Heartfelt Sounds (27 page)
I hear Nyx work her way down the ladder rungs, huffing and grunting until she steps down onto stone and dust. “And you're still coming?” she whispers.
“You act like I've got a
choice.”
Ran snaps in the darkness. He shuffles his feet about an arms distance away from me. “I'm sworn to the Wish—to protect it in any way I can. And if that means escorting these,” he clears his throat, “
things
far,
far,
away from my realm—then…”
“It would be suicide to stay here.” Nyx replies, her voice sharp. “Just admit it, Ran. It would be
suicide.”
His reply is a deep grunt as his boots scruff stone. No words, just sound.
“Where,” I find myself saying—my voice a throaty croak. “where are we going?”
I can barely see Shanti's face in front of me as she offers me a hand and stands. I take it, and she pulls me up. My legs are unsteady—wobbly as if I haven't been on them for the past couple of hours. Shanti does not let go of my hand as I turn towards Nyx and Ran. “Where are we?”
“An old drainage system.” Ran states matter-of-factly. “As for where we're going—,”
Shanti's fingers squeeze around my own. “The Vale, darling. I have elected to take you to the Vale.”
I blink in the darkness, my eyes somewhat becoming accustomed to it as dark stones come into view behind Shanti's head. A far wall of stone reaches over us—caging us in as water drips a callous melody from somewhere far behind us. My fingers become limp in Shanti's grip.
“No.” I tell her, shaking my head. “I can't go there. I can't run anymore, Shanti.”
Her face twists, confusion guarding her eyes. “Run? Naia, when have you ran? When have you had the
choice?”
and she laughs—it is a bark. A
scream.
“This world has pushed and pulled you like an aggressive tide tugging away at a tiny sail boat. When have you had the
choice
to do much of
anything
?”
I open my mouth—close it. I rip my hand away from her's. “I need to see Lore.”
“Hinata's
nightingale?”
Shanti snaps.
I hear Nyx gasp. “No—no, we aren't going
anywhere
near her. She's just like Calanthe—she can make a man
undead—
no,
no!”
“I need to see her—I need to make her
stop.”
Shanti rolls her eyes. “You have
barely
come into your
power,
Naia. Before you attempt to confront Lore—do you even understand what she has become, little one?”
Ran groans, in the darkness I watch him cross his arms.
“She's the Raven.” I tell Shanti. “She
must
be.” I bring my hand to where my heart should be. I blurt: “She takes hearts and sacrifices them to Yarne.
Our
Yarne—I saw her in—,”
“The Void.” Shanti deadpans. “The black landscape with living veins—the
Void,
child. It is the land of the
titans.”
Nyx shakes her head. “But
Vivek
said—,”
But Shanti silences her with a glare. “Gods create, while titans destroy and feast off of the energies of other life forms. The titan you know as Aeathann—the mother—seeks to reopen Heaven's Gate and use it as a portal into
our
world.” Shanti slides her gaze towards me. “The army Lore plans to raise will reopen Heaven's Gate—and allow the denizens of the underworld to pour into our own. Do you understand the power Lore
alone
would require to turn mortals into undead—to make them her mindless vassals? Do you understand the power she
currently
possesses, little one? When Yarne takes the heart of a mortal, she makes them godlike. Powerful in every right—yet beneath her charge. Beneath Lore's will and Yarne's power.
Do you understand this?”
My hand grasps at my chest. “I need it back.” I tell her desperately. “My heart—I need it back—and I need to
stop her.
She is under Hana's protection—
I know where she is.”
And Shanti goes quiet for a moment. Turns her face away from me and towards the far wall as she crosses her arms and thinks.
“If she has your heart…” Nyx chimes in, ignoring Ran's heavy sighs. “…then doesn't that mean she holds some sort of
control
over you, Naia? Doesn't that mean—,”
“Yarne has shackled her, yes.” Shanti snaps. “But we don't need to confront Lore to get it back. We could simply
go to the Void.”
“This conversation is interesting and all—but if we don't start
moving,”
And Ran shoves past Nyx. He approaches Shanti and I, and we make way for him as he continues to move. Trudging his way through the darkness. “whatever
strange shit
you all are worried about—it's going to catch up to us.”
