The Blind Witch
Chapter 22

I escaped him once and went to the edges of the universe. He was overwhelming me - suffocating me. I needed to escape. But I failed. He found me.

Clarissa clung to Aiden, exhausted from her tears. He gently rubbed her back, comforting her. Ophelia and Sybil were equally tired, having spent much of their magic. The room was quiet; only the sounds of heavy breathing remained.

“What was wrong?” Aiden finally asked Clarissa. “Why were you crying? Did it hurt?”

“No,” she answered with a shake of her head. “He was there. He was coming for me.”

“Him? The one who whispers to you?” Ophelia questioned as she knelt down beside Aiden and Clarissa. She reached out and touched her arm. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” She nodded quickly. “It was his darkness that approached me in the astral realm. It was not Nyx’s darkness.”

“Who can he be? There is only one God of Darkness, and that is Nyx.” Sybil commented as she placed her hand under her chin.

“Nyx was not originally from here,” Clarissa uttered. “She… she told me she escaped him once.”

“Did you just hear her?”

“When I was in the astral realm,” Clarissa replied as she sat up, pulling herself away from Aiden. Her hands went to her head, trying to ease the pounding that she felt. “Before I saw him approaching, she whispered, telling me how she went to the edges of the universe to escape him. He was too much for her; she needed to run. But he found her; he found me.”

“Has she told you who he was?” Sybil inquired. Clarissa only shook her head. The whispers were vague, though they did tell her more things as time went on. She was slowly understanding the things she was being told.

“Nyx told her that histories survive in the darkness, that she needs to listen and learn,” Ophelia said as she stood up straight.

“Should we replace an interior room with no light?” Aiden questioned as he helped Clarissa to her feet.

“No, I think she needs someplace much darker. Some place where the light has not touched for many, many years,” Ophelia replied as she looked at Sybil. “She needs to go to Thresnora.”

“Thresnora?” Clarissa questioned as she looked up. “Why does it sound familiar?”

“Because it is an abandoned temple for Nyx,” Ophelia answered. “It lies deep within a once active volcano. Dozens of tunnels, halls, and caverns were carved out by flowing lava. But now the temple lies empty, much like the volcano.”

“Why is it empty?” Aiden inquired.

“Thresnora lies within the destroyed lands of the Great Chasm,” Sybil answered. “The chasm and the volcano are only separated by a few hour's walk. The land is arid, bare, and the air is unbearably hot.”

“Except at night,” Ophelia corrected.

“Are you suggesting that Clarissa leaves and goes to this abandoned temple?” Aiden questioned angrily. “What if she runs into enemies while there? I shall not stay here while she is out there risking her life!”

“Good, because I was going to tell Azrael to let you go,” Ophelia added as she turned to everyone in the room. “Aiden, you, Sybil, and Victor shall escort Clarissa to the temple. Once there, she should meditate and pray to Nyx. Perhaps she can then hear the histories Nyx wants her to hear.”

“Why me?!” Sybil exclaimed as she shot daggers at her mother.

“Because your barrier will protect you from the heat. With their fire magic, Aiden and Clarissa should not be bothered by it too much,” Ophelia explained.

“What about Victor?” Clarissa wondered.

“Victor shall be fine,” she answered with a grin. “The air is hot, but it is not intolerable. Yes, you shall be uncomfortable after a while, but you won’t die there.”

“I’m sure we will be fine,” Aiden reassured as he wrapped an arm around Clarissa’s shoulders. “It’ll be fun.”

“Sure,” Sybil scoffed as she crossed her arms.

“I’m going to talk with Azrael and Victor,” Ophelia said as she walked out the door. “The three of you get packed!”

“This is why I never unpack,” Sybil muttered under her breath as she left the room.

Aiden stood in front of Clarissa and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked at her, studying her face. She was still slightly red from crying. He sighed as he tucked some strands of hair behind her ear.

“This is all up to you,” He said softly. “Are you sure you want to travel out there? What if nothing happens?”

“I have to try at least, right?” She asked as she placed her hands on his arms. “I have this overwhelming dread that he is coming for me, but I don’t know who he is. I can hear him, Aiden. I hear him whisper things to me. It is like he is a ghost, a ghost of Nyx’s past. I can’t explain how it feels, but I need to replace out the answers.”

“Then we shall go, and I will follow you to the ends of this Earth. I promise you this.” He whispered as he leaned in closer to her.

Clarissa could feel his warm breath against her face. She slowly reached up with trembling hands and placed them on his cheeks. She stood on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips gently against his. His hands slid down to her waist, pulling her closer to him. This was how he wanted to stay with her. No matter where she went, he would go.

