Chapter 67 The Forsaken Realm

Chapter 67 The Forsaken Realm
Deborah's POV

The morning sky was red as Deborah stumbled out of the manor's front doors, Erick helping her. Something in her chest pulsed with each heartbeat, taking energy she couldn't afford to lose. 

Above the town, the sky had ripped open like a huge tear, with purple lightning flashing around the edges that made her teeth hurt. 

Through the opening, she saw something impossible: another sky, sickly green and full of ash clouds, hanging over buildings that looked wrong, twisted, like they were screaming.

"Oh my god," Erick whispered beside her. His voice was rough from yelling at the household staff. "It's really happening."

Deborah wanted to tell him she'd seen this before in her dreams, but her tongue felt thick, and her body felt heavy. 

The thing in her chest was taking her energy again, and this time it hurt. 

She put her hand to her chest, feeling the strange warmth through her nightgown, and quickly put on a cloak. 

"We need to get closer," she managed to say. "Before it settles."

Erick's POV

Every part of Erick wanted to pull Deborah back inside, to hide her somewhere safe until this crazy time passed. But he'd learned enough about the Eclipse Bond lately to know safety wasn't real. 

Whatever tied them together, some old magic from the last new moon, meant they were stronger when they were together, even if being together might kill them both.

He looked at her face in the red light. Pale. Too pale. The dark circles under her eyes were darker than yesterday, and her skin looked see-through, which it hadn't before. The seed was taking over.

"Then we go together," he said, holding her elbow. He wasn't pulling her or trying to control her; he was just supporting her. That difference mattered. "But if you fall, I'm carrying you back. No arguing."

She gave a small smile. "You can't carry me ten feet the way you are."

She was right. The Eclipse Bond affected them both. He felt his own strength leaving him, drained by things he didn't get. But he wouldn't say that. "Try me."

They walked down the hill toward town. Their feet crunched on the frozen grass. The breach hung over Ravenswood's main square. It looked like an evil eye, about two hundred feet wide and getting bigger. 

Through it, another world seemed to call them, or maybe it was a warning. Erick wasn't sure which it was.

Deborah's POV

As they got closer, more details came out of the breach. Deborah gasped. She saw a city. It looked like Ravenswood, with the same streets, but it was ruined. 

The buildings were empty shells, dark and lifeless. No lights, no movement, no signs of anything alive.

"It's a parallel world," she whispered. She felt the idea come from deep inside her, maybe from the Eclipse Bond or the seed. "A place where the Great Eclipse never stopped."

Erick grabbed her arm. "The Great Eclipse? That was 300 years ago!"

"In our world," she said, pointing a shaky finger at the breach. "Over there, it never ended. The darkness won."

The air around them began to shimmer with unstable magic. Reality felt thin. Deborah felt it like static on her skin, making the hairs on her arms stand up. 

Erick tensed beside her, his hand going to the iron knife on his belt. Iron could sometimes stop magic.

Suddenly, a blast of energy shot out from the breach. Deborah saw it coming wave of sickly green light that felt like rot and sadness. 

She moved without thinking. She threw herself in front of Erick, arms wide. 

The Eclipse Bond inside her chest flared to life. The seed burned, but for once, she controlled its power. The wave hit her open hands and broke apart like glass hitting a rock.

Erick's POV

"Deborah!" Erick caught her when her legs gave out, and she fell back. He pulled her close to his chest. One arm went around her waist, the other hand was flat on her back. 

Even through her clothes, he could feel the seed's strange heat. "What were you thinking?"

"I'm already dying," she said, her voice soft against his shoulder. 

"You're not."

Her words hit him hard. He knew it, and so did she. But hearing her say it so simply made it feel more real than ever. 

"Don't," he said roughly. "Don't talk like that."

She pulled back a little to look at him. In the red morning light, her eyes glowed. "Erick..."

Another pulse hit. This time, he was ready. He turned them around, putting himself between her and the danger. He felt the wave hit his back like a punch. 

Sharp pain shot up his back, but the Eclipse Bond grew strong. 

It took power from Deborah even as he kept her safe. Their magic, or whatever it was, mixed. It made a shield that held.

When the pulse stopped, they were still standing, still close. Both were breathing hard. Erick noticed how perfectly she fit against him. 

Her fingers were curled into his shirt, and her lips were so close to his neck.

"We're stronger together," Deborah whispered, saying what he was just thinking. "The Bond wants us close."

"Is that the only reason?" He asked before he could stop himself.

She looked into his eyes. For a moment, the dying world, the seed killing her, the danger, it all went away. "No," she whispered. "It's not."

Deborah's POV

They knew they should move and focus on the dangerous breach. But Deborah couldn't let go of Erick's shirt or step out of his arms. Their special bond felt strong between them. 

She wondered if the magic made this happen, or if it just made their feelings, which had been growing for weeks, even stronger.

"The Forsaken Realm," she said, trying hard to focus. "That's its name. The world on the other side of the breach. 

I can feel those deaths, all that hopelessness. It's coming through."

Erick's jaw tightened. "Can we close it?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But first, we need to understand."

Something moving in the breach stopped her. Something big was moving in that dead city, so big it made shadows on the broken buildings. 

Deborah got very scared as a shape started to come out of the crack. It had too many arms and legs, and its eyes glowed with the same bad green light that had tried to kill them.

"Run," Erick said, his voice very calm.

But Deborah couldn't move. The seed in her chest was pulling her, reaching towards the creature like it wanted it or knew it. "Erick," she gasped. "I can't, it's got me."

His arms tightened around her. "Then we face it together."

The creature's first arm came through into their world. Deborah heard screaming from the town below. 

The thing was huge, easily twenty feet tall, a scary mix of insect and shadow. And it was looking right at them.

At her.

At the seed.

"Oh no," she breathed. "It's not escaping. It's coming for me."