Love In The Abyss

Chapter 5: The Ultimate Sacrifice

The crushing darkness of the ocean’s depths enveloped Evelyn as she held Lucien’s hand, the mansion’s eerie glow casting ghostly shadows on their faces. The ruins trembled, as if sensing that the curse which bound them all was on the verge of being broken—or sealed forever.

Estelle’s wraith-like form circled them, her face twisted with a mixture of rage and desperation. She clung to Lucien, her icy touch drawing him closer to the shadows as if to fuse his soul with hers. Evelyn’s heart raced as she saw Lucien’s face, torn between agony and longing, looking back at her with despair.

“I can’t leave her,” he whispered to Evelyn, his voice breaking. “This curse… it binds us. She won’t let me go.”

Evelyn felt a wave of grief, but she steeled herself, realising that Lucien’s suffering was trapped in a cycle of love and vengeance that would never end unless someone took a stand. She knew what she had to do, even if it meant losing him forever.

With a deep, steadying breath, Evelyn reached out and placed a hand over her own heart, chanting an incantation that she’d found in a journal buried within the mansion—an ancient rite that could break bonds at any cost. But as she began, Estelle’s face twisted in realisation, and a terrible scream filled the water.

“NO!” Estelle shrieked, lashing out. Her voice tore through Evelyn’s mind, a storm of fury and loss. “You don’t understand! He belongs to me! He was promised!”

But Evelyn held her ground, her voice steady. “If this curse is bound by love, then love can break it.” She looked to Lucien, her heart brimming with all the moments they had shared, fleeting though they were. “I love him. And I release him.”

Estelle’s figure flickered, her form shifting as though struggling against an unseen force. Lucien reached for Evelyn, his eyes pleading. “Evelyn, no. You don’t have to do this.”

But she only smiled softly, tears welling in her eyes. “I have to…for you. And for her.”

With the final words of the incantation, a brilliant light erupted from Evelyn’s chest, casting a warm glow over the abyss. The water around them seemed to tremble as if charged by an ancient magic. The mansion’s walls cracked, the spirits of the forgotten rising, free at last. Estelle’s wraith shrieked, her body shattering into shards of light as she was pulled into the depths of the ocean, her curse finally lifted.

Evelyn felt her strength fading, her vision blurring as the light enveloped her. But before she could slip away, she felt Lucien’s arms around her, his face inches from hers. The love in his gaze, free of sorrow at last, filled her with warmth.

“Thank you,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. “You saved me. But I can’t let you go.”