All Chapters of A Queen Among Tempests: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

I was wrong.I’ve always said that to encounter the eyti is to experience true purgatory, but I was wrong. I now realise that the eyti are more than just shadows of the humans they once were. They are not the epitome of purgatory; they are merely shadows of it. I believed the haunting, empty coldness they leave in their wake was the worst kind of emptiness a person could feel, but as I lay here on the jagged rocks – my essram shattered into infinite pieces as my body barely clings to life – I realise that this is true emptiness.Pain and exhaustion circulate through my body on an unrelenting loop, my eyes too tired to remain open. The devastating feelings of despair and loneliness are so consuming they have erased every happy memory from my mind. I can’t even remember the sensation of happiness, to the point that as I lay here, feeling the life draining from me, I begin to question if it ever existed, or if I imagined it.As the darkness begins to take over, a sudden jolt of electrici

A thunderous, harrowing roar bursts from my lungs as I throw my right hand out like the strike of a hammer, an intense bolt of purple lightning discharging from my hand and striking through the interior of my home, obliterating everything in its path. I stare at the resulting destruction, my chest heaving and sweat forming on my skin as I remain unburdened from the cataclysmic agony tearing its way through me. I pant, my lungs feeling constricted as if air cannot reach them as a current of purple electricity moves across my flesh. With a strained roar, I throw out my left hand, hurling another bolt of purple lightning through my interior, watching it obliterate everything it touches, but still, I feel no better.Feeling drained, I collapse against the banister, the flimsy material breaking under my weight and making me fall to the floor. I move onto all fours, my fingers tearing through the floorboards like butter as the wood triturates in my palms as I clench my fists. Every cell in

As if the growing void sucking the life from my fatigued body wasn’t bad enough, I get to add crippling guilt to my list of woes. Every day Ayawamat is at my side, tending to me and trying to uplift me. Instead of living, he’s wasting his time watching me waste away. Every second that passes, I try to fight off the emptiness. I try to cling to the broken shards of my shattered essram hoping I’m strong enough to survive this. If not for me, then for my brother. If I die…he’d be all alone. That thought pains me almost as much as the aftermath of rejection.There are moments where I feel myself being sucked into oblivion, the frigid nothingness taking hold and refusing to let go, and just I find myself surrendering to it, I feel this charge from deep within. I can’t explain it, but it's like an electric paddle to the soul. It doesn’t last, but when it strikes; for the briefest moment I feel the warrior in me resurge, her voice strong and commanding, telling me not to give up and that I c

Invidia regains my attention by clapping her hands together. I open my eyes to see her face cast upwards and a bright smile on her face. “I can’t believe I’m the first person in history to catch a raitruum!”I feel disgust rippling over my body like centipedes crawling under my skin. I would give anything to strike her down and claw her eyes out with my talons, but I’m too weak. She’s made that painfully clear. I accept that I won’t get my climactic moment where I rise like a phoenix from the ashes and make her regret having ever met me, but that doesn’t matter. I don’t need my ego inflated, I need a rescue, and I know just the person to call.I call through our link, but quickly all I sense is static on the other end. I call out again, trying to summon what I can to push through, but no matter how much I call he doesn’t hear me.On the extremely rare occasion my brother has a block up, it feels more like hitting a wall with a giant ‘do not disturb’ sign on it, but this is different.

The sound of movement around me stirs me awake. My eyes slowly flutter open, my mind groggy and my body aching beyond belief as the burning pain in my ankle brings the reality of my predicament crashing down around me. I slowly look up to see Invidia standing over me, a satisfied look on her face.“I’m pleased to see you ate all of your food. The last thing I want is to have to force-feed you,” she lilts with faux concern.I say nothing. I just stare at her, my face no doubt reflecting my exhaustion but in truth all I feel towards her in this moment is apathy. I had expended so much energy communicating with her before because it was necessary; she had answers I needed. It was an unpleasant means to an end, but now? Now I need to save every last morsel of energy I can, if I am to get myself out of here.Invidia’s eyes narrow infinitesimally. “What? No begging? No pleading for me to set you free and do the right thing?” she queries, her tone filled with mockery.I am an immortal, mille