Heartfelt Sounds (28 page)
Shanti opened my eyes.
Now was not the time to close them—to cling to ideals that have been lost to the passage of time. Now was not the time to be selfish.
…
We leave the Gulf when night's completely come, heading for the sands of Csilla beneath the bright eye of a full moon.
Heading for the Vale.
A wandering wind blows as the green beneath our feet begins to die. Sun scorched sand slithers forth. The grainy sand dotting our path as the Csillian border of yellow sand begins to slowly spread out before us. To my left, loom fierce mountains free of sand and brittle earth. They rise high above a desert that makes its home beneath the all-encompassing shadow of a monstrous range of sprawling mountains. Clouds encircle peaks of gold as my gaze follows the jagged outline of mountains overshadowing a vast desert.
A day has come and gone as we've made our way here. The sun stirs on the horizon, painting the sky a vibrant orange as it rides its last few hours of daylight.
Nyx gasps quietly at my shoulder. “I—I didn't think it'd be so…” she brings her hands to her chest, “…
beautiful.”
“If we rest here, and continue on in the morning we'll enter the Vale by nightfall tomorrow.” Shanti nods, placing her hands on her hips by my right. “We're close.” she tells us. “
So
close.”
“And Lore?” I ask her. “What about
her
plans and her undead?”
Shanti scoffs. “Heaven's Gate is rumored to be in the
far
east. Past the Wish and the Vale.” she crosses her arms beside me and looks to the heavens as she speaks. “She will have to do some lengthy searching if she plans to find it—and before she does,
we'll
be there.”
“And the Dawnlord?”
Shanti snaps her gaze to me, taps her foot in the sand and turns on her heel. “Everything will fall into place, child. Everything will fall into place.”
…
We make camp near a wide patch of thinning green brush beneath the sparse shade of a crooked tree that hunches bare, gnarled, branches above our heads. The stars do not come out tonight as a desert wind howls at a full moon that peers upon us between a break in the midnight clouds. Everything is dark, save for our little camp molded from the brush. Orange fire burns between the four of us, the light slowly dying as the night goes on.
Lines are traced through the sand with a thin tree branch. Near the head of the fire, Ran draws a makeshift map of the land past Csilla as Shanti guides his design with her voice.
“Right here,” I look over Shanti's shoulder as she points. Three cylinders with conical points have been drawn in the sand. The lines are crooked, as if a child with an unsure hand traced the lines. Opposite Shanti, Ran drops his stick and pulls a knee into his chest as he watches Shanti's finger. She touches the cylinder in the middle. “is Selina City. The Paradise, my friend would call it. She will help us.” Shanti tells us, digging her finger into the sand. “Bellerose was an old family friend—and an
extremely
powerful sorceress. If anyone could help us create a portal to the Void, it would be her.”
Nyx snores behind me, her toes brushing up against my leg as she stirs in her sleep.
“And you're sure?” I murmur, moving my legs under me as I press my hands into the rough grit of the ground. “How long will this take?”
“A day. Maybe a day and a half.” Ran answers for her, rocking his foot off the ground as he hugs one knee into his chest. “I've been through here plenty of times.”
“Bellerose lives in Selina City's hightown. Once we find her, everything will depend on if she has the needed ingredients to make a way for you to reach the Void and retrieve your heart from Aeathann—
Yarne,”
she quickly corrects herself. “it could be only a matter of days. Are you ready to see her again, Naia? We were all so connected to her—in this life, anyway. Are you ready for what you may have to do to Lore?”
I swallow. “
Have to do?”
Shanti hangs her head, chuckles deeply and shakes her head from side to side. “The Raven cannot
live,
child. Only
your
voice can truly kill her and send her spirit back to the Void. But with Yarne holding power over you—you won't be able to send Lore back until you gain complete control over your voice.” she brings her head back up and looks sidelong at me, bringing her gaze over her shoulder. “Are you ready for what you may have to do?”
The corners of my lips tug down. I avert my eyes into the sand only to bring them back up. Only to lock eyes with Shanti and nod. “I am.” I tell her. “If it will bring Sorrel peace, I will do
anything.”
She smiles, then. It is a wry grin, a gentle curve of red lips. “Let's see how far you'll go.” she murmurs. “
Truly.”
