Page 100 of Of Withering Dreams
The pixie paused, flitting in front of a giant banyan tree, scratching delicate fingertips along the trunk’s gnarled bark. A wide grin spread across its face as a translucent amber archway presented itself—embedded in the trunk. Mossy vines swayed before the swirling and twinkling center, inviting us in. It looked just like the portal gate near the palace. My head turned, eyes fixing on Gavrel’s profile.
“What are you saying?”
“You aren’t in your astral form, Little Star.”
“What?!” I cried, yanking my hand from his.
“For one, you didn’t disintegrate after a fatal injury. For another, your body wasn’t pulled back to your pod at midnight.” My belly gurgled. He smirked. “And that’s a regular occurrence.”
I huffed, “You’re still here.”
His shoulders lifted. “My team is always the last to leave. As the first day of the Spring Equinox draws to an end, we do our final rounds, and then the pixies help us find the exit portal after everyone is gone. It often moves, but they can find it. Between you and me, I think the beasties just want us to leave—Rhaegar has had a void of a time with them.” He smiled at the pixie, which clapped its hands together.
My shoulders slumped, picturing his second-in-command impaled. Gavrel’s forehead dropped, wrinkling. “This little one was waiting for us outside the barracks. I think it likes you. Have you met before?”
A reluctant curl tweaked the corner of my mouth. “We’ve met.” It smirked, tugging on a stray curl next to my cheek. “Thank you,” I called after the creature as it waved and zipped away. One brow lifted as I studied the commander. “You sure seem to be in good spirits, considering everything that’s happened.” I stepped away from him. “And strangely forthcoming.”
A distant smile lined his lips, his tongue pressing against the inside of his cheek. “The currents are turning. Perhaps the Fates are in our favor for once.” His eyes bored into mine. “Perhaps we’ll never have to suffer the Dormancy again.”
My eyebrows shot up, but before I could question him further, he wrapped his arm around my waist and flung our bodies through the hazy mist, its firefly-like orbs spinning frenziedly as we plummeted.
My mind somersaulted alongwith my body through the aether—the Ancient’s ethereal firmament. It swathed me in a swirling, opaque mist. Glittering orbs of light clung to my skin and hair. I had no clue where Gavrel was.
Did the original mortals name our realm Midst Fall because the Ancients chucked them out of Surrelia and they just fell to the earth?
And fell.
And fell some more.
After everything I’d been through, my emotions were dulled. Their usually sharp edges scuffed away, leaving only a blunted detachment.
I should have felt horrified that I’d been fully in Surrelia and could have died numerous times in the last six months. But I didn’t. All that was left was a smoldering vat of ire and the need to lash out. Was this how Kaden always felt?
My belly grumbled again, not appreciating being left out. No wonder I was hungry and tired all the damn time. You had to actually eat and rest when you were alive and walking around in your Ancient-forsaken body. I huffed, my breath immediately becoming one with the mystical haze.
The abyss tore at my battle clothes, and I gulped in a lungful of cool, honeyed air before a new sensation suctioned at my body. The nothingness suckled at my skin, consuming me.
Without warning, I jolted forward, my spine bouncing and locking mid-air. Inky tendrils crept around me like shadowed fingers, claiming me and shooing away the lively beads of light. The dark mist slithered over my body, under my clothes, and I squirmed. Unable to move. It spread up my neck. Over my chin, as I clamped my lips closed, my nostrils flaring.
My ember thrummed under my skin wildly, my scar knocking against my nape. Just as the sticky darkness was about to seep into my mouth and overpower me, my power blazed like iridescent barbs. The haze reared back, slinking from whence it came.
My aura expanded, illuminating the amber egg encasing me. It pressed against the barrier, and a rainbow-like shimmer rippled over the glass before it rotated and vanished.
“Welcome back,” Gavrel murmured, the edges of his emerald eyes glinting as he studied me. He held out a hand, and I took it, lifting myself from the Dormancy pod, opaque mist spilling at my boots.
My gaze swept around the conservatory. With a hissing whoosh, the glass of my tomb revolved back in place, transforming into a solid, glossy black cell like all the others.
Their starburst shape still resembled a gleaming, sinister flower. A flower that had poisoned our dreams and torn apart our very souls. The line of my mouth scrunched, the bridge of my nose wrinkling.
I looked at Gavrel, his plump lips ever in a firm line, mimicking his straight spine. My chin lifted, and I mirrored him, my vertebrae stacking perfectly atop one another. “It didn’t take my memories.”
“I thought as much.” We looked into each other’s eyes. But I’m not sure what he saw in mine or if they reflected what was in his. He turned, waving his arm toward the exit, and I gave him a curt nod.
Running to my cottage, my pulse drummed in my ears. The sturdy, grymwood frame called to me. A flickering light danced in my and Letti’s circular bedroom window, cutting through the early morning dawn. A broken sob tore from my lips as Letti dashed around the side, her body colliding with mine. I shuddered within her warm embrace.
She held me at arm’s length, head tilting and hazel eyes searching my face. “What’s wrong? I was so worried when you weren’t there when I awakened. I’ve been waiting all morning for you. Thank the Ancients, you made it back.” She wrapped her arm around me, leading me to our home. Gavrel followed silently behind us like a wraith bathed in twilight.
As we entered, the reassuring scent of timber, candle wax, and astra poppies hit me. My shoulders fell, and I leaned my weight into Letti as unshed tears lined my lower lashes. I was finally home—the same as I’d left it.
