~Vaela
My feet scuff over rocks, gloved fingers gripping slick ice as I climb.
"Can you wait up? I'm going as fast as I can and am seconds away from breaking my ankle."
Turning, I look over my shoulder. My friend and companion for this trip, Eyla, struggles up a particularly steep part of the cliff, bundled in layers of clothing to the point I can't see her face.
"We are nearly there," I assure her, prying my numb hand between two slabs of rock, hoisting myself up onto a ridge.
"Exactly, so wait up."
With two feet planted on the flat edge of the ridge, I look out over the view. Sharp mountain peaks rear up into the sky, grazing the clouds. Below, a layer of hazy fog wraps around the thick base of the mountains, shrouding our view of the village tucked into the valley.
"I'm sorry, I'm just anxious." Leaning down, I grasp Eyla's awaiting hand, her feet scrambling on ice as she struggles up the crux of this climb.
This trip has been in planning for months now.
Only a few feet above us, a cave is situated snugly into the mountain. Rumours suggest that somewhere in this mountain, a pureblood immortal lives in solitude. Not only is he a pureblood, he is a Sin.
Eyla braces her hands on her knees, breath clouding in front of her face.
"You have..." I motion to my own face with my finger, grinning at all the snow that has gathered on her features.
"Yes, I know, you were kicking it all down on me. Jerk," she mutters, brushing the flakes away hurriedly. When she looks back up at me, I realise how poor her attempt was, snow still dusting her dark lashes and tinted cheeks.
I tilt my head, smiling. "It suits you."
She ignores me, tilting her head back to examine what’s left of the climb.
"What do you think we are even going to find up here anyway?"
"An ancient burial site, maybe an old rendezvous point for powerful immortals from centuries ago, maybe a pond of eternal life..."
Truth is, I don’t exactly know. I’ve researched this place to death, and yet no one can truly confirm it’s origin, it’s inhabitants, or what is hiding up there. Eyla and I are to be the first to explore it.
Eyla gapes at me, her large brown eyes practically swallowing her face. "Seriously?"
"You can't be having second thoughts...Not when we had to hunt down that crazed lady and get her to transport us all the way up here,” I remind her.
I nudge my foot into the rock, testing it’s ancient stability.
"Could she not have transported us right into the damn cave?" Eyla mutters, adjusting her gloves.
I don’t divulge the manner of ridiculous things I had to do to conjure up enough money to pay the old hag off. She doesn’t have the ease of magic like the pure bloods do, to transport herself and others around at leisure. I’m not even sure she’s going to be there to take us back at dusk.
"It's shrouded by magic. That's why I'm so interested in being the first one up there,” I exclaim, dragging myself up the rock, my stomach pressing painfully against its jagged surface. I hate ice. I hate snow. I had this.
"Fine, but if there a single vial of eternal life juice, it's mine."
Why Eyla is so interested in eternal life when she is an immortal whose lifespan lasts into the centuries, I’m not sure. I have other motivations.
"Alright, but if there are chests full of priceless jewels, they are mine,” I tease, holding my forearm up to block against a stack of disturbed snow that rains down upon me.
"Okay. Maybe we can share,” she grumbles.
With one last push, I’m up onto the final ridge. Eyla follows my route, a string of creative profanity joining her climb upward.
"Up here," I encourage, grabbing her wrist, tugging her up the final part. "Don't slip on the ice."
She’s shuddering under my grip as I steady her. The height is dizzying, the thinning oxygen forcing me to calm my hurried breaths.
"It's freezing up here.” Eyla turns, teetering on the narrow ridge. "I may not be able to die from falling from these heights as an Immortal, but it's sure going to impair my life for awhile."
"Then don't fall." I shrug.
She whips her head toward me, gaze narrowed. "Have I ever told you I'm grateful for you being the most annoying person I've ever met."
"Sarcasm isn't very becoming of you." I turn, scrambling up the short slope, revealing the mouth of a cave tucked into the mountain side.
