Darkly Devoted (Book 1, 2, 3)

DB Chapter 18 - The Missing Piece

Chapter 18

VIVIENNE WAS HAVING nightmares again. This time, she was certain Maglania was using the cameo necklace to appear to her in her dreams. The dream started in an immense forest. Vivienne could sense the Segais trees even before they came into view. There weren't many of them, not like Remin, where there was a whole forest. Here, the entire area seemed barren of life.

"Aethon Gorge," Maglania explained. "Every path leads you here. No matter what choice you make, no matter how hard he tries to keep you away. You will eventually find your way here, Vivienne Weisse.

Vivienne saw the pebbly tarry ground ended sharply in a cliff. She arched her neck to attempt to see over the cliff, but could only hear drilling machines in the distance.

"There was a lake here once," Maglania said as she slowly walked toward the cliff. She stopped at the edge and looked over into the canyon below. She was in the body of the girl wearing the Chinese silk slippers with the sad puppy-dog eyes and full lips again. Although she was alive in Vivienne's dreams, Vivienne couldn't forget her cold, dead eyes after Allison had shot that girl on the pier.

Vivienne slowly followed the girl to the edge. Down below, there was a thread-thin stream that trickled over the coffee-colored sandy bottom. The green-black spirals of moss looked very familiar to her. She had seen that type of flora back in Remin after the water had been drained. This entire canyon had once been filled with Dark Water. Now, it was empty.

"The Dark Waters here is scarce but refined; there's nothing else in the world like it." Maglania pointed to the deep sinkholes that dotted the landscape. "Do you see that, child? Demons are lurking down there — ancient monsters from a forgotten age. Legend states they crawl out from Mearnox itself. I am barely able to keep them at bay. Every day, the harvest of the Dark Waters for the city grows more and more impossible. Do you see now how dire our situation is?"

"Can't they just stop?" Vivienne asked, feeling somewhat naive.

"No, there are many who will surely die without it. There is almost no one left in Manna City who hasn't taken the Black Waters at some point. Without it, before long, they will go mad with the desire to find it. They will rip each other apart and feast on flesh and blood. " Maglania motioned to a footpath down into the canyon. "Take a closer look, my child."

They walked on the footpath for what seemed like forever before reaching the bottom. There, the ground was covered in shiny black pebbles, the same iridescent quality as the Black Waters itself.

"Six families with demon-warding powers have ruled Manna City for ages," Maglania explained. "There is a legend that Grismal the Reaper will grant a wish to the one ruler who holds all six powers. They say he has the power to break Jaduerial's Curse. The price is one human soul."

"Just one soul?" Vivienne asked. "Aren't all souls tainted with Black Waters eventually damned to Mearnox?"

"Those souls can eventually pass into the afterlife," Maglania explained. "The one to whom Grismal grants that wish never will."

"The one who pays, is it the one who makes the wish or the one who wields the power?" Vivienne asked as she walked past the blackened doors that led into the heart of Aethon.  It was the same musky, damp smell as the caves of Remin. There were demons slithering about, but they paid no attention to her. It was, after all, a dream.

"The one who makes the wish," Maglania clarified. "It is not a sin to be born with incredible gifts. The wishmaker is the one who pays with their eternal soul."

Vivienne went deeper and deeper into the gorge until she came to a stone altar. Six wells were dug around a raised ledge. The rocks here were dripping with the waters, and it was as though a waterfall trickled down from the mighty walls. Her Blue Fire could take care of the demons along the way down, but there was a different power needed to stop the flowing water. Vivienne thought back to the diamonds in her closet. Yes, this area of Aethon required a woman who could stop the flow of water and turn it into stone. Odelia had that power, but did Blake?

Maglania hadn't asked Vivienne why she differentiated the wishmaker from the one with the gifts. Perhaps Maglania understood why Vivienne wanted to know. Vivienne would only be able to complete the Six by drawing five of them from Blake. She had drawn the Segais from Blake in Remin, but could she accomplish that five times over?

"Touch it," Maglania hissed. "Show me. Touch the Shrine of the Reaper, and break the curse that afflicts your beloved. Don't you want it? Can't you imagine it? One lifetime with the man you love. One wish. You can heal three people, myself included. You could save Manna City from falling into chaos."

"For my soul," Vivienne whispered. "Is that why he brought me back with him to Manna City?"

"Touch it. Show me," Maglania hissed again, this time her voice changed into a snarl. "Show me what you are capable of, Vivienne Weisse."

"Did he ever love me? Or was this all a means to an end?"

"Would you refuse to save him if his love were a lie?" Maglania sang as her form flickered in and out of view. "Your bond is so very strong. Surely if he didn't love you in return, your love made up for the difference."

"I was an idiot to believe he could love me," Vivienne whispered. In the dream-world, she was uncertain if she spoke those words out loud or inside her head. At this point, it no longer mattered. Maglania could hear her either way. "Who am I to him? A nobody with a talent he needed."

"If you wish it, this bond can be broken," Maglania offered. "Is that your wish, child?"

"No," Vivienne snapped. Her eyes filled with tears, but her feet walked, step by step, up to the altar.  "No, I will give him my soul if that is what he needs. I will do it to save him. Even if it means he will live a lifetime with someone else."

Vivienne reached for the horned altar. Light exploded around her, and Vivienne's eyes burst open. She was back in her bedroom. Her heart was racing.

"Vivienne!" A girl's voice called out from the door. "Are you awake?"

"I am now," Vivienne muttered, struggling to remember her dream. It had seemed so vivid when it was happening. All she was left with now were hazy details and a sense of foreboding.

"Can we go back to Lewisville sooner?" Sallen asked as she quietly closed the door behind her.

"Why?" Vivienne asked, offering up a brave smile. "Do you miss your parents?"

"I-I think I saw something I shouldn't have."

"What?" Vivienne asked as she grabbed her robe and went to change.

"Allison and Prince Mars. I'm not sure what I saw."