And I bring my hand to my chest—bumps rise on my forearms as my skin becomes clammy.
As Nyx's foot brushes up against my leg again and my eyes begin to feel heavy. I yawn.
“But, you won't get anywhere if we don't rest.” Shanti decides. “We'll leave with the dawn.”
…
Smoke chokes me. It grates the skin of my throat—making it raw. Making it hurt to take in a breath as I cough. As I spring up to sitting only to be blinded by darkness.
The fire has been snuffed out.
A figure moves in the darkness. Shanti's back rises and falls near me as I hear Ran wheeze a few paces away.
Sand becomes dust as it is kicked up. A figure moves and I shoot to standing as my eyes attempt to catch the twitching shadow. I turn—throw my hands out towards it as it moves and I catch a sweaty shoulder. I latch onto it—digging my nails into the flesh until the figure hisses.
“You're not leaving me,”
I tell her.
“Not again.”
Nyx purses her lips—staring wide-eyed as I catch a glimpse of her face. She's crouching beneath my hand but makes no move to swat it away. She looks back towards the mountains before bringing her gaze back to me. She cocks her head and motions with her eyes for me to move.
I shake my head.
“We'll wake them.” she warns me. “Just—move a bit over
there.”
And I relent. We move away from the smoking twigs and sleeping bodies. We move a bit towards the backdrop of mountains at our side. White smoke curls through the black as I turn my gaze towards our little camp.
“You're leaving us,” I hiss at her. “
again.
You're running away
again!”
Nyx keeps distance between us. I turn towards her as she crosses her arms. “You all seem
set
on going through the wastes—and I—,” she shakes her head a couple of times, moving it from side to side as her black hair shivers with the movement, “—I
can't.”
“And why?” I demand, my voice rising. “So you're just going to run? When we're so close to ending
everything—
you're just going to
run?”
“Tell me you wouldn't.” she deadpans. “If you had the choice—tell me
you wouldn't run,
Naia.”
I sigh heavily, bringing my hands to my hips. “If you were in my predicament?”
“You brought me back—and I'm
grateful,
but…” she swallows, moves her head to the side and closes her eyes. “…I can't. I can't go
there.”
“To the Vale?”
“No.” she shakes her head again. Uncrossing her arms, she points towards the desert. “To the
wastes.
The resting place of the
gods,
Naia. I can't
go
there! That ground is
hallowed.”
“For a day and a half? You can't just…” and I hiss. I cross my arms and shake my head. “What do you mean?”
“You brought me back.” she repeats as her hands fall to her sides. She clenches her fists. “I have no soul—I feel it. I
know
it's gone. I'm not—a thing like me—it would be sacrilege for me to step into Csilla. And I
can't—
I just
can't—,”
I hear her choke and I still. For a moment, I'm just listening as she stumbles over her own words. “Even before—before you brought me back—I couldn't have set
foot
in there. You and Shanti are
Camilla Vas—
vessels of the gods. But everyone can't handle holding the spirit of a divine one within them—and those that can't—they turn into monsters if they hold it in for too long. The spirit corrupts their
soul.
It makes room in them—gets rid of their original soul. Makes space for
itself.”
I hear her sigh and I inch closer—but she takes a step back. “My soul left long ago, Naia.
Long—
long ago. You brought me back too late—and I think—I think my soul is lost
forever.”
“But if I fully come into my power—maybe I could get your soul back. Maybe you could become a whole person again, Nyx! Don't give up so easily!”
When Nyx's gaze locks with my own, her eyes appear broken. They appear far away. Dark irises look shattered. Cracked. “The Fates have made me a path, Naia. And it no longer crosses with yours. Please—just let me go.
Please.”
and her voice becomes a gentle whine as she pleads. As her eyes cloud up with fog.
I open my arms, palms up, and she comes. Grasps my hands with limp fingers. With an uncertain look upon her pained face and a hunched back. I squeeze her fingers within my own. My smile is soft. “Maybe someday,” I tell her, “we will meet again.”
Maybe someday.
Nyx nods as she slides her hands from my own. I let her trudge past me—the girl moving towards the arching mountain range—avoiding the Csillian sands as much as she can. I turn to watch her leave. To watch her run away again as she charges towards dark clouds that break with an uneven dawn.
I watch her turn her gaze towards me. I watch her lips move.
