This chapter is sacred chaos.
Max and the others came to the Forgotten Quarter looking for Samuel and Campbell. Anderson has been waiting for them, and apparently he had time to prepare.
There are traps. There are choices. There are several moments where reasonable people would probably turn around and go home.
Unfortunately, Max is not reasonable.
This chapter took more out of me than I expected while writing it, so consider that your warning.
Take a breath before you enter.
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The moment we cross the threshold; the world above disappears behind us.
The silence hits first.
Our boots strike stone without an echo. Even the sound of my breathing seems to vanish before it reaches Seth beside me. I glance back once, but the entrance has already disappeared into darkness, leaving only the narrow corridor ahead.
So much for bringing the fight to them.
Anderson has apparently decided to meet us halfway.
The passage slopes deeper beneath the earth, its uneven walls damp beneath my fingers when the space narrows enough to force us closer together. Alec keeps one hand near the fighting knife at his side while Jamey follows behind him, unusually quiet.
Seth stays beside me. His breathing remains controlled, but the silver that normally answers his exhale barely shows before fading again.
I look towards him. "You feel that too?"
His eyes remain on the corridor ahead. "This place is interfering with it."
That does wonderful things for my confidence.
We keep moving as the first whisper reaches me several steps later.
You failed her.
My foot catches against the stone.
Another voice follows from somewhere behind us.
They were better off without you.
Alec turns sharply, searching the darkness. "Did anyone else hear that?"
The answer comes before I can give him one.
What power? You're nothing here.
Gold flashes beneath my skin.
Then another whisper slips through the corridor.
She'll choose the other one.
Alec draws his knife, keeping the blade low against his abdomen as he searches the darkness ahead.
Jamey looks at him. "Well, that one was specific."
"Don't engage with it," Seth says.
His voice stays calm, but his hand finds mine and closes firmly around it.
Another whisper moves through the walls before fading into the silence.
Seth looks at each of us. "They aren't speaking to our ears. They're reaching for whatever already hurts."
My fingers tighten around his.
Which means Anderson has built an entire corridor designed to weaponize our worst memories. Apparently evil has an interior-design department now.
I hate him more with every step.
"We stay together," I say. "Whatever you hear, keep moving."
Alec adjusts his grip on the knife while Jamey closes the distance behind us. Seth's hand remains around mine as we continue deeper into the corridor.
The passage eventually divides, and the pressure in the air becomes strong enough that every breath takes effort. Symbols cover the walls ahead, carved directly into the stone. I recognise pieces of scripture among them, except the letters have been reversed, rearranged or cut through with markings that make the gold beneath my skin recoil.
I reach towards one.
Seth catches my wrist before I touch it. "I wouldn't."
"I was looking."
"You were reaching."
"Closely."
Seth releases my wrist with the patience of a man reconsidering several life choices.
Movement catches my attention farther down the corridor.
A figure steps out of the darkness.
I grab Seth and pull him towards me.
Jamey sucks in a breath. "Samuel?"
For half a second, every thought in my head disappears.
Samuel stands in the center of the corridor.
His clothes are torn. Blood darkens one side of his shirt, and his head hangs forward until Jamey takes a step towards him.
Seth's arm blocks his path.
"Wait."
Samuel raises his head.
His mouth stretches into a smile.
Jamey stops moving.
"That is definitely not Samuel."
The thing wearing Samuel's face tilts its head.
Jamey points at it. "Sam has a beautiful smile. Whatever that is looks like it learned smiling from a threat assessment."
Under different circumstances, I might laugh.
Then Campbell appears beside it.
Chains bind his wrists. His face is grey beneath streaks of blood, and when his eyes find mine, his mouth trembles.
"Help me, Max."
Every trace of humor leaves the corridor.
I know what I am looking at.
My body reacts anyway.
I take one step before Seth's hand closes around mine again.
Campbell jerks against the chains. "Please."
My stomach twists.
The real Campbell stopped breathing in front of me. I remember Seth forcing life back into him, Samuel covered in blood beside us, and the empty beds we found only hours later.
The thing in front of me knows enough to use all of it.
My attention drops to Campbell's chains, then to the stone beneath his feet. The corridor is damp enough to darken our boots, yet neither he nor Samuel has left a single mark behind.
"Neither of them is really here."
Alec follows my gaze and sees it too.
Seth draws a slow breath beside me. Silver gathers along his palm as he turns it towards them.
