Back at Rowan’s fire, Ian had finally regained consciousness. The first thing he had noticed was that his captor was gone, and no doubt it had crossed his mind that it may have been his only opportunity to escape while he could, but something told him it was against his better judgment. The Ravennite girl who captured him may have been young, but she had proven to him a force to be reckoned with. After she knocked him out, making her angry further was the last thing he wanted to do, so he simply stayed where he was; lying by the weakening fireside in the same position as when he had awoken.
Only moments later, he could see his captor returning from out of the darkness of the tunnels. Rowan did not seem to take notice of her Domineer prisoner lying right where she had left him. Her eyes were drowning in raw anger. She suddenly stopped and threw her fists against the dirt surface of the mine wall, lett
The exhaustion was overpowering. Alex could not tell exactly how long the two of them had been lumbering through the snow. It felt like hours had gone by, and Alex was becoming dazed and tired, constantly licking his lips due to near dehydration. They did not seem to be making much progress as they hiked alongside the frozen river.As they trudged along, Alex noticed a strange sensation come over him as he felt the hairs on his arms standing up. His mind was fuzzy and disoriented, and understandably so, but with every moment that passed, the air around him was feeling more and more empty and still. It almost seemed unnatural, just like Rowan had described the storm in the first place.Alex stretched out his arms and glanced back at Kota. “How are you doing?” he asked hoarsely. “Are you alright?”
The very first step he took into the valley felt strange enough. Alex did not know how deep the snow would be, but he was somewhat shocked when his foot barely pressed down into it, almost as if the snow was solid. That, however, was not the only peculiar thing that dug its way into his mind. He thought the air felt still and empty before, but it was different now. Alex knew he simply had to be losing his mind; the atmosphere had never felt so strange to him before. He waved his arm through the air, but he felt little to no resistance. It was almost as though the air was not even there.Alex could not tell how long they had been walking. His natural sense of time had all but diminished. He was becoming increasingly light headed the longer he was exposed to these low temperatures, so much so that he could hardly feel the pain of the cold anymore. All he could feel was the overbearing sense of emptiness surr
The day turned to night very slowly while Rowan and the rest of the Ravennites remained underground. Matheus warned that the temperatures would still be too cold following the storm, and that it would be best to wait until morning to leave and head back to the Citadel. It was difficult to tell, however, seeing as no one was permitted to leave the mines. It would be a journey of many miles back to the Citadel, and Matheus said he did not want to take any unnecessary risks; it would be best to give the mountains time to recover after such a terrible storm.Rowan was restless all day. She got very little sleep the previous night. The dreadful sensation of hopelessness at the thought of the loss of her friend was almost too much to bear. It engulfed her heart in a cold darkness, and had almost brought her mind to the brink of collapse, as if she desired nothing more than to simply escape this horrible reality
The shroud of darkness was lifting from Alex’s mind, and with it the horrid experience of his trip through the mysterious, white valley. As he finally made his way back into the woods, his head was throbbing profoundly, and he hardly took notice of how quickly the sun had set, allowing the darkness to take over the mountains once more. As a matter of fact, it had been nighttime for hours, and Alex was no longer sure whether or not he was dreaming the whole time.The temperatures were still low, but it certainly felt warmer than it had earlier. It was as if he could feel again. Still, after his ordeal, he knew that he needed to rest. The body he was still carrying over his shoulders was quickly beginning to weigh him down. Alex decided it best to stop and break for a while. He headed over to the nearest evergreen he could find and gently sat Kota’s body down to rest against the tree trunk.
As Rowan silently made her way through the dark woods, heading as fast as she could for the Dividing Mountains in the south, her attention was suddenly captured by the sound of thunder crackling over the mountains.She quickly froze in her tracks. At first, she was fearful that the terrible winter storm might not have been over yet. As Rowan gazed up at the sky, she narrowed her eyes curiously at the sight of a red wave of light rolling outward across the clouds. She had never seen anything like it before, and she did not know whether to feel wonder or fear. None of that mattered right now as she shook herself back to her senses. She had to hurry on her way. It would not be long before Matheus realized she was gone and sent the Ravennites out to look for her.Back at the Citadel, Delmar found no rest as he stood atop the tower’s overlook and stared
Alex collapsed into the snow, hanging onto his consciousness by a thin thread. His body felt as though it had been set on fire on the inside. His vision was blurred and his heart ached as it pounded heavily. Alex had been through a lot in the last two years, but he had never experienced anything like this before. It was as if his entire sense of logic had all but dissipated. It was difficult to think clearly as he struggled to lift himself up with shaky arms.Alex was completely oblivious to his surroundings, so much so that he never considered he may not have been alone. A few meters behind him, amidst the cover of the trees, a tall, dark figure was standing in the shadows, as though it were watching him. The figure took a single step from the tree line, still shrouded in the darkness, but as it did, the air around it suddenly became motionless. In fact, the entire environment appeared to be still; the bo
“Where is she!?”Matheus hurried down the tunnel of the mine to where Rowan had made her encampment with her Domineer hostage, only now, the two of them were gone. He looked down at the Ravennite he had asked to keep an eye on her. He was still lying unconscious on the ground, and Matheus kicked him in the side to try to wake him. “Get up!”The Ravennite slowly but steadily came back to his senses. He sat up against the wall of the mine and groaned as he held his head. Matheus was growing impatient. “What happened?” he asked tensely. “Where’s Rowan?”“Rowan,” the man repeated in a murmur. His head was still aching, but it quickly made him realize what was going when he saw that Rowan was not around. “Rowan!” he exclaimed, his eyes opening
What hour was it? For all Rowan knew, it could be nearly dawn by now. Her sense of time had been obscured after spending the past twenty-four hours inside the abandoned clay mines during the bone-chilling aftermath of the storm. She did not care. All her thought and focus was bent on tracking down Caine’s encampment.That name gnawed at her heart with a piercing strain; a young man she had once almost called a friend, whom her family always trusted, was now nothing more than a haunting demon she felt she had to face. Her blood ran hot with hatred, and her mind seemed to be blotting out any rational thoughts that might deter her from her reckless path.This powerful strain stayed with Rowan ever since she encountered Caine at the Iron Furnace. He tried to bring her over to his side by convincing her the last of the Ravennites would surely be destroye