Chapter 15 Descent ends
Eloise
Everywhere hurts. My body, my head, my insides. I cracked an eye open despite the biting pain. Dust choked the air as the entire cave collapsed on me. I shut my eyes and waited for the impact of stones falling on me, but nothing of the sort happened.
It felt like the stones were falling around me, not a single pebble touched me. Strange. I adjusted my position on the floor, pain lanced through my side.
For some reason, my faelight hadn't flickered out yet. I wasn't even sure it was me who was fueling it anymore. I had lost my grasp on it more than once and it still hadn't died.
My gaze darted around, searching for what had pulled me back. Or more importantly, who. And then he appeared again with the same whip in his hand. The thing that was my father strode towards me like there weren't piles of rocks in his way. He seems physically unaffected by the collapsed cave, not a single hair was out of place.
He raised his whip, calling me all sorts of terrible things, but this time I was ready. This time I would fight the illusion. I picked up a jagged stone and scratched my arm with it until blood came out. My fear slowly dissipated, replaced by sheer determination.
I was not going to die here today.
The image of my father began to waver as my fear reduced. With a clear mind, I could pick out the change in his behavior and use the information to make my escape.
And what I had figured out was that it was feeding on my emotional pain. I switched the stone and scratched the other hand, keeping my eyes on him. I needed a confirmation before my plan started to form. He didn't raise his whip again this time. He just stared at me, his gaze hardening, hatred pouring out of his eyes.
Then everything about this place starts to make sense. The wards around this place that were supposed to stop us from using magic weren't wards at all, it was a thing. This parasite. It's been draining our magic, and then using it against us.
The pain we felt wasn't real. It was an illusion of pain it gives its victim while it slowly steals their magic. In reality, the wielder was causing it themselves. The pain weakens their defenses, making it easier for the parasite to feed on the host's worst nightmares. That's what the girl was trying to tell me.
I pushed myself up, coughing through the dust. I didn’t understand how I could stand when the cave had literally collapsed on me. Around me, the cave had parted, stone shifting, returning to how it was before.
A hum thrummed against my skin. A protective shield. Not one I cast, but one that wrapped around me all the same. I didn’t have time to question it.
The parasite stood a few feet away, watching me with narrowed, hateful eyes. It still wore my father’s skin, his face twisted in contempt.
“Pathetic. Weak. Are you going to run and pray for your sister to save you? You're delusional if you think she would waste a second on you. You're too weak. Unfit.” he sneered, but the slight waver in its voice gave it away.
It couldn't feed on my fears anymore so it was trying to break me with words. It didn't have power over me anymore.
I let a slow smile stretch across my face. My fingers tightened around a jagged stone at my feet, its sharp edges biting into my palm.
“I'm not weak,” I paused. Each word was sharp and steady. “Because my sister trained me.”
Then I hurled the stone at him with all of my strength. It hit him directly in the face and the illusion of my father shattered completely. I didn't wait to see what monstrous being was beneath before breaking into a run.
I headed towards the exit, the one that was now buried with stones. But I didn't care. Because as I ran, the stones parted for me, creating a clear path. The cave started to reform rapidly and very soon, I was on the path that led to the exit.
Pain tore through my legs with every step, but I didn’t slow. I couldn’t. Not with the shuddering roar that shook the walls behind me.
The monster was coming. And this time, I was certain there wouldn't be any more illusions. The real version was coming.
A low hiss slithered through my thoughts. “Child of all... child of none.”
The voice wasn’t in the air. It was inside me.
I flinched as cold claws scraped against my mind, prodding, digging for weakness. I tried to push it back, to shut it out, but I’d never been taught to build mental shields. I thought I’d have time to learn it.
“You can't run from me.” it added.
I ignored it and focused on the path ahead. I didn't know what kind of parasite this was. It drained magic, wore people's skin, and it was powerful enough to invade minds. It wasn't in any books I've read.
And that made it even more dangerous. Which is why I didn't try to stay and fight it.
The cave groaned as its massive body surged forward, tearing through the recently formed stone walls. I didn't slow or look back.
Anticipation surged in me as I saw the brightness at the mouth of the cave. The roars of the monster had quieten slightly. It didn't try to whisper into my mind again.
I could almost taste my freedom in the air. Just a few more steps. I didn't have time to slow before I was slammed into my side with so much force.
I crashed into the wall, the air torn from my lungs as the cave seemed to split open around me. I wheezed. Gasped. Blood roared in my ears. Then I saw it.
The parasite was massive, long and serpentine, like a wyrm of ancient ruin, but wrong. Its body was armored in bone instead of scales, jagged plates layered like shattered tombstones. Veins of black, pulsing magic throbbed beneath its surface, the magic it drained from people.
It didn't have a face, just a smooth stretch of white bone. And yet, I could have sworn I felt its grin at me.
Its voice thundered inside my skull again.
“You cannot escape me, Eloise. You're not even powerful enough to shut me out. Just accept it. Accept me.” There was a hint of mockery in its voice. I felt its cold phantom fingers prodding my mind again.
“Remember that I love you, Eloise.”
I held on to those words and I felt its claws immediately retract from my mind. It bellowed at me in rage but I sensed something else beneath. Pain. I had caused it pain.
The sense of victory I felt was short-lived as it launched itself at me, bone-jaws split wide, revealing rows of needle-thin teeth and a mouth I hadn't noticed before.
I dived out of its path before it could strike me with its teeth. I jumped onto my feet immediately, my back pressed against the wall, I hoped it wouldn't sense me.
A plan began to form in my head. I sprinted further into the cave before I could think about how reckless it was. As I ran, I made sure my thoughts were grounded. Only Mae's words echoed in my mind. A lifeline.
The creature couldn't invade my mind, but it still followed me. I made a silent prayer to the goddess that it didn't catch up to earlier than I planned.
The parasite was used to feeding on dragon magic. Dragons who could only use their elemental magic and not their true form. But I wasn't a dragon.
It hadn't discovered what I was yet and that obviously infuriated it. That's why it wanted me. But I was surrounded by sources of my elemental magic. I just had to summon my elemental magic and hope it answered. Earth magic.
Dragons had fire, shadows, and water. Werewolves were gifted earth magic by the moon goddess.
I slowed when I got to where I intended. The center of the cave. I could hear the slithering sounds of the creature as it approached. I fell to my knees, my hands splayed on the ground.
I peered into that well of magic inside me. I could sense the magic pulsing in it, begging to be unleashed. I reached for it like I always did and hoped that this time it would answer. If it didn't, I would grab it and force it.
My fingers dug into the ground as I ordered my magic to answer. I felt it, like I had on my eighteenth birthday, the sheer size of it, the amount of destruction it could cause, but I didn't care. I wanted it out.
This time, it answered. With a scream of determination, spikes erupted from the floor, jagged and sharp, aimed for the creature’s underbelly. It shrieked, the sound was a mixture of rage and pain, as it twisted to avoid the hit. But I wasn't going to let it go.
My magic was wild as it continued destroying around me. The earth shuddered more violently than it had when The Descent ended. I screamed and screamed until my throat burned and everything around me was destroyed.
Not a speck of dust touched me as the shield held.
Soon everything was turned to dust. I stood up, my legs shaky, and lifted my face up. Blue, bright, endless sky.
I had made it out.
The realization hit me so hard that I lost my balance. The last thing I heard were screams as everything went black.