Page 39 of Chaos Unleashed

“Thank you,” I tell the Void, my hair whipping around me in a frenzy; I can feel the Void. I don’t know how to explain it without sounding crazy, but it seems grateful. I have no idea why it would be grateful to me, but again, I have no time to question it right now, and instead, I make a silent promise that I will be back soon before I head back to the cell.

I don’t even try to see if I can leave the Void at another point and get out of my cell that way. one, I need to see if Xerxes left or if he is still in the cell; I’d never forgive myself if he got stuck in there. However, he does seem to be able to turn up where we need him to, and I’m unsure whether it's his magic or someone who is sending him. The other thing is that if I go back to the Shadowlands and the guys like this, with this much Void magic in me, I’m incredibly dangerous. I could kill them, not hurt them but kill them. I can feel it, the strength it’s given me is even more than usual but strangely enough, along with the extra strength has also come control.

I don’t know whether it's because I haven’t had my magic for too long, but I would’ve thought that my magic would be more uncontrollable because of that. Or the more likely case is that my magic and the Void know exactly what I plan to do as soon as I get back into the cell, and because of that, it has a focus that’s helping to stop me from losing my shit, or at least that’s what I’m going with.

As I step back into the cell, I glance down at my hand with a frown. I still don’t have my finger back, and I don’t know why; it doesn’t make sense because the Void usually heals everything else; something else to add to the pile of mysteries, I guess.

“Farren?” Xerxes' shocked voice asks.

I spin around revelling in the fact that I can move so easily and smile as his tiny form comes out from a crevice in the cell wall, ah so that’s where he’s been for the last god knows how long. I actually don’t know how long I’ve been here for. I have no windows, so there’s no way to see when the suns rise or set, and you kind of stop trying to keep count of the days.

“Hey, Xerxes,” I say as I pick him up.

“How are you okay?” he asks incredulously, “You were dead, I’m sure of it. I didn’t understand why I hadn’t been pulled back, but now I see it's because you’re still alive. I’m so fucking glad that you’re okay. You are okay, aren’t you? I’m not dreaming? The princes didn’t find me, did they?”

I shake my head, “No, the princes haven’t got you, and yes, I was dying. A friend helped me and told me how to get my magic back.”

“You owe your friend your life,” Xerxes replies.

“I do,” I agree, “but first, I need to take the lives of a few people.”

“Farren, I just, it’s just,” he starts stuttering, and I stop heading toward the cell door, giving him time to finish his sentence, “I am so fucking glad that you’re okay; that was hard to watch. I couldn’t do anything, I have no offensive magic at all apart from the poison thing that you know about, but they’d have to touch me and there’s no way that I could’ve gotten close to them without them realising that I was coming. I’m so sorry, I couldn’t help.”

My heart fills with more affection for the quirky book, “It’s okay, honestly, I wouldn’t have wanted you to expose yourself to them anyway, not only would it have gotten you hurt and they would’ve used you to hurt me even more but also we wouldn’t have wanted to let them know that you’re here, you’re a very powerful tool for anyone to have and they most definitely shouldn’t have you.”

“You’re right,” he replies, sounding relieved.

As I take another step, his pages light up, making me pause again. He floats out of my hand, and he opens his pages, flickering. I hope he finds whatever has suddenly appeared in his pages quickly because I have no idea how long it’s been since they last tortured me, but I know for a fact that they’ll be back soon to see if I’m dead or try to torture more information out of me.

“What’s this?” I ask as I look at the map set out on the page.

“Well, the information that I’ve been given states that it’s a map leading to Hades vault,” Xerxes replies.

“The key fragment, that’s where the key fragment for the gates to the Underworld is, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” he replies.

I grin; my magic is beginning to get incredibly antsy; it needs to be released, like usual, “Well, I might as well make good use of being here, you know, other than killing as many of the fucking princes as I can.”

“There’s five, Farren, four princes, and they’re fucking strong,” Xerxes warns me.

My smile is sharp, “There’s actually five, but Azreal is different. He never joined in the torture before, and he never did this time. So long as he doesn’t get in the way, then I’ll leave him alone.” I pause contemplatively before I continue, “The others though, I’m going to take them all on, and I’m going to repay them for what they did to me and the problems and pain that they’ve inflicted on the Underworld because I can guarantee that with them in charge and Hades missing in action, the Underworld and the natives are in trouble.”

Chapter Fourteen

Farren

“Well, okay then, it's hard to argue with that surety,” he replies, “I can lead you to the vault, but killing the princes is on you.”

I grin, “Absolutely. I’m not in the mood to share anyway.”

“How are we getting out of here?” he asks, changing the subject.

Before I can answer him though, Oryn suddenly appears in front of me. He rushes toward me, his wings flapping to steady himself as he rubs his cheek against mine. I stroke his soft fur as he squeaks at me.

“Hey,” I reply, a tiny bit surprised at his easy show of affection, “did you follow me back from the Void?”

As soon as I ask the question, images fill my mind, flooding from him to me in quick succession.

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