~Scott~

My feet hit the ground running.

The flight through the mountains had eaten up time, probably close to an hour. Why the library was so far from society, especially when Rivendale was hardly younger than it was, was beyond me. Knowledge should not have to be hidden.

The cyan tiled roof came into sight, shooting up like a sprout from the mountain side where the library was buried underneath. The November air whistling past my ears, starting to throb from the windchill, as I dove towards the entrance.

The door wouldn't open at first, hinges rusted shut by corrosion. I smashed my shoulder against the center, one, two, three times, before a crack and a metallic shriek followed the door bursting inwards.

It was all dust and rot, the floor coated in a smear of gray like a rug. Every step I took was cushioned by the centuries, perhaps millennia, of neglect hiding the wooden boards.

I kicked at the residue with the heel of my boot, trying to uncover the markings of elvish spun into a circle around where the staircase lay. "Tha eòlas nas cumhachdaiche na cumhachd fhèin." I recited, watching as each letter began to glow a shade of blue, one that made my spine stiffen upon realizing it matched that of the Rune Blade.

Slowly the floorboards within the circle began to drop, forming the spiral staircase that led down into darkness. I didn't wait to gather light or a spell to guide me, immediately descending down.

The only sound was my breathing, heavy from the flight. Despite the cold, sweat rimmed my hairline, my lips gaining their own small heartbeat.

I couldn't see a thing, my fingers slipping between the grooves on the bricks that closed in on either side of me. The fact that I didn't trip head over heels down the stairs was a miracle, but there were a couple of close calls that made my heart drop down into my stomach.

Then there was a flicker in the darkness.

Something red flashed in the black, spraying an eerie glow against the stone for just a moment, my hand washed in crimson, before it was gone.

I froze.

My eyesight was fuzzy, readjusting to the darkness after the sudden burst of color.

But then it came again.

A streak of red darted past my nose, a curl of light dancing across my line of sight casting everything in a red glow. It shot forwards, twisting down the staircase before disappearing around the wall, the red light beginning to fade as it got further and further away.

"Wait—" I stammered, throwing myself after the ribbon trailing off into the dark. "—slow down—" I skipped steps, two, four, six, practically falling down the staircase, watching helplessly as the red became dimmer. I hit the end of the staircase, staggering out into the hall that led down to the library.

I sprinted, squinting as the braziers hung up on the wall lit with bursts of flames...before going out. I slowed down the slightest, a gust of cold, cold wind barreling past me and snuffing out the fire, leaving the hall in darkness except for that one strand of red just ahead of me.

And I kept chasing it.

The unnatural chill whistled by my ears, just as cold as outside, but I kept chasing that one source of light. That one little fleck of my sister, somehow here.

I was in the library now. When the hall transitioned to the thousands of rows of bookshelves I have no clue. Every one of my steps was cushioned by dust and centuries worth of build up.

The further I traveled into the library, the longer I ran, the quicker I seemed to go. An odd sensation of weightlessness, followed by a short series of pangs in my chest different from the stretches of pain in my sides from running. My head grew heavy, the bookshelves zipping by. My fingertips had started to grow numb, my veins threatening to burst with that odd feeling I recognized too well.

I tried not to take notice.

A sound other than my heavy, hoarse breathing caught my attention. Laughter. Little flits of laughter floating past me, ones I knew well. Playful, but also incredibly creepy in this setting.

The streaks of light darted around a corner, before creeping back around the bookshelf. The little twists of light formed into a shape, the image of a hand waving its fingers at me, beckoning me forward. Erin was a little bit too extra.

At least, I was praying to the gods that it was her.

Its form melted away before throwing itself back around the bookshelf, leaving only its eerie light to follow.

Twists and turns, hall after hall, rows after rows of books, I followed. I didn't know which way was out, I had no clue where I had come from, where the exit was. That wasn't my primary concern, however. I just knew that I couldn't lose sight of the light.

