Forbidden Love - Fragments of Forgotten Love

Chapter 8

A flicker of pride mixed with grief washed through me. A brother I barely remembered had carried on fighting while I slept through centuries.

"And the charges of enchantment," Dex added, "were fabricated to justify your arrest. The royal family couldn't admit their heir had chosen a commoner willingly."

Costa's jaw tightened. "So my parents were part of this?"

"Your father was," Marcus replied. "Your mother tried to stop it. There are records of her attempted interference with the preservation program. She disappeared shortly after."

The landscape outside changed again, the twisted vegetation giving way to vast plains covered in what looked like silver grass that rippled like water in the night breeze. In the distance, pinpoints of light suggested settlements or outposts.

"Border territory," Kira explained. "The edge of Council control."

A warning tone sounded from the vehicle's console. Kira's expression hardened as she studied the display.

"Void signature detected," she announced, accelerating sharply. "Two kilometres back and closing."

"They've found our trail," Dex said grimly, reaching beneath his seat to retrieve what looked like weapons. "The anchor stones aren't masking you anymore."

The vehicle swerved, leaving the relatively smooth path for rougher terrain. The silver grass whipped against the windows as we cut across the open plain.

"There," Marcus pointed to a distant ridge where dark shapes moved against the copper sky. "Sanctuary scouts. If we can reach them—"

A sudden impact rocked the vehicle, sending us skidding sideways. Through the rear window, I glimpsed a distortion in the air—like heat waves but more structured, moving with purpose.

"So knowing my Father considering how he treated me like I was nothing more than a bargaining chip he probably signed me up for this to keep his status as if he had, one mistress he would have had others with other children no doubt, would explain why I rarely saw him after my mother’s death after giving birth to a stillborn son,” I said, looking off into the distance.

Costa squeezed my hand, his eyes reflecting the strange copper moonlight. "It seems both our fathers were willing to sacrifice us for their own ambitions."

Another impact rocked the vehicle, making it harder this time. The metal frame groaned as something unseen clawed at the exterior.

"Void Walkers," Dex confirmed, distributing the weapons. They resembled short staffs with glowing blue cores. "These disrupt their phase state. Aim for the centre mass of the distortion."

Kira accelerated, the vehicle bouncing violently over the uneven terrain. "Two minutes to the border ridge if we can maintain speed!"

Through the windows, I could see more echowisps gathering—dozens, then hundreds, swarming around our vehicle like protective spirits. Their whispers grew louder, more insistent.

"They're helping us again," I murmured, watching the pale lights dance across the silver grass.

The vehicle's roof suddenly dented inward, metal shrieking as invisible forces compressed it. A cold sensation washed over us—like stepping into freezing water—and I knew the Void Walkers were phasing partially into our space.

"Now!" Marcus shouted, raising his weapon.

The staffs discharged simultaneously, releasing pulses of blue energy that rippled through the vehicle's interior. A high-pitched wail erupted from nowhere and everywhere, and the pressure on the roof vanished.

"Direct hit," Dex confirmed, checking a small scanner. "But there are more coming."

The ridge loomed closer, and I could now make out the figures waiting there—people with raised weapons glinting in the moonlight. Freedom was tantalizingly close.

"We're not going to make it," Costa said quietly, his eyes meeting mine. "Not all of us."

Before I could respond, he turned to Marcus. "The anchors we're holding—they mask our signatures, right?"

Marcus nodded. "Partially, yes."

"So if we separate from you, the Walkers will follow us instead of the vehicle."

My heart clenched as I realised what he was suggesting. "Costa, no—"

"We can draw them away," he continued, his voice steady. "Give you time to reach the ridge."

Kira shook her head fiercely without taking her eyes off the terrain. "Absolutely not. No one gets left behind."

"It's not about being left behind," Costa insisted. "It's about choice. Our choice, for once in six hundred years."

Another impact rocked the vehicle, and something like a spectral hand began to phase through the roof, its outline barely visible—a shimmering distortion in the air.

Marcus fired his staff again, and the apparition retreated with another wail. "We're running out of charge," he warned.

I looked at Costa, seeing the determination in his eyes. In that moment, more memories crystallized—his laughter in the Le Glow Club, his fingers tracing my cheekbone in the moonlight, his steady voice as he faced down his parents in their opulent palace. Six hundred years hadn't changed his courage or his willingness to sacrifice.

"Together," I said firmly. "If we do this, we do it together."

The vehicle crested a small rise, momentarily airborne before crashing back to the ground. The ridge was close now, perhaps half a kilometre away.

"There!" Dex pointed to a depression in the terrain off to our right. "The old riverbed. It leads away from the ridge but connects to the underground network ten kilometres east."

Costa nodded, understanding immediately. "We can lose them in the tunnels and circle back."

"It's suicide," Kira protested. "The Walkers move faster in the open."

"But we have these," I said, holding up my anchor stone. "And we have the echowisps."

As if responding to my words, the luminous orbs clustered more densely around the vehicle, their whispers growing stronger.

"We'll protect... guide them... remember the way..."

Marcus looked between us, conflict clear on his face. "The resistance has waited centuries for this moment."

"And they'll wait a little longer," Costa replied. "We're not symbols, Marcus. We're people making a choice."

The resistance members silently made a decision. Finally, Kira nodded, "The river junction is fifty meters ahead. Be ready."

The vehicle slowed just enough as we approached the dried riverbed. Costa and I positioned ourselves by the door, anchor stones clutched tightly.

"When you reach the tunnels," Dex instructed hurriedly, "follow the echowisps. They'll lead you to a resistance outpost."

"What about the psychic tether?" I asked, suddenly remembering the pull we'd felt earlier.

"The farther you get from New Avalon, the weaker it becomes," Marcus assured us. "Once you cross the border, it should fade entirely."

The vehicle swerved sharply, skidding to a momentary halt beside the riverbed's edge. The door hissed open.

"Go!" Kira shouted.

We leapt out, landing hard on the cracked earth of the ancient river. The silver grass towered above us, providing immediate cover as we began to run. Behind us, the vehicle accelerated away, drawing some of the distortions with it.

But not all of them.

The air rippled around us as we sprinted down the riverbed, echowisps darting ahead like scouts. The twisted landscape of this new world blurred past—strange rock formations, crystalline growths, vegetation that seemed to reach for us as we passed.