Without thinking, her lips parted and a soft hum rose from her throat, melodic and haunting. A lullaby wrapped in warning.
Tread not where the sacred bled,
Where silence weeps and skies burn red.
Beneath the stone where light won’t tread,
The Devourer sleeps among the dead.
Rune’s eyes snapped toward her. “Where did you hear that?”
She blinked, startled by his sharp tone. “It’s a rhyme I saw in a book once. It was the original version of your song I believe.” She pointed at the glyphs. “I think… it must have originated here.”
He stared at her. “Perhaps it’s best not to continue…”
But the rest of the words were already rising again, unbidden. As if she could finally read the glyphs herself.
Speak your grief into the dark,
Lest darkness stir and echo hark.
He waits with teeth and hollow flame,
A thousand souls, a thousand names.
He gives no mercy, grants no peace
What’s once awakened shall never cease.
Blood shall bloom and time shall break
And gods shall fall in his wake.
But mark this heed, and hold your breath
For what you wake may hunger death.
The sky shall burn and storm shall rend
The cry you give may call your end.
A tremor rumbled beneath their feet.
A tempest rushed through the chamber like a creature exhaling a breath.
Rune grabbed her arm, the color draining from his face as the mirror rippled.
“Stop,” he said sharply, shadows recoiled again as he started to pull her back. “Or you will summon something far worse than I.”
She stumbled into him. “With a song?”
“Did you not summon me with a song? Music is a powerful thing. It can lift your spirit into a higher dimension or drag you into the Abyss.”
Coldness washed over her as she was hit with sudden clarity. This was exactly how she had called Rune to make a bargain.
Through a song and a mirror.
But she halted to a stop and removed his hold on her wrist. “I must know what bargain she made, Rune. The kingdom depends on it.” She took a breath. “And so do I.”
