Chapter 8 — The River of Echoes
1500 Words
The light faded into cold.
Eirena awoke to the sound of running water slow, steady, and heavy as breath drawn through hollow stone. Her body ached as if she had been flung through a thousand storms, and her magic, once steady as a heartbeat, now throbbed faintly, out of rhythm.
She opened her eyes to twilight. The sky was pale and colorless, and the air was wet with mist. Beside her, Kael knelt at the edge of a narrow river, rinsing blood from a shallow cut along his arm.
“Still breathing,” he said without looking up. “Barely. You hit the ground harder than I did.”
She sat up, wincing. “Where are we?”
He gestured toward the water. “If I had to guess mortal realm. Or what’s left of it.”
Eirena followed his gaze. The river stretched endlessly in both directions, lined by blackened trees. But the water wasn’t normal it shimmered faintly, catching light where there was none. The current whispered as it moved, not in sound but in words that brushed against the edges of thought.
Remember me.
Don’t forget what was lost.
Her chest tightened. “The River of Echoes.”
Kael raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been here before?”
“No,” she said softly. “But I’ve read the legends. It’s said the river collects every memory the Crown erases every name, every face, every soul unmade.”
He looked down at the water, uneasy. “And we’re standing next to it. Wonderful.”
They followed the river downstream. The air was heavy with silence, broken only by the whisper of the current and the crunch of their boots on wet earth. Eirena wrapped her arms around herself, trying to ignore the pull of the magic beneath her skin. The thorns inside her pulsed faintly, out of sync, as if arguing with each other.
Kael noticed. “You’re shaking.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
She shot him a look. “And you’re bleeding.”
He smiled faintly. “Then we’re both a mess. Fair trade.”
Despite herself, she laughed a small, strained sound that still felt like breathing after drowning.
They stopped when the mist thickened into fog. Shapes flickered at its edges—figures of light, drifting near the surface of the water. At first, Kael thought they were spirits. Then one turned toward him, and his heart stuttered.
It was his own face.
He stumbled back. “What the hell…”
Eirena grabbed his arm. “Don’t look too long.”
“What is that?”
“The river doesn’t just hold memories,” she said quietly. “It shows them. Yours, mine, anyone’s. But it doesn’t distinguish between what’s real and what’s reflection.”
He turned away, forcing himself to breathe. “So it’s a trap.”
“It’s a mirror,” she corrected. “What you see is what you’ve forgotten… or what you’ve refused to remember.”
Kael’s reflection turned away and dissolved into mist. The fog shifted again, and now Eirena’s face appeared older, colder, crowned in thorns. Kael looked at her, but she refused to meet his eyes.
“You’ve seen that before, haven’t you?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Every night since I left her court.”
“The Queen?”
She nodded. “That’s the future she wants for me.”
He reached out, brushing his fingers against hers. “That’s not the future you’ll have.”
She looked at him then, and something inside her steadied. For a moment, the whispering river fell silent, as if listening.
They walked until twilight deepened into darkness. The river glowed faintly beneath the starlight—except here, the stars were dim, many of them flickering out one by one. Eirena’s stomach twisted.
“The stars are dying faster,” she said. “Her reach is spreading.”
Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then we keep moving.”
They camped beneath the twisted roots of an old tree, its bark etched with faintly glowing runes. Kael built a small fire while Eirena studied the thorns, tracing the lines of energy through her wrist. They pulsed erratically like veins of light gone wrong.
Kael tossed a twig into the flames. “You ever regret it?”
She glanced up. “Regret what?”
“Running. Leaving her. All of this.”
Eirena stared into the fire for a long time before answering. “Every day. But staying would’ve killed me faster.”
He nodded. “So, no going back.”
“There’s no back left,” she said softly. “Only forward.”
He handed her a strip of dried meat. “Then forward it is.”
They ate in silence. The fire crackled, and the river whispered. Somewhere far off, something moved a deep, resonant hum that made the ground tremble. Kael froze, reaching for his weapon.
“What was that?”
Eirena closed her eyes, listening. The sound came again, louder this time a low, mournful horn echoing through the fog.
Her blood ran cold. “The Queen’s Hunt.”
Kael’s expression hardened. “How close?”
“Too close.”
The first arrows of starlight struck the ground seconds later, sending bursts of frost into the air. Kael grabbed Eirena’s hand, pulling her toward the trees.
“Move!”
They ran along the riverbank, the ground shaking with the force of pursuit. Shadows flickered through the mist riders clad in silver armor, eyes burning with cold fire. Their mounts weren’t horses but creatures of glass and smoke, their hooves leaving trails of light.
Eirena’s pulse raced. “We can’t outrun them forever.”
“Then we don’t,” Kael said grimly. “We outsmart them.”
They reached a fork where the river split into two currents one flowing clear, the other dark as ink. Eirena hesitated.
“The black current leads to the Depths,” she said. “Nothing comes back from there.”
Kael grinned. “Perfect.”
Before she could protest, he yanked her into the dark current. The water swallowed them instantly, cold as death. Light vanished. Sound vanished. Even thought felt slower here, heavier.
Then silence. The current stilled. The water turned to glass around them.
They stood not in a river but inside a vast, mirrored chamber, its walls reflecting endless versions of themselves.
Eirena’s voice was a whisper. “The Depths aren’t death. They’re memory.”
“Great,” Kael muttered. “Because I really wanted to relive mine.”
The reflections around them began to move—not in sync, but independently. One showed Kael alone, kneeling over her body. Another showed her walking away from him into a storm of light. A third showed them together, crowned in matching fire.
Eirena’s throat tightened. “These are echoes of what could be.”
“Then how do we know which one’s real?”
“We don’t,” she said softly. “That’s the test.”
The chamber trembled. From the reflections stepped shapes half-shadow, half-light. The same fae riders that had chased them, but distorted, their armor warped, their faces blank.
Eirena drew her bow. “They followed us through the echoes.”
Kael unsheathed his sword, silver light running down its edge. “Then we make them regret it.”
The battle was chaos made flesh. Every swing of Kael’s blade shattered another reflection, only for two more to form. Eirena fired arrow after arrow, each one singing with pure magic. The air hummed with power, and the ground rippled like water.
Then one of the shadow-riders lunged not at Kael, but at her reflection. It shattered the image, and Eirena felt pain rip through her chest like fire.
Kael caught her as she stumbled. “Eirena!”
She gasped, clutching her ribs. “They’re attacking the bond.”
“The bond?”
“The reflections they’re tied to our souls. If they break too many, we…”
She didn’t finish. Another reflection cracked. Her breath hitched, her magic flaring wildly.
Kael turned, fury igniting in his veins. “Then we end this.”
He drove his sword into the mirrored floor. The ground split apart, light searing outward in every direction. The reflections screamed, their forms dissolving into mist. The chamber shook once and shattered like glass.
When the world stilled, they were back on the riverbank. The fire of pursuit had vanished. The Hunt was gone. Only the quiet whisper of the current remained.
Eirena sagged against him, trembling. “You broke the reflection?”
He nodded, breathing hard. “Didn’t know if it would work.”
“It almost didn’t,” she said weakly, smiling through the pain. “You reckless fool.”
He laughed really softly. “You’re welcome.”
She rested her head against his shoulder, exhausted. “The bond saved us.”
“Or doomed us,” he murmured. “Hard to tell sometimes.”
- Writer
