“What does it say?” I murmured, leaning closer to try and see it better. It was written in no language I had ever seen before. I couldn’t read it, but it felt important somehow.
Jeffrey emerged from the crowd, stepping to my side. I dropped my chin to see her. “Is this part of what traps you here?” I asked, my eyes getting hot at her slack features.
She nodded once, pointing her finger toward the engraved symbols. “Is this the language of the gods?” I asked.
She shook her head, and I tried again. “Is it a spell?”
I got neither a nod or shake then, which probably meant she didn’t know or it was sort of one. I had one more question. “Can I break this and free you all?”
Jeffrey nodded and this movement was soon followed by all the rest of the wraiths. The cold increased as they closed in on me again, and I turned away from the wall and faced them. “I’m going to figure out how to help you, I promise. The gods can’t keep doing this! I have powerful friends now, they’ll know a way.”
When you make big promises, you might as well go all-out.
Whatever I said must have worked, because they parted ways so that I could walk back through them. Jeffrey remained at my side, and I realised after some way—when it was just me and her—that she was leading me toward the exit. I recognised the end of the cave now, and a burst of warmth and gratitude rocked me so hard that I almost fell flat on my face.
I managed to keep it together, opening and closing my mouth as I fought for the right thing to say. Something which could possibly explain the depth of my heartache at what had happened to her … but there were no words. Nothing could make it better. I just had to try and save their spirits from an eternity of being trapped in the cave.
When we reached the edge of the cave, the light shining brightly across us, Minatsol visible on the other side, she gave me a wave and disappeared before I could even splutter out some more promises, or a few I’m-sorry-about-screwing-your-afterlife platitudes. I tried to track her movements, to see where she went, but it was like she was there one click, and gone the next. They were all gone. I was alone at the edge of the cave, trying to figure out how my life had ended up that way.
Was it only a few moon-cycles ago that I was in the seventh ring, in my little village, accidentally tarring teachers’ heads, and breaking into the leader’s hut? How did I end up part of the world of gods? Making promises I would probably never live to keep?
“I told you we’d find her here,” a voice announced, drawing my attention to the cover of trees right beyond the entrance to the cave.
A sound escaped my throat, and it might have been a scream. That was Siret’s voice. I ran toward them, and unlike last time, there was no resistance as I crossed the threshold of the cave into the outside world. Which made sense once I got a clear look at the outside world. Jeffrey had led me to the Topian end of the cave. I had no idea how she knew which end I needed to go to, but she was right. I couldn’t go back to Minatsol. The Abcurses were in Topia searching for me, and I was tied to Cyrus now. It would probably kill me.
Before I could think any longer, arms were wrapped tightly around me. My body was spinning around, but then it couldn’t spin anymore, because there was another body at my back. There was so much warmth in my chest I could barely breathe through it. Cyrus had succeeded in breaking our soul-link, but there was a deeper connection between us. One that wasn’t born of magic. One that couldn’t be broken. I had my arms hooked around a neck, and it wasn’t until someone tore me away that I realised it had been Siret. They passed me between them, each hugging me for as long as the others would allow, before I found my feet again with them forming a circle around me.
“You have about one click to tell us everything that happened,” Rome demanded, drawing my eyes to his. His expression had turned to stone, the green in his eyes swirling turbulently.
I quickly opened my mouth, quickly divulged everything, and very quickly skipped over the part where Cyrus had transported us directly onto his bed, before finishing up with a description of the writing on the cave wall and my plea to help the server-wraiths. By the time I finished, each of them wore a distinctly uncomfortable expression.
“They’re safer in there, Willa,” Coen said slowly, as though afraid of my reaction. “Do you know what that binding spell is on the cave wall?”
“Binding spell?” I asked.
“That would be a no,” Yael answered for me. “It’s binding their souls to the cave, allowing them to draw life-force from the magic of Topia to sustain themselves, as long as they stay in there. They think that they’ll be free if they leave, but that’s not how it works.”
“What the hell is it with you gods and binding souls to things?” I groused. “Why won’t it work if they leave? Are they linked to the cave the same way I was linked to you? Can the cave hear their thoughts?”
“They’re linked to Topia. To the land, and bound to the cave. In a way, I suppose Topia can hear their thoughts, but I don’t think Topia cares …” Yael trailed off when Rome snorted.
“Listen …” Hands landed on my shoulders, spinning me around. Aros. His golden eyes were so close all of a sudden, and for a moment, I was lost. I stepped forward, and accidently hugged him.
I swear it was an accident.
He made a grunting sound, the same sound that Rome had just made, but with less amusement. He pulled me back, slightly, just enough to see my face.
“If those souls leave the cave, their link will be broken, and they’ll die—”
“They’re barely alive!” I gestured back to the cave, even though we couldn’t actually see any of them.
“They look like that because they’re not feeding from Staviti’s power anymore, they’re simply feeding from Topia. It’s obviously not as strong … but they’re still alive. Until they leave that cave.”
“Why can’t they just go back to feeding from Staviti?” I asked, finally breaking away from Aros.
“He doesn’t want them anymore,” Coen answered, his voice harder than the others. “He thinks they’re faulty. Don’t forget, Willa, this is Staviti’s perfect world. His Topia. He has no tolerance for things that aren’t perfect.”
“He’d love me, then,” I scoffed, turning to look at the cave again. “Let’s go back, before they figure out where we are.”
“We can’t.” Siret nudged Aros out of the way and cupped my head in his hands, lifting it up until I was meeting his eyes. His expression was serious. “You need to re-link to us, otherwise you’ll never survive leaving Topia without Cyrus, just like those servers will never survive leaving that cave without Staviti.”
“I don’t know how,” I shot back quickly, beginning to panic all over again. “It’s not like I did it deliberately with Cyrus! One click I was just casually about to plummet to my death—”