The Anima [completed]

39.

39.

My feet pounded on the hard floor as I ran aimlessly through the lower levels of the castle. My pace matched the frantic beating of my heart. But I would not, could not slow down. Sweat collected on my brow, splashing on the floor as I whipped my head too and fro, commanding my power to show me the way to The Anima. Everywhere I looked, down every corridor and behind every door I saw the decapitated heads of my parents. My stomach twisted, I came to a screaming halt, and threw up. And there they were again, in the pile of bile on the floor I saw the blood pool that spread from their necks as their dead eyes gazed up at me. The sudden realisation that I could not outrun their deaths sent a surge of lactic acid to my legs. My needs hit the ground first with a sickening crack. Then I was screaming. Though the sound was lost to my ears, the ground shuddered beneath my knees, awakening with each resounding note of my heartbreak.

There was a fair pressure at the back of my head, like a soft finger poke, and a burning in my nostrils. My screams of horror turned to that of pain as the stone on my chest heated, sinking into the skin between my collar bones. I clawed at my chest, trying to pry the now searing stone from my body, to no avail. The stone burned hotter and sunk deeper. The presence in my mind  pressed harder, it's hand now gripping the expanse of my skull. My hands rose to my head, but I could not combat all the pain at once. All the strength had left my body. I let the pain pull me down the stream of agony until it drowned me, pulled under by the currents of defeat.

"Lyra?"

It was a soft and familiar voice that coaxed my exhausted body to regain consciousness. 

"Beast?" I whispered, but I was too weak to send it through our link.

But I could feel him pacing in the back of my mind. Unfurling his wings, he jumped from memory to memory, filtering through them until he found the cause of my pain. I wanted to tell him not to touch it, to turn around, to scream at him to stop. As soon as he found it, it flashed back into the forefront of my mind.

Blood dripped heavily from the mangled remains of my mothers neck. Her beautiful eyes bulged from their sockets, red veins curling around her iris' like a mutated fungi. My fathers face was swollen, purple tongue rolling onto his lips. The small dots of stubble lining his chin was splattered with black spots of old blood and a chunk of his chin was missing from where the blade cut unevenly through his neck. Then there was Virgo, sweat mattered hair stuck to her neck, still connected to her body, with the hanging possibility that it might be detached at my failure.

Beast stumbled, dropping onto his hind quarters.

"I..." He fell from my memories, but remained present in my mind. "I failed you... I am so sorry, Lyra."

"No." I whispered, tears slipping onto my cheeks. "I failed myself. I failed them. They died because of me."

"Lyra, they died because of Her, because of the Duchess."

"We both know that is a lie, Beast. And now Virgo is going to die too, unless I can kill the unkillable."

"No! We will find The Anima together, and we can defeat her."

Beasts determination was admirable, but misplaced. There was no way I was letting him anywhere near the castle. He already knew that.

"I can't lose you too, Beast. Don't be stupid."

"No you don't be stupid. You know I've got the ashes. It's the only way that we can disarm her, to catch her off guard."

"Is there any point?" I whispered to myself, squeezing my eyes shut.