The Last Goddess

Chapter Fifty-Eight: The Dark Woods

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Maybe I can tap into her powers. If I can, I might be able to find a way out of here for us."

"Are you waiting for an invitation?" I asked, hopeful that this could work. "Do it!"

"Alright. I'll try." And then Samara went absolutely silent. If I wasn't holding her hand securely, I might of thought she wandered away.

"Did it work?"

"Aryan," she gasped in surprise and reached for my face. "This is not a maze of darkness."

Feeling her fingers brush up against my cheeks made me momentarily glad that I was the one who was the familiar, and that our predicament wasn't the other way around. I suddenly felt a mixture of confused and happy emotions, and I wasn't a hundred percent sure that I was all too upset about it.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, softly. "What is it that you see?"

"A gift."

Samara

"A gift?" Aryan said with a skepticism that would make a person second guess herself.

I pulled my hands away from his face and looked around. We weren't really devoured by darkness. Rather, it was protecting a garden of sorts. All around were lush greens, purples, and blues. There were exotic flowers, and vines that hung like Christmas lights from tree-to-tree. And most importantly, there was a clear and obvious path.

"It's not a forest. It's a garden." I smiled up at him, but his brow was furrowed so tightly I thought his eyebrows might just pop off.

Before I could reach for him. Aryan's hand found my shoulder and slowly slid down my arm until he had reached my wrist. The feel of his hand sent a slow, nervous shiver down my spine that I enjoyed more than I should have.

"Samara, are you good?" he asked, his face confused.

"Why are you asking me that?" I frowned, equally as puzzled.

"Your emotions are all over the place."

I blushed hard, momentarily thankful that he couldn't see a thing. "I'm just intrigued." I countered. "I wish you could see this. I mean, really, Aryan. It's... lovely."

"You think everything is lovely." He said, amused.

"Well, perhaps if you were seeing a new land for the first time you might feel the same. Weren't you awed at all when you came to Curio?" I wondered.

"Not really," he shrugged nonchalantly. "It wasn't like I was taking a scenic hike. I was in, out, and done. The most of Curio I ever saw was when I woke up in your house."

I pouted a bit at the thought that Aryan never really saw Curio. While, not nearly as gorgeous as Arcanum has shown itself to be, I would have loved to show him around. But I know that I will never have the opportunity to do so now. I sighed and wished with all of my heart that I could at least show Aryan what The Dark Woods really looked like, and how its reputation was unwarranted.

Before I knew it, my skin began to glow, and light began to bubble off me like fireflies. The little balls of light were different than my flame. My flame was live and ever shifting, but these lights were steady, circular, and floated around us like little lanterns. And the farther they spread, the more of the darkness they sent away—revealing the garden around us to be bioluminescent. The greens, purples, and blues of the plants around us glowed and lit the forest enough where even Aryan could see what really surrounded us.

"Whoa..." my familiar began, his expression in shock. "Ok." He conceded, hands in the air. "I'll give it to you. This is impressive." Then, he stopped and looked directly at me with those amber orbs of his. He seemed hesitant, but then said, "You're pretty impressive, you know."

"What?" I asked, embarrassed. "Not really."

"Man, those mortals really did a number on your self-esteem, didn't they?" Aryan tsked. "Take the damn compliment. You're a literal goddess that just revealed the secrets of The Dark Woods. I would say that's impressive. At the very least, it's not disappointing."

I started to walk along the newly exposed path, my dark thoughts circling back again. I tried so hard to tamper them down, but it was too late. Aryan had already felt it.

"I don't deserve any praise."

"Why the hell not?" he glowered, keeping pace with me. "Does this have something to do with why you were so weird about that Sarcophilus."

"I wouldn't say not wanting to hurt people is strange, Aryan." I replied, not looking at him. "It's just... I—" I stopped myself. I wasn't ready to discuss this with my familiar. Even if he understood. Even if he empathized. It wouldn't detract from how I felt. It wouldn't make me feel better, and... I wasn't sure I even deserved to be comforted. "Never mind."

Suddenly, I heard an irritated growl come from Aryan's throat. I turned to find him angrily staring at me. "Samara!" he shouted. "Enough! I get it."

"No, you don't." I shook my head.

"Yes, I do. I'm not stupid! Just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I don't understand." His hands curled and uncurled into a fist several times before he said, "You feel guilty because it was YOUR body that did the deed, but YOU did not consciously kill Nolan. YOU did not give yourself a curse that makes you go all psycho god-killer on aggressive assholes that come at you!" Aryan ran his fingers through his hair roughly—his frustration evident. "You can feel as bad as you want for all I care, but you are NOT allowed to think you deserve to be mistreated. Because you don't deserve to get your ass kicked for something that was never your fault to begin with. And if this is something you're gonna continue to think, then what in the World Below is the point of going on this damn quest?"

I swallowed a lump in my throat as I tried my best not to sob. You really do feel everything, don't you?

"We have to restore the balance in Arcanum." I reminded him softly.

"Screw Arcanum." He spat, taking a step closer to me. "Obligation and desire are not the same. What do you want? If you want to stop, we can turn around. We can go through the Veil and let Seraphina figure this out."

What I want... I watched the ferocious sincerity on Aryan's face and knew exactly what I wanted. But some things are bigger than what you yearn for. Besides, I knew I didn't have it in me to abandon this quest. Not when I knew what was at stake.

I released a sigh that untensed my shoulders, and for the first time since being told my fate, I had truly accepted what needed to be done. "I want... to go to Willow." I told Aryan with my head held high. "And I want you to come with me."

Aryan's gaze was analyzing me with such intent, it was almost embarrassing. Finally, in a much calmer tone then he had on before, he said, "Then, let's go."

I smiled at him, taking a few steps over until I was by his side. Then, I reached up and quickly kissed him on the cheek before walking ahead of him. "Thank you, Aryan."

"For?" he asked, a look of awe on his face.

"For being you." I grinned before turning my head and staring at the luminescent path ahead.