They must have hit me with some really strong drug while I was asleep because I didn’t wake up for nearly two and a half days. The full moon peeked through the shut blinds as my eyes opened slowly. Someone snored in the chair nearby as I sat up. Rayne lay back in a cushioned chair with her mouth hanging open.
I couldn’t see the sword anywhere. I panicked and hopped silently out of the bed. I sighed when I realized that the sword was beneath the covers next to where I had been.
I gasped as I grabbed the handle. My side didn’t hurt anymore. I walked across the room and grabbed my robes, which Arrakis must have brought. I threw them on and quickly wrote a note.
Arrakis, Rayne, Drake –
Do not come after me. I must do something without all of you. There is a chance that I will not return, and in the case that I do not, I wish to let you know that I love you, Arrakis; Rayne, I will never forget that you saved my life; and Drake, thank you for being there for me. I’m sorry, but I must do this for Kain.
- Raven Mae Sera
I let one tear fall before I silently stalked over to the window and slowly opened it. The frame creaked gently as I launched myself out the window and flew across the sky; headed for the Mage’s Tower.
I shrouded myself in shadow as I landed invisibly on the roof. I raced down the stairs all the way to the ground floor, whipping my gaze back and forth trying to find the portal room. Eventually, I finally found the sapphire door and opened it soundlessly.
I imagined the picture Arrakis had shown me with the boulder in the forest and stepped through, a fizzling sensation passing across me as I entered the Third Realm again after what had felt like ages.
The tress felt so different from the dead, black ones that I was used to seeing in the Second Realm. And the air – oh my goddess the air – it was so clean! The plants were releasing fresh oxygen around me and it smelled so clean and crisp.
I shook off the shock and walked around, trying to find the boulder with the indent of my amulet. Wandering for nearly an hour, I still hadn’t found a sign of it; only a clearing with a tree in the center. I walked to the backside, surprise when I found the very rock I’d been looking for behind the tree.
I slipped off my pendant and pushed it in, almost falling over as the stone moved with the amulet. The shifted rock revealed a gaping hole in the earth, large enough for an elephant to get through. I jumped down after grabbing my necklace.
The ground flew fast. Only two seconds after I leapt, I hit the stone, sword in hand. Darkness enveloped me as the little blood flame appeared over my left side; I pulled myself together and pushed onward, facing the Realm’s Trials that awaited me.
Silence hung in the air as my boots padded against the stone. It was so empty here; so lifeless and dull. Even as the dark tunnel opened up to a large, crystal-lit room, the place felt dead. Suddenly, as I entered the chamber, I was trapped.
Walls rose up all around me, blocking me in and leaving only one way out – forward. Screams and roars pierced the air as a sickening fear suffocated my gut. Ghostly hands gripped my throat and choked me as I moved forward – there was something terrible here; something that would be a threat to my very own immortal existence.
Still shuffling forward, something lashed out at me, scraping my arm as I leapt aside. Again, it struck, barely missing me as it crossed my path – the blades were coming from the walls.
Panicking, I ran onward, dodging the strikes left and right. Close calls occurred constantly, and many times I thought I wasn’t going to make it, but my blood magic kicked in and gave me extra speed and reflexes. At the end of the passage, I bent over panting. Blood trickled from scattered scrapes and cuts as my heart pounded in my chest.
“Oh my fucking Goddess,” I gasped, my gaze focused on what lie ahead.
