Time Can Heal (But This Won't) A Darkling Series

So, Before You Go Chapter Eight: Every Golden Age Will Rust

A girl dies, and the boy who loves her searches the land of the living and the land of the dead to find her. The god of the Underworld gives him a task that, if completed, could bring her back with him. What do you think happened to Eurydice after Orpheus failed? Could she be even half of a woman he could recognize when he finally joined her in death?

The Shadow Fold looms above you, dark and cold. You had not dared to step foot within its boundaries ever since your escape from it so long ago. It feels like years have passed since you and Aleksander were abandoned by Alina's sandskiff, forced to endure the treacherous journey out of the Unsea despite the vicious attacks of the volcra. You are a different person now than you were when the light left you; for better or for worse, you cannot tell, but surely different nonetheless.

You hesitate for just a moment before you dare to step foot inside. This close to the border, the shifting wall of shadows oozes and roils before your eyes, a deadly slick of oil that can sense its prey drawing ever closer. You escaped once before, but who are you to think you can do it a second time?

You walked in the Underworld once, when your mother died. She was the last of the gods, and you had thought you might catch up with her before she crossed the Styx. Instead, you were too late, and were greeted with the sight of all of them waiting on the other side. The black, motionless waters were just too deep for sound to make it over to you, but you sensed what they wanted to tell you anyway: the only way you would find any of them again would be through death.

So you thought, anyway. Yet the visions came. The Fold reminds you of the Underworld, that sensation of walking straight through death itself. It makes you doubt what's real. As you shake the last of your fears from your shoulders and step inside, you cannot help but think of the halls of the dead. It is eerily silent in here, save for the distant shrieking of the volcra carting and wheeling somewhere up above you.

You can hear your heartbeat drumming in your ears, guiding you ever forward, and soon enough a new sound appears to join the fray. It's a familiar sound, that of a fight to the death. You duck around the ruins of what had once been a home or settlement and see them at last: several figures all opposing one man clad in black. Aleksander and Alina, plus Zoya, and two women you do not recognize. One is a Heartrender, and one throws knives with the accuracy of one of Artemis' hunters.

Alina throws a surge of light towards Aleksander, but you raise your hand, and across the jagged clearing of the Unsea, a swarm of green smoke emerges to block the sunbeam. Alina whips around, and her eyes widen in shock when she sees you.

"Y/N?"

You nod, lips tugging up into a half smile. "I am a demigoddess, Alina. I don't die easily. It's a shame that you don't follow that practice."

She says nothing, just locks her jaw and continues her attack. You run to Aleksander's side and join him in advancing the assault against Alina's fighters. Mal is here too, you realize, which is dangerous for him. He is, after all, the firebird, and having the third amplifier so close could tide the battle over for either side.

Time is of the essence, and you won't allow yourself or Aleksander to make a mistake that could cost you this war. You look between Aleksander and Mal, and your lover understands what you mean at once. Alina wants Mal alive, but she isn't the only one who covets an amplifier. Aleksander is far less chained to the idea of keeping the tracker alive.

Aleksander raises his arms in a gesture you've seen countless times before, preparation to use the Cut. Alina's eyes widen; she knows it too by now, knows the violent ends this deed will produce. Just before the blade of shadow can reach Mal, Alina throws up her hands and a radiant blast of light nearly knocks you off your feet.