Descent - Mattheo Riddle

Chapter forty-one

Mattheo

June 22nd, 10:15 p.m., Ancient Library

Fear. Panic.

I understood the concept well enough—saw it all the time in people around me. Eyes widening, breath quickening, the fight-or-flight instinct kicking in. It was something primal, something that stripped away logic and turned people into trembling, irrational messes. But those feelings? I never had them. Never needed to.

Fear was a weakness, a flaw in the human design. Panic was what got people killed, what made them stumble when they should've been running. I'd watched fear cripple people, break them down to their most vulnerable, and every time I saw it, I felt...nothing. Just cold indifference.

I'd learned about it, sure. Fear was part of basic human nature—something that controlled others, made them predictable, easy to manipulate. I'd used that knowledge countless times, pressed those buttons to break people when I needed to. But for me? Fear wasn't a factor. I wasn't built that way.

But Lucia... Lucia felt those things. I knew she did. The way her eyes would shift when something overwhelmed her, the way her breathing hitched when things got too intense. She wasn't weak, not by any means, but she was... human. And as much as I never took fear or panic seriously in others, there was one thing I couldn't stand: her feeling it. I didn't want that. I didn't want her wide-eyed with dread, or her hands shaking as they clung to me, searching for comfort.

I wanted her strong, sure, like I was. But when I looked at her now, wide-eyed and clutching my shirt like it was the only solid thing left in this world, I knew she was afraid. And for the first time, I felt something close to frustration. Not with her—but with the idea that she had to feel this way at all.

The gate was gone. Sealed off. The once-sturdy walls of the library were crumbling around us, fissures running through the stone like veins, the magic that had once held this place together now fading fast. Dust filled the air, thick and suffocating, as the ceiling above us groaned like it was ready to collapse.

I didn't care about the library. I didn't care about the relic that had started all this, or the ancient power Lucia now carried in her veins. I only cared about getting us out of here in one piece.

I glanced at the gate again—the same one that had opened so easily when Lucia touched it with her magic—now solid and unyielding. Trapped. I could hear the cracks of stone all around us, the walls shifting, groaning. This place wasn't going to hold for much longer.

Lucia was still gripping me tightly, her fingers twisted in the fabric of my shirt, her body trembling. She was trying to keep it together, but I could feel the fear radiating off her in waves. I hated it. Hated that this place, this situation, was making her feel like that. She didn't deserve this. Not her. Not the girl who had fought tooth and nail to survive, who had stared down death more times than I could count. She was stronger than this.

I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer, grounding her against me. She didn't need to see the cracks spreading along the ceiling, the dust swirling down like a suffocating cloud. She just needed to know I was here, that I wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

"It's okay," I murmured, my voice low and steady. "We're getting out of here, alright? You're not alone."

Her eyes met mine, wide and uncertain, but she nodded, trusting me. She always did. Yet I could see that something was different. Something in the trust that I had brewed up so long and so hard seemed to be crumbling.

What the hell happened when she was alone?

I had no time to think about that now. Whatever it was, I would build up that trust again, whatever it takes.