Chapter Five Aria

Chapter Five

Aria

Tearsith

Sixteen years old

Aria emerged at the edge of Tearsith, where the lush woods were dense with foliage and peace billowed on the breeze.

She peered into the clearing where her Laven family had begun to gather, wearing their matching uniforms.

Aria’s pulse skittered.

Tonight would be unlike any other she’d experienced before.

Today, she had turned sixteen.

She had reached the age of maturity for a Laven, and tonight, she would descend into the darkness of Faydor for the first time.

It was an event she had been preparing for throughout her life. Until this point, her nights had been spent here within the boundaries of Tearsith, the realm above Faydor, learning of the importance of her calling and the sacrifice that it required. Even never having stepped out of Tearsith, Aria understood that sacrifice was great.

Once she entered Faydor, she would never be the same.

She tried to keep her fear at bay, but it pulsed through her blood, and she searched, though her spirit already told her that her Nol had not yet arrived.

But Dani noticed that she had, and Aria’s friend jumped to her feet and came jogging over. She took Aria by both hands as she gave her a smile of kind encouragement.

“Happy birthday, Aria.”

“Thank you,” Aria whispered around the anxiety.

“Are you nervous?” Dani asked, concern pinching her delicate brow.

“I feel like I should be prepared but have no idea what to expect.”

Understanding passed through Dani’s expression. “It won’t be easy, but you were created for this.”

Some days, Aria wished she had not been. She had no choice but to come here night after night. No choice but to look in the mirror each morning when she awoke and wonder if she was lost.

Insane.

Prisoner to a reality that did not exist.

It was then her spirit expanded, though, and an awareness thrummed through her veins and sparked in her soul. She shifted to peer back at the edge of Tearsith.

Pax stepped out of the woods.

So gorgeous that her heart stalled, jolting from its axis and pitching in his direction.

She had to tamp down what she knew was written on her face, the forbidden feelings that he evoked.

Not that he would ever return those feelings anyway.

She took in his face. A carved sculpture of white granite, his eyes that unfathomable gray. Everything about him was razor sharp and deadly, though every interaction she had ever shared with him had been tender and careful.

And she knew then, even if she had been given free will, she still would have chosen this.

To at least have this part of him.

No, she would never know him the way she wanted to. To be awake and run her fingertips along the angles of his face. To feel him whole and real and alive.

To exist with him, night and day.

Her heart could not believe that he would ever turn against her the way tradition taught, but what she thought wouldn’t change the decree.

Dani squeezed her hand tighter as if to give her a warning that it was clear where Aria’s thoughts had gone, and Aria returned her attention to Ellis.

“May your hearts forever keep the hope of your calling,” the old man said. A breeze blew through, lifting the scraggly strands of the Laven’s white hair in a wisping gust. In the distance, he set his compassion and favor on Aria as he said, “May you not lose faith, and may you forever persevere.”

Aria tried to hide the tremble that rolled down her spine when Pax approached her from behind.

His nerves were edged in steel, the man vibrating with disquiet. His aura potent and honed into a blade.

He knew what this day meant, and she knew he wanted to protect her from it.

But there was no protecting her from who she was.

“Are we ready, my dear family?” Ellis’s gaze moved over those gathered below him.

Aria’s pulse sped.

Pax edged closer to her, though he’d yet to say a word.

“Yes.” The agreement rumbled over the flock, and everyone began to stand, pairing off with their Nols.

Most pairs were men and women, although there were several that were two men or two women.

Timothy wound out of the mass. He came straight for Dani and took her hand. “It’s time.”

She nodded. “I’m ready.”

Two by two, the Laven moved from the sanctuary of Tearsith to the boundary of Faydor.

She felt Pax’s hesitation thrum from behind as she watched the drove of Laven stream toward the darkness that wept, whispered, and called.

“You don’t have to do this.” He muttered it so low she felt it like a promise.

When she turned to him, she lost her breath, felt his pain and dread as he stared down at her.

She hated that the expression on his face would never mean anything more than him being protective. He loved her, but only as his Nol. She sometimes wondered if she was the only Laven who loved their Nol for all the wrong reasons.

“You know that I do,” she murmured.

“I hate it,” he grated. “I hate the idea of you going there. You don’t know what it’s ...”

He trailed off, as if he couldn’t bring himself to describe the atrocities that were waiting for them on the other side.

Pax had been there many times. Each night since the day he’d turned sixteen four years before, while Aria had stayed in Tearsith with the other youths.

He’d walked in darkness with Dani and Timothy as his guide.

He’d been different ever since.

Harder.

Angrier.

Fiercer.

He’d fought with them until the day Aria reached maturity.

And tonight, it would be Aria who battled at his side.

“I’ll be fine,” she promised.

Pain flashed across his features. “I will protect you, Aria. Anything and everything it takes.”

Except protecting her wasn’t his call. Their pairing wasn’t to be the focus of their destiny. Their fate was to fight. Most times, that felt completely wrong since, to Aria, Pax had become the meaning of this place.

“We will fight together, the way we were meant to,” she said.

His thick throat bobbed when he swallowed, and strength bristled through his powerful body. He reached out his hand to take hers. “Do not let go of me. The first time will be very difficult.”