“But the birds—they wouldn't come down here. Not unless Vivek…” Nyx murmurs, her voice dying as Shanti turns on her heel, following him, “…unless he
dies.”
she adds quietly.
Nyx and I follow suit, moving down the dark tunnel as Ran guides us.
“Vivek said this tunnel would empty out in a few miles. Near the Red Gulf.” Nyx says, her voice bouncing off the tunnel's walls as she speaks. “I'm not sure how long we have, but…”
“Make a decision about where we go from there, once the tunnel empties out.” Ran snaps, turning to face us. “
This,”
and he spreads his arms out, his hands pointing towards the tunnel walls, “
this
is all the time you get to decide.”
The tunnel stretches on into darkness as we continue onward. Our walk started out at a brisk pace at first—brisk and heated as Shanti and I feverishly argued about where to go and who to confront. But as the tunnel stretched on, minutes merging into hours as dense humidity packed on to us, our pace slowed as our voices gave way to silence. Gave way to the sounds of water dripping and the distant hiss of waves roaring as we edged closer to the end of this tunnel and the Red Gulf outside. Air edged with salty brine blows at us at odd intervals—swiping sweat away before the constricting humidity descends upon us once again. Making it hard for us to breathe as we pant in this heat—as we wish for more of that breeze. For a swift wind to come and call us out of this wretched tunnel.
But it stretches on into what seems like eternity as Shanti and I are still unable to make consensus. As silence gives way to quiet anger.
Nyx ambles beside me as Shanti pulls up the rear. Ran still guides us, stalking forward as sweat slicks his hair to the nape of his neck.
“You two need to decide.” Nyx hisses beside me. “If you don't—I think we'll
never
leave this place.”
“That's bullshit.” Ran murmurs back, throwing his gaze over his shoulder. “And you
know it,
Nyx. You feel the air.”
“We've been feeling it for
hours.”
Nyx turns her gaze towards me, her eyes pleading. “Look, I understand that
you
need to see Lore because—what? You were
friends
some years ago? Back when you were a singer and all that. And I understand that
you—,”
and she turns her gaze over her shoulder towards Shanti, “couldn't care less about that. You just want Naia unshackled or something—and you think she isn't
ready—,”
“Lore will
destroy
you.” Shanti snaps, her voice rigid and dark. “She doesn't care about what you two were in the past—all that matters is doing her duty to Aeathann—to
Yarne.
That's all that matters to her now, Naia. And if she murders you—we lose our way of keeping that damned gate
closed
to the titans—do you understand?” and she rips her gaze away from me. “
No—of course you don't. All
you
care about is mending ties with an old friend—a
sister.” and her voice turns high—she mimics me as my lips become a grim line. As I bite my lip.
“I could stop her—she could see through whatever this Aeathann has placed over her eyes—she would
remember what we were!”
“Right!” Shanti scoffs, crossing her arms. “Let's place the fate of the entire
realm
on friendship, Naia. Let us
see
how far your
skewed ideals
will get us once the denizens of the underworld are pouring into our
own.”
I hear Ran slap his hand to his forehead.
“It's time I stopped running! I
need
to confront her—I need to save Hana! Now that I've got this power—I need to protect the ones who—who
failed
protecting me!—”
“
Failed?”
Shanti roars back.
Nyx stops—freezes in place and throws her palms down to her sides.
“Enough!”
she screeches as we stop. “Stop—stop it!
Both
of you!”
Shanti and I exchange a glance as the shorter girl—the youngest of us three—hushes both of us with a screech.
“When I decided to take you away from the Wish—sacrificing
my
sisters in the process—I didn't agree to this constant—
constant—,”
Nyx pants, her breath pulsing out of her nostrils as a frustrated hisses.
“…
bitching.”
Ran finishes for her, crossing his arms as he stands firm in this heat. “For all your power, you two act like a bunch of
kids.”
Shanti hisses at that—mumbling beneath her breath as I lower my eyes. My face becomes hot—heated with the flame of embarrassment as I bring my hands before me. Focusing my eyes upon my palms.
