Page 30 of A Realm of Fire and Ash

"You heard her." Aggonid winds his hand around the chain, bringing me closer. "She doesn't want this."

His voice is stern, but there's something in it I can't quite make out. It almost seems ... regretful. As he's speaking, his eyes drop to my lips, and there's a flicker of something before he slowly turns away.

My heart hammers against my rib cage, a soundtrack of terror that seems to amplify in the stillness of the forest. I slowly lift my eyes to meet Caius's, their icy depths clouded with dejection.

"I'll meet you at Sorrow's Manor then." He sighs before leaving without another word to either of us. Caius launches himself into the air with his massive leathery wings, slicing through the sky with such force that the air crackles around him.

Aggonid sprints ahead, and I’m momentarily dazed before I break into a sprint, dodging trees and logs as I try to keep up with his lightning pace. My breaths come in short bursts as my feet pound against the ground faster and faster; it's like trying to catch a spirit fish. Caius ascends rapidly, leaving Aggonid and me in a cloud of dust. Despite the intense effort I must put in, I manage to stay on the devil's heels as we dodge obstacles in our path.

My voice cracks as I plead for him to slow down, but his cruel laughter mocks me instead. His feet beat against the earth with increasing speed, striving to outpace the wind, until my sight becomes a streak of color. He moves between trees with uncanny accuracy, weaving through the branches and obstacles in his path. I stumble and tumble blindly, hitting every trunk along the way before I trip, impaling myself on a sharp branch. Without magic, I can't heal myself, and because he isn't directly causing injury to me, my necklace allows it.

He pauses at a clearing, a moment of reprieve before I realize he has no intention of helping me. I whimper, my hands shaking as I grip the gnarled stick embedded in my abdomen. As hot agony courses through me, I pull and blood gushes from the wound, cascading down my legs. I collapse to my knees, breath ragged and trembling from pain and fear, but Aggonid does not so much as glance back at me.

I beg for mercy as I see him take a turn towards the grassy shoulder, hoping for a reprieve from this harsh punishment. Yet what I find there is far more torturous. Like a million razor-sharp knives, the blades of grass tear through my body. Every wound feels like a billion glass shards, slicing and shredding my flesh and causing unbridled agony to rip through me. My cries rent the air, desperate, pitiful whimpers of a broken soul. My will to survive fades with each passing second as my lifeblood soaks into the ground.

Darkness edges in from the corners of my vision, and I know that this is it, like thousands of times before. We've stopped moving, and I witness Aggonid's face crumpled in grief as the flames catch me. My eyes lose their focus as I greet an old friend.

Hello,I whisper to the fire.Have you come to carry me away?

* * *

Aggonid

The chain drops like a stone,clanging loudly as Morte's body disintegrates into a pile of ash. An unbearable agony seizes my being, ripping through me like hot pokers. I knew her death was coming, yet I still can't fathom the magnitude of my loss, the pain so acute it numbs my senses. My body collapses to the ground and an animal-like sob escapes from me.

It had to be this way.

Oh, how I wish it didn't.

Caius will be devastated, never understanding why I had to do this and how much love I have for him, for my realm. But he will never truly comprehend the sacrifice I made for us.

Because he can never know what I've done. This secret will remain with me, hidden in the depths of my agony. I’ll just have to say she bled out from the stick, and I was unable to heal her.

As I lay there, despairing in my grief, a flicker of light catches my eye. Surrounded by the ashes, a glowing ember pulses rhythmically, as if alive and breathing. I blink back the tears, unable to believe what I'm seeing as I rise to my knees.

For a moment, the world comes to a halt. Then a tiny flame begins to dance in the air, swirling and twisting until the ember has transformed into a phoenix, just as Morte had been in life.

The creature swells in size, its wings shining a deep, glossy red like freshly spilled blood against snow. They glitter like a million flaming, red-hot campfires, each one burning with an intense, pulsating heat. As it nears, the air trembles with its heat and intensity, a beacon of danger that warns all those who cross its path.

Cuffed to its wing is the manacle, tethering the two of us together. I'm equal parts relieved and terrified as the bird transforms into its fae form.

Naked.

Morte's furious eyes, like molten honey, search my soul as she stares at me, her angelic face a picture of shock and rage. I can taste her fury in the air.

"You killed me," she whispers, her voice growing more affronted as she speaks. “Caius is the one who keeps coming on to me. If you don’t want your man poking his dick where it doesn’t belong, take that up with him!”

She can’t die here either, I guess.

She launches at me with a feral growl, her rabid claws scratching and tearing at my clothes. Her nails dig into my skin, slicing through my flesh like a sharpened blade. A fiery pain fills my body as I grapple with her, trying to stop her from ripping off the necklace around my throat.

"Enough!" I manage to push her away from me and am met with a shrill shriek as she collapses hard into the vorpal blades.

In a fit of rage, she grabs something from the grass and shoves it into her mouth. That's when I see the gilded key to the chains clutched between her teeth. Before I can make a move, she swallows it whole.

I snatch her up, my fingers sinking into her delicate skin as I drag her towards the gravel path. "I will have a guard gut you," I snarl.

"Just send me back!" she screams through her sobs. "I don't belong here!"

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