Genevia opened her eyes, standing up from her curled up position upon the surprisingly hard ground. Her brow creased in confusion. The Riverwick glen was nowhere to be seen. This wasn't the interior of any of the tents or cottages. Not even close
The dark grey stone walls were craggy and sharp against her fingers as she slowly drug her fingers across the walls. The air was cold, wet and dense. No real light. It was all artificial fire and barely warm torches. She looked down at herself. A brown, soft leather dress that came down to her knees. Something that she wouldn't be caught wearing. This wasn't where she was supposed to be.
From all accounts, this was the death realm. The last thing she remembered was Zekrin's Turning into a were-beast and attacking her. That meant he was probably still up in Lochdeer while she was here.
This path will most likely lead to Kalik. she thought, her feet moved her forward one painfully slow step at a time. She had heard so many different accounts of Kalik and what he was supposed to look and act like, it was hard to figure out what she believed for herself.
Will his actions towards me be based upon my beliefs about him? she paused in her thinking for a moment before shaking her head to air and silently answering herself, Why would he be? That would imply that the people that do not believe in Kalik would either see nothing. Or perhaps they would see their unconscious imagining of him? Is that possible? He's the Death ruler, it probably is.
Do I really want to meet him? What else is there for me here? Damp stone walls and lonely old me? I've been around the fae for my entire lifetime. Being alone would get quite boring after a while. Might it, in fact, drive me mad? Genevia wondered. Part of her wanted to laugh, but she didn't want the chance of it bouncing off the walls, even if nobody would hear it. Nobody but Kalik.
She breathed in deeply and quickened her pace slightly, holding her head up high and straightening her already rigid posture. As she looked around at the slight changes in scenery that would have been hard to detect, had one not been looking for it, she noticed the tunnel curving inward slightly more with every ten or so steps that she took.
Will I come to a dead end? she thought. A dead end. Funny. She had never been one for humour like this, but she was sure that death was changing her like it did every other being on Earth. For it wasn't just a saying. Death really did change people, whether they were the one that were dying or they were the ones left behind after it was all said and done.
But as she progressed, the tunnel came to a point where the passage was just large enough for her to file through without brushing her bare arms against the rough walls. The tunnel was getting lighter, even though there were no more light sources than there had been earlier in the tunnel.
Genevia walked out into the large open chamber. It was empty and she was unsure what to do. It was furnished with a large stage-like rock that rose about two feet off of the ground and in front of that was a rather well-furnished chair. After taking a look around, she sat herself in the chair, wondering what kind of a show that might be put on. She presumed that it would be quite morbid. This was the death realm, after all. It wouldn't be very fitting for it to be jolly and filled with laughter and smiles.
But who was to say for sure? The players, of course. But, as there was no backstage or curtains of any kind, she was unsure how this production might go. However, she knew that it was all that she could do to wait until something happened. When she looked behind her, she found the passageway which she had come through had sealed some time after she had come out.
No going back. Just waiting. Waiting for the unknown to happen.
She turned back into her seat, startled as she saw an apparition of her husband. It was like fog had been given color and was shaped into the figure of her Dark Prince. Her Zekrin. Her heart longed to see him for real. She longed to kiss him and tell him that everything was okay, for he was surely worrying about what he had done to her at the wedding and how he might be able to get her back.
Then, as his form started to solidify, her mouth opened slightly in shock as her eyes widened. It was him.
"Zekrin." she whispered.
She didn't know what to say when she heard him answer her, "Genevia, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
"What do you mean?" she asked as he started to disappear again before her eyes. His lips moved but no sound came forth. "Zekrin? Please! Tell me what you mean!" But he was gone before she could try to make out what words his lips were silently forming. "Come back!" she cried. The fae queen held back a stifled sob.
Then, before her eyes, another form appeared. But this one was much larger than that of her husband. This one took up the entirety of the stage and used it as his own personal chair.
"So nice to see your husband again, isn't it?" a deep voice crooned from the black figure before her. "Be glad, though. You'll get to see him again soon." He put his hand upon his knee and she could see his large, black nails which were filed to a point.
Craning her neck, she looked up at his dark face and his equally black eyes. "What do you mean soon, Kalik?"
"Direct and to the point today, aren't we? But I think that is to be expected of one who has to deal with the conniving, quick little minds of the fae each and every moment of their existence, isn't it?" Kalik spoke softly as though speaking to a child. Genevia didn't like it. She was no child... but she probably looked and seemed to be one to the death ruler. She was young in his eyes. He had been around for centuries. Her one hundred years was just a minuscule chip off of his ice block. "What I mean, my dear, is that he is here with you. And not just in spirit. Well, I guess he is, but you are too. Everyone who comes to the death realm is a spirit."
