Page 26 of Where Darkness Bloomed
But Kore was already gone.
Her feet barely skimmed the ground, the grove streaking past in blurs of green and shadow. Hooves thundered behind her, growing loud—then deafening.
Just as a scream gathered in her lungs, a strong hand caught her waist.
For a breathless instant, she was airborne, drawn from the ground as she twisted, struggling.
Then—
Her feet struck metal.
A powerful arm locked around her, crushing her to an armored chest. The scent of smoke, fire, and raw earth filled her senses. She thrashed wildly, but he—her captor—didn’t flinch. He stood unmoving,unshaken. Beneath the shadowed helm, his face was carved from angles and grim resolve, his mouth set in a hard line.
With a sharp jerk to the reins, he turned the stallions. Without hesitation, they dove back into the earth.
The world buckled, then vanished. Darkness devoured them, swallowing the daylight, snuffing it out like a candle.
“Do not let go,” came a command at her ear. The arm around her cinched tighter.
Terror overpowered resistance, and her hands scrabbled for purchase, fingers locking around cold metal as the chariot gave a violent lurch.
“Take me back!” she cried out, her voice splintering. “Please—I have to go back!”
But her voice was lost to gnashing stone and shrieking wind, the earth tearing apart in the dark.
A nightmare spilled out before them. Blackened peaks jutted from the earth like jagged teeth. Rivers of molten rock carved glowing veins through the dark. Steam billowed from jets, writhing like serpents.
The chariot hurtled deeper, dragged by the unearthly stallions. Gradually, the crash of rock gave way to a different sound.
Fire.
A great river of flame slashed through the landscape. Its inferno raged impossibly high, rising ahead of them like a barrier between worlds. The chariot raced toward it without slowing. Heat blistered the air. Kore recoiled from the edge, the scorch of it licking her skin.
Behind her, the driver flung the black cloak from his shoulders. It swept around her in one fluid motion, cocooning her in heavy folds. Then his arm was around her, drawing her firmly against the hard planes of his armor.
One hand gripped the reins, muscles coiling. The other rose to cradle her head, turning her face into his chest—just as the stallions plunged into the blaze.
The heat struck like a living thing, howling and relentless as they pierced the wall of fire. Kore’s eyes squeezed shut, the sound of the inferno deafening around them.
Then, silence.
It fell in a sudden hush, so complete it rang in her ears. Her breath came quick and shallow, each gasp loud against the stillness. Slowly, she lifted her head.
Darkness had fallen, thick and inky.
She blinked once, twice—searching for light, for any shape in the dark. But there was nothing. Only the crushing void of black.
“Don’t be afraid.”
She startled as the driver’s deep voice vibrated against her. The arm around her remained, holding her close against his side.
“Your sight will return. This is Erebus.”
Erebus.
The threshold of the Underworld.
Her pulse turned frantic, but the chariot sailed calmly onward through the soundless deep.