I don't know how long I had been running before it began to slow down...then looping back on itself, shooting towards me. It twisted around the back of my neck, it's searing energy so, so close to my skin I came to a halt. It curled around my wrist, pulling it up, almost as if to guide me, before flitting forwards back down the hall. It turned every couple of moments, as if making sure I was still following,

I brought myself down to a jog, the pains in my chest now stabbing, rivaling the stitches and pangs in my ribs and lungs. I paused, practically gasping for air. I wanted to sink the floor, but instead I rested an elbow against one of the bookshelves, holding a hand to my ribs. Something was pulling me down, the room was spinning, my head felt far, far too heavy. "Wait..." I called out, my voice scratchy and echoing off of the stone.

The streaks of energy skidded, spinning in on itself before floating back towards me. A murmur of concern, almost, as it curled around my wrists again, trying to drag me forwards.

"I can't." I half-whispered. Something was different about this place, it wasn't the same... my chest seared horribly, that one fault line where the blade had pierced.

It tugged on me again stubbornly, pulling me off the wall. As soon as I was up and moving again it let go, trickling along the wooden shelves for a couple of seconds, before stopping again.

It split, moving into the bookshelf? I jogged up to it, only to see the little twists of red circling a book. In the red light I had no clue what color it was, nor could I read the title inlaid in the spine. But I pulled it off the shelf. It was huge, and heavy. The pages were thick and slightly crumpled so that they wouldn't lay flat against one another, the edges crumpled.

"Is this what you were trying to show me?" I asked, half to myself, as I opened the book, flicking through the pages. A thin, shimmering layer of frost seemed to coat the words as I glanced them over, forcing my arms to tense.

A light babbling came from the red as it swirled in front of me, flicking a couple of pages over.

Then it stopped.

And then it disappeared completely, melting into the floor and leaving me in total darkness.

Suddenly another, different noise was accompanying my heavy breathing.

I froze.

Voices.

My ear twitched, I couldn't make out any words, but they were coming closer.

Several shadowy forms turned the corner, with a light source. Fire. My head snapped up. Shouting. They were shouting. And then sprinting towards me.

My heart dropped down into my stomach, the book clattering out of my hands onto the ground. The pain pounding in my body forgotten; I ran back the way I had came. The shouting followed, so did the quick paces of those chasing.

I didn't know what I was running from, but I dared look back for just a moment. All I saw was the flickering orange flames of fire. Was it consuming the library? Or were the figures containing it? I didn't care to stop and check.

I was running, and running, and I couldn't stop. Always running. The voices began to fade out but I didn't slow down. Every breath was a struggle, a stab to the ribs, my heels aching from hitting the stone hard every time.

Then, out of nowhere, I was falling.

There was no light, no way to tell up or down. All I knew was that all solid ground had disappeared, my stomach was dropping, air billowed past my face, catching my wings and throwing them up and over my head.

I couldn't tell if I was screaming, I couldn't hear anything other than the pounding of my heart in my ears.

And then I was lying on the ground. I could hardly breathe as I stared at what I thought was up, into shadow.

I strained my ears. No more screaming. No more footsteps following.

I was alone?

What the hell had just happened?

It was pitch black here. The red light had long since left me. How I hadn't run headfirst into a corner or bookshelf before I had plunged and somehow stopped and somehow wasn't in immense pain I have absolutely no clue. I didn't have the time to think about it.

Because I was completely and utterly lost.

I staggered to my feet and to the side, feeling the ridges of leather bound books beneath my fingertips. I walked, keeping my hand pressed against the wall of knowledge, letting it guide me. Maybe I'd bump into a mounted torch or lantern that I could light to guide my path. Otherwise I was very much screwed.

I wandered, keeping close to the wall, letting my shoulder run across the uneven surface.

So. I was lost in a library. A humongous library holding ninety percent of the knowledge in the known world with no idea where in it I was, no idea where the exit was, and no light to guide me.

Wonderful.

Pearl was going to kill me when I got back. If I got back.

At first when I saw light I thought I was imagining things.

But white light seeped around what I realized was a corner, casting shadow onto the stone brick floor and the grains of the wooden bookshelf. I picked up the pace, rounding the corner to see where the light was coming from.