She blinked, trying to wrap her mind around the scenario that her mind was giving her. It was one that she had thought of for a fleeting instant when she saw Zekrin's apparition, but had never thought would be true. But if the boot fit, then Zekrin would wear it. If it was a plausible solution to the problem at hand, no matter how dangerous it might prove for him, he would attempt it.
"He came down here to bargain with you." it wasn't a question but Kalik treated it like one.
"Yes, he did. Got himself killed to do it too." the death ruler tutted and shook his head, "Quite a piece of work, that dark prince. But at least it was for a good cause. Well, at least the romanticists might think it a good one. I find it rather cliché, but I was never one for love." He smirked at her.
"Well, I'm down here now, let him go back. That must have been part of his deal with you!" she pleaded.
"Well, I'm sorry, deary, but that's not how it worked out, I'm afraid. Well, actually, that's a poor choice of words. I don't get frightened. I've seen everything. When you see everything, the most you tend to get is surprised when you see something original. But originality seems to be something that deaths are quite lacking in these days. Anyways, it did seem to turn out for the worst for him. You're both rather trapped in here, unfortunately for you. I guess the upside is that you're together?" he cocked his head and smiled rather creepily at her. "But the downside for you two... you're trapped here. He died for nothing. He could easily have taken on another wife, but he chose to die for you instead." He changed his voice to be rather child-like, "Isn't that romwantwic."
"There's nothing you can do, is there. He's dead and you can't bring him back, can you? You can't see that this was an honest mistake? An honest misunderstanding? I never wanted him to do this! I never wanted him to chase after me like a cat after a mouse!" she told him honestly.
"Nothing. I'm just the one at the end of the line. I'm not a middle man. I can't bring him back to life. The only way is if he found a way out. There isn't a chance of that... not for the two of you. No parole for another... hmmm..." he looked up at the ceiling as though trying to ponder the amount of time that he obviously had pre-calculated. "Six months? At least? And that's if you behave. This is quite like prison, you know. Except, if you don't behave... you don't get to stay here. You don't get a chance to live in Hell. You don't get a chance at reincarnation or any of those other little lies that you lot have come up with over the years. Instead, you get thrown into the furnace. Wellll... not even figuratively speaking, I guess." He opened his giant mouth and his chin literally hit the floor, his tongue rolling out, almost comedically like some kind of red carpet for Genevia to step upon.
Wonderful. Genevia thought, If we mess up, we get eaten by the ruler of the death realm. What a fantastic fate. Her brain managed to throw sarcasm at her at the weirdest times.
She stood up and stepped back slightly, trying to avoid stepping onto the red tongue carpet.
"What are you waiting for? You could just come with me now and forgo all this later trouble that is sure to happen if you wait." His silky smooth voice echoed. Her eyebrows rose and her mouth opened slightly as she took yet another couple of steps back.
In the back of Kalik's throat was a small black speck that came forward slowly. Elongated, cartoonishly skinny and in a black dinner suit, complete with bow tie, was Kalik himself. She swore that she had been exposed to a dose of pixie dust at some point, as she surely must be high. Genevia wasn't exactly sure what she was seeing, to be honest. She watched in slight horror as he came down the tongue carpet, getting closer to her with every step.
What is he doing? Why is he coming out his own mouth? What sort of craziness is this? Kalik was insane!
Kalik is absolutely insane, isn't he? I'm in Hell and the ruler of Hell is crazy!
She took a deep, long breath. In and out. Genevia didn't like what she saw. She didn't like what she saw at all. It wasn't natural. But what about the ruler of the Death Realm was natural? Anything? Probably nothing. Riverwick forest, Riverwick glen was natural. She wasn't anywhere close to natural right now. She was probably a good couple hundred miles underground from natural.
Genevia wanted to go through the wall, even though her back was already solidly against the grey, rough substance that made up this underground, supernatural hole. She wasn't sure what to do in this situation at all. She couldn't get out of here. There was no visible way out of here except for into his mouth. It seemed almost... sexual? But it wasn't. It was too freaky, too outright frightening to be sexual. Here Kalik was, giant demonic ruler of the Death realm, with his mouth open, probably dislocated, upon the floor with his tongue lying out on the ground probably spanning a good two meters. It was disgusting. She didn't know how he could stand it.
