Devouring Hollow Hearts || ONC'24

》Chapter Fourteen《

Chyrie's vision blurred as she sat back along the carved steps of Niukka's Temple. She eyed the goddess statue warily as she gave into the ghost of exhaustion haunting her, tired from searching the cases shielding each historic weapon.

No scrolls left tucked beneath the glass, no inscriptions beyond the names of her forgotten relatives. Nothing.

Though the sanctuary had become a memorial to her family, she wondered if the Emberian fae had ever crossed paths with the Ceirvani elves. If their bloodlines ever crossed, the tree had been buried with her elders.

But Chyrie couldn't escape the nagging bite in her heart, telling her to search out the truth. Anryth lost someone.

Someone trusted and dear.

The grief might've even driven him mad as he lashed out across the continent.

She believed his vengeance was born somewhere and clung on to the small pieces of hope that he once felt his soul.

Permanent lights illuminated the rows and pyres of crystal around as she sank into that deep seated fear. Her mind isolated those torrential thoughts and cornered them, dissecting them without remorse.

Chyrie crawled to a thin quartz platform before Niukka's brimstone eyes and crossed her legs.

Focusing on the soft ripple of wind through the cavern, her senses honed in on the slow dribbling of magma and the dense energy accumulating around the room. Near the outskirts of her aura, she could sense Dailes' sadness pooling by the hearth.

Her chest tightened, but she forced herself to exhale.

Chyrie cleared her mind of everything, shoving out those raging thoughts and feelings until all that remained were the glowing gems around the room, ebbing with life.

She concentrated on the illuminated silhouette with a voice of molten honey, conjuring the image from memory and calling out. The woman who appeared as her mother stepped forward in her vision, discarding the false skin for one of warm brown and an amber eyes.

Her memory of the statue flickered forward, casting details into the vision such as a long flowing skirt and sheer bodice tapering against Niukka's shoulders.

"You've come here once before," Chyrie whispered into the silence. "You held my bond with Dailes in your hands... I've need of your help again, Niukka."

An empty feeling washed through the room, purging the air before flooding with static.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose.

"Please," she begged softly. "I've nowhere left to turn."

"Your home is under attack, Heir of Steel," a feminine voice replied. "Your parents worry."

A sense of relief began to form in her chest.

"What am I supposed to do?" Chyrie asked, daring to look the goddess in those burning eyes. "Dailes is injured, Anryth has sacked the city and stolen the throne, stolen my own power with the blood from this oath. I am lost, I don't see the way."

"The drakeling will heal with time, his bones were set quickly," she said, her gaze roaming over Chyrie's body. "As for your path... The Ceirvani's men are coming to collect you in two days time, preparations have been made for each duel."

Attempting to master her fear, she felt her eyes clench tighter. "Anryth is older, stronger than I am... No amount of training will save me without magic."

The goddess approached, reaching down to tip her chin upward.

Chyrie opened her eyes, stunned to see Niukka standing before her in celestial brightness. The gentle expression lining her features was beautiful and soothing, even as fierce edges of concern sharpened them.