Chapter 1
There was something peaceful about waking up to the heat of the sun caressing your skin. The subtle warmth heating your blood, awakening your senses and casting light upon the darkest of moments.
Yet the darkness consumed me as I tried to pry my eyes open. Desperation clawed through my pores in an attempt to cling on to that light. It was futile. An endless cycle of light and darkness spiralling before me, close enough to know it was there but too far to reach.
A falling sensation overtook me, numerous times. Being sucked into a void only to tumble endlessly through the abyss. Was I finally with the Gods? Was this what it felt like to die and pass onto the next life?
Nausea churned my stomach, making acid bubble up through my throat and back down again as my consciousness swirled through the ether. A constant rotation and stillness at the same time.
The voices came and went, a fluctuation of drowned sounds. My ears rang with my name being called, my fingers itching to reach out to the voice I'd heard my whole life.
Aethel’s face formed before me, his beautiful smile contorting into one of excruciating pain.
“Why O, why did you do this to me?”
I tried to call to him, reaching my hands out to stop the blood from flowing. All my efforts were in vain. The blood pooled around us, surrounding me, soaking me, travelling up my body and consuming me, drowning me.
And still, I could do nothing.
Was this my punishment? An eternity in the Abyss, floating and plummeting endlessly in the darkness like a lost soul?
Eventually the sounds became sharper, more focused. The words confusing and my tongue still too thick to speak.
"She needs more rest, they won't survive with her in this state."
"It would've been better if she died."
"Don't say such things, she's the only hope we have."
"Hope, is that what you call this?"
The rushing of water flooded the words, washing them away as the darkness crept in and mixed with the bright orange and yellow hues dancing behind my lids.
Had it been minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks?
There was no indication, no clue as to how much time passed. My memories were jumbled, a piercing pain every time a silhouette formed behind my lids before vanishing into the spiralling vortex yet again.
I was overly aware of the shivers that wracked my body, the aching in my joints as soft hands eased my muscles and soothed my mind with a gentle lullaby.
Nothing made sense and after a time, I stopped trying to understand anything. The figures coming and going just outside of my vision, the voices mumbling and arguing in hushed tones too quiet to hear over the rushing of blood in my ears.
The bright light was far too startling, my yelp foreign to my ears as the darkness pulled me back under.
"You're not ready yet."
The voice purred, soothing my consciousness back into a slumber.
Memories of my childhood came and went, the vague feeling of snakes clinging to my hair and the salty taste of sweat on my lips, only teasing moments before they vanished.
It was darkness that lulled me back into a state of unease and it was darkness that I awoke to.
My vision fuzzy and hazy as my eyes adjusted to a window, the sheer veil fluttering in the cool breeze. Overly bright, sparkling stars shone down, illuminating the room and making a pained groan escape my lips.
Water. I need water.
With the intention of taking the glass of water from the side of the bed, I didn't know that I had no control of my body. Instead my limbs made no effort to move, my heart spiking in panic as I willed my fingers to take hold of the glass.
Nothing. No twitch, no movement, no... anything. All I could do was stare at the glass, the curtain taunting me as the fabric fluttered and licked at the glass.
Anxiety gripped my heart, the feel of cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck and my hair became matted to my head. A shift in the atmosphere had my eyes scanning the room in fear. I had no idea where I was.
For lack of a better description, the room looked as if it were made of mud and clay. Bare, with the exception of the thin bed I laid in, the curtain still mocking me and the glass of water, there was nothing else in the room.
A door was illuminated on the left side, the light flickering as if someone were walking back and forth. Where was I? For the life of me, I had no idea. No memories surfaced and with each, agonising attempt at regaining my last memory my mind turned a blind eye.
I felt it before I saw it, the unmistakeable presence of a predator lurking in the shadows.
Her eyes glowed in the darkness, just outside of the window. A second later, she was crouched upon the ledge, knees high as she perched over me. Ominous, yellow eyes gazed down, too large for her head and rounded like the sun.
"You should not be awake." Her voice came from her chest, a cat-like purr with each word enunciated with concentration. As if the words themselves were trying to trick her, she sucked at her teeth, stating again, "should not be awake at all."
A tilt of her head showed pointed ears peaking from her hair, the tips lighting up in the moonlight behind her.
"To sleep you go." Her hand shot out at my chest like a viper, the force of her knock undetermined as the darkness consumed me instantly.
