Page 115 of Immortal Origins
‘Don’t trust anyone, even if you’refamiliar.’
Turning to face the mage that had joined her in the chamber, her heart fluttered and sank.
Danthan.
Chapter 42
“Danthan!” Ambrose cried out from relief. Confusion. Exhaustion.
Her heart swelled seeing him again, she thought she never would.
But… What was he doing all the way down there?
He wasn’t a Trial Champion.
How did he escape the woods?
His usual happy face, the one that had smiled at her countless times with encouragement during her training was no longer flush with life, but instead a disturbing shade of gray, his eyes as black as the night. His silky golden hair hung from his head like straw that had been left in the sun for far too long.
Even his magick was different as it filled the space. Though his charge filled the air surrounding them, it was dead and lifeless.
Something wasn’t right.
The smile he flashed at her wasn’t his, bearing rotting teeth that had yellowed in such a short amount of time.
“Danthan…” she whispered, taking in the sight of the mage that was her friend. “What happened to you? I thought… I thought you were dead?”
He strolled to the middle of the chamber, the stone walls circling them as his footsteps rang in the empty space. Dust picked up from his choppy movements as his dark eyes narrowed at her. Instinctively, she raised her sword as he approached and something resembling betrayal flashed across his lifeless eyes.
“How would you even know?” He eyed the blade in her hands, his voice hoarse as it scratched its way out of his throat and chest as though he’d swallowed sand. “Are you going to kill me Ambrose?”
Realizing what she was doing, she dropped the sword to her side. “No of course not. I would never hurt you, we’re friends.”
“I thought we were… I was going to introduce you to my family. My father… I was going to make him proud of me,” he sneered. “Until you left us for dead.”
His words cut her and she visibly flinched. “No. I didn’t. I would never. Felius, I had to help him. He was alone with no one to save him. You were with the others, I thought you’d be safe.”
Danthan rolled his head to the side in awkward, unsettling movements as he laughed a laugh that wasn’t his. “Safe? From the Alkijin? You’re either ignorant or just stupid. I don’t know which one is worse.”
“You don’t mean that,” she pleaded as her shoulders dropped a little. “You were with the group. I-I didn’t know.”
“And did you even save Felius?” he taunted her, his feet carrying him closer with each step. His body moved with choppy movements, as though his muscles were growing stiff and didn’t know how to move properly anymore.
Ambrose squeezed the hilt of her sword as she shifted her weight, curling her body so she was face-to-face with him as he stalked circles around her. “No.” Her face twisted in pain. “I was too late.”
“Of course you were.” His lips curled up into disgust. “You foolishly thought you could save him and left the rest of us to die. Somehow you managed to save yourself though, didn’t you? Funny how you always manage to save yourself.”
“But, you didn’t die. You’re standing right here.” Her chest heaved. She said the words but even she knew that the creature standing in front of her wasn’t the mage she’d trained with anymore. Wasn’t the sweet boy she’d traveled with.
“Oh, didn’t I?” He threw his arms into the air and circled her. “And how do you think I survived?”
“I don’t know.” She studied him and noticed he was wearing the same clothes he’d been wearing the last time she saw him when she left them in the forest. His cotton shirt and leather pants were tattered and covered in dirt and blood.
“Let me enlighten you.” He curled a finger and uneven footsteps came from the hallways that sat on the edges of the chamber, inching towards the center. At least, she thought they were footsteps—they sounded more like shuffling.
Ambrose pushed herself off the wall and swung her body around as the rest of her travel party emerged from the hallways.
Oryon.
