Just Like Fire | J. Saltzman - Legacies [2]

F O R T Y - T H R E E

She stands in nothingness. No sky, no stars, no ground, no earth. Just...nothingness. If she could cling to the fabric of the world around her, would she? Or would she just keep walking through her own mind as she had been for ages now?

Josie's mind may have been a fairytale. Hers had never been that creative: just a trail of dirt lining the nothingness beneath her toes. It is a path to her soul as corrupt as it may be or as broken as she believes.

Would she ever reach the end? See what she is? Behind the bravado, what actually lies at the center of her being?

Her toes curl into the dirt as fire lights the path. It flickers in her eyes as she continues. Each night with whatever sleep she gets, she tumbles deeper and deeper, her passion raging behind the lifeless exterior. She must reach the end. She must know what the other knows. She must know why.

A rainbow glistens in the distance, half-obscured by dried leaves hanging in the nothingness. The closer she gets, the clearer it becomes: a large tree toppled by nothing, its roots viciously ripped apart with dried wells surrounding the base. Its branches, withered and broken, stretch towards the rainbow, but it remains out of reach; the rainbow itself reaches across the expanse, shattered at both ends.

The first well, imbued with a U, is completely dry. The stone has moss growing and covering every inch of it. She presses her palm against it, and it almost gives way, squishing under the pressure. Inside, it is never-ending. She can almost hear water rushing so, so far below.

The second one is destroyed. The stone is scattered across the nothingness with soil staining each crack in the base; even the area around it is cracked like an egg. A large piece of root lies in the center, torn from the tree.

The last well stands just before the uprooted tree with a large M on it. She approaches the well with careful steps, each softer than the last. Darkness surrounds it like a blanket, but she can see through it.

The woman chained to it looks up through her hair, a sword still stuck in her chest. "Hello, Stella," Nyx rasps, adjusting her wrists to the sound of the jostled chains. "What brings you here?"

She stares at that darkness—that hell—and hatred fills her heart. "Wanted to check on you," she says with a sigh. "Make sure you couldn't get out."

"You killed me, right?" Nyx's lips twist into a smirk. "Besides, I'm chained here. No getting away."

"Really?" She asks, kneeling down to Nyx's level. "I felt something. Like a ripple in that connection you made. Want to explain that?"

"They called out to me," Nyx shrugs as she leans back against the well. "Daddy says hello."

A growl rips through her throat.

Nyx's eyes glisten. "Now, now, starling. No need to get testy. No one got hurt."

"Josie was terrified." She stands and turns, clenching her hands into fists. "She called out to you, I could feel it. It was like my head was exploding."

"I gave them a clue," Nyx replies softly. "Just an inkling. The same inkling I gave you. Have you kept it close?"

"JJ? Yeah. Never out of sight," she says. "But why?"

"You know why. Deep down you understand where you are. You understand where you have always been going."

"No, I don't!" She yells, facing the darkness once more. "What the hell are you making me do?"

Nyx stares back at her. The sword shifts in her chest as a tear rolls down her cheek. "I am saving you, Stella. Do this spell, and maybe you will get out of this alive. Fail, and everyone will die. Not just Josette. The world will go up in flames—"