Truyen2U.Net quay lại rồi đây! Các bạn truy cập Truyen2U.Com. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

Chapter Eleven*

As we fell through the air, clouds of dust restricting our vision and filling our lungs, Larc twisted his body so he took the brunt of the impact. He wrapped his body around mine, using himself as a shield to protect me.

"Larc!" I cried out in worry as his pained breaths sounded from below me. Pushing out of his arms, my magic spread across my hands and rushed into the Dragon-born. It felt for every bruise that was going to bloom across his back, every wound that could have leaked even a drop of blood and erased their existence.

"I'm okay." He winced as he moved his back with dust, dirt, and Goddess knew what stuck to the remains of his wings. There didn't appear to be any broken bones, though. Just the bruises my magic had already healed away.

My sister extended her hand to help me up as she looked at where we had fallen from. As our skin made contact, my power surged through Haera too, healing the soreness from her. It had been incredibly brainless of us to stand on the edge of the hole that had opened up when we didn't know if it was safe or not. Now, we had to pay the consequences for that.

Around us was nothing but darkness and stone. Tiles of plain grey lined the floors and ceiling, plants fighting their way between the gaps to break into the passageways, while decorative ones made up the walls. A series of swirls, lines, and dots were carved into the stone, attempting to bring a sense of cheerfulness into the gloom. From what we could see, the tunnels offered no escape.

"Now what are we going to do?" I asked, wafting some of the dust that had yet to settle away from my face. We weren't going to make any progress towards the mountain stuck down here.

Haera's hands moved to her weapons. "We can still search for something to help us climb out, it just has to be taller now that there's nobody waiting at the top." Her voice was steady — an ocean of calm. There was a plan in her mind and nothing was going to stray her from it. "We don't know what's down here, so stay on guard."

We both nodded in reply and began to follow my sister down the passage she chose. The few blue sparks that had fallen down with us were the only source of light we had as we travelled further into the tunnels, making it difficult to see where we were going. Though, as we walked with careful steps, something tugged at me to stop.

I turned into a room that looked a little like an abandoned infirmary. Two broken, metal beds sat evenly spaced with moth-bitten sheets and pillows where I assumed patients would have laid. To the side was a shattered glass cabinet with old herb jars, boxes of gauze, and other concoctions used for medicine. Dried blood was splattered on the floor, leading from the doorway to the closest bed, telling a story of someone I hoped had lived.

My chest tightened as a much stronger version of my power lingered in the corner of the room. What was it? It led me to a counter where several different books and documents were scattered across it. How was this related to the Goddess?

I picked up a book that caught my interest and blew the dust off the cover. The cloud it created flew upwards and into my eyes, making me drop it in shock. Pain stung them as I closed them and tried to blink away the parts that got caught in them.

"There you are." Larc's voice echoed from the passageway and grew louder as he made his way over to me. "What's wrong?" He questioned, rushing over as my eyes were still squeezed shut. His fingers gently grazed my skin as he tilted up my chin. "Which eye is it?"

"My right eye." I reached up to rub the dust out, but I was stopped by fingers intertwining with my own.

"Don't rub it, you'll make it worse. Can you try and open it so I can see if anything is inside?" The frown was audible in his voice.

"It's fine," I insisted. "It's just dust, it will clear." Even though it was likely just a speck of dust that had made it into my eye, it made it sting every time I attempted to open it or blinked. My body refused to let the dust damage it.

Once I had managed to open it the smallest bit, Larc found the problem. "There's a thick clump of dust in the corner of your eye. Try to open it again and look up and I'll try and remove it." He gently tilted my head to the side and softly blew the dust away. His face was mere inches away from mine, forcing a strong blush to my face. "It's out."

I blinked rapidly, bringing my hands to my eye to rub it, thankful the pain had disappeared. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Larc stepped away when he realised how close we were. "What did you find?"

"I'm not sure." I picked up the book I had dropped and several papers fell to the ground. Each piece appeared to be a letter and ones written in the human tongue. "Something we can actually understand, it looks like."

We picked up the sheets that had fallen and began to read through their contents. The first one I retrieved had my heart gripped with sorrow.

Zussa,

I'm so sorry. I said I was going to wait until you returned with supplies, but I can't hold on much longer. My power cannot withstand these chains I made for it. Lina is helping me up the mountain with my Lyre so we can end this torment for good. Nobody needs to suffer because of me.

I'm sorry I could not say this to you in person, but I love you so much — more than my heart could ever handle. You make it beat uncontrollably when I'm in your presence and the sound of your voice has always comforted me, ever since you washed up on these shores. Perhaps it will be easier this way. Perhaps...

The rest of the letter was faded and illegible, but I didn't need to read much more to understand what was going on and had tears forming in my eyes. Was this the Goddess talking about her Lyre?