Says the fae who has lived for centuries with her feet on the ground and having seen more disgusting things to do with fae, weres and other creatures than any queen should have to see in her lifetime.
But her lifetime was being cut short. Being cut short by a stupid move by her husband. If he wasn't already dead, she probably would have killed him. But he was her only real way back to the realm of the living. She was his only way out too. At least, she assumed.
She didn't even know where he was. He probably didn't even know where she was. They were both lost in this literal hell hole. Lost with the devil to take care of them.
And a damn good job at taking care of us he's doing, isn't he? She asked herself rhetorically. Her head swivelled from left to right, desperately searhcfing for another way SOME other way out of this situation. Kalik knew when he did this that there wouldn't be more than one way out. Genevia was fairly certain that she would pretty much have to go down on her knees and beg in order for him to let her find her way out some other way.
Six months isn't that long of a time period, is it? You've been alive for years! What is another half a year to you? Even if it will feel like an eternity to your husband, you'll be there to console him....hopefully. You don't even know where he is! How can you be thinking that you might be able to find him in the devil's land? How do you think you'll be able to find him in the death realm? You can't even find your way in to the death realm without stopping and using fake flames as your guiding light. You're probably lucky that—She stopped for a moment, breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth. You have to think about this logically. He's playing more mind games with you. This is just the beginning of his mind games. For all you know, Zekrin might not even be here! He might still be in the land of the living! The ruler of the Death Realm isn't exactly known for telling the truth now, is he?
"I'm not going with you any time soon, Kalik." She told him, her hands placed firmly on her hips and her posture shifting almost of her body's own accord. She didn't want to seem haughty, as she was talking to the ruler of the death realm, but she felt that she almost... needed to be? She needed to stand up to him somehow. This was her way. This was her way out... well... in another six months it would be. For the moment she was stuck.
How much time had already passed above her head without her knowing? How many hours?
How many days? How many nights had the realm of Riverwick gone without a queen? Had Lochdeer gone without a king for just as long? Longer, perhaps?
"Are you sure that you won't take me up on my offer? It will be quick and painless. Less... waiting around for your undead prince—or should I say dead. As he really is dead. The death realm tends to do that to people. And were-beasts... and fae.... Everyone, really." He took a step closer and Genevia pressed herself harder against the wall. If she had been alive, she was sure that she would have bruising from the amount of pressure that she3 was putting on her back from pressing against the wall so hard.
"What part of no do you not understand, Kalik? Do death realm people not know the meaning of that word? Should I get you a tutor to teach you basic language skills? Should I send you back to your mother? Do you even have a mother? I doubt it, a big, monstrous creature like you. You probably just... existed. You probably never had love. That's why you're ruling over the loveless realm of death, isn't it?"
"Oh, but it isn't loveless, my dear! Think of how much love your dear husband, the dark prince, had to have for you in order to come here. And how much determination and love he must have to take you with him when you both inevitably try to escape. But that own't happen for a while. By what I see of that attitude, you might not even get a parole in those six months if you keep this up! But who am I to say? Perhaps you will both turn into little seraphims when you see the horrors of the death realm. For, you must know that this is just the front gate. Neither of you have even made iot throught the front door yet. That won't happen for another couple of days, at the least!"
"How long have we been here now?"
"Oh, I'd say aobut a day and a half? Approximately? Might be two. It's always hard to tell... what time zone are you from, my dear? Oh, you don't really have that kind of time in Riverwick yet, do you? Just wait until the future, dear. Wait until the future. If you can survive that long. Oh, you'd probably wish that you were still alive."
A day and a half... she thought. We've been here for a day and a half.... How can this be possible? We can't have been here for that long. I can't have been wandering in the dark, talking into this maniac for that long!
The death realm ruler sighed and retreated back into his own mouth. His mouth snapped shut with heart stopping speed. She jumped a little bit at the crack that she almost was certain could have broken teeth if he were normal. It would be odd to imagine a supernatural being like Kalik with broken teeth.
"Fine, go to find your husband. But be warned, this will be a more difficult task than you think. You may easily get lost without finding him for the six months before your possible probation."
"And what does this probation entail? Are we watched by your pet hydra or something?" she asked almost mockingly.
He chuckled, "Something like that, yes. If I tell you, then it will be less fun for the both of us. Instead... let's just let you two find out for yourselves, shall I? But that will be a while before anything even close to that happens for you. Six months. It goes faster than you think, but, as they say, a watch pot never boils. And that certainly applies here." With those words of wisdom, he stepped aside and the wall behind him opened to reveal yet another tunnel lit with glowing blue light that flickered occasionally. She didn't like the dimness of the light, but she knew it was her way away from the deathly creature.