The following day, Clarissa was out front, her hands feeling the coat of a horse she stood beside. The horse was nearly as tall as she was. A guard held its reins, keeping it steady under her touch.

“That is a fine horse,” Victor commented as he walked over. He began to tie a sack to the saddle as he eyed Clarissa. “Are you riding alone?”

“I don’t know how to ride,” she replied honestly. “I was hoping to ride with Aiden.”

“Perhaps you ride with me,” Victor replied with a frown. “It will be a long trip. But, while we travel, I shall teach you.”

Clarissa glanced over at Victor. She could see his cloud of smoke in the peripheral of her vision. But she did not argue with him. She nodded her head to his request. Victor helped her up onto the saddle. Once she was settled, he pulled himself up behind her.

Nearby, Aiden sat on his horse, disappointed that he would not ride with Clarissa. But he could see something in Victor’s eyes. A sense of protectiveness, something similar to his own. Since their return from the Lode Star, he had noticed that the two of them were more comfortable with one another. She leaned on Victor for support and sought him for comfort.

“Why does a wolf need to ride a horse?” Sybil teased him as she rode up beside him.

“Cyrus would get tired too quickly,” he shrugged in response.

“You mean you did not get a horse in hopes of riding with the girl?”

Aiden scoffed and spurred his horse forward. Sybil laughed loudly as she followed on her mare. They joined up with Victor, followed behind by two guards. The group pushed their horses forward, heading east towards the Great Chasm. For several days, they traveled, only stopping to rest at midday and nightfall.

On the evening of the third day, they reached a town just on the outskirts of the barren wasteland upon which the Great Chasm sat. They stopped, resting their horses for only an hour. They were going to need to push them once it was nightfall. They wanted to be at Thresnora before dawn.

While the horses drank their water and rested their legs, Victor stood on the edge of the wasteland. He stood there, looking out into the distance. There were no lights that he could see. There were no villages and no people that lived on the wasteland. The ground was burnt; only soot remained. Nothing grew; no water trickled through it. But there was something there, something far into the distance. It called to him; it called to Clarissa. She walked up to Victor, staring into the darkness with him.

“Do you feel it?” He questioned her. “It is calling for me, calling for us.”

“What is it?” Clarissa inquired. There was something she felt; it was a pull. It was instinct that drew her towards the wasteland.

“Our ancestors were born out this way,” he explained as he held his arms out. “In the distance, several miles from Thresnora, lies the land where Nyx first landed. The stone still stands out there in an area that once stood a field of grass. The source of our magic lies out here.”

“Will we go to it?” Clarissa asked as she looked up to Victor.

“No,” he answered softly. “It is to the north of the volcano, and we shall be coming from the south. It would take us another day, if not two, to see it and return. Perhaps one day, I shall take you there. You and I shall make a pilgrimage together.”

“I’d like that,” Clarissa smiled. She reached out, taking his hand in hers.

“Let’s go!” Sybil called out from a distance. The hour had passed, and they needed to move on quickly before it got too late.

Victor helped Clarissa on his horse, but he did not join her. He would slither through the shadows; he was faster than the horses this way. He could get to the old volcano and ensure no one was there. Before he left, he tied her horse to Aiden’s. This would help to prevent her horse from drifting away from the others.

As Victor disappeared, Sybil pushed the group forward. The horses were driven to gallop for several hours. The air was still warm, even with no sun in the sky. Aiden could see an orange glow far into the distance. It was the Great Chasm. The lava from the Earth’s core was the only light source in the vast emptiness.

A few hours before dawn, the group made it to the volcano. As they dismounted from their horses, Victor appeared suddenly from the shadows. It caused Sybil to scream, startled by the person who emerged without warning.

“You are an awful man!” She yelled at him.

“I had been in this spot, unmoving, for hours. It is not my fault you got off your horse beside me.” He replied with a smirk.

“Did you check the surrounding area and the temple?” Sybil demanded as she refused to look at him.

“I did, and no one is here,” he nodded. “But I did not get far into the temple. Even in the shadows, I need light to see.”

While Sybil and Victor bickered with one another, Clarissa slid down from her horse. She was silent as she looked around. There were orbs, dark orbs, floating through the air. It reminded her of how it looked at the Lode Star, except for a distinct lack of color variations. This was Nyx’s temple, which served as a place of worship. So much magic lingered in the air, all of it untouched, waiting.

She held her hand out, calling the magic to her. Several orbs moved to her and fell onto her palm. The orbs at the Lode Star would touch her and bounce back off, continuing their journey through the air. But these orbs, they sat on her hand as if they were marbles.