Akane told me Lore wasn't my friend—but I told her I had
hope.
Your purpose is to
sing.
And the voice—
my voice—
comes back to me. Sweat drips from my forehead, falling to my palms as they tremble. As they become drenched in sweat and I close my hands. I knead my fingers against my thumbs.
Your purpose has always been to
sing.
“My voice is not my own…” I murmur. “…if Yarne has my heart—it can't be. My power will never be my own.”
I need to see Lore—I need to save Hana.
But how? How can I do that if I have yet to come completely into my power? To
control
it completely?
If Yarne still has my heart…
Would Lore truly kill me? Has she lost sight of what we were?
What you two were to each other is in the past—the distant past.
A voice tells me, and I relent.
She has forgotten—but you must never forget who brought you to this point. Who protected you so that you may realize your true purpose in this life.
And names rush into my head. A multitude of names—faces and voices. Their promises.
So many promises.
Shanti promised to protect me. Akane and Hue. Hana and finally Nyx. There have been so many that promised to help me—that promised to protect me, but couldn't.
Because I must protect myself.
Because I must protect
them.
Your purpose is to
sing.
My voice—my words—my
power…
it must protect
them.
“I am selfish.” I tell them. “I am a coward—,” I bite my lip—unable to speak into the silence as we all hang our heads. As we take a collective breath and let the humidity shower us.
But Shanti breaks the silence. “You are
human.”
She murmurs, taking my hands as they tremble. “Yet, blessed as the vessel of a god. We are all only
human.”
From there, we walk hand-in-hand. Enjoying the salty breeze as we come closer to the outside. As the tunnel lifts, the ground rolling forward and up. Before long, light is kissing our temples as fresh air soars above, swiping the sweat from our bodies. Drying our slick clothing, and urging us to rush—to dash and sprint towards the outside—to freedom.
And waves crash all around us when we're out. When we're running on a beach doused with red sand and Nyx takes my hand. Drives Shanti and I towards the cool water—far enough that the foaming tide washes our ankles. She pulls us in farther and we're forced to swim—to laugh and spray water at each other as gulls cry out from up above. The sun's setting and the horizon is gold. The horizon is glittering gold as I look out towards the sea. As I pull myself back to land and stand beside Ran who looks on with a stoic face and crossed arms. He stares at the sun as it falls. As it makes way for the moon and daylight darkens.
“I had a friend in the Wish,” Ran tells me—whispers and I strain to hear over Shanti and Nyx's cries and giggles. “an old Csillian. He'd tell me stuff about gods and
bigger
gods. About how they created the world and went away to some underworld—he called it Myu, but we call it the Void. Told me how the gods always choose people to represent them—'specially when somethin' bad was about to happen. He told me it was fate.”
The sun sets fire to the horizon, as purple douses it. The colors playing upon the water. Merging. “And do you believe that?” I ask him. “In fate and gods and the underworld?”
Ran set his hair free in the tunnel. Sable hair collects around broad shoulders—wiry and somewhat thin. When he fixes his eyes onto me, I notice that they are ablaze. Golden almost. Amber. I can see the slight curve of his collarbone beneath his sleeveless jerkin. The sinewy muscles of his arms shift as he relaxes them. As he somewhat faces me. “I believe that we are more than
them—
the gods that want to come
here…”
and he sighs—looks away as he twists his lips. He brings his gaze back to me when he's got the words. “…I believe that
you
are more.”
“Truly?” I reply—taken aback.
“Yeah.” he nods. “I've heard you sing—a song of death. A song of life. You brought her
back—
from the
dead.”
and he nods his head towards Nyx as she rushes through the surf. “So—
yeah.
You're more—you
have
to be.
We
have to be. Each and every one of us.”
I make my decision, then. Nodding my reply as Shanti dances through the waves—sprinting for Nyx with her hands outstretched.
“I've never seen her smile this much.” I say, speaking more to myself. “And she's right.”
she always has been. Always was.
From that moment she told me to go outside—to see the world for what it truly was.