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Chapter 55

Aaliyah

T he pull of the Void, like always, made the hair on the back of my neck stand. It was involuntary, a panicked response that came from my experience with the power that surrounded me.

It picked at me even now, the touch teasing and curious. I opened my eyes slowly, prepared for the endless mercury, or even an orderly box with memories trapped about it. I found neither.

The room wasn't endless, which at least that was a comfort, but that was where the similarities between my mind and the man's ended. The ground was fragmented, the obsidian sky meshing into silver. The memories weren't orderly, as bits of them leaked onto the Void, flashes of people I didn't know sprinting past me before fading away. And the screams , they were so loud they drowned out my thoughts, made it hard to focus on anything.

How long had he been like this? Years of being trapped, decades, centuries . I'd barely survived mine with Prince by my side, and he'd likely been stuck down there for so much longer.

"I don't even know where to start," I mumbled, distraught by what I saw.

I looked to my hands, letting out a breath when I saw at least they were in color, and I could speak. I wasn't sure if that meant I was in the Void or not, but I'd take a physical form right now.

It made me feel safe.

It felt insurmountable, the task that I'd suddenly found myself in. I had no idea where to even start, what to do.

I might have been in a bit over my head.

"That makes two of us," a voice called, a mock kindness burrowed in a seething anger that made me flinch. "I don't know how you keep managing to drag me here, but you couldn't have worse timing."

My shoulders dropped as I looked over my shoulder, catching Azer's irritated scowl. His hair was wet, hanging loosely around his head, a towel covering the lower half of his body.

"Azer—" I stumbled, not even sure how to go about apologizing. I hadn't meant to bring him here, didn't even think of it. I looked away, giving him my back. "I'm sorry, I don't?—"

He huffed, what sounded like a mumbled curse under his breath, before he snapped his fingers.

"Oh, calm down. I was wearing a towel . I'm decent, if you don't mind telling me what the fuck this is," he grumbled, as I turned back around. He was wearing a T-shirt now, loose pants around his hips, both of which looked like they were made of the shadows themselves, the material so black it seemed fake. He glared around the room at the memories that danced like icicles in the sky as he rubbed his temples. "Is this your boy? Damn , and I thought your soul was fucked up."

I let out a breath, following his gaze. "No, this is … someone else. I'm trying to fix him."

Azer laughed, though it didn't reach his face or eyes. "Fix him? This is a mess, darling. There's no fixing this. I'm still trying to decide what this is."

Another figment dashed past, this time a young boy being chased by another as laughter filled the air.

"He's a man Osiris found in the Pits. I'm trying to save him," I said, watching as both boys faded away, their laughter going with them.

"Why in the devil would you do that?" Azer asked, his mouth open like I was crazy as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Look, I get it. You don't share my happily budding relationship with murder, and you'd rather not dabble in it, but I hate to tell you this: you're at the Eternium. I don't know if you realized this, but the Eternals called for your head on a pretty little spike. You need to get it out of your mind that you have the luxury of kindness, because you don't, Aaliyah. This is not what you should be focusing on right now."

His chastising words stung. I'd spent so long trying to figure out what I was, hoping that it would fix all my problems … but then we found out, and I realized that nothing would ever be that simple.

Now I was faced with this. Hurting people wasn't something I ever wanted to do. It conflicted with my nature to just let this go. Would I even still be the same person if I did? If I backed away and let this man die .

Cold steel against my back, Castillion's laugh like a nightmare ringing in my ears.

The only way to do that was to turn into something I promised myself I wouldn't. I wasn't a monster, and I refused to be one. The powers that I had, the Void … it didn't have to be evil.

"No, I'm going to help him. One way or another," I said, resolute. Azer actually jolted back, eyes narrowing when I turned away. I traced the floating memories, picking one in the distance that was close enough to the ground. "You can leave if you don't want to help."

Azer sighed, the sound turning into a groan as he stomped after me. "We've gone over that I leave when the Void wants me to leave. Gods, you're insufferable."

Red pulsed, irritation sparking in the air. His form was somehow more stable in the Void. His face came slightly into view, his eyes hollow bits of white in the air. He fluttered around before stopping by one of the many fissures that was spread across the room. The air cooled, and for a second his hand flashed over the surface, as if asking me to reach out and touch.

A starting point.

"What is he doing?" Azer asked, turning to me with a scowl that had me backing up. "Wait, actually, I think he might be on to something. Hold your hand out, would you?"

He made a grabbing motion with his hand, grumbling when I didn't follow his direction.

"I'm not touching Red," I said, gritting my teeth when Azer rolled his eyes.