Several orbs broke apart, dissolving into a cloud of darkness around her hand. This darkness slowly seeped into her skin. She was absorbing it, absorbing the magic. But one orb remained. It had not broken apart, but it also felt different. The grays and blacks were distinct; it was unfamiliar. It wasn’t Nyx’s. Clarissa quickly dropped the orb as she stepped away from it. She gasped as she backed into someone.

“Are you alright, Issa?” Aiden questioned when she slammed against him. “What's wrong.”

“N-nothing,” She lied. She did not want to worry him. However, she was unsure how to explain what she felt. How do you explain that there are two types of dark magic in the air?

“Okay,” he replied skeptically. He watched her as he lit a torch. He held it off to the side, illuminating his surroundings. “We should go inside.”

“Where should we go?” Sybil questioned as she held her own torch.

Clarissa looked back to the orbs in the air. She could see some radiate, creating a pattern. It was a path; they pointed her to where she needed to go. She began to walk, following where the orbs led her.

“Where are you going?!” Aiden called out to her. He ran up to her, but she did not look at him. She was focused on something, something in the air. He glanced over his shoulder. “Let’s follow Clarissa!”

Clarissa led the way through the tunnels of Thresnora. With the dark orbs floating in the air, she did not need to use her energy wave. The orbs led her through the twists and turns, guiding her until she came to a large, empty cavern. Though the room was devoid of furniture and light, Clarissa could see the magic that floated all around. When she closed her eyes, she could see memories briefly appear within her vision.

"Where are we?” Sybil questioned as her voice echoed across the stone walls.

"This was the grand hall,” Clarissa answered as she walked to the center. “This is where they performed their rituals, their sacrifices to Nyx.”

"How do you know?” Victor inquired as he looked into the darkness. He could not decipher where they were. There were no signs, no symbols, nothing to indicate that this was the grand hall.

Clarissa did not answer. Her mind was elsewhere, watching the memories from the orbs. She found her way to the center and sat on the floor. The stone was cold, freezing against her skin. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes. Listen.

Clarissa began to see memories, the histories of the past. She saw the temple when it was at its height when hundreds of witches worshipped Nyx. She saw celebrations, sacrifices, and even sadness. She saw funerals; she saw children cower as they hid from invaders.

But then, the memories took her from the temple. She was unsure of where she was. She did not recognize the terrain. It was quiet, and it was dark. Bright lights shined in the skies above. She could hear crunching as the people walked. Snow! It was snow that they walked on. She knew how it sounded; she recognized the cold feeling. She watched as the witches walked until they came to a large rock.

The rock was in a deep hole with steam coming from it.

Is it a meteor? She could hear someone ask.

No, there is magic coming from it. It is another fallen star. Another answered.

Fallen star? But this was not Nyx. These witches already had her dark magic. This was something else... someone else.

As the witches went to touch the rock, Clarissa noticed a man off in the distance. He was tall, and he wore black clothing. His hair was pure black, waving in the air despite no wind. He began to walk to her, ignoring the witches at the rock.

Could he see her? But he couldn't. This was a memory. There was no way he was walking to her. He stopped directly in front of Clarissa. His gaze pierced her very being. His hand reached up, and when she thought it would just go through her, it touched her cheek. Her eyes went wide, and her body stiffened.

"Those armageddon eyes," he said as his voice echoed through her body. It was him, the man who whispered to her. "I have found you, Nyx. Finally."

Clarissa pulled away from him and pulled herself out of the memory. She gasped as she stood to her feet. Everyone turned to her, startled by her sudden movement. Aiden was the first to reach her, grabbing her arms to keep her steady.

"Erebus!" She yelled as the realization hit her. "His name is Erebus! He is here for Nyx, for me!"

Before anyone could speak, there was screeching that echoed from the tunnels. Vampires! There were vampires here. Aiden cursed under his breath before he shifted into Cyrus. Clarissa unsheathed her sword, whispering her incantation over it and Cyrus. Vampires rushed into the hall as both her sword and the wolf lit up in flames.

They were skinny; they were not normal. These vampires had been lost for some time in the volcano, with no way to escape. They were slowly starving, slowly dying. There were bite marks on their own bodies from them consuming their own cold blood. They had gone mad. They had become feral. But the scent of the group attracted them. It helped to lead them through the tunnels.

Thankfully, there were not many: there were only six vampires. Cyrus was able to kill most, his flames helping to subdue them without exerting much effort. But Clarissa did not stay back. She ran alongside Cyrus, using the magic coming from his flames to light her way. The two of them alone were able to kill the six vampires without the help of others.

After confirming they were dead, Cyrus shifted back into Aiden. But Clarissa stood there with her flaming sword in her hands. It was the only source of light. She looked ominous, standing there in the darkness. She took in a deep breath and turned to everyone.

"Erebus is here."