“Not me, just him.” River pokes the fire physically and metaphorically.
The flames rage in Ryder’s eyes, but he refuses to bite and continues sharpening his sword.
“Why can’t you both just get along? The Hollow is kicking our asses enough, without you two taking chunks out of each other.” Nala’s voice barely makes it over the crackling fire but reaches River nonetheless. I sink into the hardwood of the log deeper. I know the pain that River carries, the wrench between them both. His fear. Those eyes find mine again, ships sailing too close to the rocks. I drag my eyes away.
“Well, if we play our cards right, we’ll make it out of here, and you two will never have to see each other again.” A silence follows my words, a subtle hurt in River’s eyes, now steering far away from mine. The rhythmic scrape of Ryder’s sword against the flat stone fills the air between us, steady and relentless—as if no edge could ever be sharp enough for whatever waits ahead.
“I don’t know what scares me more,” Nala murmurs, holding her hands over the fire as though its warmth could chase away anything lingering in her head. “That we might actually be over halfway… or that we might actually make it out of this forest.”
She doesn’t look at me when she says it. Her gaze stays fixed on the flames—on the way they twist and bow with every breath of wind—as if the answer might be hiding there, flickering in and out of reach.
And for a moment, I’m not sure which possibility terrifies me more, either, because we both know that even if we make it through the Hollow, the gem will be waiting at the end of it, ready to claim whatever pieces of our souls we have left.
Chapter Twenty-Two
My eyes struggle to adjust to the bright light ahead of me. We have been wandering in darkness for so long, light feels foreign to me, enough to make my eyes water and split my head in two. For a heartbeat, I can’t see a thing, just blinding bright white, but then I make out a figure in the distance, through the blur.
A warmth gathers behind my eyes, soft at first—like a hand brushing my cheek—before it flares into something bright and ancient.
‘Asha.’
The voice hums through my bones, not loud, not soft, but absolute and my breath snags.
I have heard that voice before. I know that voice.
“Oriah… is that you?”
‘Yes, child.’
Her tone, usually gentle as dawnlight, trembles with strain.
“I’ve been calling for you. For days. Where have you been?” My voice cracks, embarrassment burning beneath the desperation.
‘Everything changed the moment you merged light and dark within the mountain,’she says, each word flickering like a candle fighting the wind. ‘Something slipped through the fracture… a remnant of the underworld.’
“Nyxos. We know—he’s hunting—”
‘No.’Her correction is sharp enough to still the air around me. ‘What hunts you is not Nyxos. But a shard of him. A severed piece that wriggled free when the seal weakened.’
A chill slides down my spine, colder than the Hollow’s breath. If that’s just a shard, then I can’t imagine what damage he could do whole.
“What does it want?”
‘Energy.’Oriah’s voice dips lower, her tone shaking me to my core. ‘Enough to shatter the cage entirely. Enough to wake the true Nyxos—and if that happens, Asha… the world you love will not survive the dawn.’
I swallow hard, anger bubbling beneath fear. “Where were you when I needed you? I thought you abandoned me.”
Her sorrow washes through me, heavy and warm.
‘The creature clogged the passage between our realms. He is baiting us—trying to draw the Gods into reach so he can Siphon our power. That is why I cannot linger.
If even one of us falters, if even a single current of divine power is drained… the cage will break. And Nyxos will walk free.’
Her presence flickers—the first sign she’s slipping.
“Oriah—wait—what am I supposed to do?”
‘Listen.’Her voice sharpens, cutting through the dim like a blade. ‘You cannot trust what waits atop the mountain.’