"We trust what we know."
His hand sweeps through a controlled arc, carrying the Breath across the corridor.
Samuel's false body breaks apart first. Campbell follows a heartbeat later, both forms tearing into black fragments that vanish before they can reach the floor.
Silence closes around us again.
Jamey stares at the empty space. "I preferred the insults."
"I think that was the warm-up."
"Please stop saying things like that."
I start walking again. "Then keep up."
The others follow, but the corridor has changed. Nobody drifts more than a few steps from anyone else now.
I can feel Anderson somewhere ahead.
Or perhaps I simply need him to be.
Either way, we are getting closer.
Alec draws alongside me. "Can you locate them?"
"I can try."
I lift one hand and reach for the Aet-Ur.
Gold gathers above my palm. The first curve forms, followed by another as the all-seeing eye begins taking shape. Its center opens in a burst of light.
Pain punches through my forehead.
The symbol explodes.
I stagger backwards with one hand flying to my head, but Seth catches me before I hit the wall.
"Max."
"I'm fine."
"You nearly fell over."
"I'm revising fine."
His hands remain at my sides until I can stand without them.
I try reaching for the Aet-Ur again.
Nothing forms.
Panic moves faster than thought.
"I can't reach it."
Seth watches me carefully. "Give it a moment."
"I don't need a moment. I need to find Samuel and Campbell."
Gold moves across my wrists as I try again, but the Aet-Ur refuses to form.
My fingers begin trembling.
"Seth, why can't I reach it?"
He catches my hands before I can force more power through them.
"Because this place is interfering with us. You felt what it did to the Breath when we entered."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"It wasn't intended to."
His eyes move towards the distorted scripture covering the walls.
"The Hanged Man used inversion to get through our protections. Anderson may be using the same principle here, except instead of imitating divine power, this place is interfering with how ours functions."
I look at him. "Are we seriously calling him the Hanged Man now?"
Seth gives me a sideways glance. "It stuck. And before you say anything, it's easier to remember."
"Than Mirror Apostle?"
"For me, apparently."
I stare at him for a second. "Compelling argument."
"Thank you."
Jamey clears his throat behind us. "I hate interrupting whatever this is, but if the creepy underground nightmare is blocking Max, how exactly are we finding our missing people?"
Seth looks at him.
Jamey's expression changes immediately. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because you amplify power."
"That sounded much safer when we were above ground."
Despite myself, I almost smile.
Seth turns back towards me. "If this place is weakening the Aet-Ur before it can fully form, Jamey may be able to give you enough strength to push through the interference."
I look at Jamey.
He looks at me.
Neither of us appears particularly enthusiastic.
"I've never amplified the Aet-Ur before," he says.
"I've never had someone amplify it."
"That makes me feel considerably worse."
"Same here."
Jamey rubs both palms against his trousers before stepping closer. The humor leaves his face as he raises his hands.
"Tell me what you need."
That is the Jamey I trust with my life.
I close my eyes.
"Don't try to control it. Give me enough to hold the Aet-Ur together."
"I can do that."
His power reaches me gradually.
Heat moves across my skin, followed by pressure that gathers around the gold beneath it. Jamey does not force his energy into mine. He holds it there, strengthening what I am already trying to summon.
I reach for the Aet-Ur again.
Gold gathers above my palm.
The symbol forms, and pain follows almost immediately, but this time the light holds.
"Steady," Seth says beside me.
Jamey's breathing changes behind me.
The Aet-Ur opens, and for one heartbeat, darkness fills my vision.
Then the corridor disappears.
Black water surrounds my ankles.
Rusted chains hang from the ceiling above me, several disappearing into shadows I cannot see through. Water moves around my legs, carrying scraps of dirt and fabric past me.
A torn piece catches against one of the chains.
Campbell's shirt.
I reach towards it.
A voice touches my ear.
Two doors. Only one leads to life.
The vision collapses.
My knees give before I can stop them, and Seth catches me beneath the arms while Jamey stumbles backwards into Alec.
The Aet-Ur disappears.
I drag air into my lungs.
Seth crouches in front of me. "What did you see?"
"Water. Chains." I swallow and force myself to concentrate. "I saw part of Campbell's shirt."
Jamey straightens behind Seth. "Was Campbell wearing it?"
I look at him.
His face pales.
"Sorry. Bad question."
"There were two doors." I grip Seth's forearm as the rest of the vision comes back. "A voice said only one leads to life."