"I will see you soon, my sweet queen of the fae."
"Not if I can help it." She muttered, moving faster than she thought she had the energy for.
She tried to let herself be guided once again by her own feet, but this time it didn't work. She knew by instinct that no magick within her abilities would work in this realm. That would be much too easy to escape from. Her hands were starting to glow the deep green of a magick-less fae. She hated to see that dark, morbid green glow around her own skin, but there was nothing to be helped, no matter how much she oh so wanted to help herself.
As she wandered through the empty passages, she became curious as to why it was so empty. Why was there no other creatures within these tunnels? Was it another one of Kalik's mind games? Or was everyone in separate tunnels to begin with? Why? If everyone was separated, how did Kalik ever expect her to meet her husband again? Was he just playing a big, disgustingly sick joke upon them both? Did Zekrin know of this joke that he was playing on them? What did he think? Was he trying once again to be the daring night to come to her rescue? She knew it wouldn't work. Not here, especially. This was not an even playing field by any meaning of the word. This was Kalik's playground. Everyone knew that. Everyone knew it from a young age. The question was whether that young aged you believed it or not.
"Zekrin?" she called out uselessly to the organic stone walls. She knew he wouldn't hear her. She didn't know why she was even trying to be heard. But she was. Perhaps it was just her unconscious need to be heard? Her unconscious need to have people hear her and be around her, as it was such from a young age as princess.
She heard ghostly whispers and wailing at a high pitch. It sounded like a banshee. Were there banshees down here too? She had never met a banshee, so she could never tell for herself whether the tales her mother had told her were real or just another myth to blow in the wind and recite to her own nonexistent children.
Nonexistent children.
She had never thought about it before, but perhaps she should have.
There was nobody that would be able to actually take over for Genevia now that she was deceased. The Riverwick glen would be thrown into more of a chaos state than it would if she had just died and left a successor. She had none to be said. None to be known. She wondered who they would choose. Her first lady, perhaps? But she would make a terrible ruler. She wasn't even royal. But then, there weren't many true-blooded royals to be found in Riverwick at this time.
There was a reason that her family had wanted her to reproduce. This was probably one of them, she realized. But she was much too late in this realization.
The queen turned down the endless curved passageways. She had no thoughts in her brain except trying to get out; trying to find her husband. But that probably wasn't realistic, at least by Kalik's standards. But she didn't know if she was realy going to go by Kalik's standards. She was queen. She was to go by her own standards. But did her ranking really mena nayhthing here? Probably not. He was the ruler of the underworld, the ruler of the rotting flesh, the ruler of the spirit army. There were many more titles which she didn't care to utter, let alone think about.
She was somehow utterly exhausted by what she had experienced thus far in the death realm. She couldn't imagine having six more months in this hell. She couldn't imagine having Kalik taunt her for twenty four more weeks, for one hundred and sixty eight more days. She couldn't handle it. She already was going quite annoyed by the lack of proper company which was present in this realm of the unloving.
What will come next? Will I go mad? Will I be the fae queen that goes down in history by rocking herself to sleep by muttering sweet rotten nothings to herself in the midst of spirit creatures? She wasn't willing to think abouty it but her brain did it for her. What will I become after six months of being holed up here alone? Will I ever find Zekrin? Or is he out of my range? Is he without the limitations of the maze which
Kalik crafted for me? Is it the same maze that he is in right now? Is there really an exit? Is he really going to let us out after half a living year? If it had already been a day and a half on the surface in that short amount of time in the death realm, what is stopping time from going faster for me? Why doesn't magick work down here? All these useless questions without answers circling in her head like they surely were with her husband, although probably much different. Much darker, as his nickname obviously implied.
"Where are you, my dark prince?" she called in the tinkling language of the fae. She knew he couldn't understand her, but she knew that Kalik could understand every word that left her mouth, but hopefully not any more than that. If so, she would feel more violated than she already, surprisingly did.
She watched the blue light flicker and dim before coming back at full brightness. What is keeping these lights.... Alight? What is keeping them glowing in the midst of the night?
As Genevia walked along down the gradually straightening path, she hummed an old fae folk lullaby.
Across the land and through the seas.
The gentle maid does call me.
Her voice as gentle as spring's breeze.
But her call as dangerous as her deeds.