The hallway opened into...nothing. A circle of light against the floor, like a spotlight from above, pillars rimming the edge, before absolute darkness. The light didn't travel far enough to uncover it. I couldn't even tell where the light was coming from. It was just...there.

I slowly walked further into the circle, squinting as my eyes adjusted to the light.

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. Dread seeped into my chest, pounding in my throat. What had Erin warned me about in that dream? It was all still so foggy...

I soon realized that the objects just at the edge of the glow were not pillars.

They were statues.

"What on Empiria..." I breathed, scared to make any noise louder than it. It felt like something was watching, eyes burning into the back of my neck. I glanced around, but other than the stone figures there was no one there.

One in particular caught my eye. It was of two people. And as I crept closer I recognized them more and more.

Erin, her image carved in stone, was sprawled across my lap, wearing the ghost of a smirk. Her wings were torn and filled with gaping holes, her body broken. I knew it all too well.
And there I was, holding her helplessly in my arms, unable to do anything but watch. It was a memory I tried my hardest not to revisit.

I swallowed, turning away. I didn't want to look at it any longer.

I moved clockwise around the circle, to the next statue. It was also someone I recognized. A moment frozen in time. The last thing I saw.

It was Xornoth, throwing himself forward, arm outstretched. Trying to stop me. But something was different. Instead of only the fleeting second I had managed to see them before, I was able to really look. Their expression was not what I remembered. A mixture of anger and fear and...grief? Stone tears flew by his face, the horns growing from his skull beginning to crumble. But no other piece of the statue was weathered.

Something in my chest tightened. I turned away from this one too.

The next image carved into stone laid on the ground.

I kneeled down next to my mother, her eyes open and blank. Her glasses lay next to her head, shattered, glass shards littering her hair.

It was like I was back in the throne room, after the shout had echoed throughout the palace of an intruder, after I had barreled past the guards to find both of them dead.

With another shaky, quiet breath, I stood, closing my eyes as I walked away.

The next statue was of a girl. And she was running. I didn't recognize her at first. The look on her face was wild, filled with fear. Her hair whipped past her neck, like the satchel over her shoulder did, flying past her, the bandanna around her head useless.

It hit me that this was from a dream. I had seen this before.

The dream that proved to me that my best friend was dead.

She was being chased. And whatever was chasing her caught up to her.

I let my fingers glide over the scratches dug deep into her jaw, carved into the stone. I hadn't seen Wren in a very long time, but it was her. Moments before she had met her end.

And I wasn't there to save her.

But I had moved on a long time ago. So why did it hurt so bad to see this?

Where had all of these images come from?

My heart dropped when I looked up to see the next statue.

It was Jimmy— and me? I practically ran towards it, fear biting at the back of my throat. Had he made it? Or was he...was he killed too, like Pearl was? Xornoth did not live to fulfill their promise of making me watch them hurt him. But what if something else had?

Despite being in stone, the ash across Jimmy's face and burnt clothing was portrayed clearly. Blood trickled from my forehead, the crown set on my head centered, my hands on Jimmy's shoulders. I wore a small, sad smile on my face. This was right after the explosion, wasn't it? The last time I had seen him. When I promised that I'd be back soon.

At the time I hadn't realized that that'd be yet another promise I would have to break.

Gods, I hoped he was okay.

I had started to realize that all of these images, these moments frozen in time, were people I knew. People I cared for. All the last times I had seen them, most right before or after they had met their end....

At least I thought that was what it was until I came across the next statue.

I was positive I had never seen this person before. Positive. I would remember someone like that, right?

He was taller than I was. Wild hair covered half of his face around pointed ears. His expression was a scowl, his eyes narrowed to glare down his nose. And down half of his face was a jagged line. It was hard to tell whether it was a marking or a scar, but it branched from his forehead down to his jaw, like a crack of lightning. I could practically feel the electricity buzzing around the statue the closer I got, my knuckles glancing the edge of the jagged sword he wielded, as if about to strike.