"This is it..." Eyla marvels, swatting me away as I lean over to turn her flash light on.
"This is the entrance. Let's go in."
I hope she can’t sense the wariness in my tone. Thick, pointed icicles hang at the entrance, daring us to enter the cave of shadows. Trudging through the snow, I wrap my fingers through Eyla’s, until she halts abruptly.
"Ah...maybe I don't like this idea suddenly." Her eyes are squeezed shut.
I tug her hand. "You can stand out here in the cold if you like."
Her expression contorts, thoughtful.
"Maybe I can be convinced if there are pretty pure-bloods in there."
Pretty is one way of describing them, albeit I’ve never actually laid eyes upon one. Although the chances are low of us actually stumbling into one in this single cave, it is amusing to imagine Eyla trying to seduce one.
"There might be."
Eyla let’s out a huffed breath. "Fine..."
We wander into the cave, flashlights beaming through the thick shadows. The wind vanishes, however the air is still bitterly cold, with an earthy taste to it. Ice crunches at our feet, echoing through the unnerving silence.
Eyla tugs her mouth covering off, while I pull my hood back. "This place is creepy."
"It has to have something in it, I mean look at the way this place is built. It can't be fully natural." I run my hand along one of the walls, feeling the solid structure. Under the ice, the faintest trace of unfamiliar material can be made out.
Eyla wraps her arms around herself, keeping her flashlight pinned straight ahead. "Just like it's not fully natural for us to have essentially climbed a mountain to get here."
"You didn't even have to do much climbing," I remind her.
My hand suddenly loses contact with the wall. Turning my light, I examine a gap in the wall. Beyond, an emerald hue is visible, outlining the walls to another part of the cave.
I snag Eyla’s jacket with my fingers. "Follow me through here."
Turning, I squeeze myself through the gap, emerging into the other side to reveal an astounding sight.
"What is that?" Eyla gasps.
I grin. "Exactly what I was looking for."
Forged into the ground rock, is a small pool full of a rich, magical green liquid. Many shallow pools surround it, all full of this pristine substance. It emerges from a spot on the wall, dripping down slowly to the main pool, which drains into a crack in the floor.
"Is this the eternal life thing? If so, I may have a long life span, but I'm going to need to keep up with my pureblood boyfriend." Eyla steps forward, the reflection staining her skin.
I grab her arm, yanking her back. "Woah, don't touch it."
"Why not?" She tugs away from me, although examines the pool warily, rubbing her arm.
"It could be anything," I snap, squatting down to get a closer look. "This is magic remember, we can't take any chances."
It’s not as if I blame her. The way the liquid ebbs fluidly along the rocks, the colour otherworldly, is hypnotic. This is not a creation from nature, but from magic.
Eyla rubs her gloved fingers along her lips, thoughtful. "Then why did we come up here?"
"To prove this exists. I mean, surely pure-bloods come up here." I twist, examining the rest of the cave. The alluring reflection of the pool traces the jaggered walls and ceilings of the cave structure, revealing nothing more magical.
"Let's go explore the rest of the cave then,” Eyla drawls after a long moment, turning back toward the narrow entrance.
As I raise from my crouch, my foot slips, the edge of my boot skimming over the water. Droplets spray up my pants, just as I scramble back, knocking my knee against the sharp edge of the rock.
I yelp, the liquid so cold it burns my skin, a few droplets landing on an exposed part of my ankle. Pulling my pant leg up, I examine the spot. Stunning, neon liquid beads atop my skin, then dribbles before being soaked into my skin
Eyla’s face is muddled with horror. "Are you okay?"
For the briefest of moments, I’m knocked back, the ghost feeling like my blood has completely stopped moving in my veins halting my breath at my lips.
And then everything resumes, something seeming to have lifted itself off me. The world around my buzzes. My tongue tastes sour, my ears ringing and my skin burns with the low temperature.
"Something is wrong,” I breathe, tugging my gloves off my hands.
"What are you doing?" Eyla stands a few feet back, examining me with caution, wary I’m about to transform into some ranging beast.