She kept humming the short lullaby. It was really meant for sailors and they had fit the myth to merpeople, though it had originated with the fae. It seemed to fit better with their lore of the merpeople, whether that lore be true to the history of the sea people or not. She doubted it was. Humans were quite notorious for making up lies. Stories, they called them. They weren't, really. They knew the real lore but they chose to ignore it and make up lies which then became mythos and legend.
The fae queen kept humming the lullaby over and over to herself. It wasn't to calm her or anything, for it was relatively new to her. She had only heard it circulating within the last seventy five years or so and it had already faded from the minds of the young sailors who were old men by now. They rarely passed on such simple legends to their children or their children's children. It wasn't done unless it was quite an exaggeration upon the real story.
However unreal the story itself may have become, the lyrics of the lullabies usually stayed the same, or rather similar, at the least.
"But her call as dangerous as her deeds." Genevia whispered to herself, her voice floating melodically through the passage. She frowned as she heard an echo of the song. It was the beginning of the song again. Not the ending line which she had sung. A tenor voice.
"But though the sailors at sea The maiden was called out to be. The unworldly one who tricked them all but me. The mystic lady of the sea." The man's voice echoed like hers had through the cavern.
She paused in her footsteps to listen to the beautiful echo of that high tenor voice which had just sung the second verse. It sounded like Zekrin... but it couldn't be. He was in another maze. It couldn't be this easy to meet him. Kalik wouldn't make it this easy to meet him. Or would he? Would he do it just to tear them apart again? Would he do it just to torment them by letting them see each other, only to not really be with each other until the end? She didn't know and she almost didn't want to round the corner in order to find out. But if she didn't find out, then what would stop Zekrin from staying where he was and neither of them moving. Neither of them saying a word... just singing the fae lullaby to one another until they fell asleep. Until they went on parole from the death realm. Until they temporarily escaped from Kalik.
Will we ever esecape him? Will we ever escape his voice? The angel of music singing songs in her head? The demon of music, more like. For this surely couldn't be real. Will I turn the corner just to see a misty apparition like before with Kalik? Will he appear again with his gaping mouth and red tongue carpet? Will he force me to succumb to his wishes and be eaten, never to return to the land of the living? Will I still have my free will after six months of living in the Death Realm?
I don't know. I just know that my feet long to move. I know that I long to see my love again. I know that I love Zekrin and no one—no creature—can take that away from me. No one can take away my love for him. No one creature but myself. No one can stop me from loving him.
But will my love still last through the ages? Will my love still last while we are both dead to the world above but alive enough here to thrive and live our lives down here by ourselves, away from our kingdoms and our communities; our races and our prejudices? We have to let go of the world above, people always said when they talk aobut death. But I don't think those people have ever died. Not really. How can you let go of something so wonderful? How can you let go of something so fleeting and full of excitement? How can you just sacrifice all those feelings for the dull, monotonus tunnels of the death realm? No one todl me that dying would be like this. No one told me that Kalik would act this way towards me, a queen. No one told me that magick would fail to work in this lifeless realm.
But will my love still last through the ages? Will my love still last while we are both dead to the world above but alive enough here to thrive and live our lives down here by ourselves, away from our kingdoms and our communities; our races and our prejudices? We have to let go of the world above, people always said when they talk aobut death. But I don't think those people have ever died. Not really. How can you let go of something so wonderful? How can you let go of something so fleeting and full of excitement? How can you just sacrifice all those feelings for the dull, monotonus tunnels of the death realm? No one todl me that dying would be like this. No one told me that Kalik would act this way towards me, a queen. No one told me that magick would fail to work in this lifeless realm. No one told me that this would be so hard. No one told me that being away from the love of my life would be so hard.
But his life is so fleeting, but his love was just as short as mine. We were lovers destined to die together. Star crossed lovers, perhaps, but not by mutual agreement. Not by our own joint choice. It was separate agreements... well, it was really just his agreement. I never agreed to this at all. I wanted to live, but he attacked me. And yet I still love him. He killed me, and I still love him just as much as I did on our wedding day.
Is this how love is supposed to work? You love someone just as much no matter what they do? I don't know that I have ever felt anything akin to this. I have lived for centuries, but somehow I have never felt this true love which I experienced within the last few days of my life. How is that possible?
And how is it possible that I am standing here, still as a stone, while there is a possibility that that same lover is standing around the corner?
She stepped around the corner, her eyes searching for any sign of him. For any sign that he might be here. What she found, however, was not what she expected....