But who was it? I was sure I had never seen him, not in a dream, not in real life, not in this world.

I took a step back, the feeling of unease growing stronger in the pit of my stomach the longer I stared over the other elf.

So I moved on, around the circle, to the last statue.

And it was floating.

I dropped down to one of my knees, brushing my hand over the ground beneath where the statue hung. Nothing. And no dust had gathered on my hand from the floor, unlike the rest of the library coated in it. Yet again the question arose: where the hell was I? Had I fallen down some secret passageway within the library, or was I now somewhere completely different?

I stood up again, trying to take it all in. It was a woman, and she was falling. I couldn't put a name to her face, a face twisted in fear and a scream that I could practically hear the ghost of lacing the air though probably long gone, but...unlike the other figure, I had seen her somewhere before.

Her hand was up and outstretched, desperate. Little lines were etched into her skin, along her fingertips.... Frost. And along her cheeks too, along her hairline, and the tips of her pointed ears. Little geometrical snowflakes.

I stood on my toes, peering even closer.

My heart jolted as streams of red burst from the ground, wrapping tightly around the statue. The explosion of color knocked me backwards, nearly off my feet.

The red halos of light tightened around the woman's torso and limbs, getting tighter and tighter by the second. The stone began to crack, chunks of rock the size of pebbles beginning to rain down against the floor.

And as the statue began to crumble, for a moment, I was no longer beneath the mountains within the circle of light surrounded by statues.

I was looking down, over the edge of a cliff that had appeared quick in sharp resolution. It dropped one hundred, two hundred, five hundred feet... and someone was falling. Her scream was real, and raw, I could feel the terror. Her pure white hair whipped past her as she plunged, hand and wrist coated in frost outstretched as she fell towards a sea of swarming red, waiting hungrily to consume her. I met her eyes for a moment, a piercing and bright blue. A straight beam from her flushed cheeks against pale skin to my face. A silent plea for help.

But I could do nothing but stand and watch.

Strands of scarlet launched out from the cloud of death, latching onto her body as she got closer, pulling her in, just like the flits of Erin's magic crushing the statue of her image.

And then she was gone, her scream coming to an abrupt and terrifying halt.

She was gone.

The next thing I heard was my own scream as I was brought back to a horrifying reality.

A hand shot through the head of the statue from within the ring of darkness, throwing away chunks of rocks as the figure finally crumbled to a mass of stone on the ground, the red light melting away.

I hit the floor, trying to scramble away from whatever stalked out of the darkness, into the lit circle.

My breath hitched in my throat, lungs about to explode out of my chest.

A tall...something walked slowly over the remains of the statue, twisting antlers of black branching out from their skull. Cleverly placed shadows obscured their face, but could do nothing against the piercing red of their eyes staring me down, curled into a cruel smirk.

"Oh, I'm sorry," A voice I had hoped and prayed to never hear again sounded from the figure, though I could see no mouth. A voice that still haunted my dreams, still evoked cold dread that numbed every other feeling I had. "I didn't mean to scare the chosen one. Lost in thought, perhaps?"

My body shook with fear as I tried to force it to move, to get away, but I could do nothing but watch in horror as the god came ever closer at a tortuous pace.

A low, cruel, horrible laugh echoed from all around me, seemingly coming from the darkness that was beginning to creep closer, consuming the statues....

Exor slowly lowered themself down to the ground in front of me, kneeling against the stone. I still couldn't see their face in totality, but their crimson eyes swept over me quickly, before meeting mine.

I flinched back, squeezing my eyes shut as they stretched out a hand from the shadow of their form. I couldn't breathe, my elbows shaking from behind me as I tried to keep myself propped up with them off the ground.

How were they here? I killed them, I killed my brother to kill them. They were supposed to be dead.

My eyes opened a slit, Exor's hand, ghostly white, right in front of my face. They brushed two fingers against the underside of my chin, gently tilting my face forwards again and towards theirs. Gently. "You're shaking, you poor thing," They murmured, drawing closer. "You've been fed lies, young one."

