Chapter 47 - Always Bigger Fish In The Sea

  The first thing Ariel heard was the beating of wings. Heavy.

  Violent.

  Each flap split the air like thunder.

  Then came the wind—an unnatural gale that tore through the hills, flattening grass and shaking the trees.

  And then, the screams.

  The aberration’s screams.

  Ariel forced her eyes open just in time to see the thing writhing, its carapace sizzling and blackening under searing light. It wailed, a sound of raw agony that rattled her bones. The stench of burning flesh filled the air.

  She stumbled back, breath hitching.

  As mentioned before, ever since her awakening, Ariel could feel the presence of aberrations,their hunger, their malice, the pressure they exuded depending on their strength.

  But this…

  Whatever this was, it didnt feel mortal. Not even close.

  The sheer weight of its presence crushed her lungs flat. Every instinct screamed to run, to hide, to die quickly before it noticed her. It wasn’t fear like she’d felt before.

  It was standing before something her mind was never meant to comprehend.

  Through the light and wind, she saw it—

  The creature.

  Its bestial face shimmered like molten gold, smooth and terrible, as if carved from living metal. Liquid gold dripped from its jaws, hissing as it touched the ground, burning holes through grass and stone alike.

  Four vast wings spread from its back, each one twisted and layered, half-feather, half-flesh, beating with impossible strength.

  Its form was monstrous—a grotesque fusion of man and beast, A lion frame of black fur, wings of bleeding gold unfurling behind it.

  And yet, it moved with purpose.

  Each strike was deliberate.

  Each motion repulsive.

  Where its claws touched the aberration, the creature screamed as its body melted into blackened ash. Its limbs fell away like wax in fire.

  Ariel could only stare.

  The sight was terrible.

  Beautiful.

  Unbearably disgusting.

  Still, she moved.

  Through the throes of fear so deep she could hardly breathe.

  Her stomach twisted, then turned over completely.

  Ariel fell to her knees and vomited, the bitter taste of bile and half-digested food burning her throat. The sound barely reached her ears over the chaos behind her.

  She wiped her mouth with the back of her shaking hand.

  And then she moved again.

  Lilia’s limp form lay in the mud beside the broken cart. Ariel stumbled toward her, half crawling, half dragging herself forward through the rain. Her hands slipped, her knees struck stone, but she didn’t stop. Not until she’d heaved Lilia up and shoved her onto the cart beside Ryn’s unconscious body.

  “A-Ariel… your arm…” Lilia’s voice was small, drowned by the downpour.

  Ariel didn’t answer.

  Couldn’t.

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  The pain in her right arm was distant now,a dull, burning throb beneath skin that glowed faintly through the rain.

  All that mattered was moving.

  She seized the cart’s handles, muscles screaming, and pulled.

  She didn’t dare look back.

  She didn’t want to see it—didn’t want to know what kind of battle was raging behind her.

  But the sound… gods, the sound.

  Every sound was wrong.

  Thunder that cracked in rhythm like a heartbeat.

  The air itself seemed to ripple, each pulse carrying a low, ringing note that pressed against her skull. The rain fell harder, heavier, not water anymore but something thicker, colder, like the sky itself was bleeding.

  The ground shook. Once. Twice.

  Flashes of light tore through the storm, colors she couldn’t name. Not gold. Not white. Something in between.

  She dragged the cart faster, feet slipping in the mud.

  The world had gone mad. The air tasted of iron and static, her every step trailed by the faint hum of a thousand whispering voices carried on the wind.

  Somewhere in the distance, she thought she saw the shrine, the Trial’s temple, small and pale atop the hill, glowing faintly through the storm.

  Her vision swam.

  Her heartbeat was deafening.

  She wasn’t sure anymore if she was moving through the world or if the world itself was collapsing around her.

  Still she pulled.

  Behind her, the sounds continued—screeching, roaring, laughter that shook the rain itself.

  She didn’t know which was worse: the aberration’s wails, or the thing that was killing it.

  And then—

  It all stopped.

  The wails faded first, breaking apart into silence.

  Then the earth stilled.

  Even the storm seemed to hesitate, as if the world itself had exhaled.

  Ariel kept moving.

  Her body didn’t believe the quiet. Her legs shook, her hands numb around the cart’s handles. She dragged it through the mud, through the rain that felt colder now, heavier.

  She didn’t look back. She couldn’t.

  Each step was smaller than the last.

  Her shoulders trembled; her vision blurred.

  Why was this world like this? she wondered.

  She wanted to go home. She wanted to see the city’s lights again, hear the laughter in the streets, see her father.

  But there was no home to go back to.

  She dragged the cart with Lilia and Ryn inside, their bodies limp beneath the soaked blankets. The weight felt unbearable, like hauling the whole world behind her.

  But still, she moved.

  She moved.

  She moved.

  She moved.

  The rain beat down in sheets, the mud swallowing her steps. Her arms burned, her lungs scraped raw. She wasn’t even sure if she was making progress anymore. Maybe she’d been walking in circles for hours. Maybe the hills had swallowed the path.

  Still, she moved.

  Her dress clung to her skin, soaked through. Her hair stuck to her face, plastered with dirt and ash.

  The world was grey, blurred, unfeeling.

  And she was tired.

  she was so terribly tired.

  But then—

  Through the haze and downpour—

  She saw it.

  A pale shape rising from the fog-drenched hill ahead.

  Stone columns, cracked but standing.

  A roof of marble half-swallowed by vines and time.

  And a gate

  The temple.

  The Temple of the Trial.

  Ariel’s knees buckled, but she didn’t fall.

  Her body moved on its own, dragging the cart one last time toward the she assumed to be the trial heart—

  until her legs gave out completely, and she collapsed to her knees before it.

  The rain fell harder still, hissing against the stones of the roof.

  And for the first time since Solvara burned, Ariel let herself close her eyes happy.

  They'd made it.