Page 135 of Fated In Ruin
My footsteps echoed against the walls as I raced around another corner, skidding to a halt at a three-way intersection. The bond tugged sharply to the left—a path that plunged deeper into the mountain, away from daylight and safety. I didn't hesitate.
With each step, the air grew heavier, something evil lurking beneath the dusty, smothering atmosphere. My magic kept stirring, like even it sensed something wasn’t right. Everything felt wrong—the stone around me, the air, the humming vibration that buzzed in my ears like insects.
Discordant. Like everything down here was at odds.
“Where are you, Malachi?” I muttered, picking up my pace.
Pain lanced through our bond, a spike so intense I fell to my knees. Somewhere ahead, Malachi was hurting.Ravok was hurting him. The thought sent a surge of primal fury roaring through my veins.
My shadow flames responded immediately.
They rose around me like a cape suspended in the air, blackness spilling from my fingertips, surrounding me like a penumbra of darkness. I hadn't summoned them—not consciously—but my fear had called and they had answered.
That dark fire roared ahead of me in a devouring plume as I raced along the passages, dragging along hewn stone walls like curious fingers and everywhere they touched, the mountain seemed to shudder.
Dust sprinkled down from overhead.
Low rumbles vibrated up through the soles of my boots.
“No, no, no,” I hissed, trying to rein them in. “You need to wait. We’re almost there.”
But another tremor shook the passageway, stronger this time. A crack appeared overhead, zigzagging across the stone, the floor rumbling beneath my feet, that low, even hum growing more intense the deeper I went.
I forced myself to keep moving. I had to get control or I would bring the entire mountain down on all our heads—Malachi included. Blake and Rohr and Eldric, if they were behind me. But my magic was a fickle bitch, fighting me the entire time, stubbornly resisting every attempt at control, like it had a mind of its own.
Another sharp pull from the bond, a desperation that wasn't mine flooding me with fear.
Malachi needed help. And even though the smell of his blood was close enough to touch, our bond was thinning by the second, ready to snap.
“I’m almost there,” I whispered to the shadows, to myself,to him. “Hold on, just a little longer. I’m coming.I’m coming.”
My flames surged forward, carving a path through the dust choked corridor ahead. The stone groaned in protest, those flickering flames dragging along the wall with a shriek—like nails on a chalkboard.
That strange, magical dissonance grew stronger with each twist and turn. The power locked down in these tunnels felt ancient and corrupt, as if someone had taken the natural order of things and tangled them together in an unnatural way. My shadows reacted, growing more volatile with every pounding step.
There was a dead end ahead, an intersection, and I skidded to a stop, nearly slamming into the wall, I’d been moving so fast. To my right was an opening, the room beyond glowing with a warm, soothing light.
To my left…no.
Oh God, no.
My palms pressed hard against cold, damp stone, lungs stuffed so full of the limey taste of granite and the coppery scent of Malachi’s blood, my fangs punched out in a surge of hunger.
Then hunger turned to horror, everything in me recoiling from the sight in front of me.
Outlined by an arched doorway, Malachi hung suspended in front of a whirling black sphere, spilling over with a throbbing, corrupted energy that thumped against my chest like a beating drum. His eyes were closed, chin rested on his chest, red, glowing chains cutting so deeply from his weight he was bleeding everywhere, from his arms, his face, his throat.
So much blood, dripping and dripping endlessly into a still pool of water beneath him.
Aria waited behind him, barely even a ghost, silver-streaked hair framing her skeletal face, dark eyes glistening in sunken, bruised eye sockets. But more of that red magic spilled from her hands, keeping Malachi trapped.
Keeping him in pain.
“Put him the fuck down.” The bond yanked hard, as if Malachi was trying to stop me, and my eyes flicked to him, searching for a sign of life. “Let me rephrase that. Put him down or I’ll fucking kill you.”
“Only the Master has the authority to command me.” Aria’s ghostly whisper suspended in the throbbing air, and the entire chamber shuddered when I stepped inside, magic spilling out of me in an uncontrolled rage of dark fire.
Every part of my body contracted when I crossed that threshold, as if I’d stepped into a different dimension, and the power in here felt…odd.