I moved to another letter, hoping to find more answers hidden within it.

Sirvi,

I hate to say that I'm not grieving as much as I thought I would. Maybe it hasn't hit me yet. Your aura, your magic, and all of your creations still surround me and remind me of you. Though, most of them broke down without you being around anymore. At least the Lyre worked. All of the darkness is now confined to the forest we call our home. I just wish I could have seen your face one last time, that gorgeous smile of yours before you syphoned your magic away.

Lina hasn't been taking it well at all. Not even her husband can calm her down. She's gone back to Nusal and I've seen reports of her destroying everything she can get her hands on. It's laughable, really. She's supposed to be the cool, calm, and collected queen.

Why am I bothering to write these letters? They're a waste of time. I can almost hear you ask that. Your voice will forever be trapped in my mind. I suppose as I sit with these Lyre strings you failed to imbue your magic with, a reminder of how hard you tried to protect the world from yourself, I can't stop thinking about you.

I'm being called away now to help fix some repairs at the port, but I shall write again, even if these letters won't go anywhere. I shall keep your memory alive whether it has to be through song or through stories told to children.

Your greatest love and the bearer of your heart,

Zussa

A tear slid down my cheek as I tucked the letter away back into the book. In my hands and scattered across the floor and counters are so many more letters. There could have been hundreds of them scattered across the abandoned infirmary from Zussa to Sirvi. The lover of the Goddess to the deity herself.

"What is it? What do they say?" Larc looked away from his own letters with brows furrowed in concern.

"The Goddess. I think this may be the last thing that she ever wrote." My power flared in comfort as I realised I now knew the Goddess's real name. Sirvi. It sat strangely in my mind. Though, she would always be the Goddess to me.

Several questions swirled around my head. What did she mean by nobody has to suffer because of me? Who is the Lina that was mentioned? Why were these goodbye letters? The Goddess had travelled up the mountain with her Lyre and never returned to conceal the darkness, but something still didn't add up.

Larc read through the letters I held and a bewildered expression appeared on his features at the information we had found, perhaps even a little sad. He opened his mouth to say something, but a call from down the passageway cut him off.

"I found some crates we can move! Can you guys come and help me?" Haera yelled, followed by the sound of something heavy being dragged along the stone.

The Dragon-born and I looked at each other and then tucked the letters back into the book I had found. If these were the last pieces of the Goddess and her life, I didn't want to disturb it too much.

Larc reached over to wipe the tear that had gotten stuck on my cheek and motioned his head towards the doorway. "Let's go and see what your sister needs."

After taking one last look at the infirmary, at the place where Zussa had spent so many hours writing and writing to the Goddess who had gone up the mountain with her Lyre to protect the world, we left and continued down the hall.

When we found Haera, she stood on top of a large, wooden crate, testing to make sure it would hold her weight. Around her were several more of them, both on shelves and on the ground to create what looked like a storage room. "These should do the trick. We can pile them on top of each other to create a staircase and then climb out when we get high enough." She climbed down and placed her hands on her hips, counting the number of crates in the room. "Did you find anything?"

I shook my head. "Just some letters between the Goddess and her lover. They didn't include anything useful, they were just sad." I forced the memory from my mind. That didn't matter. Right now, we needed to get back onto the surface and make our way towards the mountains.

"What is in the crates?" Larc asked as he lifted the lid of one of them.

"It looks like old supplies and rations from the ones I've opened, but some of these are very heavy." My sister began pushing one back towards the hole that we fell through. "Come on, the sooner we get out of here the sooner we can get back to finding the Lyre and destroying it."

We each took a crate and pushed them towards the streaming sunlight. Once we got three of them there with sweat pouring off my head, I didn't notice a moving shadow until Haera pulled me away from the crates. She dragged me back into the darkness of the passageways while Larc froze in place. Both reached for their weapons, staring at the tunnel we had yet to explore.

Prowling past was another shadow creature. Wisps of darkness clung to its body and streamed behind it as it walked, but it hadn't seemed to notice us yet. Unlike the other beast we had encountered, this one was much smaller in size and had considerably fewer teeth in its drooling mouth.

Haera stepped in front of me. Her eyes darted between our exit and the shadow creature, trying to formulate a plan. The beast turned its head towards us at the movement, revealing the fact that it didn't have blue, glowing eyes. In fact, it didn't have any eyes at all.

It sniffed the air and began walking towards us, continuing to sniff out its surroundings as it did so. Our safety was trickling away by the second. If we moved to run away, it would hear us and chase after us. If we attempted to quickly stack the heavy crates and escape, we would have to move closer to the beast and it would smell us.

All we could do was hold our breath and wait, fear curling around our chests.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen2U.Com