Thank you.
They say.
I'll see you soon.
And I nod.
As the ruinous pit in my stomach warns me that—
no
.
You will never see her again.
Tall dunes of burnt red disappear, shifting beneath a strong gust of morning air. Sand creeps into the sides of my slippers as we trudge through grit and gathering heat.
Nyx left a couple of hours ago. Before the dawn broke. “I would have rather taken the mountain path as well. Anything is better than this
heat.
” Shanti gripes beside me, fanning her face with her hand as we walk. “But time is not on our side.”
When I bring my gaze to Ran, he blinks and narrows his eyes as he looks towards the sky. “She said she wouldn't set foot in Csilla—guess she…
meant
it.” he murmurs, his voice somewhat wooden and hollow.
“She thought it would be sacrilege if she—,”
But Shanti cuts me off: “She's overly devout, little Nyx. And it's a shame, really, because she's turned into one of those
daywalker
monstrosities.” And Shanti shakes her head, brings a hand to her forehead and swipes away sweat. “The Fates will never let her pass on into the next world. The poor thing is
cursed.”
And a whisper of sand sails over our heads in a thin veil of grit. We're forced to close our eyes and protect our faces as it goes swirling by. The sand catches a draft of air rolling off the shadow of the mountains as it moves away.
Ran begins to amble on through the sand faster, and we're forced to follow as more wind picks up sand. Churning wind reshapes the desert as it forces dunes to shift and lower. As the terrain beneath us shifts, rising as sand collects in a rolling sea of red. We're forced to climb a dune that slowly grows taller and taller. When the wind stops and the dune stills, we climb beneath the overbearing face of a sun that's flown higher into the sky and I feel my chest constrict.
We're high, I realize as we come to the peak of the dune. We're high up, and there's a sea of red shifting down there. A sea of glassy grit that goes on and on—there's no end in sight and I hear my blood begin to rush in my ears as a hand squeezes my shoulder and tugs at me.
“We've got no time for you to panic.” Comes Shanti's voice as she tugs me along. “A day and a half, Naia. Remember that: a day and a half.”
I nod. Repeat the phrase back to myself, but it does nothing to calm my breathing or stop my nerves.
It does nothing, but I continue—despite the growing bank of fog puffing from our left. Despite the cloudless sky slowly becoming darkened by clouds reaching from all four corners of the earth—I continue. But my throat constricts—worry choking me.
…
The sun finds its place in a sky that's become swathed with deepening stains of dark clouds. They form a funnel as the sun centers itself in the little bit of blue sky we have left.
Shanti welcomes the sudden shade and desert chill that comes with it. Ran murmurs that we need to pick up the pace as the desert darkens, stained clouds strengthening with black up above.
It isn't long before the wind picks up and the collection of puffing clouds that simply shifted and danced towards our left, becomes an angry arching hand of black that reaches towards the sky before diving hard towards the desert. The arching clouds swallow the sands, rolling over dunes as it spits sharp sand shards at us. Thunder peels—roaring up above as I spot silver threads of lightening curving through the dark clouds.
For a long moment, everything is dark as we continue. As we race through a gathering storm that howls at our backs as the wind grows stronger. As its force becomes fiercer and we shield our faces from a storm that threatens to blind us. That threatens to deafen us with its shrieks of warning and its ground shattering cries. Arching clouds of black rove over the desert wastes, towering clouds chasing us as we run. Shanti falls behind, and I reach to grab her hand as the black clouds are within miles of us. As they veil the land in a sheet of shard swiped darkness, that's coming closer—
ever
closer.
The land begins to sink. Red sand dies, fading to a smoky black beneath our feet as we run. As the arching clouds stall—pausing before they swallow us. Before a chaotic wind explodes in our ears and obsidian shards smack past our faces—shooting past us in high-pitched screams as the land seems to erupt all around us. Rising, only to fall—only to fly past us in a chaotic wind of black and gray. My hair flies about my face as my gown threatens to tare itself from my body. I hold Shanti's hand as it becomes a death grip on my own—and Ran has disappeared as I throw my gaze around. As sand rips at my face and I'm forced to close my eyes as grit rakes me beneath my eyelids. As the ground pulls down at us—a harsh chorus of low moans assailing my ears as a hand grabs my ankle.