Shattered Throne

Chapter 2

Maven

I think I am dead.

I remember the knife going in, the flicker of realization flash through Mare's eyes.
I was scared at first, to die that is. Scared of the desolate, velvety void of the unknown.

But now? This isn't so bad.  Right?

All I see is white. Pure white, the kind that can be either blinding or beautiful after being in darkness for so long. The vast nothingness is strangely appealing and comforting, drawing me in.

I take a few steps with no real sense of direction or intention of getting somewhere. It's startling, how effortlessly easy it is to just think without having an agenda. Without a plan, or reason to think. To just do whatever I want. Ironic, that I am finally realizing this after everything is gone. Any hope I had on winning the game destroyed.

I keep walking forward and eventually begin to lose all feeling. The light surrounding me seems to become finer cut and edgy.

"Maven" I hear someone whisper. No, not just one person, a whole group. I whip around and don't find anyone. "Maven" I hear again, taunting me. The voices begin to chant, each at a different time and pitch and I frantically begin to run, desperate to get away from the wretched sounds.

I thought I was free, unchained from the voice inside my head. Free from my mother. Free from everything.  

This is much worse, the voices overpowering everything.

I close my eyes and cover my ears, hoping to block out the sound even though I know where it is really coming from.

"Mavey", a voice shouts loud and clear, easily distinguishable from the others.

Cal. I grit my teeth, loathing. I have always hated that nickname, such a childish, demeaning name coming from someone with the name as formal as Tiberius.

I open my eyes and find myself in front of a jagged rupture, a thin yet broad fault that seems stretch into eternity.  I cast my eyes downwards, terrified of what I might find.

Blackness, pitch dark, atramental nothingness. I pull myself out of the trance and realize that the chasm is blocking me from going any further.

I begin to panic. My head begins to throb, and the voices that have been constantly calling my name becoming louder. The startling contrast between the stark white, and the inky black causes my sight to become blurred, dotted with streaks of red and everything becomes numb.

I look up and strangely  find Cal staring blankly across at me, bold fire blazing from both of his palms. Despite my efforts to hide it, embarrassment flares in my face and I once again feel ashamed for not having as much control as him. 

Before I can open my mouth to say some crude comment, I blink again, and he's gone.

"Mavey", his voice splitting through my mind, the words tearing me apart, "you'll always only be the shadow".

And I let myself fall into the darkness.

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A/N: sorry its so short again, gotta get that studying in for exams :( next one I promise will have more action