The Queen Beyond the Dark
1403 Words
The Gate opened.
And the world screamed.
Silver-black light erupted behind me with enough force to split the cavern apart. Jagged stone cracked like brittle bone. Ancient runes carved into the walls flared to life in blinding patterns, spiraling outward like veins under skin.
I hovered above the shattered ground.
Not by choice.
Power held me there.
My body shook violently as something ancient poured through my blood.
Voices.
Thousands.
Whispering.
Screaming.
Praying.
Commanding.
Gateborn.
Dead kings.
Fallen queens.
Wardens.
Monsters.
I could not tell where their voices ended and my thoughts began.
Open.
Claim.
Rule.
Destroy.
My breath came in broken gasps.
Below me, Kael lay motionless against shattered obsidian.
Blood.
Too much blood.
My heart stopped.
“Kael!”
My scream cracked through the cavern.
The silver-black energy around me trembled.
Varis stood beneath the Gate like a priest before an altar, pale face glowing with reverence.
His silver eyes gleamed.
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Awaken.”
Rage flared through me.
Not the helpless rage of fear.
Something older.
Colder.
Royal.
The air around me sharpened.
My silver flames turned darker at the edges like moonlight dipped in shadow.
Varis smiled.
“The Queen returns.”
“I’m not your queen.”
The words came out layered.
My voice.
And something deeper beneath it.
Ancient.
He tilted his head.
“You will remember.”
I barely heard him.
Because Kael moved.
A low, painful growl rumbled through the cavern.
Alive.
My chest nearly collapsed with relief.
Kael pushed himself upright, one hand pressed to his chest where Varis had struck him. Blood soaked his side, his shoulder, his ribs.
Still he stood.
Still he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.
Possessive fury burned in his golden eyes.
Then his gaze snapped to Varis.
Murder.
“You touch her again,” Kael rasped, “and I’ll rip your spine from your body.”
Varis looked amused.
“You are dying, wolf.”
Kael bared his teeth.
“Then I’ll die killing you.”
Something inside me twisted painfully.
He meant it.
Without hesitation.
Without fear.
That reckless devotion should have terrified me.
Instead, it burned warm and dangerous in my chest.
The mountain shook.
Chunks of stone crashed around us.
The Gate behind me widened.
What lay beyond it was not darkness.
Not entirely.
It was a realm.
A horizon of floating black towers.
Silver storms.
Rivers of glowing mist.
Massive skeletal beasts flying in distant skies.
An empire hidden beyond reality.
My blood recognized it.
My soul recoiled.
And yearned.
I hated both reactions.
Kael’s voice cut through me.
“Lyra.”
I looked down.
His eyes softened.
Only for me.
“Fight it.”
Varis laughed quietly.
“She cannot fight what she is.”
The words struck harder than I wanted.
Because I felt it.
The pull.
The Gate called to me like breath returning after drowning.
Something inside me wanted to step through.
To go home.
No.
This was not home.
I clenched my fists.
Silver-black fire erupted around my hands.
Varis’s smile widened.
“You are stronger than the last Queen.”
Kael snarled.
“She is not yours.”
“She is not yours either, beast.”
Kael’s wolf exploded through him.
Bone snapped.
Muscle twisted.
Fur burst across skin.
His massive black wolf lunged.
Even wounded, he moved like war.
Varis raised a hand.
Void tendrils erupted.
Kael tore through them.
One snapped around his leg.
He ripped free.
Another wrapped his throat.
He bit through it.
Golden eyes blazing with savage fury.
King.
Mine.
The word slipped through me before I could stop it.
Not spoken.
Felt.
Kael’s wolf faltered for half a heartbeat.
As if he had heard it.
Varis moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
He slammed Kael into stone.
Again.
Again.
Again.
The cavern shook with each impact.
My scream tore free.
Power burst outward.
A shockwave exploded from my body.
Varis was thrown back.
Kael crashed to the ground.
Breathing.
Barely.
I dropped from the air and ran to him.
His wolf shifted back painfully into human form.
Blood streaked his mouth.
Bruises blackened his ribs.
Still, his hand gripped my wrist.
Hard.
Possessive.
Protective.
Even broken.
“Don’t go near him,” he rasped.
My throat tightened.