Seth's expression hardens.
"Did you see Samuel?"
I shake my head.
That scares me more than I want it to.
"But Campbell was there?" Alec asks.
"His shirt was."
Nobody says what that means.
Jamey wipes sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Please tell me that was enough information, because whatever I just did with you felt like trying to hold a lightning strike together."
I push myself upright with Seth's help.
"It's enough to keep moving."
Seth remains close until he is certain my legs will hold. "We find the water first. The doors come after."
"And if Anderson expects us to choose the wrong one?"
Seth's gaze moves into the darkness ahead.
"Then we disappoint him."
We move deeper into the sanctum.
This time, nobody speaks.
The whispers follow us anyway.
Then we see it.
Two doors wait at the end of the corridor, exactly where the vision promised they would be.
Both are ancient, built from the same weathered stone and fixed with rusted hinges. A distorted cross has been carved into each surface, identical down to the deepest cut. Neither offers anything that might tell us which one Campbell's torn shirt had led me towards.
I stop several feet away while Seth moves closer.
His head turns slightly towards the left door before his attention shifts to the right.
"There's breathing behind them."
Alec moves closer, his hand finding my shoulder as Jamey closes the distance behind us. I listen until the sound finally reaches me through the stone.
Wet, uneven breaths drag from behind the left door.
The same breathing answers from behind the right.
My stomach tightens as I look between them. Whatever waits beyond those doors wants us to believe both are occupied.
A vibration passes beneath my boots.
The voice rises through the stone itself, scraping through the corridor with enough force to make the walls tremble.
"One may choose. One passage shall be granted. The other shall become their grave."
The torches along the walls flare at once, throwing our shadows across the corridor. More shapes stretch between them, long and distorted despite having nobody to cast them.
Alec shifts closer to Jamey while Seth takes his place beside me.
Both doors creak open several centimeters.
Darkness fills the narrow gaps, but movement passes behind each one.
The gold beneath my sleeves begins to heat.
"One chooses," the voice continues. "One path. One fate."
I stare at the doors before looking towards the nearest wall.
"Really? I came all this way, and now a crusty wall gets to dictate the terms?"
Seth glances at me. "Max, antagonizing whatever controls this place may be counterproductive."
"I'm establishing boundaries."
Jamey makes a strained sound behind me. "Naturally, this seemed like the perfect place for that."
My attention returns to the doors as I step between them. The Scripture brightens beneath my clothes, responding to the anger already building inside me.
"You want one of us to choose, then give us a reason to trust the choice."
The shadows climbing the walls pull backwards.
I press my palm against my chest as the gold burns hotter beneath it.
"I move by instruction from Heaven. Unless Heaven speaks through one of those doors, you're just making noise."
The corridor falls silent.
Seth looks at me, but I keep my attention on the doors.
The voice returns with a hiss that crawls through the stone.
"Then listen closely, servant of ink. One door leads to death. The other leads to sacrifice."
Seth's attention shifts between the two entrances. "It isn't offering a safe choice. Either door costs us something."
Jamey steps closer until his shoulder nearly touches Alec's. "What happens if the sacrifice is one of us?"
My eyes move from one door to the other.
Death waits behind one, while the other demands a price we cannot see. Anderson expects us to decide which loss we can live with before we even know what we are choosing.
A faint sound reaches me through the breathing.
I turn towards the left door.
The sound comes again from the right.
My heart slams hard against my ribs.
"Max..."
Samuel's voice.
His voice comes from both doors.
My fear burns into fury so quickly that gold races across my wrists.
I back away from the doors and drag a hand through my hair, forcing myself to think while my feet carry me across the corridor. Anderson has copied Samuel's voice, duplicated the breathing and given us two identical doors because he needs us to accept one thing before anything else.
His rules.
I stop and look at both doors again.
That is where he made his mistake.
"We're not choosing between them."
I pull my phone from my pocket and open our group chat. Whatever is listening through these walls has heard enough from us already, and I refuse to give it our plan as well.
My thumbs move quickly across the screen.
Max:Seth and I open both doors together.Alec, the moment you see Sam or Campbell, get them out. Check both rooms if you have to.Jamey, stay ready to boost Alec the moment he moves.Seth and I will hold whatever comes through those doors.Once you have them, get clear and keep moving.Everyone understand the plan?
The replies appear almost immediately.
Seth: đź‘ŤAlec: âś…Jamey: Got it, boss lady.Jamey: I better get paid for this.
