The voices refuse to be silenced. Even in death, I can not escape them. They taunt and gnaw at the backs of my eyes. Trying to crawl through the crevice and out of my pupils. They are drowning in darkness and blood and I can't save them. I can never save them because, truthfully, I hope they all rot in the very hell they've created for themselves.
My eyes fly open, shadows wrapping around my body as I raise my head from the carpet beside my bed. A pool of dried blood leads footsteps from my nose, leaving a dark circle on my once-white rug. My eyes struggle to focus, my head pouring down my throat as voices echo in my skull. I can't think or move or speak.
All I can do is listen.
They scream and berate every piece of me. Taunting and jabbing at my vulnerable mind.
The voices and souls have crawled through my cage and have begun throwing stones at my eyelids, trying to pry free of my magic. The pain is horrific. Centered and well-executed as they ram their hatred at my brain.
My lips part in a gasp as I force myself up and onto my quivering knees. I have a theory that when Erebus blasted me into the wall with his magic, he also broke open the mental wall separating the souls from my own. And now they were ripping me to shreds.
I stumbled to my feet, sliding along the cool white marble walls as I trembled towards the door leading to the atrium. My breathing is shallow and pained, unable to keep myself quiet to not wake Erebus. I stagger through the doorway on lead feet, my hair tangled and caked with dried blood on one side. My pupils dilated then narrowed, over and over again as they kept clawing at my soul. My heart thrummed increasingly faster under my cool skin, my hands shaking as I palmed the wall. I leaned against it the entirety of the way, pushing myself from pillar to pillar until I reached the edge of the atrium. My movement faltered as I tried to flutter my wings. They stirred by my side, almost limp.
I groaned, pushing off the pillar and wobbling under the sunny sky. Erebus was nowhere to be found, and I just prayed it stayed that way. I gritted my molars, my hands clenched into fists as my muscles locked together. I raised my wings with as much effort as I could manage, gathering my strength before flapping as hard as I could.
I was launched from the marble floor, reaching toward the opening of the glass ceiling. My wings stuttered mid-flight, causing me to tip to the side as I glided downward. I threw my arms out to protect my face, tipping harshly toward the ground as my body rolled across the polished stone. I groaned, my limbs aching as the voices in my head started chanting louder.
I pushed myself off the white floor, my knees wobbling as a newfound sense of anger lit a fire in my soul. Flapping my wings harder, I tried again. I rose steadily this time, my limbs and muscles locked as I fought the dire effects of my pain coursing through my bones. The window was within five feet, almost within my reach before a sharp pain radiated from my temple. A cry tore from my lips as my wings fell limp by my sides and I fell awkwardly to the ground yet again.
I tried and failed to lift my wings, their white-feathered bodies refusing to move, let alone lift. Tears of frustration tore down my face, dripping past my lips and staining my tongue. Anger and pain piled together into one motion, my mind exacting my emotions on the stone as I threw my fist into the marble. A crack echoed through the open air, the atrium quivering slightly as my bones collapsed on one another and my body lay sprawled on the cold floor.
The voices screamed and clawed at my temples, razor-sharp teeth eating away at my mind from the inside as I tried to fight them. My vision blurred before my head slumped against the crack my fist had created.
———
A door. Large and loud echoed in my ear drums.
Dizziness and nausea rang through my hollow bones like the human churches. My limbs were not mine, the connection severed from my mind as an internal battle began in my brain.
Move.
Godsdamned, just move.
A large hand grasped my left wing, pulling it to my side so my back lay exposed. I tried to fight, to knock this thing off of me. But my heart was so close to gone that I could not stop them. The hand slid from my shoulder blades to my lower back, their partner joining them as they gripped my waist and turned my body over. My eyes flickered, and my tears dropped. My heart sank like someone chucking stones into the ocean.
Not again.
A deep timbre sounded in my ears. Words. I think they're trying to say words. They're saying words but my brain can't comprehend, my heart never considered that this could happen again. My lips are dry and shaking as I try to make them move. A warm hand cups the back of my neck as the other grasps under my rib cage.
The hands pull me to them, my body curling against a warm wall of skin. I burrow into the warmth, my limbs trembling and my mind imploding. The lower hand moves to cup my knees to their chest. I'm folded in their arms and I realize that I like being like this. I like feeling small and warm, because I'm always sharp and deadly. I long to feel like I am not what I am. For once, I want to feel anything but myself. To experience mortal winters and balls and the awe they hold for the world and its creatures. I want to feel my legs churn as I run, because, in all honesty, I've never run before. I've flown and soared, racing the moon, but I've never used my legs for their purpose.
A gust of wind berates me harshly before a breeze caresses my face. My wings are useless pieces of paper, hanging from my body as the world's weight seems to vanish. They seem to drag me down, trying to reel me back to the ground.
The words keep bouncing off my ears as the voices resume their degrading and murdering of my mind. My heart beats rapidly and faintly as it tries to battle against something my brain has already succumbed to.
A soft jolt of the body anchored to me and the world comes crashing back down.
I'm laid gently onto the grass, his hand cupping under my arm as he pulls me to my knees. My body collapses in on itself as the man tries again. My limbs are too weak to function, my mind has become too far gone.
