Hall of Games [ REWRITE ] | The Varya Chronicles #1

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Media: Affinities

Cadence smelled smoke and the burning stink of flesh. She bolted upright to see flickering orange tongues lick the slit under her door.

No, she thought. I took Moonflower milk. I shouldn't be dreaming.

The flames consuming the door thought otherwise. With a menacing roar, it brought down the whole structure, then began eating through the carpet and reached Cadence's bed.

There was nowhere else to run. Cadence threw open the window and leaped off the windowsill. She felt the familiar resistance of air, the drag of gravity as she plunged right down into the garden. As her shadow loomed closer and darker, she pushed against it, sending her body shooting into the air. Cadence unhinged the shadows from the flames which had now reached the ceiling. Even from afar, the heat and smell the charring smell of burning wood was overpowering.

There was nothing outside the mansion for her to latch on to. Cadence bounced off her shadow lightly before she landed with a roll. She uncurled herself to find a sea of fire consuming the gardens of Mansion Khavarosk. Frosts, even the lake was on fire.

Confused and disoriented, she swung around to find the other side of the garden rising into a sea of flames. She was trapped in between two walls of fire with no way of escaping. Panic seized her, asphyxiating her, taking away her ability to think and to breathe. The world did not make any more sense, there were just the blistering heat and the sense of impending dread.

Smokey horses charged out from the flames and circled her. The horses neighed, and the riders raised their weapons. Round and round the horses galloped. Cadence's eyes teared up from the smoke, she couldn't see properly. The horses and their riders loomed like indiscernible black shapes around her, cheering at the top of their voices.

Pain erupted in her chest. She cried out and fell to her knees. Looking down, she saw a spear sticking out of her chest, glistening with fresh, red blood—her blood.

This is what you get for making a deal with a Polong. Her father's voice rumbled from the haze of smoke and fire. You do not deserve to live.

Another spear rammed through her chest. Cadence screamed.

Master Orelik appeared in front of her, still dressed in the splendid ball robes of Sahorr. Cadence's eyes bulged. The man has no face. It looked as if it was blown away by an explosion, exposing the flesh and veins underneath. His eyeballs rolled in the sockets, and his tongue flickered in and out of what was left of his mouth.

You took my daughter away from me. A spear materialized in his hand. He stabbed it through Cadence's left eye. She felt her eyeball explode and the muscles in her head tear apart.

A third person walked out from the smoke. It was a woman—a head of soft, golden hair, piercing blue eyes, and a mouth drawn into a tight line—Capella.