“You can barely stand.”
“I can still kill.”
A weak, crooked smirk.
Then pain twisted his face.
I crouched beside him.
My hands trembled.
“I don’t know how to stop this.”
The Gate roared behind me.
The voices grew louder.
Kael’s gaze held mine.
Steady.
Grounding.
“Then don’t stop it.”
I stared.
“What?”
His jaw tightened.
“Control it.”
Varis rose from shattered stone.
Dust sliding from pale shoulders.
Still calm.
Still elegant.
Still terrifying.
“Yes,” he said softly.
“The wolf understands.”
Kael snarled.
“I understand enough.”
He dragged himself upright beside me.
Towering despite blood loss.
A shield at my side.
Always.
Varis’s silver eyes narrowed.
“How touching.”
His gaze slid to me.
“You still do not know why they hid you.”
The cavern fell quieter.
Even the Gate seemed to hum lower.
My pulse pounded.
“What do you mean?”
Varis stepped closer.
Slow.
Measured.
Like a king addressing another.
“The last Gate Queen betrayed us.”
The voices inside my skull stirred violently.
Pain stabbed behind my eyes.
“She sealed the Gate,” Varis continued, “and bound our realm away from yours.”
Images flashed in my mind.
A woman crowned in silver.
Fire.
War.
Blood.
A mountain splitting apart.
Wolves dying.
Kings screaming.
A child wrapped in dark cloth.
Taken.
Hidden.
Me.
I staggered.
Kael caught me instantly.
One arm around my waist.
Solid.
Warm.
Mine.
No—stop.
Varis’s voice sharpened.
“You are her blood.”
I whispered, “My mother…”
“She was the last Queen.”
My breath fractured.
“She died protecting you from both realms.”
Kael stiffened beside me.
He had known.
At least pieces.
I felt it.
Anger stabbed sharp and immediate.
“You knew.”
His silence was brutal.
“I suspected.”
“That’s not an answer.”
His jaw flexed.
“I didn’t know enough.”
“But you lied.”
His golden eyes darkened.
“I chose you alive over honest.”
The truth hit harder because it sounded like Kael.
Ruthless.
Protective.
Terrible.
Devoted.
Before I could answer, Varis raised both hands.
The Gate thundered.
Something massive moved inside.
A shadow larger than the cavern itself.
Kael cursed.
“Lyra—back.”
Too late.
A creature emerged.
Towering.
Serpentine.
Its body made of black armored scales and exposed silver bone. Six glowing eyes. Wings like shredded darkness. Teeth the size of swords.
A Warden Beast.
Its roar split the cavern.
Varis smiled faintly.
“Bow.”
Kael shoved me behind him.
Absolutely instinctive.
Absolutely furious.
“No.”
The beast lunged.
Kael shifted.
Intercepted.
His wolf slammed into its throat.
It dragged him across stone.
Blood sprayed.
He bit deeper.
The beast threw him aside.
He rose again.
Again.
Again.
Refusing to fall.
Refusing to yield.
Because I was behind him.
Something in me snapped into terrifying clarity.
Not rage.
Not grief.
Command.
I stepped forward.
Silver-black flames climbed my arms.
The voices aligned.
For once.
Not chaos.
Obedience.
The beast turned toward me.
Varis watched with reverence.
Kael’s wolf bled and growled at my side.
I lifted my hand.
And spoke words I had never learned.
Ancient.
Sharp.
Royal.
The cavern froze.
Chains rattled violently.
The Warden Beast stopped.
Its six eyes lowered.
Then
It bowed.
Varis inhaled sharply.
Kael’s wolf went still.
The entire Gate realm beyond the opening began roaring.
Not in rage.
In answer.
My knees weakened.
Power surged too hard.
Too much.
Cracks of silver-black light split across my skin.
Kael shifted back instantly and caught me before I collapsed.
His arms wrapped around me.
Possessive.
Fierce.
Terrified.
“Stay with me.”
My vision blurred.
Varis stared.
Not triumphant now.
Afraid.
For the first time.
Because the beast behind him lowered its head to me.
Then another roar answered from beyond the Gate.
Then another.
Then dozens.
An army awakening.
And deep within the dark realm
something far larger than kings, beasts, or gods opened its eyes.
- Writer