I bite back a laugh as I lock the phone and shove it into my pocket. Apparently, Jamey has found the one place where hazard pay feels entirely reasonable.
Gold moves beneath the skin of my arms as I turn towards Seth.
"We do this together."
I reach for his hand, and his fingers close around mine.
The response comes immediately.
Scripture brightens across my skin as silver gathers with Seth's next exhale. The two powers strengthen where our hands meet, the same connection we discovered before returning with far less subtlety now that we are intentionally reaching for it.
I look down at our joined hands before meeting Seth's eyes.
"Whatever happens, we keep this connection."
"Then hold on to me."
I tighten my fingers around his. "I was planning on it."
We move apart as far as our joined hands allow, each of us facing one of the doors. I press my free palm against the right while Seth places his against the left, leaving our clasped hands stretched between us.
The stone beneath my palm is cold enough to sting.
Seth draws a slow breath.
I follow him.
His exhale sends silver through our joined hands as I release the Flame with it. Gold and silver strengthen at the point where our fingers lock before travelling through our free arms towards the doors.
Both surfaces shudder beneath our palms.
The force pushing back catches me through the shoulder and drives one foot across the stone. Seth shifts with me, keeping our hands locked as silver flickers around his wrist.
The voice rises through the walls again.
"One may choose."
I brace my feet and push harder. "We did. We chose both."
The corridor trembles around us.
Heat races through my arm as the Flame answers the pressure of my palm. Beside me, Seth turns his hand against the stone and releases another controlled breath, driving silver into the rusted hinges.
The doors refuse to open.
My grip slips against Seth's for barely a second.
Gold falters beneath my palm at the same moment his silver weakens.
Seth catches my fingers before the connection can break completely.
Well, that answers that question.
I lock my hand around his again, and both powers strengthen immediately.
"Letting go is apparently a terrible idea."
"Then I suggest you don't."
"Very helpful, thank you."
Seth shifts his weight towards the door while I do the same.
"Give it everything, Max."
I draw another breath with him.
This time, I stop trying to overpower the resistance alone.
Seth exhales as I drive the Flame forward, and our joined hands carry the surge between us before it splits towards both doors. Gold burns through the cracks spreading beneath my palm while silver tears through the hinges beneath his.
Stone fractures across both entrances.
The voice in the walls rises into a furious shriek.
I bare my teeth against the pressure. "You wanted one choice. You got ours."
Seth turns sharply into the final push, sending another rush of Breath through his palm as I slam the Flame through mine.
Both doors break apart.
Stone crashes into the chambers beyond as Alec moves before the debris finishes falling. Lightning flashes around him, and he disappears through the left entrance.
I keep hold of Seth while dust rolls through the corridor. Whatever waited behind these doors has lost control of the choice, which means I expect it to start cheating any second now.
Alec's voice cuts through the chamber.
"Samuel is in here!"
Lightning flashes again.
Alec reappears with Samuel hanging against him, one arm hooked securely around his back. Samuel's head rests against Alec's shoulder, his face pale beneath the dirt and blood.
My heart lurches until I see his chest move.
He is still breathing.
Alec lowers him beyond the shattered doorway as Jamey rushes forward and drops beside him.
"Where's Campbell?" I ask.
Alec looks towards the second chamber. "He wasn't with Samuel."
My attention snaps towards the other doorway.
The trap makes sense now.
They were never behind the same door.
Anderson wanted us to choose which one we were willing to lose.
Fury burns through me, and the Flame brightens across my arm.
"Get Campbell out of there."
Alec is already moving.
Lightning snaps around him as he disappears through the second entrance. Jamey remains crouched beside Samuel, one hand against his shoulder while his attention stays fixed on the doorway.
A crash erupts from somewhere inside.
Seth turns towards it, pulling me with him because our hands are still locked.
Another impact shakes dust from the ceiling.
"Alec!" Jamey shouts.
Lightning tears through the darkness.
Alec bursts back into the corridor with Campbell held against his chest and a mass of darkness surging after him.
Jamey launches to his feet.
He catches Alec as he passes, pressing one hand firmly between his shoulders.
Power hits immediately.
Alec's lightning intensifies around him, racing down his legs and tearing across the stone as Jamey pours more strength into what is already there. Alec surges forward with Campbell held tightly against him, putting distance between them and whatever is coming through the doorway.
I turn towards Seth.
He is already looking at me.
