Page 38 of Dark as the Cursed Abyss

Chapter Twenty-Six

Farah

Inky black loomed in every corner before them. The labyrinth opened to nothing more than darkness of a cursed abyss. Beneath, the floor trembled with the footsteps of titans, pushing Chloe and Farah closer to the edge of nothingness.

A thin pathway curved along the cliff to their right. Wide enough for only one. Jagged rocks lingered below, spiraling down into nothingness. With each pound of the titans’ gaits, chips from the pathway broke off, making the one way out less viable by the second.

“Go!” Chloe screamed, shoving Farah toward what remained of the sheer cliff. “I will find another way out.”

Tears stained Farah’s cheeks and her throat swelled as she managed to speak. “I am not leaving you!”

“I can handle myself, I am a god. It will take more than a few titans to kill me.” But that look—the glassy-eyed wolf stared back at her with such a sense of finality.

Farah gripped Chloe’s hand, pulling her in close so their foreheads leaned against one another. “I. Am. Not. Leaving. You.” The ground rattled once more. They were close, the grunts and heaves of the creatures from Farah’s nightmares—from the seer’s visions—flooding reality around them.

A whimper escaped Chloe’s lips. “Do not make me do this…” she whispered, desperation sliding off her tongue with every word she spoke.

“We come out of this together, or we do not come out of it at all. I have seen what the Mysteries do—the destruction they reap on the lives of those most loyal if abandoned.” Farah gripped the sides of Chloe’s face with her palms, fiercely at first, then more delicate, letting her eyes search for belonging and trust.

All that stared back was ice. Piercing light blue eyes, dilating as the wolf spoke. “You will go. You will leave me and cross whatever pathway you have to and you will not look back.”

Light tears no longer stained Farah’s cheeks, but a full storm of emotion. The flood gates had been let loose on her heart and she tried to claw at every inkling of happiness they had shared before crashing into the tempest that followed.

“You will live your life as it was always meant to be. You will love, fiercely and without burden.”

“Chloe.”

“You will go. You will leave me. You will save yourself.” A single tear managed to slip from the corner of Chloe’s eye. It was the first time since the trials began that she showed any semblance of fear or weakness.

“No.” Farah leaned in and locked her lips with Chloe’s, letting herself sink into every memory and taste of her. The noise around them faded as threads of smoke bound them together. Braids of hope and promise for a life they may never live. “I will not leave you.”

“But…I…my…” Chloe’s eyes flipped back and forth, dilating once again to no avail. Her lips parted, and she stumbled back a step.

“Your tricks have never worked on me, little wolf. I cannot tell you why—whether it is sorcery or the Fates themselves.”

“Never?” Chloe stammered, inching back closer toward Farah.

“Never.”

The screeching echoed against the walls of the cavern. There was no way back, and with every breath they took the pathway crumbled more and more.

“Do you trust me?” Farah asked, beginning to weave her hands in and out of the motions she learned from her elders many years before. A pattern she had forgotten until Acacius pushed her off the cliff just days before.

Do not make the same mistake I did. He had sacrificed himself for Kalliope in these very tunnels, but the Mysteries were never about sacrifice. They were about trust. When all else was stripped from you, could you trust that the person walking beside you in life was enough.

Placing a hand on the small of Farah’s back, Chloe nodded. It was all Farah needed, the brief connection, a way to tether them together with smoke and fire the world of Odessia thought had long since perished. Farah linked their fingers together, squeezing tightly as the air around them thinned and three monstrous beings stepped out of the labyrinth behind them.

“Then jump.”

Without another thought, Farah stepped over the edge of the cliff, wrapping Chloe in her magic as they tumbled toward the everlasting darkness below.

The plunge stole the breath from Farah’s lungs. For a single, endless second, there was nothing but the rush of air in her ears and the violent pull of gravity yanking her downward into blackness. Then there was only water. The crisp feel of ice cold waves swallowed her whole.

The impact was bone-rattling, cold seeping into her skin like knives as she sank beneath the surface of the pool. The world went silent except for the muffled roar in her head, the last remnants of panic clawing at her chest. For a moment, she did not know which way was up. Darkness pressed in on all sides, thick and suffocating. Then a hand wrapped around her wrist.

Farah’s eyes snapped open beneath the water to find Chloe, pale hair drifting like silver threads around her face, eyes wide but focused. She tugged hard, pulling Farah toward the surface. They broke through together, gasping. Air never felt so sharp.

Farah coughed, dragging in breath after breath as she shoved wet hair from her face. “Gods.” Her voice cracked, her chest heaving as she treaded water. “That fucking man.”