Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━
ᴊɪᴀ |
The light was creeping back, dim and cold, illuminating the gray, cracked walls around me. I blinked, my eyes bleary and aching, but the daylight was a lie. I knew it now. It had been dawn before, yet somehow, here I was again, still trapped. I had circled the palace so many times that my legs felt like lead, and my mind buzzed with an awful numbness.
I had found nothing—just the same rooms, the same endless corridors, the garden with that cursed tree, and the fountain that seemed to mock me each time I passed it. Over and over. The palace was a maze, and I was its prisoner.
I had screamed for help, even at the risk of summoning whatever shadows lurked within these walls. But there had been no response, just silence as heavy as the stones around me. I even tried banging on doors, hoping for some echo from outside, but there was nothing. No one was coming. Not Jackson, not my friends. It was as if they had left me here, and maybe they had. Maybe they had hoped for this.
Something crackled under my shoes again. The knife—or was it a sword—the ome from earlier. Whatever it was, it was sharp and heavy. I bent and picked it up, feeling the weight of it in my hand, its cold metal a stark contrast to the warmth of my skin. Lucian was watching me silently, his eyes dark pools of curiosity.
I stared at the blade again, contemplating its purpose. Maybe if I hadn't wasted my time finding this, I would have left the palace by now. Maybe just a rock would have been enough for my escape, or perhaps I was simply fooling myself.
I dropped the knife I'd been clutching so tightly. What good would it have done me, anyway? Against what? A ghost? A curse? I felt like I was teetering on the edge of something dark, a place in my mind where the shadows whispered things I didn't want to hear. They told me I was alone, that no one cared, that maybe this was exactly what I deserved. That maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I just... stayed. Who would miss me, really?
It was almost dark again when I saw Lucian, waiting for me in that enormous room. This was different from where I had met him. The room was vast and imposing, dominated by a big round bed draped in luxurious, yet faded, fabrics that seemed to sigh under their own weight.
A massive chandelier hung above a couch area where Lucian was currently seated, its crystals catching the dim light in a way that felt both beautiful and haunting. Shadows danced along the walls, flickering like trapped spirits yearning for freedom.
The room had towering bookshelves that stretched to the ceiling, filled with dusty tomes and tattered scrolls that looked like they hadn't been opened in centuries. Yet somehow, this room felt more alive than the others. It didn't bear the stale air of a long-forgotten place; rather, it felt as if someone had been here recently.
The sheets on the bed looked freshly made, the dust gone, and even the faint scent of lavender lingered in the air, making me pause in confusion. I glanced at Lucian, who was perched casually on the old, faded couch nearby, a smirk playing on his lips.