I blinked, my breath trembling as I opened my eyes a little wider. Light reflected off the lower half of Exor's face. It too was paper white, but obscuring all else was a horrible burn. Like someone had hooked their fingers around the right side of their lip and clawed their face with white-hot hands. I could see where their teeth fit into their gums, the point of their canine although their lips were shut, the tendon of their jaw strung upwards towards their nose.

Their eyes followed mine. "A product of your mentor," They said, almost quietly, as if in answer, raising a thumb to glide over my nose. Right where my own scar lay. "I apologize for returning the favor, but revenge against blood is sweet..."

Silence fell, the only noise coming from the heavy and ragged breaths I drew in through my mouth. My lips felt numb. I still couldn't find the heart or the courage to move under their gaze.

"You know... you and I aren't so different." Exor continued, voice still low. The rasp crawled in the back of their throat as they spoke, always present but dipping with every word. "Both the younger of two, both born leaders... both in search of a higher power." The corner of their lip twitched into a smirk, drawing the burn scar taut across their skull.

My lips parted the slightest as I soaked in their words, my heart beating so loudly I highly doubted the god couldn't hear it. "Get away." I managed weakly, wincing horribly at the pathetic scratch of my words.

Their smile only grew. "Admit it, you know I'm right. Being the Righ must be wonderful, don't get me wrong... the ability to endow life and mercy on all... and then being able to snatch it all away like that." Their snap echoed in all directions, reverberating off of the nothingness, loud and sharp. "But there's always more power to gain... we both know that much."

I couldn't find the words to speak again, every sound I attempted to make getting caught and tangled in my throat, unable to make it past my lips. It was like being strangled but managing to breathe.

Exor slid their hand beneath my jaw, pulling my face even closer to theirs. "And we also both know that you'll never reach that magnificent potential of yours beneath my brother. He takes, and he takes, and he takes and never returns," Their eyes narrowed as they spoke, exhaling sharply through their nose. "He stands there and acts as if he deserves the whole world, and he's gotten rid of all who can oppose and defy him, so no one knows any different than what he declares. Doesn't that seem wrong?"

I paused, taking in their words. There was an ache behind them, a sense of solidarity that they were trying to build between us. I closed my hands around the fine specks of gravel between the grooves of the brick beneath me, keeping quiet.

"And look at you!" They declared, gesturing towards me with their free hand. "What has Aeor done for you that you cannot do for yourself? Where has following him landed you? He's ruined your life, open your eyes. Wasn't the whole world okay before he claimed you, didn't it spin in perfect unison with what you thought was right? I know you're in pain, Scott Major. A pain no mortal flesh should bear."

I swallowed, trying my hardest to keep my breaths even, trying to slow the panic pummeling my ribs. Here was the god of darkness, knelt before me... reasoning with me? Trying to sympathize? Maybe I hit my head in that fall...

Their knuckles brushed my cheek, before sliding around the base of my neck. It was cold, but unlike the cold I was used to. Just... devoid of warmth, the warmth skin was supposed to have. Like a corpse.

With a sudden pull, I could feel their face beside my own, breath against my ear. My chin skimmed their shoulder, a few wisps of hair as dark as the shadow itself grazing my nose. "But you see... I could take all that pain away. All the pain he has caused. Because with Aeor, all you ever receive is a gruesome end. Time and time again I've seen it happen, people like you get themselves thrown around like play things by my brother. But I? I will show you the respect you deserve. I'd treat you equivalent to your worth. With me you'd never have to hurt again, little champion..."

And I almost wanted to believe them.

I wanted to sink into their voice, into their arms. I wanted to believe their words, believe that with them it would be alright. I heard what they were saying, I knew... I knew some of it to be truth.

Maybe it would be easier, following their lead. Nothing but a follower. For so long I thought that was what I wanted, as prince.

Key word in there was wanted. But it was never about my wants, was it? It was about my needs, about what deep down I strived for that I could never find the courage to put into words.

