Page 52 of Vexed
Then I saw it. In the distance, to my left, another door. Not just any door, butthedoor. The one I remembered seeing when I’dfoolishly snuck into the underworld in the first place. The door back tomyworld, to the sun, to life.
Hope surged through me, powerful and intoxicating. I didn’t even think, I just ran. The ground felt uneven beneath my feet, littered with unseen debris, but I didn’t care. I was so close. So impossibly close.
But just as my trembling fingers reached for the handle, a cold, hard hand closed around the nape of my neck. I was yanked off my feet, dangling helplessly in the air and my heart plummeted.
Panic seized me as I recognized the guard’s hulking silhouette. He didn’t say a word, just held me in his iron grip, waiting.
Then, I heard Ophiel’s voice, smooth and dripping with venom. “You thought you could escape?” he purred, the question laced with mocking amusement.
“You will never see the light of the Human Realm again. And soon,” he continued, his voice lowering to a cruel whisper, “every person you loved will forget you ever existed. Your memory will fade like a bad dream, a fleeting shadow in their minds.”
Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision, the weight of his words crushing me. The thought of being erased, not just from existence but from the hearts of those I cherished, was unbearable. But I refused to let him see me break, refused to give him the satisfaction.
“Fuck you,” I spat, my voice shaking but determined.
Then, with a desperate, last-ditch effort, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Vex!” The sound tore from my throat, raw and ragged. I knew it was a long shot. He was still locked in that damn cell. But the slim chance, the hope, no matter how faint, was enough to try.
Ophiel’s face twisted with rage. “Enough!” he roared, his voice booming, shattering the fragile silence. “End her!”
The guard didn’t hesitate. He dragged me towards the edge of dark, swirling waters. The stench rising from the water wasnauseating, a fetid odor of decay and despair. This was it. The end.
As the cold water rose to engulf me, I closed my eyes, clinging to the last shreds of hope that somehow, somewhere, someone would remember me. Maybe Vex would find a way out. But the cold was closing in, and the darkness will soon overtake every bit of life I had left.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
Vex
The echoing scream of my name ripped through the suffocating silence of my cell.
“Vex!” Lily’s voice, laced with terror, shattered the carefully constructed walls of my composure. It’s been three days since Ophiel—that scheming bastard, had dragged her from this cell towards the Cathedral. Three fucking days of agonizing silence. And now, this. Primal fear clawed at my throat.
“Lily!” I roared, the sound bouncing off the cold stone walls. I lunged at the iron door, my hands clamping around the bars.I yanked, screamed, and pulled with ferocity. Every muscle in my body strained, fueled by a desperate need to reach her. The ground itself seemed to tremble under my rage.
I glanced down, the tremors in the floor mirroring the tremors in my hands. That’s when I saw it. The flesh peeling back, the human facade I wore like a borrowed coat, fading away to reveal the stark, bone-white truth beneath. I was losing myself.
“Fuck!” With a guttural growl that was more beast than man, I summoned every ounce of my being and yanked one last time. The iron shrieked, metal groaning under the impossible strain, then with a deafening snap, the door tore free, flying from its hinges. I didn’t bother looking back. I bolted.
The air outside was thick with the stench of the underworld. I scanned the desolate landscape, then I saw them. Ophiel and a knot of other reapers clustered near the Human Realm Gate, at the edge of the Lucent Waters.
I was there in an instant, my voice a distorted, inhuman snarl. “What have you done?”
Ophiel whirled around, his face a mask of surprise. He said nothing, but his silence was an accusation.
My gaze snapped to the Lucent Waters, the dark, shimmering surface hiding untold horrors. And then I saw her. Drifting further and further in, her form becoming translucent, almost ethereal.
I lunged towards the water, ready to dive in, but Ophiel’s voice stopped me. “It’s too late, Vexlorn. She’s probably dead already. If you go in there, you’ll meet your end too.”
I dragged my gaze back to him, disbelief turning to contempt. “It baffles me that you haven’t realized it yet, Ophiel,” I said, my voice dripping with venom. “If she dies, so do I.”
And then I jumped.
The Lucent Waters were a nightmare. An icy grip tightened around my bones, sucking the life out of me with every stroke.My skeletal form ached, decayed, threatened to crumble into nothingness. But I pushed on.
Finally, I saw her. I reached out, grabbing her arm, and dragged her towards me, pulling us both upwards. Every agonizing second felt like an eternity.
If we don’t make it,there’s no better way to go than having her with me as we both reach our end.
Then, with a burst of energy, we broke the surface. I heaved her onto the ground, collapsing beside her, the pain momentarily forgotten.