Leaning back, I fold my pant leg up until it reveals my knee. The wound is nasty, blood dribbling down my leg from a layered mess of uneven scratches and gashes.
I just stare at it, seconds passing as horror so cold, so bitter it’s heavy in the way it settles in my stomach, the weight of it revealing a crushing revelation.
"I'm mortal again,” I whisper.
~VaelaMorality is a punishing thing.Been there. Done that. Died young, spent nearly a century in death before arriving here. The immortal realm, where I am to live out a not so immortal existence, as I shall eventually die. The name must have sounded nice in its creation.The only true immortality belongs to the pure-bloods.Dark, twisted individuals with magic beyond their means. Magic to crush realms, to torture and abuse.Eyla’s voice echoes through my subconscious, jolting me from my vacant thoughts."No...No, no Vaela, tell me you're lying." She’s at
~Vaela"Ah!" My palms slap over my eyes, the image of the man burned into the back of my eyelids."Who are you?" The voice questions. It’s a deep, rich sound that spreads over me, slightly accented.I’m imagining this.I must be. There is no conceivable way that I just saw a tall man with silver tattoos standing at what I now realise is a doorway. Thankfully his bare chest was all I got an eyeful of, and not any lower down…My fingers part slightly as I peek through them. I am not imagining this.The man is now fully dressed, which took him only mere momen
~VaelaJust as he’s about to leave the room, I call for him to stop.“I know you’re immortal and all, but you don’t have anything for me to tend to my wound?”Both Hale and I’s eyes drop to the wound. Frankly, it’s disturbing, and if I don’t disinfect and wrap it, the fire isn’t going to end up being enough to save me.“Follow me,” he instructs grimly.I scramble after him, surprised as the warmth of the fireplace follows me from the room. It still hasn’t managed to get under my skin yet, to warm the deepest parts of me that are currently still glacial.&
~VaelaI don’t know how long I slept for.I wake colder than I was before, despite my proximity to the fire. Aside from the crackling of the flames, which I believe is stoked by magic, the foyer is silent, and lacking any Pureblood’s.Sitting up, I rub my eyes. Should I wait here, or should I seek Hale out?If I seek him out, it means I have to talk to him. Not that he isn’t interesting, or hasn’t been somewhat nice to me, he’s still utterly terrifying.
~VaelaWill and Eyla walk apprehensively behind us, fumbling through the shadows toward the entrance to Hale’s home.“Boyfriend?” Amusement is laced tauntingly in Hale’s voice as he walks closely in front of me.“I know you heard...” I mutter under my breath. "Ex."“Interesting.” There are endless alternative meanings laced in his tone that I'm not going to begin unpacking.I glare at his back. “Shh&hell
~Vaela"I don't like him."Collapsing down onto the couch, I tug a blanket over myself, glaring at Will. I’m too distracted by this strange feeling of loss that has settled within me. It feels wrong to have left the cave, to have left Hale."You're not meant to, he's a Sin,” Eyla responds, pushing past him to come sit next to me on the couch.Will’s jaw is set in a firm line, a distasteful look swirling in his eyes. "The fact that he was acting like he was going to see you again, Vaela."&nb
~VaelaVaguely, the sound of knocking on the front door can be heard past my hateful staring up at the ceiling, yearning for those moments I took not being sick for granted.“She’s in the bedroom," Eyla murmurs.She sounds so far away, and yet so close. Despite all the throwing up I have done, the dizziness still haunts me, my vision spiralling wildly. Time no longer makes sense. Days could have passed for all I know.A figure appears at the doorway, the edges of them slightly blurry as I sit up a little more to observe them. Hale.
~VaelaConsciousness, for once, greets me sweetly.Blinking blearily, I look up into large brown eyes staring down at me. "Eyla...""Good, you're awake. I was starting to worry." She rests her hand against her chest, like she had been literally sitting over me monitoring my every breath, which I wouldn't put past her.I sit up, letting her adjust my pillows behind me. "Where's Hale?"