The Demon Covenant (Otherworld Series #6)

Chapter 52- The Greater Price.

The night is silent as I fly overhead, the box of knowledge held tight in my claws.

I was ever thankful for my powers as a chameleon elf, more of a shapeshifter than a copycat.

Large wings beat the air as I flew through a portal overhead, I had decided against using too much of my power and had simply taken the form of a gargoyle, a small one that too, just strong enough to fly and hold the box at the same time.

The box was the one chanting to open portals as I crossed through, we passed through literal days and nights, each portal had a different scene.

One was alight with the sun, birds chirping, the smell of bread wafting up from the chimney of a nearby house.

Another, where the sky was dark, and predators lurched in small forgotten alleys, humans scrounging the dumpsters for food, rats and cats fighting the battle of life.

We passed through again, a place where snow was abundant, where a single white wolf stood howling to the grey sky.

We passed by again and finally reached the foot of a forest, dark with twisting trees, alight with various, dangerous howls out of unfamiliar maws waiting to partake of flesh.

I had come here of my own free will, hadn't I? Then there was nothing I should fear, nothing that could change my mind. I had come here for Nikolai and for my baby. For our future and for our lives.

"Do not try to fly over the forest, it is enchanted to prevent cheating of any kind."

So, I had to walk through it then, I had to prove my worth to receive a gift.

I landed at the border of the trees and was immediately aware of the eyes on me.

My skin crawled, bile rose up my throat, I coughed and breathed through it. The eyes were red, the stink in the air was worse then the feeling of their gazes on my body. I could sense their thoughts, I knew that if I stepped through the forest, they would rape me, they would eat the flesh of my bones, they would lick away my tears and swallow my howls of pain, I would die horribly, painfully, eishing over and over for death to take me before it finally did.

"Calm down." The box took on a gentle voice. "There are no creatures in the forest, they are illusions that prey on weak minds."

"I can sense them."

"They are trying to bend you to their will. They are trying to coax you away. To overrun your mind with fears. Step into the forest."

I look sharply at the thing in my arms. "I didn't come here to die. I have no weapon to ward them off."

"Only the weak ones bring weapons. You are strong, Demon Queen, step through the forest."

I take a deep breath, wishing I could tell the box that it was crazy and just walk away, back home. But the box only spoke the truth. It was, afterall, a machine.

And machines did not lie.

I stepped into the forest.

----

The Well of Souls is a hole in the ground, decorated by fancy tiles that had weird zigzagging symbols on them, each mossy tile had a different sign on it, each sign glowed. It was frightening to look at, the Well itself glowing with a blue magnificent light that eminated power.

It scared me, but also empowered me.

The box hadn't lied to me. One foot into the forest, and nothing had touched me, the whispers were still there, as were the roars and the cries in the forest.