Page 99 of Serpent In White

Sucking in a sharp gasp of air, I shake myself out of it.

To think Darian was the one who held me that day, when I lost my parents, is a staggering notion. I was just a boy then, and he was a man. Not that it was sexual in any way… Neither of us could have known what the future would bring.

But I remember always watching him, since I was young. When I was little, I didn’t understand what my fascination with him was building to. And once I became a teenager, the feelings morphed into more of a yearning I couldn’t fathom.

Head Priest paid only enough attention to me, making sure I had everything I would need without my parents. But we didn’t talk after that day, no more than a couple of words here and there. And now that things have happened between us, I can’t help but wonder if maybe he kept a closer eye on me…

I know it wouldn’t be appropriate, but the heart doesn’t care about logic or rationality. I’ve been a Domestic since I was fourteen, and I’ve been in love with him the whole time, whether I knew it or not. Am I to believe he only just noticed me?

Leaving the river, I walk back toward the path. I stroll for another mile or so until I come to a fork. It’s not really aforkper se, because there’s the way you’re clearly supposed to go, the trail which looks like it’s been made for quite some time. And then there’s a small path going in a different direction, one that appears scarcely used.

And something pulls me that way, those needy feelings of curiosity I possess driving me toward the narrow trail, leading farther into the woods, rather thanup up upto the top of the peak.

It’s much colder up here, which makes sense because of the change in altitude. But then it doesn’t reallyfeellike that. It’s a different kind of cold… The cold of the unknown.

Fear slinks through my chest as I walk slowly, observing my surroundings, listening closely for anything discernible, though it’s difficult because I seem to be hearing all kinds of things.

Voices that sound like voices, and those that don’t. They sound more like… emotions. Feelings.

Mourn, but don’t fear it.

Chills grace my flesh as I walk, twigs and pine needles crunching beneath my boots. I try to step slow and careful, to stay as quiet as possible just in case. I haven’t seen any bears or mountain lions yet, knock on wood. I’m hoping to avoid the dangerous, though I keep my knife sharpened and ready, hanging on my pants.

As I walk, my eyes settle on a clearing. It’s between enormous trees, and it looks a bit peculiar, as if it shouldn’t be.

But it is, and in my mischief, I stagger toward it. The closer I come to it, things begin to echo. The surrounding air is thick, which I attribute to pressure changes and whatnot, though again, it doesn’t feel like that.

It’s a shift, and it brings my legs to a halt.

Something assaults my chest, a hard pounding, which I think is my heart, though it’s much more aggressive. It’s like I’m being shot by my own heartbeat.

Struggling to breathe deeper, I suck air into my lungs and hold it while my vision swims and things become blurry. The clearing is twelve feet away, and it almost feels like there’s a force field around it.

This makes no sense. It’s just an empty clearing in the woods. Nothing more.

Closing my eyes tight, I shake my head to gather my thoughts. And when I reopen them, my stomach clenches like a fist.

There’s something there now. Within the clearing.

In the middle of this circle of tall trees, there’s a large, flat rock that wasn’t there before.

It’s black, like obsidian, almost sedimentary in its layers. It looks volcanic, though somehow shiny as well.

It’s mesmerizing, and I want to get a closer look, but every internal warning in my mind is telling me to stay far the fuck away from it.

I’m perplexed by this. I don’t know why I’m being cautious. It’s just a rock.

Yea, a rock that literally wasn’t there two seconds ago.

Regardless, I take tentative steps, growing closer. Two more feet. Then another, and another.

The wind whips through my hair, the rock distorting in my vision.

Two more feet, and I’m so close I can feel it. I don’t know how or what I feel… but I feel something.

Something dark. Something… evil.

Abdiel… No!