Was this my eternity? Spending an endless, unfathomable amount of time being taunted and tricked by my own mind?
I began to understand why so many feared the Goddess of the Night.
The next time I awoke was during daylight. The sun lit an inferno under me, heating my body to the point my blood felt as if it were boiling.
My fingers ran up and over my legs, my very naked legs as I rubbed away at the prickling heat. A thin beige blanket draped over me, keeping me from exposing myself to the empty room.
After what felt like an eternity, my fingers gripped the glass beside me, my lips eagerly pursing to drink. The water burnt my throat, my coughs forcing the cold liquid up and through my nose. Sputtering and dropping the glass, I clutched my throat gasping as air filled my lungs once more.
My eyes adjusted, blinking rapidly trying to take in how bright everything was. After being in the Abyss for so long, it was startling to see the living world again; or what I assumed was the living world.
There had been too many stories of people coming home from the Abyss, only for them to lose their minds in the living world and find their way back.
With teary eyes and gasping breaths, my ears listened to the wind rustling the trees outside. Laughter caught my attention, my head tilting to listen carefully. The sound of children playing was as clear as crystal, their words dulled by the distance but their boisterous laughter and hollering a dead giveaway.
Trying to move from the bed was ridiculous, my muscles hardly worked, my arms and legs like dead weight trying to drag a slab of marble across the floor to the window.
After a torturous while, my forearms clung to the ledge, pulling myself up and slumping over the open window.
Outside was not something I recognised. It was similar to what I knew, but everything was slightly off. The flowers were too bright, the trees too large, the grass too feathery. Everything about the scenery was heightened, as if it were alive, breathing, pulsing with a heartbeat.
Watching from the window, in the distance a group of children played chasing after one another. One leapt high into the air, pouncing on another as they wailed dramatically and fell to the floor. A huge oak tree stood outside the window, shielding whatever building I was in. The sun easily shone through the branches, creating a disrupted pattern of light across the grass under the ledge.
My fingers reached out, touching the feathery grass, the wispy ends tickling my fingers and curling around them. A sea of silvery shadows danced along the tall greenery, the ends curling around each finger and pulling me closer.
Before I knew it, I was leaning over the ledge, the grass entwining itself up my arm and ever so gently pulling me out the window.
"You should pull back before it consumes you."
It took a moment for my eyes to spot the shadow, the figure amongst the leaves.
"Benevolent little fae," a long, slender frame hugged the thick branch, leather boots hanging from each side and a long spotted tail swishing and swaying as she smirked.
I know her.
I couldn't quite remember who she was, but I knew this cat-like woman.
My words refused to come out of my mouth, my tongue feeling like lead and my throat too dry. Instead I stared at her, the sun gleaming down through the trees and blinding me for a few moments.
The silky strands of grass began to retreat as the woman skulked out of the tree and landed silently at the base of the tree.
"Be gone little one, no more of your tricks." She hissed playfully, looking down at my hand that had a few little strands of grass holding my fingers.
"Oh but Sin, I want to play with her!"
My eyes caught the little creature with the high-pitched voice. Her green and silver hair flowed down the front of her emerald dress and covered the ground where her bare feet stomped in defiance.
"She does not want to play." The woman, Sin, shooed her away. The little grass girl swished away angrily with her tendrils fluttering along the ground as she went.
Slowly readjusting myself to leaning against the ledge, my legs and arms wobbled as I tried to stand properly. Sin quickly grabbed me through the window, steadying me and turning me to sit on the ledge.
"Do not fall, we cannot afford more recovery time." She hissed out, her bright eyes narrowing in annoyance.
She left me for a few moments and came back through the bedroom door with a long cotton nightgown. Draping it over my shoulders and tying it for me, she made me lay down on the bed, quickly fluffing the pillows up and forcing as much water down my throat as I could manage before coughing it all up again.
"You'll have to start regaining your energy, we can only do so much before our medicine no longer works for you." She tutted, each syllable said with a purr or a hiss making her sentence difficult to follow.
"That being said, the ointment hasn't left your system yet, you have another three days before you're supposed to be awake again."
Ointment?
After placing the glass on the side again, she tucked the thin blanket around me, asking me if I was comfortable. I could only manage a little nod; still confused as to what in the four kingdoms was going on.
"Good, to sleep you go." Her hand snapped out, knocking me with such an immense force it felt as if my heart exploded.
And once more I found myself in the darkness of the Abyss.
