My scarf and hood are up, but sand still manages to get through, gathering at my neck, making my skin so dry it bleeds. Through the sheer, translucent cloth of my veil, I manage to see the world in fuzzy gray tones. The entrance to the cavern is a black spot against my vision, yawning wide like a tear in the hungry mouth of the universe, a golem waiting to swallow me whole.
We trek to the desert, every prospective champion waiting until they see the last Diviner go over the horizon before following them. We're given one canteen of water and a slice of flatbread each. I finished half of my rations getting here, and my belly protests loudly at the injustice. "The other half's for after I win this challenge, belly," I try to jest my way out of my fear, but my body trembles all the same.
I find myself at the entrance to a cavern in the middle of the desert.
The dirt path beneath my sandals gives way to endless waves of sand, an ocean without water, a void without life. I walk tentatively over to the cavern, but then a man's hand claws its way out. I scream.
"Help me!" The man grasps for my ankle. I reach down and pull him to his feet.
"Stay here, friend." I bring him to the side of the cave, as far away from the sandstorm as possible. "I'll return after this challenge."
He rolls over and glances at me. I cover my mouth with my hand, seeing Arno, half his broad-jawed face turning to golem state, the other eye blackened. His shorn head is covered in bruises, clay skin turned spotted by his own blood. "Ode the Cursed," he coughs and spatters of blood hit his chin, "don't go in there. The horrors aren't worth winning this stupid competition."
I put my hands over his eyes, shielding them from the biting sand. "I must."
His head rolls over and his eyes flutter shut, drifting unconscious before he can speak again. I shield him as best as I can, steeling myself for the last part of my journey.
I step further into the cavern. My ghosts remain silent. Are they even scared of this place? I run my hands against the cavern, biting back a scream as my fingers come away damp and sticky. Blood?
I check my fingers again, blinking rapidly. The blood has disappeared. My hands are dry.
No, I wipe my forehead with my veil, just tricks. Illusions, like what Ryu does.
I go further into the warm darkness. My mirror lights up beneath my breast, the only light to see by in this abyss. My ghouls will probably expect payment for this magic later, blood for magic as all the mischievous spirits from legend request. I leave my fingers against the wall, feeling scorpions and sand rats skitter at my feet, crawling over my bare toes with their scaly bodies. A tail whips at the bone near my ankle.
I bite my tongue so hard it bleeds, not wanting to scream. This is my god's challenge, after all. Kane the Blind chose me, for better or worse.
Then my mirror's light goes out. I'm left in the darkness, a darkness so thick that I can feel it pour like syrup over my skin. My breathing grows louder, harsher, as I panic. This darkness, it's like being buried alive. I stand with the creatures moving around the middle of the cavern, my feet planted in loose earth, and my hands against the rocky, possibly blood-dripping sides. "Who's there?" My voice cracks, hardly the brave voice of a god's champion.
"Ode..."
That voice. It's like a phantom in the back of my mind, a vessel drifting from the seas of childhood memory. A woman's face appears in front of me, glowing blue. An arrow sticks out from her back, the tip piercing through her ribs and heart. Phantom blood soaks around the wound, blood that keeps bleeding for eternity.
"Long, dark hair like tangles of flowers," I inhale and smell it, the faint hint of cinnamon, "Skin as rich as the earth that made it, hands that turned back death, healing with a kiss." The image's hair passes through my skin, a mere whisper like an insect's webbed wing. "A face so beautiful that the gods would kill each other to look upon it.
The woman leans closer, her heart glowing through transparent skin that once bled regular, mortal blood. Her eyes match mine. I see it then, the blood-like colors on the walls, they form an etching. A name I recognize.
A
H
A
V
A
"Ahava." Her hands touch my face, the kiss that heals. I lean into that forbidden, otherworldly touch, tears in my blood-moon eyes. "Mama."
***
Hello my Champions!
Guess we found out what's in the cavern. And hey, Arno's back!
-Sophia
YOU ARE READING
A Priestess for the Blind God (Legends of Rahasia Book 1)
Fantasía"The Blind God walks around me, and I feel my mind prodded again like it was in the cavern, a spider weaving a tangled web. "Would you do anything to be remembered, Ode, even play a villain, the one who rises against the Chosen One?" In answer, I dr...