We still have each other's hands.
Good.
Whatever follows Alec through that door belongs to us.
Anderson raises one hand.
The sigils covering his arm shift.
Black liquid beads along their edges, glossy beneath the torchlight, before the droplets lift from his skin instead of falling. They gather around his fingers, thick and oil-dark, swallowing every reflection that touches them.
I barely register what I am seeing before Anderson snaps his hand forward.
The blackness comes with it.
It crosses half the chamber before I can move, a violent oil-slick bleed ripping through the air. Its edges fray into dark threads while the center remains dense enough to warp everything behind it, draining color from the stone as it races towards us.
Seth catches my wrist and turns.
His free hand sweeps upwards with the movement as a sharp exhale sends silver racing from his palm.
Breath slams into the black current.
The impact cracks through the chamber.
Seth's arm jerks backwards.
His feet slide across the stone as the blackness drives against the Breath with enough weight to buckle the silver between them.
"Seth!"
He keeps turning.
His shoulder drops with the force as his palm circles inward, guiding the attack across his body instead of trying to stop it. Silver twists with the movement, dragging the black current away from us before Seth releases it towards the wall.
It hits like a wrecking ball.
Stone caves inward.
Black liquid splashes across the broken surface and spreads immediately, bleeding through every crack. Color disappears beneath it while a layer of ash-grey frost races out from the impact.
Seth releases my wrist as I stare at the crater.
"Avoid getting hit by that."
"That became obvious several seconds ago."
Anderson attacks again.
This time I am ready.
Three black currents tear from his arms in rapid succession.
Seth slips left while I break right.
The first follows him.
He pivots beneath it, one hand circling above his shoulder as silver rolls with the movement. The black current bends after his palm and tears past him close enough to whip his hair across his face.
The second comes for me.
I drop beneath it and drive my palm against the floor.
Flame explodes through the stone.
Gold races beneath Anderson in branching lines before erupting around his feet. He launches sideways before the blast closes around him, but I am already running.
The third current comes straight at my chest.
I twist aside.
It misses me by centimeters.
Cold rips across my cheek as the blackness passes, and the edge of my sleeve turns grey before crumbling away.
My stomach drops.
It never touched me.
Seth sees the damage too.
That fraction of distraction nearly costs him.
Anderson appears in front of him.
Seth drops backwards beneath the swing and turns with it, his palm driving into Anderson's ribs as he rises.
Silver detonates through the strike.
Anderson flies sideways.
I meet him halfway.
Flame surges down my arm as I drive my fist into his chest.
Gold erupts on impact.
Anderson crashes through a stone pillar, taking half of it down with him.
Dust punches through the chamber.
I skid to a stop beside Seth.
"Still think avoiding it is the plan?"
"I'm considering alternatives."
"Please consider faster."
Blackness tears through the dust.
Seth grabs the back of my shirt and yanks me down as the attack screams over us.
We hit the floor together.
Anderson walks through the falling debris.
Several sigils across his chest and neck are gone.
Bare skin shows where my Flame struck him, while another clean patch marks the place Seth's palm connected.
Anderson touches his chest.
His fingers come away black.
His eyes lift towards us.
The grin is gone.
Seth pushes himself upright beside me.
"We're removing the sigils."
I rise with him as Flame races back across my arms.
"Then we keep hitting him."
Anderson moves before the words finish leaving me. His arm snaps towards my chest, and the black corruption tears from the sigils across his palm.
I see it crossing the chamber, but this attack moves faster than the others. The oil-dark current rips through the space between us, swallowing the light along its path before I can bring the Flame up.
Seth slams into my side.
I hit the floor several meters away as Anderson's attack strikes Seth squarely in the chest.
His body leaves the ground.
The black current carries him backwards and drives him into the wall hard enough to fracture the stone around him. Oil-dark liquid splashes across his chest on impact, spreading through his shirt and climbing towards his throat while another stream races down his arm.
"Seth, get away from it!"
He tries to push himself from the wall, but the corruption surges across him and pins him harder against the stone. Color drains from the fabric beneath it as ash-grey frost gathers along its edges.
He drags in a breath.
Silver erupts from his chest.
The Breath punches through the black layer in brilliant streams, forcing the corruption several centimeters away from his body. Seth twists his shoulder and exhales again, driving more silver into the opening.
Anderson closes his hand.
The black current slams back against Seth.
His head snaps against the wall.
I am already running towards him.
