Page 27 of Vexed

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Lily

The Cathedral was cold, a bone-chilling, seep-into-your-marrow kind of cold.

Three days. Three days I’d been stuck in this gloomy underworld.

Three days without anything to eat or drink and my body was screaming.

Each breath felt heavier than the last, the air here thick and suffocating, sucking the life right out of me.

And Vex? God, Vex. He was probably still rotting in that cell.

My feelings were a tangled mess, a thorny vine choking the life out of any clear thought. I was furious with him. Furious that he hadn’t told me the truth, that our whole… whatever that was, had been built on a foundation of lies.

But underneath the anger, there was something else. The thought of him trying to buy me more time with my dad, of him fighting for me, was heartwarming. Pathetic, right? Clinging to a scrap of hope in this desolate wasteland.

Now, thanks to whatever the hell was going on, I might never see him again. And the irony? My body, already weakened, was fading faster by the minute. I was going to die anyway.

“Please,” I begged Ophiel, for what felt like the hundredth time since he dragged me here. “Just let me go. I promise, I won’t tell anyone anything. About this place, about you, about any of it. Just let me go home.”

Ophiel, with his unsettling placid face, didn’t even blink. He just continued to oversee the…altar of souls? I think that’s what he called it. Whatever it was, it gave me the creeps.

He finally turned to me, his voice devoid of warmth. “Do you know why things have spiraled so out of control, Lily? Do you understand the repercussions of Vexlorn’s actions?”

“No!” I snapped, my voice hoarse. “He wouldn’t tell me anything!” Secrets seemed to be the currency down here.

He sighed, a sound that echoed in the massive, empty space, and actually sat down. On one of the cold stone benches facing the altar. He sat down in front of me , like we were having a casual chat over tea.

Then, he dropped the bomb.

“You were about to die, Lily, and Vexlorn intervened. He found the individuals responsible for your attack. And he dealt with them.”

A shiver went down my spine, though the words didn’t immediately register.

Ophiel continued, his voice flat, emotionless. “He didn’t simply incapacitate them. He slaughtered them, one by one. A brutal, unnecessary act.”

The air left my lungs in a whoosh. My head swam. Vex murdered people? For me?

“He broke the most important rule. The rule that keeps all realms in balance. For that, he will pay the consequences.”

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. The attack. The hospital. The doctors. They had said I was attacked. Someone tried to kill me.

And Vex, with his quiet demeanor and his sad eyes, he hunted them down and now, it was all going to be for nothing. I was still going to die and he was going to be punished for trying to save me. A tear escaped and traced a cold path down my cheek.

“So, that’s it, then?” I whispered, my voice cracking. “He killed for me, and he’s going to suffer, and I’m still going to die. Great story.”

Ophiel’s expression remained unreadable. But deep down, I knew. I knew that Vex’s actions hadn’t been about rules or balance—not completely anyway. They had been about me. And now, that realization felt like a lead weight sinking me further into this suffocating underworld.

“Why don’t you just allow him to do his duties and be happy? Even if it is with a human?“ I softly ask, tears start to brim my eyes as I silently plead with him.

He scoffs and shakes his head, “Silly girl. Reapers don’t get to be happy. Especially with insignificant mortals.”

His words hit me harder than I thought it would and I couldn’t help but let the tears cascade down my cheeks.

I’m done. I’m officially, irrevocably, completely done with this place. Held captive by Ophiel, in this dreary, soul-sucking realm? Waiting for the inevitable, for my body to finally give up the ghost? No. Absolutely not.

For days, I’ve been a shell, existing in the shadows of Ophiel’s Cathedral, haunted by the knowledge that my life back home is fading, that my loved ones are slowly forgetting me. My sanity has been teetering on the edge, threatening to plunge me into the very abyss I’m trying to escape.

But today, something snapped. A tiny spark of defiance reignited within me. I don’t know where it came from, but it was enough.

I sat up abruptly, my head spinning with a newfound determination. The heavy despair that usually clung to me like a shroud felt lighter. Maybe just a fraction, but enough to give me strength. I jolted to my feet, my legs shaky but resolute. This was it. Now or never.

I bolted.

I didn’t look back, didn’t hesitate. Just a frantic dash towards the massive Cathedral doors, the only exit I’d ever been allowed to see in this infernal place.

My breath hitched in my throat as I prayed the guards wouldn’t catch me.

They seemed perpetually bored, but I knew their reflexes were sharp.

The doors loomed closer, bigger than I remembered. With a final surge of adrenaline, I threw my weight against them, the heavy doors groaning in protest as they swung open.

Fresh—well, as fresh as underworld air could be—hit my face, and I gasped, momentarily blinded by the dim, grey light. I scanned my surroundings, panic gnawing at me. Where to go? Which way to run?

Then I saw it. In the distance, to my left, another door. Not just any door, but the door. The one I remembered seeing when I’d foolishly snuck into the underworld in the first place. The door back to my world, to the sun, to life.

Hope surged through me, powerful and intoxicating. I didn’t even think, I just ran. The ground felt uneven beneath my feet, littered with unseen debris, but I didn’t care. I was so close. So impossibly close.

But just as my trembling fingers reached for the handle, a cold, hard hand closed around the nape of my neck. I was yanked off my feet, dangling helplessly in the air and my heart plummeted.

Panic seized me as I recognized the guard’s hulking silhouette. He didn’t say a word, just held me in his iron grip, waiting.

Then, I heard Ophiel’s voice, smooth and dripping with venom. “You thought you could escape?” he purred, the question laced with mocking amusement.

“You will never see the light of the Human Realm again. And soon,” he continued, his voice lowering to a cruel whisper, “every person you loved will forget you ever existed. Your memory will fade like a bad dream, a fleeting shadow in their minds.”

Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision, the weight of his words crushing me. The thought of being erased, not just from existence but from the hearts of those I cherished, was unbearable. But I refused to let him see me break, refused to give him the satisfaction.

“Fuck you,” I spat, my voice shaking but determined.

Then, with a desperate, last-ditch effort, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Vex!” The sound tore from my throat, raw and ragged. I knew it was a long shot. He was still locked in that damn cell. But the slim chance, the hope, no matter how faint, was enough to try.

Ophiel’s face twisted with rage. “Enough!” he roared, his voice booming, shattering the fragile silence. “End her!”

The guard didn’t hesitate. He dragged me towards the edge of dark, swirling waters. The stench rising from the water was nauseating, a fetid odor of decay and despair. This was it. The end.

As the cold water rose to engulf me, I closed my eyes, clinging to the last shreds of hope that somehow, somewhere, someone would remember me. Maybe Vex would find a way out. But the cold was closing in, and the darkness will soon overtake every bit of life I had left.