"That wasn't what I was going to say," Azer said, Red lingering close to me as Azer crossed his arms. "You're scared of the Void, boring but understandable. But you're not scared of Red, and at this point, he's little more than a chunk of it that has some sentience. Wherever this is, it isn't the Void, not exactly. A piece of it maybe, but nowhere near whole, and you'll need whole to take care of this."

Red glowed, warmth starting at the tips of my fingers and lighting all the way up to my eyes. Azer saw it, grinning. "Red is your workaround, your bridge. He's how you use your gifts."

"Won't it hurt Red?" I asked, and Azer contemplated it for a second.

"Probably not. You won't actually touch him, and like I said, the Void doesn't even realize he's here." Azer's words did little to soothe my worried thoughts.

I could feel Red's excitement in the air, the emotion so potent it literally flashed along my mind, like a shot of dopamine directly to my brain. It had my entire body relaxing, and a smile curling onto my lips even as worry for him grew.

"Are you really okay with that?" I asked, turning to look at the mass that swirled in the air.

Dust danced in front of me, as if Red was swaying to the pulse of the Void. His emotions seemed clearer, more concise than they had been before. The one that stood out most, that hammered me down, was the pride .

Azer huffed, rolling his eyes. "Please. It's not like you can kill him. If anything, you should be worried about who you're trying to save. You want to piece this man back together? This is how. Different applications and all that."

I didn't like the idea of using Red like that, the risk of sending him on nagging at the back of my mind, especially considering what he was. What I was. That didn't stop him from fluttering around, almost like he was trying to boost my spirits. Like he was excited to try.

"Okay, Red," I said, smiling weakly as I walked up to the piece. "We'll try it your way."

It was small, barely a couple of inches long, and it hovered in the air, the sounds it made getting louder the closer I got. There were growled words, the pitches of an argument hitting me in the chest as I froze. Indecision warred as Red flashed again, just like he had in front of the cellar when we'd met.

I swallowed and reached out, running a tentative hand over the glassy surface. Red clung to the movement, swelling when I pulled everything forward. My gifts were warm, settling into my bones as black fissures spread across the glass.

The Void flowed around him, the silver of the floor wobbling as Red bounced. My thoughts were ended abruptly, a shiver of dread shooting down my spine as Azer clapped his hands.

I wasn't sure what I expected, but it shifted at my touch, cracking open. The flash of a memory that spilled out was little more than a fading sense of déjà vu. It was the man, screaming at another. His words were disjointed and completely unrecognizable. The only thing I got from it was emotion.

He was outraged.

Disappointed .

I shivered as the shard pulled away, hovering in the air for just a second longer before it shot off, crashing into another piece. The shards melded together, forming a new chunk. They shifted between several colors before it eventually settled on clear again. At least they didn't disappear.

"Wonderful," Azer said, dropping his hands. He watched me carefully, his next words measurably quieter. "I'm so glad that worked. All this stress isn't good for my skin."

He ran the back of his hand over his forehead, and I snorted at his cheeky smile. It was so odd, seeing him and catching the little ticks that reminded me of Mom. I didn't have many memories of her, not enough to paint a whole picture, but something about the way he moved told me it was the same.

The tilt of his nose, the way he started every laugh with a soft snort. It was comforting, and it helped to settle me as Red's presence grew

I hummed, following Red toward the new piece. It was louder now as the memory filled out, the words clearer, the emotions more vivid.

I won't speak of this again, Darius.

I had a feeling that was the voice of our tortured soul, the twisting to his words holding an accent I'd never heard. The visage of the small, angry man that had been Osiris's hell appeared for a second in the glass. The hint of it flashed in the space in front of me.

You've gone soft, Atlas.

I lifted my arms again, rocking my head back and forth. I reached for the Void, for the pit in me that called to the dark. This time, it was Red's presence I felt, the brush of his familiar cold bringing goosebumps to my skin.

It was easier to embrace, to hold on to when it was Red I felt.

His emotions seeped into me, and for a second it felt like his hands were on mine, like I could see more than just mist in the air where he was.

I shivered, touching the shard, watching as it shot off.

I followed the memory on instinct, chasing a puzzle that slowly played out in front of me. The fight grew more real, and each time I touched another shard, the memory felt less like Atlas's and more like mine . Until the entire thing flashed in front of me.

Darius had wanted to join in on the Natural war, wanted to fight to gain allies. He'd wanted to kill the Reapers, but Atlas, at the time the Mythic Eternal, had stopped him, had shot him down even when the fear for my kind was so strong it was splitting families.

He fought for us, even when no one else wanted to.

