The Crystal in the Chasm

chapter 30

There was darkness and sorrow and an endless nothing until I felt his arms gently wrap around me and lift me up from the depths of my despair. Death Bringer held me so delicately, as if I were made of glass and if he squeezed too hard then I might shatter. I was still sobbing when he began to make his way down the narrow staircase. The coldness of the crowns brushed against my side as they dangled around his arm. The crystal was a distant hum in my pocket, dull enough to sing me to sleep as I rested my head against Death Bringer's solid chest. His heart thumped rapidly under his skin.

"It's alright, let it out," he stroked my hair as I gripped his shirt and cried into his chest.

"Ouch! Damn it! Why would you try to go first?" Merlin snapped.

"Back up! They're coming back down!" Onyx's voice ordered.

Merlin coughed and spat, "Stop moving your wings everywhere! Feathers keep getting in my mouth!"

Arthur groaned, "Could both of you get out of their way? Helena? Are you alright?"

Death Bringer groaned under his breath just as the sound of something toppling down the stairs sounded.

"Fuck! Ouch!" Onyx yelped.

"Your wing," Merlin spat, "your wing is in my mouth!"

I was drifting into the nothingness, my cries fading out, just as we must've reached the bottom.

"Oh, gods! Helena! Is she hurt?" Arthur panicked.

I felt my body lurch to the side.

"Don't touch her! Not right now," Death Bringer ordered, "We have to cloak her somehow. Her markings are visible and she's too tired to mask them. Nobody can know what just happened."

Onyx gasped. "Long live the queen."

"Long live the queen indeed," Death Bringer replied quietly.

————

I was lying in the flower fields of the Kingdom of Faerie. The sun was warm against my skin and my eyes were closed as I listened to the tall blades of grass brush against each-other around me.

"So this is what you dream of?" Death Bringer's voice jolted my attention to him.

I gasped. "What are you doing here?"

He glanced around as he strolled through the tall field, flowers brushing against his legs as he sat down beside where I was sprawled out like a star. "I could ask you the same question."

"Do you know where we are?" I closed my eyes again and took a deep breath as the smell of wildflowers filled my lungs with a soothing ease.

Death Bringer rustled in the grass beside me. I peeked an eye open to see him lying flat on his back with his eyes closed as well. I returned to relaxing.

"I haven't been here in a very long time," Death Bringer sighed.

I clicked my tongue, "That's right! You're from the Kingdom of Faerie. I forgot."

He chuckled, "It barely counts. My life didn't really begin until I got out."

"Why did you leave?"

Death Bringer's fingers found mine as they twirled grass, locking our hands together. "I try not to remember."

I sighed. "I wish I knew you existed. I definitely would have liked you if we met sooner. We might've been friends in another life."

"We certainly would have. And always will after this point. Even in death, I'll still find you."