This love is inescapable.
And I might have just fucked it all up with my ego.
“We could unleash our shadows to scour the area for us; they can detect what even our senses might not pick up on,” I say as I try to focus on the task at hand, and not how easy it would be to envelop her in my arms and forget about the outside world.
“And lose a layer of warmth? No, thank you.”
“Your shadows don’t keep you warm, little umbra,” I say, laughing.
“That’s easy for you to say,” she answers back, narrowing her bewitching amber eyes at me. “You’re practically a walking block of ice; you’re not even wearing a fucking cape right now.”
I grab the lapels of her heavy cloak, engulfing her with my body, and I breathe in relief when she doesn’t reject the gesture, her head burrowing into my chest.
“Unleash your shadows, love; I’ve got you.”
She puffs a breath of hot air that tickles my skin before sighing and relaxing in my grasp. Black swirls pour from under her clothes, pooling at our feet and blending with my own before they sweep the entire area in a brush of darkness. For a second the world goes caliginous, before the shadows recede like a smoky veil that’s being lifted.
Nothing stirs in the milky-white hellscape, and I deflate. I really thought this would work.
Could it be that Sariah gave us the wrong location?
“There,” Aimee breathes against my skin, pointing a shaking finger toward a spot in the faraway distance. I squint my eyes against the blinding snow, and that’s when I see it.
A dot on the horizon.
A speck of black in a sea of white.
A barren patch of rocks.
The entrance.
I waste no time in blinking us into nonexistence and reappearing in front of the mouth of a cave that opens in the rock like a frozen wound, bleeding stillness.
The swirling storm dares not venture past its threshold, as if it knows better than to disturb the ancient magic.
The howling blizzard falls abruptly silent here, a hush so sudden that it rings loudly in my ears.
The wind dwindles to a dead breeze, heavy and ominous.
I don’t trust this treacherous silence. More than a warm welcome, it feels like a muted threat, like the cave is holding its breath, ready to pounce on whoever dares to intrude its darkness.
Out there, you’re at the mercy of the raging elements, but here there’s no safety to be found either. I can’t shake off the feeling that our journey is not just of discovery, unearthing Ereshkygall’s hidden resting place. It’s also a gamble for survival.
Aimee peels herself off me, fixing her hood with jittery fingers, before straightening her shoulders with quiet determination.
“Here goes nothing,” she whispers before disappearing inside the cave. I follow her in silence into a pitch-black tunnel that winds down the mountain. We walk in damp darkness for what feels like hours on end before the tunnel opens up to a perfectly square chamber, its walls polished to perfection.
Several hidden sconces flicker to life, casting an aethereal blue glow, revealing a huge inscription carved directly into the stone wall.
All truth requires sacrifice
What are you willing to part with?
“A fucking riddle? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Aimee exclaims.
“I’m more worried there’s no exit from this chamber,” I say, frowning. “This must be the first trial.”
“How anticlimactic,” she huffs in disappointment, kicking a few pebbles with her boot.