Anderson turns his free hand towards me, but Flame reaches him first. I drive my fist forward, and gold tears across the chamber before striking him along the side of his face.
His attention breaks for barely a second.
It is enough for me.
I reach Seth and throw my arms around his waist, dragging him towards me while the corruption fights to keep him against the wall.
Cold punches through my clothes.
My breath catches against his shoulder. His body is so cold that every instinct tells me to release him, but my arms tighten instead.
"I've got you, love. Keep breathing."
Seth's hand catches the back of my shirt.
"Max, you need to get away."
"You just took that for me. I'm staying right here."
I pull harder.
Flame races down my arms and spreads across his chest, gold burning into the black stain while silver pushes against it from beneath. The corruption begins peeling away wherever both powers meet.
Seth draws another breath.
His chest moves against mine.
"That's it. Keep breathing with me."
Silver brightens around us.
The blackness starts breaking apart.
Hope hits me so hard that I almost laugh.
"Come on, Seth. We've got this."
Anderson's laughter reaches me from across the chamber.
His fist closes.
The corruption contracts.
Seth is torn from my arms with enough force to rip the fabric beneath my fingers. My hands close on empty air as I crash onto my knees.
He never reaches the floor.
The black current wrenches him upwards and pins him against the wall again. His arms hang at his sides for a heartbeat before one hand reaches weakly towards his chest.
I push myself upright.
He hangs against the fractured wall, held there by the black corruption spreading across his chest. Silver still flashes beneath it, but each burst is weaker than the one before.
Anderson watches me rise.
"Give him back to me."
His attention shifts towards Seth. "He made his choice."
Seth forces his head up, and the effort pulls a broken breath from him. His eyes find mine across the chamber.
"Max, listen to me. You need to leave."
I start towards him.
"You know me better than that."
Gold ignites beneath my feet.
Living characters burn into the stone with every step, spreading behind me in branching lines while Flame gathers around my legs. Anderson sends a black current racing across the floor, but gold meets it before it reaches me. The oily stain recoils from the heat as frost fractures along its edges.
I walk straight through the opening.
"Max, please."
My next step falters.
I have heard Seth angry, amused, exhausted and furious enough to turn his Breath into a weapon. I have heard his voice shake with pain.
I have never heard him ask me like that.
His fingers scrape uselessly against the black covering his chest.
"Get out before he takes you too."
My throat closes around the answer.
"I'm taking you with me."
The corruption climbs across his throat.
The corruption climbs across Seth's throat, cutting off the breath he tries to drag into his lungs.
I run straight for him.
Anderson sends another black current across my path before I make it halfway. Flame bursts around my arms as I drive through it, but the impact catches my shoulder and throws me across the stone.
I hit hard enough to lose my breath.
Seth says my name from somewhere above me.
I shove myself onto one knee and find him still pinned against the wall. The corruption has climbed higher, and the silver fighting beneath it has grown frighteningly faint.
I force myself upright and run again.
Another black current tears towards me.
This time I meet it with Flame.
Gold erupts from both hands and splits the attack down the center. The oily corruption whips past either side of me, close enough for cold to rake across my skin, but I keep moving through the opening.
Seth is only a few steps away now.
He tears one arm free of the corruption and reaches down towards me.
I lunge for him.
Our hands meet.
Silver surges through our joined fingers with enough force to lock my arm between us. I brace my feet and hold tighter as another pulse drives into me, far stronger than anything Seth has passed through our contact before.
My stomach drops.
His silver is growing brighter inside me while the light around him is fading.
"What are you doing?"
Seth's fingers tighten around mine.
"Take what I can give you."
I grab his wrist with my other hand.
"I don't want your power. Keep it."
Another surge enters me.
Seth's fingers tremble inside mine.
"You need to survive."
"Then survive with me!"
The words tear out of my throat as I try to force the silver back through our joined hands. It refuses to return. Seth keeps giving while the corruption presses tighter around his chest.
"Look at me, love."
His eyes lift towards mine.
"Stay with me."
His fingers tighten around mine.
That tiny movement gives me hope.
"We are getting out of here together."
Seth tries to answer, but the corruption surges across his throat and steals the sound. His body jerks against the wall as black spreads over the last silver still visible across his chest.
His hand begins slipping from mine, and I tighten my grip until my fingers hurt.
"Don't you dare leave me."
His eyes remain on mine for another heartbeat.
Then the silver disappears from them.
