The Pain in My Heart [Completed]

Chapter Forty ~Zaria

Lucy and Tyrian are wandering the halls probably arguing about the color scheme of the palace, but I decided to escape. Just for a moment. I need to clear my head. I can barely see straight.

I wander up to the Twilight Zone and I don't doddle plunging myself into the fountain transporting myself to the Crystal Cave.

When I open my eyes, I feel refreshed. The magic calls out to me and I welcome it with open arms. Only now do I realize how hard it was getting to breathe. A weight has been lifted, not all, but enough. I shiver in the water, a chill running down my spine.

So, this is the Fae Realm? Or, not. Tyrian said it disappeared; I remind myself. But how could a cave just disappear? And if I can still visit it, it must still be somewhere.

Before I aid the magic system, I get out of the pool and walk toward the outer edge of the cave, but I double-take. Maybe it's just because I haven't visited in a while but the crystals seem... dull?

I reach my hand out to the once vibrant sparkling crystal walls which have now turned a lackluster pastel. I brush my fingers against it and a tiny chunk crumbles to the floor, breaking into tiny pieces as it hits the ground. I gasp.

What is happening?

I look around and scavenge for anything that might be different inside the cave. All along the walls are tiny hairline cracks on the crystals and I fear that if I run too hard the vibrations might cause the cave to collapse. I slow my pace and control my racing thoughts.

Think. Damin trained you for moments like these. If something catches you off guard, abort or recalculate.

And as much as I don't want to think about my father, I take his advice and recalculate. The crystal. That's it. My crystal.

Felling a little silly I raise the pendant to my lips and whisper, "Tyrian?"

"Yes."

I jump backward at the shock of his voice. "Um... I have a bit of a... situation with the Crystal Cave."

"What's going on?" he asks and he sounds like a general of an army. "What do you see?"

"Cracks," I say looking above me. "The crystals... they're losing their color and - and the walls are crumbling. They are breaking apart."

I hear a foreign whisper and the noise is too sharp to be Tyrian's. I lower the crystal and listen as hard as I can.

"Zaria, I need you to get out of there. It's not safe."

I take off the necklace. "Shhhh," I whisper yell into it before shoving it into my soggy pockets.

"Zaria!" he yells in my head, but I tune him out. Too bad I'm my father's daughter.

The whispering becomes fiercer and I realize I do recognize it. But that can't be possible. I follow the voice and make it to the far end of the cave where there is a little break in the wall. I had never explored this far into the cave. I had just accepted that it was just more crystals deeper inside.

And that's when I hear it, and there is no denying the cold truth.

"Mistress, you have to know this has gone too far," the poor man cries out.

"How many times must I remind you of your loyalty? Shall I stick you in the chamber again?"

Hearing the voice surrounding me, bouncing off of every crystal is so much different than hearing it from a ghostly mist. It is no longer distorted but sounds as clear as death itself.