I had wanted to be a follower, take the easy way out, be a mindless member of the crown, no judgment, no responsibilities.

But then I got a taste of the throne.

Because I was never supposed to be a follower.

I thought of Xornoth, wrists strung up like a puppet's above his head, lifeless eyes and motionless body.

Finally, I found my voice. "Is that what you said to my brother before you killed him?" I asked, my voice on the brink of shaking with not fear now but with rage as I glared sideways at the little I could see of Exor's jaw.

The god paused, hand loosening on my neck. Then, a low chuckle escaped their throat. They began to draw away, nails glancing the side of my face as they stood. "'Killed' is a strong word," they mused. Their form disappeared suddenly, melting into the darkness, before they appeared standing, hands folded behind their back. Now a grin was beginning to crawl across their face, one that I was more accustomed to. Vicious, merciless. "I prefer demolished. Dismantled, perhaps? And it was the truth, was it not? They don't feel much of anything anymore."

I scoffed, my anger beginning to boil beneath my skin. Though my body was still plagued with minor tremors, I made it to my feet, eyes still narrowed at the god.

"I'll take your rather passive aggressive response to my offer as a no." Exor brought their hands forward, bracing their fingers against each other. "Unfortunate, but I can see why Aeor discarded you. You're awfully stubborn. Not worth much at all, really, without the right kind of leadership. A goal to chase."

My fists clenched at my sides, my chin tilted up towards where Exor stood. I took the smallest of steps back, seething at their words.

"Alas, this new turn of events will not be in your favor, my friend." The darkness had been creeping closer during our initial conversation— and was now surrounding the both of us, the ring of darkness hardly a foot away before the room faded into shadow.

"How are you even here? I killed you. With Xornoth. With me." I said. I hated how my voice got quieter with every syllable, how every single cell in my body wanted to run and keep on running until every thought of the god in front of me was driven from my mind.

Exor's skin, so pale and thin that it was practically transparent against their skull, stretched even more taut across their cheekbones as they grinned, the shadows cast across still obscuring most of their features and leaving sharp lines of division. "I'm not as easy to kill as you and your renounced brother, Scott Gilded Major." The word renounced danced from their lips like pure venom. My chest tightened, I remember what I had said to Xornoth shortly before both of our deaths. I remembered the flicker of shock across his face. My mind wandered back to the tears carved into the stone of their statue. "I'm always here, in the darkest shadows of your mind, waiting."

"For what?" I took notice of the way one of their hands curled at their side, looking thin and brittle, into a fist.

Their teeth flashed, bared and wicked, before their response. "You."

I could already feel stabs of anxiety crawling up the back of my throat, just as fast as my heartbeat. "Don't you already have enough? You had an army, you failed. Twice. Practically three times. Someone smarter than you would take the godsdamned hint."

"Mere stepping stones." Their voice slimmed down to an amused hiss. "Patience is a virtue also held by sinners. The zealots just use it as a phrase of righteousness to hide their scheming."

"Seems to not be working in your favor." I replied, feeling the cold of the stone beneath my feet even through the rubber soles of my boots. If only I could buy myself a little more time, time to run.

"Oh but it will. And you'll be right there to see it. Go on, Scott. Be a witness to what's coming. No matter which side you choose to testify for, only one will truly rise from the ashes of the Great Catastrophe. You know which side of the chasm you belong on."

"Yeah, I do," My foot fell into the black, my legs pounding with adrenaline. "It's the side that me and half of my family didn't die fighting against." And I threw myself into the darkness, out of the halo of light and out of sight.

I turned my back on the glowing ring, plunging into the darkness in what I hoped was the direction I had come from.

"You can run but the shadows won't hide you, Scott," Exor's voice followed me, never getting further no matter how fast I ran. "Like Life is Aeor's, Death is my domain." 

***

so uh- hi?

sorry for not updating for a month- some personal issues came up

but yeah, we're back with the updates- chapter 14 should come out soon, I'm almost done with it. I think- 

but hope y'all are doing well- lemme know if you liked the chapter, comments and votes are always appreciated