Again, my body folds. His hands desperately clutch me back to his chest, cradling my limbs in his warm embrace. He then lays me on the edge of a cold, hard stone. He turns me gently, my legs on either side of his hips. I settle into his hold, my muscles utterly relaxed as all the voices seem to quiet in his presence.
His hands grip my shoulders, easing me backward before, with a shock, my torso and head are submerged under cold water. The voices screech in protest.
My limbs reignite, my brain pulsing as it's finally reawoken. My eyes snap open as my back arches, a silent scream tearing from my lips as the souls are scraped from my irises and find their way into the well. They are swiftly pulled down, dripping like specks of water down a drain as their voices finally cease. I fight against the man's hold, trying to escape his steely grip. My lungs are on fire, and my limbs can finally feel as I claw at the sides of the stone wall. I am in hysterics, my mind bypassing my set reactions as I swing from utter emptiness to desperation in seconds.
The warm hands grasping my shirt pull me forward, my back arching as my muscles spasm. I'm pulled from the water, my eyes blinking rapidly as Erebus holds me steady. I choke on the water in my lungs, sputtering like a drowned child. His face is a mask of agitated resentment but his eyes hold eons old agony. His hands are shaking as they remain firmly attached to my soaking wet shirt. Tears well in my eyes as I look at him, anger and hatred sparking in my gut.
But, in a moment, my heart takes over. My legs wrap around his waist, my arms snatching around his naked torso as I pull him closer to me. I absorb his warmth like a snake on a rock, refusing to forfeit my comfort.
He hesitates before encasing himself around me. He doesn't say a word as he holds me tighter, his hand palming the back of my head as the other wraps around my waist. My tears are falling as, for once, I allow myself to believe in someone. To lean on him.
An anguished sob tries to tear its way from my throat but I swallow it back. My mind runs circles around the damage the angry souls have caused as he holds me as if I'll crumble. Although, I think delusion is starting to set in. By gods, I am crumbling. My soul is frantically trying to sweep up the pieces of my shattered mind– trying so desperately to hide our vulnerability. I hate this feeling. I hate this weakness.
He mumbles something incoherent as he rests his chin on the top of my shaking head. I turn my face, hoping to find comfort in the moon and her light, but my eyes find pure darkness as vast as the sea of man.
I squint, trying to examine my surroundings, before, with a shock, I realize it's not the night sky staring back at me... but his wing. He has cocooned our bodies in their massive expanse, shielding me from the world. They save me from reality as they block the world around us. For now, it is simply two bodies, sharing their heat in hopes of feeling a bit more alive.
My breath stalls in my throat and, for once, no words crawl up my throat and off my tongue. They seem to cower behind my teeth, digging into the crevices and hoping I don't force them out because I don't know what to say. I don't know whether to marvel or to scream. To protect my honor or to let him see me shatter.
He decides for me.
"This is what happens, Moonlight–" He sighs, his hand stroking my hair like I am his treasure—"when you are too arrogant and childish for your own good." I stiffen in his grasp, his beautiful, shadowed wings no longer protecting me, but caging me in instead. I feel my mental stamina increase by the moment as I muster the strength to untangle myself from his hold. My legs fall like anchors to the ground, my bare feet digging into the grass as my fingers claw at the stone well I am perched on. I attach myself to my surroundings, reel my mind back into place, because by gods do his words wound me.
Pushing him away, I scoff and stand. "So I'm the arrogant one, huh?" I laugh under my breath. "Make it make sense, skýla." He glares, shoulders tightening defensively. "For example-" I bite out—"when someone believes that only he alone can sleep with mortals, and then proceeds to project arbitrary nonsense on another... now that seems pretty pompous and arrogant to me." My lungs are burning as I hold his intense gaze, so many emotions swirling in my gut I don't know which way to turn.
"I'm trying to help you, you gods awful woman." He states calmly, his voice rough and agitated as he begins to stalk back and forth. His wings have returned to their usual locked position, though they seem to be a bit restless.
"I don't need your help, nor do want it," I snap back, the wind snatching my hair as it throws it about chaotically.
He steps toward me, getting in my face as I raise my eyes to meet his glare. "You were the one lying worthless on the floor." I bare my teeth at his statement, hating his guts and his haughtiness.
"I don't need you... I will never need you. You're simply an ever-constant thorn in my side." My remark dug into the past as my words slashed across his face. His eyes sparked in realization as his muscles tightened violently. His nostrils flared with danger as he went to grab my arm before hesitating. He dropped his hand instantly.
"You may not have died, Moonlight... but a piece of you would have." I gazed into his eyes, my words battling on my tongue as they struggled to pick a side. His eyes held answers deep within their depths, but, knowing myself, I was afraid that if I dove in to retrieve them, I'd forget how to swim. I refuse to drown in the soul of another, no matter how beautiful the depths of their heart may seem.
"Thank you for bringing me to the well," I stated calmly, pivoting and striding toward the opening of the glass ceiling through which he had carried me. Without another glance, I stepped into the hole, allowing the castle to swallow me whole as I left Erebus on the precipice of the mountain next to The Well of Souls.