Page 122 of The War of Wings
My knuckles and fingernails were white, the heat growing noticeably higher the farther I slipped. I was going to die here,swallowed by the unforgiving Iron Rise. I wasn’t even going to die saving Petra. I was going to die because I couldn’t save myself.
Until my toe caught on a tiny divot, just large enough to stop me from slipping.
I jammed my toe further into the tiny spot that had saved my fucking life, using the other to slowly feel over the rock for another foothold. Painfully slowly, I scrambled up the rock face, finally swinging my knee over the ledge and pulling myself up. With one final heave, I flopped onto my back, my heart like a war drum beating furiously in my ears.
Obitus’ relief surged through my mind, mixing with mine.Surprised,he thought.
“Wow, thanks,” I shouted back, still laying on the packed dirt of the pathway. “Glad to know your faith in me ran deep.”
Obitus. Realistic.
I didn’t have it in me to think up a retort. As soon as my pulse stopped racing and I was mildly sure my heart wasn’t going to explode, I pushed to my feet. “Alright, Obitus. It’s time.”
Cal. Swords?
“Yes, I have both swords.”
Aegrabane?
“I have Aegrabane.”
Petra. Blade. Name.
I blinked, ducking just enough out of the entrance to the passageway to see Obitus’ blue eyes staring back down at me. “Does it need a name?”
Yes.
“Petra should be the one to name it.”
Cal. Wield.
My hand found the imbued blade at my side, closing over the hastily attached hilt. “Yeah, I’m wielding it now, but it’s hers to name.”
Keeperslight.
Keeperslight. The name settled into me, my grip tightening around the hilt. “Keeperslight?”
Yes.
It felt right. It felt less like it’d been given a name and more like it’d carried it along, we just hadn’t uncovered it yet. “Think Petra will like it?”
Yes.
“Keeperslight.” I nodded. But I didn’t care what the blade was called so long as it took Malosym from this world. “Okay. I’m going in.”
Cal. Alive.
“I’ll try to stay that way.”
Farewell.
The first dozen or so feet of the path were illuminated by the glow of the lava, the contours of the rock that made up all sides of the tunnel cast in red. Beyond that, though, it was black. The last of the lava’s glow faded into stark nothing.
With Keeperslight securely at my hip, I raised Aegrabane and entered the darkness, my free hand my only guide as it skimmed over the cave wall.
Darkness closed in hard and fast, along with a cottony silence. Even the sound of my own footsteps seemed to be swallowed by this numbing sense of nothingness. Had my sense of smell grown stronger because my other senses were dampened, or was that foul stench getting worse? And the heat… Fuck. I trudged forward, my boots growing heavier with each step as my muscles fought to work.
I reached for the line connecting me to Obitus, but found nothing in its place. I was on my own, well and truly, and an eerie feeling crept into my chest. Even hidden beneath this incessant, impenetrable darkness, I felt wholly exposed. My movements slowed, an invisible weight pressing down harder and heavier with every step. It was as if I was nothing but an insect beneath someone’s slowly descending boot.
