Page 19 of What Blooms from Death

And with Phantom at my heels, I stepped over the threshold, immediately falling into darkness on the other side.

Chapter Five

Fallinginto death was a lot like falling asleep.

Waves of black rose up on either side of me, tunneling my vision, making my balance sway. I hit the ground and a heaviness immediately followed—one that made my eyelids droop and my limbs feel sluggish and clumsy. If I could have just rested a moment, then maybe…

(You can’t rest here.)

The voice in my head was familiar, yet far away, like something from a memory. I tried to pinpoint its origin, anyway, stumbling along with my too-heavy body, reaching out with tingling hands.

The very air seemed to be fighting against me.Collectingagainst me, too, the particles of it settling on my chest and making it harder and harder to breathe.

Panic started to sink in, until, somehow, Orin’s instructions parted through the drowsy fog in my brain. My fingers fumbled along my wrist until they closed over the bracelet I needed—my red-beaded bracelet with its golden charm. Just touching that charm was enough to send a jolt of confidence shooting through me.

“Siphonus,” I whispered.

The air sparkled with a myriad of colors, suddenly—all the different shades of life and magic surrounding me. With some effort, I could partially make out the shape of the Nocturnus Road itself—a relatively clear outline beneath everything else.

The second most prevalent energy swirling around me held no definite shape. It was the color of a sky at twilight, rippling like a protective shroud over the road, masking large swaths of it.

This was thechaosOrin had warned me about; likely made up of the residual memories of all the ones who had walked this road an age ago. An energy contained within the stones of the road itself, at one point, but now it had grown restless after being left to fester and swell on the abandoned path for so long. I’d seen similar colors swirling around abandoned graveyards.

Life left a lasting imprint, even in the most desolate, forgotten places.

With a flourish of my hand, I pulled bits of the chaotic energy away from the road, trying to drain them and clear my path forward. They resisted. I dug in my heels, clenched my bracelet more tightly, and tried again. And again.

Finally, I felt a line of it shifting—like a stubborn vine breaking free from the grip of thorns, nearly throwing me off balance as it snapped toward me.

Like it always did, the spell left me feeling like I might topple over with the slightest breeze.Drainingdid not mean dissipating; energy did not simply disappear. It had to go somewhere—into me, in this case—and I’d yet to learn how to stay balanced while the bits and pieces of other things redistributed themselves into my body.

When it all finally settled, I looked up and tried to orient myself.

I’d cleared my path, but it was one that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions.

Remembering my newest bracelet, I lifted it in front of me and grasped both of the large amethyst stones—the hot one above and the cold one below. I thought of where I wanted to go, as Orin had told me to do, and I squeezed tightly. The hot and cold of the gems seemed to meld inside of me, bringing a comforting, warm certainty into my limbs.

As I relaxed into the feeling, I felt a pulling sensation taking hold of me—the same kind that had urged me to step through the doorway in the shrine.

Once again, I followed it.

Dizziness still threatened, but I broke into a jog, determined to reach the end of the road before the twilight energies I’d absorbed had time to be replenished, to converge and block my path once more.

After what felt like a mile of pushing my way through thickening darkness, the same heaviness from earlier began chasing me. The farther I went, the more tempting the heaviness became. It nearly made my knees buckle more than once. If I could have simply knelt for a moment, maybe rested my head…

(You can’t rest here.)

There it was again—closer this time. I clambered toward the voice as if caught in the crashing, pulling surf of a restless ocean, trying to make my way back to the shoreline.

My foot caught on something. I tripped, only just catching myself against the road I could barely see. I twisted back around, searching, reaching for the knife near my boot.

Phantom’s eyes blinked back at me.

If not for those familiar blue eyes, I likely wouldn’t have recognized him. He was in a strange shape as he slinked closer; something serpentine, but with powerful legs, clicking talons, and a sharply-tipped tail.

And he was…solid.

Solid enough that I’d actuallytrippedover him.

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