Her spirit sang when she wove her fingers through his, and their souls entwined to become one.

She doubted that she could let go even if she tried.

Anxiety billowed through her consciousness as Pax led her toward the gateway, which would be invisible except for the chilling energy that lapped and coaxed, a shimmery force that drew them toward what waited beyond. To that narrow, unseen plane that hovered just above Earth’s surface.

The place where darkness reigned.

She’d watched it what felt like a million times, the Laven moving toward the gateway hand in hand, the way their essence lit in a blinding light before they disappeared into the nothingness.

Tonight, Aria would learn for herself what that really meant.

Each pair disappeared until Aria and Pax were the last to stand at Tearsith’s end.

Apprehension vibrated her to the bone, and Pax smoothed the pad of his thumb over the back of her hand. “I will not leave your side.”

Swallowing hard, she nodded. “I’m ready.”

Pax held tight as he pulled her to the gateway.

“This is it.” He stepped forward and took her with him into the unseen.

A searing cold blistered through her being, and Aria realized in a flash she was not ready.

Not even close.

There was no comprehension or understanding or preparation for this.

A scream tore up her throat as they fell for what seemed forever.

Falling.

Falling.

Falling.

Darkness on all sides.

Disorienting and confusing.

Wails stung her ears, cries that called for violence and atrocities, the wickedness unlike anything she’d ever known.

Their fingers still entwined, Pax and Aria hit the bottom with a thud. The ground below them was hard and frozen.

Their Laven family raced out ahead of them and into the toiling mess of shadows and mist that screamed and howled with misery.

The Kruen that Aria had been taught of were more horrific than she could have imagined.

Pax helped her get to her feet, and she struggled to stand, to find solid ground, to see through the haze of depravity.

A heavy, black night surrounded her in a blanket of evil.

So heavy and oppressive she didn’t know how to stand beneath its weight.

Voices clawed at her conscience, vile and depraved, the language of the Kruen only recognizable because, as a Laven, she recognized it in her soul.

Pax steadied her, taking her by the outside of both arms and angling in. His voice was firm, though it was cut with his own agony that she was witnessing this. “You can do this, Aria. You can. I know you can. You are strong. Listen to your heart, the way Ellis prepared you to do.”

He took her hand again, and she stumbled forward over the uneven, lifeless ground. Cold pierced her like tiny darts that impaled her skin. She tried to run. To begin the hunt. Wisps of vapor and shadows raced at her feet, confounding her thoughts, their screams for violence infiltrating her heart and mind.

“ Hit her, the bitch deserves it. Did you see the way she looked at you? ”

“ Take it. No one will notice. You deserve it more than he does, don’t you? ”

“ Take the gun and drive to their house. How good it will feel to watch them bleed. ”

Aria stumbled to the right, no strength in her knees, as the cruel voices intoned into any willing soul that listened below.

“ Make them pay for their insolence. You are in control. They will bow to you. Raze the rest. Set their homes ablaze, feed on the scent of their burning flesh. ”

She canted to the side, her feet slipping from beneath her. Pax held on to her, keeping her upright when she wanted to fall beneath the weight.

“Aria, you cannot stop now. You have to fight.”

“I can’t,” she whimpered, the cry ripped from the anguish that writhed in her spirit.

She’d thought she was prepared. She’d thought she understood the extent of the wickedness that abounded.

But no, she hadn’t come close to understanding the brutality of it.

She’d had no idea how each thought would pierce her like a knife as the Kruen whispered them into the feeble minds of humans who were oblivious to the wickedness they were being fed.

Those with vulnerabilities.

Weaknesses they didn’t know they possessed.

Those who unknowingly opened themselves to evil.

Then there were those who welcomed it, and theirs were the thoughts Aria could not bear.

It was too much.

Too much.

“ Take her. She belongs to you. ” Through the Kruen’s eyes, Aria saw the vision of a little girl shivering in the corner of her room, saw the perversion of a man towering over her as he undid his belt.

Sickness spun her stomach, and she dropped to her knees, and her hand came free of Pax’s. Her hands flew to her ears, and a wail of agony tore from her soul as she tried to block the voices.

To stop the visions.

To protect herself when she was supposed to be protecting those who needed her most.

Chaos whirled through her mind.

Horror and terror.

Gutting pain.

“Aria,” Pax begged, taking her hand and trying to drag her to her feet.

Aria’s eyes went wide when a shadow amassed from nothing and into a vicious, fiery face. Gruesome and hideous. It rose up high behind Pax, who continued to try to get Aria to stand.

She wanted to shout. To warn him.

But she was frozen, held prisoner by its eyes, which were a blackened abyss of evil. Every sin held in its depths.

A fiery arm streaked out from it. Pax was unaware in the mere flash of a second before it impaled him in the back.

Pain shocked through her Nol and roared from his mouth, his torment so intense Aria felt it cut into her soul.

He flashed and flickered.

Then he was gone.

Aria screamed.

Screamed and screamed.

Screamed as the Kruen’s face lit in twisted glee and lashed out again.

She’d been told.

Warned.

But she hadn’t understood.

She had no way to prepare.

The fiery tendril pierced her in the chest, and the pain was greater than anything Aria had ever felt.