The Crystal Mines

21 Nik

As two of the Siblings dragged a nearly hysterical Sorin, Scylla lead the way with the other five Sibling at our backs. Their gait was brisk, leading us up a staircase that was to the left of the white room we had met Erix in. Erix walked behind us, observing our behaviors. His presence was a sticky dark cloud, causing me to shiver. Callion hadn't once looked at me since the moment in the room. He really did hate me. I made his father's murderer stronger. Though, I wasn't sure how yet, I knew it to be the truth based on his reaction as Erix spoke those words.

Faolan grabbed my hand, chains scraping the floor behind us. A tear escaped my eyes at the contact, and I squeezed. Whatever was making Sorin panic, put us on edge. We rounded a corner to a carved archway at the end of a hall. Past the arch, was pitch black. A void leading nowhere. Without thinking, I dug my heels in and tried to stop my legs from walking forward.

"Move," A Sibling behind me hissed. They put their hand on my back and pushed, the coldness of their fingers burning my skins through the rags I wore.

"Now, now, Mohan, your time will come. You and Phthalo know your tasks," Erix said to the Sibling. I turned my head to see their face, eerily handsome, with short cropped white hair, and a single braid near their ear. The one name Phthalo, was next to Faolan, their hair similar with a braid near their other ear. I could not figure these Siblings out. They all seemed to be related, but Mohan and Phthalo could be twins. Mohan looked down at me, smiling. I whipped my head around, eyes on the black void in front of us. Sorin thrashed in two Siblings hands at the threshold.

Erix walked forward and lifted a hand to touch the void in front of us. His hand made contact like it would a window. From his fingers, the darkness dissipated like a fog, revealing that which it was concealing. Sorin whimpered in crazed tones while Callion watched, back and shoulders straight, holding onto as much strength as possible. Faolan and I held each other's hand, trying to find comfort. The scene unfolded to reveal the largest cavern I had ever seen. The ceiling surely reached the top of the mountain of the island. How the mountain remained hollow and intact was due to the crystal structure lining the walls, floors, and ceiling. But what was most terrifying, was the massive single crystal at the center of the mountain.

The crystal was wider than drove of trees and taller than four castles stacked on top of each other. I watched Erix, seeing him stare at the crystal in awe. He shot light to the top of the cavern, causing the whole cavern to illuminate in a sapphire rainbow. I had never seen a crystal of this type. Jorah had never mentioned anything like this. Erix stepped forward to touch the stone, only to curl his fingers back in.

"This is Aura Quartz," he said to open cavern, "to my knowledge, this is the only place it can be found." He faced me and said, "And it is best used for making portals."

I gasped. "What about the shadow crystals?"

Erix stepped to me, touching my chin with his thumb, "Those were created by adding the prince's blood to pieces of Aura Crystal. It is also how you opened a portal in the fourth Trial and proved what I had already figured you really were." He squeezed my chin painfully. "See, I needed to see if you could open a portal. So, I had the Siblings procure a small chunk of the crystal for the fourth Trial. The amount of blood I had to drain for that, nearly killed these two." He was speaking about Callion and Sorin. "For months, the Siblings and I worked at making sure the crystal would work if accessed by shadow magic. All we needed was the right circumstance orchestrated so that you would be forced to access the shadow magic inside of you. See, the entire Trial was built specifically so you would do exactly as I wished."

I sucked in a breath at the words Erix spoke in such a proud manner. "You're a psychopath," I growled in the man's face, and took a step forward. Callion's head whipped to me in shock. But I didn't care. I would not be bullied and broken by another man. Erix frowned, his fake smile disappearing. His hand was a blur as it moved to my throat, clenching. I glared at him through the tears.