Page 35 of Tangle of Lust and Lethargy

The mirror disappeared, leaving me alone with my racing thoughts and the enormity of the task. I drew a deep breath, centering myself. My friends needed me. The world needed me. Now, armed with my restored memories and these new tools, I had a fighting chance.

“Hold on, everyone,” I whispered to the empty room, a promise to my friends and myself. “I’m coming.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The vault slowly opened, and I held my breath. Icy air rushed out, biting my skin, but I barely noticed. I was too captivated by what lay before me.

“Oh my god,” I whispered, my voice shaky with awe and trepidation.

The walls weren’t steel like I’d expected. They were pure ice, like everything else on this forsaken Rimespire Isle. But this was different. The ice here pulsed with a faint blue glow that made my skin crawl. I wanted to reach out and touch it, but something held me back. Fear? Reverence? I couldn’t tell.

My gaze darted around the vault, drinking in every detail. The ice formations in the corners looked like frozen flames, beautiful and terrifying. I couldn’t shake the feeling that they might come alive at any moment.

Then I saw it. In the middle of the vault, a silver table stood against the overwhelming ice. And on it…

“The hourglass,” I rasped, taking an unconscious step forward.

It was beautiful. Terrifying. Mesmerizing. About the size of a small lamp, its light blue form seemed to shimmer with an inner light. Was this really what I’d come all this way for? It looked sodelicate, so innocuous. Yet I felt something emanating from it. Power, danger, or maybe both.

My fingers twitched at my sides, torn between the desire to snatch it and the instinct to turn and run. The rational part of my brain screamed that this was it, my goal, the culmination of my quest. Still, deep in my gut, a primal fear took root.

What would happen if I touched it? What forces would I unleash? Could this hourglass save my friends and possibly reverse what had happened?

I licked my dry lips, my excitement warring with an overwhelming sense of unease.

The face in the mirror said I was a champion. I guess it was time to start acting like one. I took several deep breaths, then stepped into the vault, focusing on the Sands of Yesteryear.

As I drew closer, my eyes widened in disbelief. The hourglass was changing before me, its soft blue glow intensifying, the color deepening to a rich, almost midnight blue. I frowned, confusion mixing with my anxiety. The air around me warmed, defying everything I thought I knew about this frozen realm.

“What the hell?” I muttered. “Blue is supposed to be cold, and red is hot. That’s how it works, right?”

My hand trembled as I reached out, every instinct screaming at me to stop. I clenched my teeth, bracing for pain. A burn, a shock, anything. But as my fingers made contact with the rim, I gasped in surprise.

It was warm. Not scorching, but comfortably warm, like an electric blanket on a chilly night. The sensation was so unexpected, so out of place in this icy vault, that I almost jerked my hand away.

I drew a deep breath and lifted the hourglass off the table. Its weight felt significant in my hands as if it carried more than sand and glass. I stared at it, mesmerized, half expecting to wake up from a dream. But this was real. I had actually done it.

Suddenly, panic gripped me. What if the vault door closed, trapping me here with this mysterious artifact? I clutched the hourglass to my chest and bolted for the exit, my footsteps echoing off the icy walls.

As I cleared the threshold, a familiar shimmer caught my eye. The face in the mirror materialized once more, its ethereal voice filling the air.

“Your passage has opened for you, Champion. Step through the portal, and you will arrive back in the Unseelie realm. Use the Mirror of Aethereal to free your friends.”

One of the panels swung open, revealing a swirling vortex of light and shadow. I didn’t hesitate. Gripping the compass in one hand and the mirror in the other, with the hourglass tucked securely under my arm, I sprinted toward the portal.

Triumph and terror propelled me forward. But as the portal’s energy enveloped me, I couldn’t shake one nagging thought.

What price would I have to pay for this victory?

I plunged into the portal, and for a moment, everything ceased to exist. My body felt like it was being stretched and compressed at the same time. Colors swirled around me in impossible patterns, and a deafening silence pressed against my eardrums. I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think?—

Then, as suddenly as it began, it was over.

I stumbled forward, gasping for air, my vision swimming as reality reasserted itself. The icy chill of Rimespire Isle was gone, replaced by the oppressive, humid air of the Unseelie realm. The acrid smell of smoke and something metallic—blood, I realized with a jolt—filled my nostrils.

A bone-chilling howl rang out.

As my eyes adjusted to the dim, otherworldly light, my stomach lurched. The bloody scene before me was pure chaos.

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