"All right then, what do you say to a divide and conquer?" Azer asked, touching his own shard, the Void obeying on command, dark shards splintering through his piece.

It dashed off, ramming into another. I nodded, Azer already ambling off.

I moved to the next memory, fixing as I went. My shadow deformed under my feet as power rose in me, flexing from the bottoms of my heels to the tips of my fingers. It sparked like fire, heating me up as Red's chill grew deeper.

Hours must have passed, days maybe, but time in the Void had never worked the same as time on the outside, and I could only hope the others weren't worried. I didn't feel the same pull I had before, the distinct feeling that it was time to go.

But the Void showed its presence in other ways, my arms growing heavy, my steps growing shorter and shorter. I kept trudging along. I wandered, until the shards had become few and far between, and the life of Atlas had played out before me. Even his years in the Pits, as his tortured descent into madness and endless hunger, ripped him apart. The way he'd beg for a death that wouldn't come, likely to do with what he was, the writhing animal seeming to appear out of nowhere in his memories. A part of him that was feral.

A beast with feline grace, his head shaped like that of an eagle, with large brown wings sprouting from its back.

Griffon. He was a Griffon.

I was lost in my thoughts, watching another bit of him struggling against his chains, my stomach twisting at the sight, when something cold pressed to my neck. I froze, eyes darting to Red, who fluttered nervously.

"Who are you?" the voice asked, gruff from misuse, his chill a living thing.

This was a soul, the characteristic flutter of emotions in the air like a whip. He shouldn't have been able to speak, but … then again, neither should I. His words were clear, not like they'd been whispered in my head.

I jolted when he reached for me, pulling away from his hand so his soul didn't find contact with my skin.

"Don't, Atlas," I said, turning to look at him. His clear olive skin was a deeper shade of brown than how he looked outside of this place, his eyes a medley of blues and greens that sparkled with crazed rage. His hair, a rich black, was cut short, exposing high cheekbones and sharp, pointed ears. I expected him to look more human, but there was an ethereal grace to him when he stalked forward, his face distinctly avian. Something about it had my mind firing off warning signals, like it knew it was seeing something … wrong. He was large, spanning a height that had me taking a step back, fear climbing up my throat unbidden. I swallowed when he bared his teeth in a growl. "I'm Aaliyah, I know you're scared?—"

He screamed, and I covered my ears to hide from it. He cupped his own, the knife in his hand digging into his cheek. It bled, but when he pulled away to point it at me again, the mark was already gone.

In its place was a swift streak of light, like a nick on his soul that whispered to my blood and dragged up the call of the Void. He wasn't really here, his body was still in the real world, I assumed with mine, but that didn't mean he couldn't do damage. There was a very real chance he could hurt me here.

"What have you done to me?" he snarled, dipping low to the ground, looking less and less like a man and more like a monster.

I took several steps back, lifting my hand to stop his advance.

"Stop, you're not—" I managed, barely dodging his chaotic swing.

Red came to my call, like a vicious wave that Atlas didn't see coming. The Void sang as the shadows around the room dashed forward, and Red barreled into him, stopping his next slash. Atlas was thrown off me, crashing into the silver floor. Red, taking a full shape for the first time, glared on. I caught the sight of strong cheekbones and sharp eyes that seemed to bore into Atlas. He was there for just a second, wavering in his transparency, yet unyielding as Atlas stood again, wiping the blood from his face before it faded away.

Only he couldn't move toward me again.

"When a lady tells you to stop, you do," Azer cut in, his voice startlingly calm, a simmer of rage beneath his words as he stepped closer to me. The Void whipped angrily around his head, the hinting of two horns peeking out from his hair, the golden spirals riddled with black. "Rather rude to rush her like that, don't you think?"

Atlas snapped, his face contorting like Eirik's, sharpening into a vicious point as the Griffon behind his eyes shot forward.

"Calm down , " I whispered.

The shadows stuck to his skin, like bindings, tying him to the floor. They moved as Azer did, pinching tighter when he clenched his fists.

Atlas's eyes cleared just enough for him to look at the bonds that held him still. " Reapers. "

"That's right," I whispered. He didn't struggle again, that clarity staying in his eyes as he looked around the Void. His face twisted, a dreadful fear boiling up there. "We're in your head right now, sifting through your memories to try to piece you back together enough to wake you up. Do you know where you've been the last few centuries?"

"Hell," he grunted, shaking his head as if trying to dislodge the thought. "Never heard of Reapers being able to do this. Another trick up your sleeve. Good. You need as many as you can get. If you're here to get me out, that must mean you're truly desperate."