Seth screams as his body arches against the wall. Black corruption floods across his chest and throat, swallowing every trace of silver beneath it while the sound tears straight through me.
Gold erupts from my arms.
Anderson laughs somewhere behind me, but I cannot tear my eyes from Seth. His body goes limp against the wall, his head falling forward as both arms drop uselessly towards his sides.
I reach for him.
Rage gets there first.
Flame detonates through the chamber.
Living Scripture races beneath my feet and climbs the walls in burning gold. The silver Seth forced into me surges through every line, transforming the chamber into a lattice of gold threaded with violent flashes of silver.
Anderson throws his corruption towards me, and I drive both hands forward.
Gold and silver collide with the black current hard enough to split the floor between us. Stone erupts from the impact as the corruption buckles, folding backwards under the force I keep driving towards him.
Silver punches through the center of Anderson's attack, and Flame follows the path it opens. Gold tears into his chest and races across the remaining sigils.
Anderson's scream shakes the chamber.
Black liquid bursts from the markings and strikes the floor in heavy drops. One sigil after another disappears beneath the gold while silver tears through the corruption connecting them.
The black current holding Seth shudders.
Then it collapses.
Seth falls with it.
I am already moving.
I reach him before his head hits the stone, but his weight drives me onto both knees. One arm catches beneath his shoulders while my other hand cradles the back of his head against my chest.
"Seth, wake up."
I brush the hair from his face and wait for those blue eyes to open.
"Come on, love. Look at me."
His eyelids never move.
My hand presses against his chest while my own heart pounds against my ribs. I wait for the answering rise beneath my palm, watching his face while the seconds stretch past.
His chest remains still.
"Seth, come back to me."
My fingers move to his throat.
I search for the pulse that should meet them, but there is nothing beneath his skin. I shift my hand and press again because I must have missed it.
My fingers are shaking now.
I try the other side.
Still nothing reaches them.
"Come on, love. We just found each other again."
I pull him higher against my chest, supporting his head beneath my chin while my fingers return to his neck.
"You cannot leave me again."
I search once more, pressing my fingers deeper against his throat.
His pulse never meets them.
My hand finally falls away.
For several seconds, I can only hold him while my mind keeps waiting for the breath that should come next.
Then I realize what else is missing.
Seth has always carried the Breath so strongly that being near him changes the air around me. I have felt silver brush my skin when he laughs, curl between us when he exhales and gather around him before he ever raises a hand.
I feel none of it now.
The silver inside me is all that remains.
My arms close around him until there is nowhere left between us, and I press my face against his hair.
"Seth, please come back."
This time, I know.
My forehead drops against his as the first sob tears through my chest. I clutch the back of his shirt and pull him closer, trying to reach the man I have spent all this time finding again.
He is right here in my arms.
I still cannot reach him.
His name tears out of me, and the Living Scripture erupts with it.
Gold floods across my skin and strikes the floor beneath us. The silver Seth gave me surges through the living characters, threading through the gold as they race beyond my knees and across the chamber.
Stone fractures beneath us while cracks tear through the walls and climb towards the ceiling. I fold over Seth and hold him tighter as the floor bucks beneath my knees and burning Scripture consumes every surface around us.
I barely see any of it.
My face presses against Seth's hair as another sob tears his name from me.
This time, the sound travels beyond the chamber.
Across distances I cannot see, people carrying spiritual gifts of their own stop where they stand. My grief reaches them with a single impossible image attached to it.
They see Seth motionless in my arms.
They feel the absence I am holding.
The connection tears away almost immediately, but whatever carried it keeps travelling.
A fracture opens in the air above us.
Gold and silver distort around its edges while the center opens into darkness. I lift my head through tears as the fracture widens and the chamber disappears beyond its depth.
An eye opens inside the darkness.
Its gaze finds me.
I pull Seth closer against my chest as I stare back through the fracture.
The eye keeps watching.
 ----------------------------------------------
If you're still breathing, thank you for surviving Chapter 28 with me.
I warned you this one took something out of me.
I won't explain what just happened, because Max doesn't have those answers yet either. Right now, she only knows what she felt, what she couldn't feel anymore, and what opened above her because of it.
And yes, that eye saw her.
Let me know what hit you hardest. Seth's choice? Max searching for his pulse? Or that final moment when she realised she couldn't feel him anymore?
Chapter 29 has some explaining to do.
Unfortunately, it also has other plans.