimate.
“You’re hurt.”
I touched my temple.
Blood.
Minor.
“I’m fine.”
He did not look convinced.
That protective intensity returned.
The kind that made me feel too seen.
Too guarded.
Too wanted.
And I still didn’t know what to do with that.
A low growl echoed somewhere below.
My spine snapped straight.
That was not Kael.
Another growl.
Deep.
Wet.
Hungry.
Kael stood despite his wound.
Stubborn i***t.
His black-fire sword ignited.
“Stay behind me.”
“No.”
His jaw flexed.
“Lyra”
“I am done staying behind people.”
His eyes flashed.
Pride.
Annoyance.
Possessiveness.
“Then stay beside me.”
That… felt dangerously intimate.
Still, I moved beside him.
The darkness below shifted.
Shapes crawled upward across stone walls.
At first I thought shadows.
Then eyes opened.
Blue.
Glowing.
Too many.
Shades.
Their bodies were wolf-like but wrong.
Long limbs.
Bone-black hides.
Split jaws lined with teeth too human.
Smoke leaked from their mouths.
The first lunged.
Kael struck.
Black fire cleaved through its chest.
It screamed.
Didn’t die.
It kept crawling.
My blood iced.
“Why isn’t it dead?”
Kael’s voice was tight.
“They’re tied to the Gate.”
A second Shade rushed me.
I ducked under snapping jaws.
Its claws ripped my sleeve.
Pain stung my arm.
I twisted and drove a broken shard of stone into its neck.
It shrieked.
Still alive.
Wonderful.
Again.
Kael fought like war itself.
Fierce.
Brutal.
Every strike protective.
Always between me and the worst of them.
But there were too many.
A Shade leapt from above.
Straight toward Kael’s injured side.
I reacted before thinking.
Hands lifted.
Rage surged.
Fear followed.
Then power answered.
Moonfire.
Silver-white light exploded from my palms.
Brighter than before.
Hotter.
Wild.
It slammed into the creature.
This time it did not scream.
It disintegrated.
Ash.
Gone.
Silence.
Even the remaining Shades recoiled.
Kael turned sharply.
His silver eyes widened.
“You controlled it.”
My breathing shook.
“No. I barely survived it.”
But I had.
That was new.
Power pulsed under my skin.
Alive.
Listening.
The crescent scar at my collarbone burned.
One Shade lowered itself.
Not attacking.
Watching.
Then
It bowed.
I froze.
What?
Kael saw it too.
His face went still.
Dangerously still.
“That should not happen.”
The other Shades slowly retreated into darkness.
Not dead.
Not defeated.
Yielding.
To me.
My throat tightened.
“What am I?”
Kael’s gaze stayed fixed on the shadows.
“I don’t know.”
That frightened me more than any monster.
Because Kael always seemed to know everything.
Then a voice echoed through the cavern.
Female.
Ancient.
Soft as smoke.
“Blood remembers.”
I spun.
At the far side of the ledge stood a woman.
Or what had once been one.
Tall.
Pale.
Draped in torn silver robes.
Her eyes glowed moon-white.
Hair floated as if underwater.
No breathing.
No heartbeat.
Spirit.
Or something worse.
Kael’s body instantly shifted closer to mine.
Shielding.
His sword lifted.
“Name yourself.”
She ignored him.
Her gaze locked on me.
“The last daughter returns.”
My pulse stumbled.
“Who are you?”
She inclined her head.
“I was Maera.”
The High Seer.
The priestess from old legends.
Dead for centuries.
Impossible.
Kael’s voice was cold.
“You died in the Shadow Wars.”
“Yes.”
No denial.
No emotion.
Ghost.
Spirit.
Memory.
Whatever she was, old power poured from her.
She lifted one pale hand toward the darkness below.
“The Black Gate was never built to keep monsters in.”
Ice crawled through me.
“What?”
Her moon-white eyes sharpened.
“It was built to keep something from getting out.”
Silence.
Even Kael froze.
The air thickened.
The ancient heartbeat beneath stone grew louder.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Something huge moved far below.
Not a Shade.
Not wolf.
Not human.
Worse.
My scar blazed with pain.
I gasped.
Dropped to one knee.
Kael caught me instantly.
His hand gripping my waist.
Steady.
Warm.
Possessive.
“What’s happening?”
Maera’s expression darkened.
“The seal is weakening.”
My voice came thin.
“I’m the seal.”
“Yes.”
The truth struck like a blade.
That mark.
My bloodline.
My mother running.
Lucien’s words.
Everything.
Kael’s arm tightened around me.
His voice became lethal.
“No.”
As if refusing fate itself.
Maera looked almost sorrowful.
“The Gate answers only blood.”
The ground shook.
A deafening crack split through the cavern.
Stone pillars shattered.
Blue fire erupted below.
Then I saw it.
Far beneath the ledge.
A colossal eye opening inside darkness.
Larger than houses.
Ancient.
Watching me.
Waiting.
Kael pulled me backward.
Sword blazing black.
Every muscle tense.
Every instinct violent.
Protective.
Terrifying.
Possessive.
Then the creature below spoke.
Its voice shook the mountain.
And it said my name.
“Lyra."
- Writer