There was a stark hope in his voice that hurt even more when I knew how much he'd lost to try to turn the outcome.

"Oh, isn't that cute? Where did you find this guy again?" Azer asked, snorting with a roll of his eyes.

I ignored him, gritting my teeth.

"The war went forward, after you were trapped in the Eternium Pits by Darius the Great," I explained, watching the emotions flicker over Atlas's face: confusion, disbelief, and finally rage. "I'm not here for your help to save the Reapers."

"Darius would never do something of the sort. He's my closest kin!" The disbelief was warped by the widening of his eyes, his breaths hard as he grimaced. His hands twitched, his eyes darting around the room. There was a panicked hilt to his voice, a stutter in his breath as his body revolted. "You lie. "

I knew that look well.

"You're scared," I whispered, carefully. The silence that flooded the room suddenly made me realize that the screaming was still going on in the background. Atlas's stance shifted, and he tensed against the bonds Azer kept him trapped in. "Scared that I'm right. You already had your doubts. I've seen the fights."

His head tipped back, and he laughed dryly. "Another Reaper power?"

I shook my head, clenching and unclenching my fists, thinking of all the time I spent in my own cell, watching the guards sneer from their side of the glass.

Red flowed around me, a comfort I breathed in.

"I spent a lot of my life locked up, too. I learned how to read quicker than most that a smile that hides malice cuts deeper than barely veiled disgust."

Castillion's cruel grin, like always, was the one I saw. His face twisted, his eyes alight with excitement as his knife dug deep. Still, he'd smile, cooing words like he wasn't flaying me alive.

Never make noise.

"He did it to take your spot, to help in the War," I said, gently.

Atlas's face shifted, his skin rolling against bone as his beast tried to force its way out.

"Then why are you here?" he asked, his eyes on the ground. Betrayal was a bitter thing, and Atlas's jaw clenched, a vein popping there as he gritted his teeth. "Why not leave me to rot?"

"Because we need your help. We need Darius removed as Mythic Eternal, and with your life tied to his?—"

Atlas let out a barked laugh that crackled in his chest, cutting me off. "No one could beat him. Not with our Inhama feeding his luck . "

The way he said that word, Inhama, carried a warmth. I reached for the Hallen Bonds on my wrist, finding comfort in the touch of them. He watched me do it, his head jerking away.

"Yes," I whispered.

"There is no undoing it," he said, shaking his head. "It is everlasting."

"We can cross that bridge when we get there," I responded, as the floor flexed beneath our feet. The hint of the Void pressed on me, like a whisper, a warning that we'd been here too long.

I looked around the room. A lot of his memories were still fragmented, but enough of them were pieced back together for him to be at least partially whole here … and I just had to hope that it was enough to wake him up. Hopefully, his mind would heal the rest itself.

"Times up, baby Imperial," Azer said as he let the restraints holding Atlas fall. Red wasn't as quick to let him up, his presence like a live wire at my back. He stayed in that space in between me and the Void, ready to move if Atlas came at me again.

"We have to go," I whispered. "Are you coming with?"

Atlas eyed me cautiously before he sighed. "Do I have a choice?"

He rubbed his wrists, the skin clear here in the Void, so different from what he'd find outside of it. His autonomy had been ripped away, his pride dragged down by the weight of what should have been his family.

"You always have a choice," I whispered, giving him a moment to think on it.

He did, several seconds passing as I saw the weight on his shoulder bare down. There was a moment when I even thought he would choose to stay. He grunted, and reached out to take my hand, no longer reading like the dead when he did. I took it carefully, only breathing when I didn't feel the familiar pull of a spirit slipping past me. The touch of his skin made my stomach twist with dread, and sweat pooled on the back of my neck.

His eyes cleared before he nodded. Silence filled the room, Azer still watching me. He didn't look away, even when I caught his eyes fully.

"What is it?" I asked, shuffling on my feet as he huffed.

I was ready for the next insult, or for his gruff laugh to remind me that "death is always waiting!" Instead, he walked forward, placing his hand on my head, ruffling my hair. There was more weight to it this time, more conscious thought, before he pulled back. "Be safe out there, yeah?"

He grumbled it out, but the look of worry in his eyes was genuine.

"You, too," I whispered back, smiling as he stepped away.

His eyes rolled hard, a snort following it as he waved at me over his shoulder. I got one last look before the shadows at his feet shot up, dragging him into the silver below.

The Void flexed again, urging me to move, and Red grew anxious as he coiled around my shoulders. I let out a breath and closed my eyes, doing as I'd been taught, Azer's words guiding me where I wanted to go.

Home.

Back to the life I was determined not to lose again.