Cursed With You

We Still Want to Try

They were in a gallery hallway where paintings of Slorista's former kings lined one wall and large windows lined the other. Malyn handed Jacina a bronze medallion with a red stone in the center. She placed it on the floor and rubbed the red stone three times with her fingertips. Two lines of light emanated from it, moving upward in a diamond-like pattern. When the ends met at the top, the inside of the lines turned white and rippled like water.

"The Sky Temple," Jacina said.

From the center, the white ripples fluttered to the edges, revealing a place covered in snow and a staircase led up through the clouds.

"I think we need cloaks," Jacina said. She sent Malyn to fetch three cloaks for her, Raffin, and Magus Ivys. Ferula didn't come. Jacina wanted her to keep searching. If they failed, they would have a backup. If Ferula found them.

Raffin stretched his neck as close to the portal as he could. "The stairs were so high that they pierced the clouds. I'm not sure we can climb all the way to the top."

"You don't have to climb them, Your Highness," Magus Ivys said, seeing Raffin's expression. "All we need is the candle. I can get it for you."

"You can climb a staircase that high?"

"We're wizards," Jacina chirped. "Magic gives our bodies more strength than ordinary humans."

Magus Ivys winced every time Jacina mentioned the word "we." Even though they were both wizards, she didn't like being lumped in with those who chose the path of darkness.

"Can you not enchant me so I can climb it without getting tired?" Raffin asked.

"I can," Jacina and Magus Ivys replied at the same time.

After a while, Malyn arrived with three black cloaks. Ready to face the cold, they stepped through the portal. Jacina first, followed by Magus Ivys and then Raffin. Jacina placed her hand on the medallion. The portal closed in an instant.

"Where do you think this is?" she asked as she tucked the medallion into her cloak.

"I don't know," Magus Ivys replied.

Raffin spun around. As far as they could see, there was nothing but snow and snow-covered hills. The sun was behind them, half obscured by fast-moving clouds.

"But the Sky Temple is up there." Magus Ivys pointed to the looming stairs.

They approached it. But only two steps in, Magus Ivys stopped. Her eyes narrowed to stare at the stairs, as if something were hiding there. "There is ancient magic in these stairs."

Raffin stopped as well. But Jacina continued.

"What magic?" she asked. "I don't feel it."

Before Jacina could step onto the stairs, an invisible force pushed her until she bounced and fell to the ground. Raffin ran to her, calling her name. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving. Raffin touched her neck. There was no pulse. Raffin shook her shoulder.

"Jacina," he called frantically.

Instead of waking, her face blackened like a burn. Her skin peeled away; her flesh melted until only her skull remained. Her cloak and clothing were deflated, a sign that there was no flesh underneath, only bones.

Raffin was stunned. There was no way Jacina could have died in such a horrible way. He felt as if something was being ripped out of his heart. Something he didn't even know existed. He reached for Jacina's finger bones, imagining himself holding her intact hand.