It felt familiar. Dark, bottomless, always endless in its hunger.
I let it loose, and that’s when the screaming began.
The screams crashed into my head suddenly, overwhelming me like a dam breaking in my mind. They flooded every corner of my thoughts, leaving no room to breathe. The cries came with pain, not just in their sound, but in the weight they placed onto me. I gasped in agony. My chest seized while my breaths came in short, panicked bursts.
Hysteria rose while I kicked downward from the water’s surface, legs flailing, trying to find the bottom of it. I couldn’t stay afloat; my hands grasped at nothing, water slipping through my fingers. I sucked in a mouthful of it, choking as it filled my throat and burned into my lungs. I coughed hard, body twisting in panic.
I tried to hold on to control, but my mind was drowning too. Drowned in the voices of Wrath. The mortals’ pleas rang louder than anything I’d ever heard. Raw, furious, relentless. No focus, no strength, no force of will could block it out.
In the midst of my hysteria, my feet finally struck the rocky floor, scraping against sharp stones. Pain flared, but I barely felt it. I still couldn’t steady myself. My arms moved without thought, not to swim, but to clamp over my ears, trying to block out the screams.
So many voices. Too many.
Men. Women. Children.
Their screams twisted together. Some shrill, some low and guttural. All of them angry. All of them crying out. One on top of another, waveafter wave, endless and dominating. I couldn’t tell if I was hearing their screams or my own.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Pressed harder against my ears.
Stop. I needed it to stop.
I could do nothing but curl in on myself. I felt my body sink deeper into the stream, but I was frozen. Paralyzed in place. My lungs screamed for air as I slipped beneath the surface, but the voices had taken over completely, flooding my mind with their fury. The pressure was unbearable. So much rage, so much Wrath, crashing into me all at once. I was suffocating in it.
The water that had once held me gently, now dragged me down, swallowing me whole. My chest lurched. My muscles locked. Immortal, but not invincible, Raithe had said. I was learning that now, and far too late.
Bubbles escaped my mouth, my lungs releasing what little air I had left. I looked above to the surface, but the sunlight above had grown dim. The current pulled me along, uncaring, as if it didn’t notice I was breaking apart in its hold.
But the longer I stayed under, the quieter it became.
Slowly, the voices began to fade. Not gone, not silenced, but softened. My thoughts blurred, my senses dulled. And for the first time, surrounded by that pain, it was hushed.
My arms loosened, floating weightless at my sides. My legs uncurled, no longer tense. The screaming didn’t stop, but it grew quieter, further away. Still there. Still aching. But not devouring me.
It was stopping. By the gods, it was finally stopping.
But the quiet didn’t last.
I tried to hold onto it, tried to stay in that stillness a little longer, but something was pulling me back. Dragging me toward the surface. Dragging me back into the pain.
The voices that had faded into the background began to rise again, slowly at first, then louder, and louder, until they roared back to fullforce at deafening pitch. Sensation returned in a rush. My body jolted with it. A grip locked around my arm, tight enough to shock me back to myself.
I was being dragged. The water rushed around me, pulling at my limbs and hair as I was yanked through it. Then, suddenly, my face broke the surface. I roused, but the grip didn’t loosen. It kept pulling, kept dragging me until the stream gave way to solid ground. My skin scraped against moss and dirt, clinging to me in thick patches.
Shock tore through me as something struck my back. Then again. And a third time, harder. My body convulsed, my lungs spasmed, and I choked. Water spilled from my mouth in violent bursts, more trickling from my nose. I coughed, over and over, each breath raw and burning. Air rushed in, but relief didn’t follow. Breath finally filled my chest, but the voices didn’t stop. The pain didn’t stop.
I flung my hands to the sides of my head, pressing hard against my ears. I curled on the forest floor, trembling, rocking, barely able to think past the noise.
And all I could do was beg, over and over, through clenched teeth and shuddering breaths.
Stop. Stop. Please, just stop.
As I rocked, I heard my name faintly being called. It echoed behind the horde of screams and pleas of Wrath, growing louder while the other voices slowly faded. Though my body still trembled, the shock clinging to my skin, someone gently cradled me, pulling me close. Strong arms wrapped around me, holding tight, and a forehead pressed softly against mine as a soothing hum began.
The hum was beautiful, so achingly tender it sent a wave of calm through my chaos. The low voice continued, humming one melody after another, until the cries were soothed, driven back behind the dam they had broken through. My breathing began to settle. I felt a warm hand cradle the base of my neck, drawing slow, comforting circles.
I knew who it was.Raithe. His scent, his presence, powerful andfamiliar, wrapped around me, offering protection, kindness, and comfort. I leaned into him, absorbing the warmth he now gave so freely. The coldness he’d left behind in our last encounter had vanished.
When my trembling finally quieted, I opened my eyes, and there he was. I looked down to see his body stretched across the mossy ground, his throat still humming that haunting, beautiful song.
