[THIS STORY WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2024]
He had hunted me, captured me, and locked me in a tower.
Season 3 'Of Crows and Thorns'
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While in RISING, Tabitha discovers something peculiar that may assist Nelle in her plan to escape the...
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I drifted within the abyss, slipping between the realms as if the underworld was the darkness between stars. I was at rest. At peace. There was no more struggle to hide the secret of my wyrm. No more fear over my fate. I'd set myself free and in turn, saved my family.
But then...
Something pulled at me. A gentle tug. A careful nudge.
I began to rise toward a pinprick of feeble light in the cold, empty darkness.
Exhilaration flowed through me at the thought of the flaming Hellsgate opening and welcoming me into its hallowed kingdom.
But...
Something wasn't quite right.
Something was wrong.
I should be without feeling, but awareness lapped at my flesh, nibbling with tiny, sharp teeth, making me feel the barest of sensations—heat.
Chaotic noises began to filter through the dark abyss.
Male voices spitting with anger and resentment.
You pushed it too far demanding her to kneel!
I didn't know... I didn't know she'd try to take her own life!
You're a fucking psychopath, Jett!
Thumping footsteps.
A thud. A crash. Glass shattering.
An oof. A strike of a fist. A groan filled with pain.
Panic arose at the thought the god of death, Hazus, didn't want me.
That the light I traveled toward wasn't the flaming Hellsgate at all.
The dark material of the endless abyss shifted and altered as if it were cut from the same cloth as the night sky. The pinprick of light I was gliding toward expanded and glittered like a cluster of stars. The black brightened to a muted gray with warm undertones.
This wasn't an abyss at all—my eyes were closed and beyond my eyelids was light.
A small, shocked part of me recognized I was alive.
Another darker, regretful side to me was disappointed I'd been cheated out of death.
I stretched back into my body and swam to consciousness. Warmth began to invade my cold flesh. It was a pleasant sensation for the briefest of moments, but then the warmth became fiery heat. And with the heat came pain.
Rusty blades slashed at my throat. Blazing flames set fire to my chest and lungs. My blood boiled and spat in my veins. I tried to lift a hand but my limbs were heavy and unmovable, as if they belonged to someone else. As if they'd been chained. The last memories I possessed were a rapid flash of images, like flipping through a fistful of Polaroids, spinning through my mind.
