THE ELEMENTAL CHRONICLE

Twenty-Eight |

Twenty-Eight |

Water envelops me completely.

It's everywhere.

Not just water either, but the throbbing, coldness of a magic I don't recognize.

The marble woman continues to pull me through it and I cannot find the will to move. Her grasp is vice and my fight melts away like oil to water. I try to scream which only pushes bubbles from my mouth as I waste the last few precious mouthfuls of air I have left.

Just as I think it's all over—just as dark dots dance across my vision like the plague, my body breaks through and the woman is gone. My eyes snap open as I spotlight beneath me, and I claw my way through the water, my hands outstretched as if this glowing, white light shall save me from the brutal death of drowning.

Which doesn't make sense.

I should be swimming up, and yet my body is pulled to the light.

As soon as my fingers brush against the throbbing, light which is in fact, a ball of pure magic, the cold sweeps through my body and once more I find myself catapulted through time and space into a whole new reality.

I gasp in air, not caring that my body is soaked, nor caring for the new place. Despite that, I can feel the cold magic that prowls around me like a beast. Under me, the ground is marble and around me is shadowed by grey. The burning in my lungs is hyphened as I stumble and fall to my knees and hands coughing violently.

"Hello little daughter."

My gaze is pulled up by an unknown force and I wish to let out a gasp of fright, but I suddenly find my jaw melted to my skull—unable to so much as utter a noise. I am in a throne room of marble. Everything is marble including the marble woman sitting upon a throne and the six wolves that sit at her feet so still I ponder if they're statues.

I'm aware of this room—it is so familiar.

The room of fire, I realize.

Except the man's throne is missing, and everything is of different material.

My eyes flicker to the windows.

There's no fire but instead darkness.

Dread fills me as I worry, I've become involved in something that if far beyond my expectations. My hands should be shaking—my heart should be pounding—but I find my body is as still as the marble of this realm.

The woman looks down at me with no expression. She's made of marble after all.

"Are you stuck?" she asks.

Stuck?

"Are you stuck?"

"Stuck?"

"Can you move?"

"We can..."

"...but why would we?"

Horror fills me. This woman is the same woman!

And I'm beginning to think this is no woman at all but a Goddess, and what is far worse is I believe that I have made the grave mistake of offending the being of pure magic. I breathe slowly out of my nose and consider this situation.

I cannot fight her.

Ebby is still back on the rocks.

Could I call Oberon?

No. If this woman is of god status, he'd not be able to help me. Instead, he'll only be in danger and I don't want that. Acceptance fills me. This will be alright. Even if this creature strikes me down, Ebby and Oberon are safe and far away from her.

"Why do you think of them?"

I blink, drawing my attention back to her. I find my jaw suddenly loosens, and my tongue twitches with mobility. She wants an answer, I realize. She has full control over my body. I let out a shaking breath not knowing how to answer her—I'm not sure to what she's asking.

My wits must be used here.

"Is it a surprise?" I question slowly.

She's quiet for a moment, waiting.

More dread fills my chest, spreading through my body.

"Why do you care who I think of?" I then ask.

Again, I'm met with silence.

Cold anger fills me.

"Will you say something?!" I scream.

Perhaps I should have considered the dangers of yelling at a god.

My magic flared through my body like a burst of heat, and I found control returning to my limbs. I stumbled to my feet, dramatically pounding my fist against my chest. I was angry—she had dragged me here—calling out to me before all but drowning my very being only to treat me like this. Goddess or not, I could not stand for such behavior.

"What do you want?" I demanded. "Why have you called for me? Is it to keep me prisoner here like some silly plaything, or did you have a purpose? Clearly something about me has caught your attention so perhaps you should stop wasting both our time. I will not speak of my friends, I will not utter their names to you—I will not give you that power. Keep me here for as long as you wish but I will not answer that question. No matter how minor it be."

Her lips pulled into a smile. "You'd be willing to live for them?"

"Of course." There was no hesitation.

"An easy question. Living for one whom treats us kindly is easy. Living for love is the most basically thing a human can do. There is no greater love."

"Dying is just as easy," I sneered.

"Is it?" she questioned. "Very well. Would you suffer for them?"

I paused. "W-what?"

"Ah yes. That's the question. Would you suffer for your fae?"

Before I could answer the question, the marble wolves sprung to life, stalking towards me. I let out a strangled noise, backing up until my head hit the back wall. They closed in and before I could so much as lift a finger they pounced.

As I screamed, one grasped my throat—ripping it clean out. The others grasped onto my limbs and pulled. My flesh tearing as easily as honeycomb to a blade. The pain was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. My blood soaks through the fabrics that barely cover my body and I can feel the darkness creeping in. I am gurgling on the blood that blocks my airway and the darkness claims me through the searing, visceral pain.

My eyes fling open and I gasp for air, my fingers digging into my throat.

What was that?

"Has your answer changed?"

My eyes widen as I look up.

The marble Goddess.

At her feet is six wolves.

A whimper breaks from my lips as I look down at my attire.

I'm soaked in blood.

"No," I whisper, horror filling me like ice.

"And so, it begins again."

The wolves moved towards me...

Again...and again.