exhaustion stole the last of val's energy as he ducked under the familiar eaves of the weatherstone.
the grotto. he stared back at it, and swore it hissed as he passed the threshold.
miette -- where was miette? now astera, too. his voice had gone raspy from calling them both. sobeille! astera! his drawn voice seemed to fade, each echo growing weaker and weaker as it rebounded down the endless tunnels.
he hated being here. though he took his first breaths in these halls, he recognized for what it truly was. old bones restlessly turned in this place, their spirits sighing as they paced back and forth while sapphique's aventurine pressed on in search of sapphique's missing daughters.
another entered the eerie halls of the grotto. she was aware of it in the soft voices of the water; intruder! these small rivulets murmured, as they crawled and clambered over wetstone.
a man, who tugged at some distant memory. caiaphas set her gaze upon his face and for a moment, saw in those black plumes the framed face of her daughter.
she followed, while all around them a deep sense of delirium set in.
the deeper he went, the more the grotto's siren song ensnared him.
it was as if the more he straightened out, the more convoluted the labyrinth became.
a pair of yellow eyes followed val's form.
a whisper, a shiver --
the sigh of the sea pounding in his ears.
val's voice seared the subterranean caverns, but who was there to hear them?
the boy's shadows grew long in the cave.
how much deeper would he run?
how much longer before his bones joined her own -- was he not her own? did he not belong here?
here, here, here. my home, my blood, my son, my curse --
she felt the closing teeth of the cave around them, the hungering sirensong of the grotto as it lured valravn to its gristly, subterranean heart.
he'd seen those eyes before. a thousand times in dreams, hanging like gibbous lanterns. more hungering than kind -- more cold than the polar surface of the moon.
astera? miette.
he croaked out one last gasp, sensing rather than seeing the closing of the cave around him.
where were they? where was he?
he pressed against a column of flowstone, sinking to the cold floor. the last thing he saw was a figure step from the darkening cave walls, its face illuminated by two molten discs of yellow.
he was aware of her, but only just so. the veil between them was great, and every word caiaphas hurled towards him was sent out into a soundless void.
a few times, his gaze flickered as he took stock of his surroundings. yet each time, his pupils clouded further.
the once-siren queen felt the cave's heartbeat shudder as he embraced a column of limestone.
exhaustion or some other evil had taken him. he sunk to the floor, his skull landing with a soft thud along the stony bank of the luminescent pool's surface.
as the seconds passed he slouched further, each exhale of his dark nostrils sending flutters across the dancing blue water.
wake up, you idiot.
something about this cave -- val's sense of consciousness slipped below the water's spectral surface.
he was underwater. the sounds of the world above were muffled. a clutch of bubbles burst from his throat.
he was clawing up
but was it up?
a distant light panned through the rippling ocean and he began to paddle to it
his throat burned
the light tilted and turned towards him
taking on a shape
glintwater yellow
a pair of accipitrine eyes turned their sunlight's harsh glare upon him
* * *
when val woke his throat was raw as if saltwater had burned its way through it.
he was back at the rosa den. his fur was damp, a cold sweat rustling underneath his skin.
miette. astera. a pair of yellow eyes. the torn fabric of his dream was disorienting.
but the message was clear.
val threw back his head in a howl, erupting from the den in the direction of the grotto.
go, you stupid boy.
already she felt herself fading; the fabric that held her in this realm unraveling.
her entire life she'd believed her purpose was her children -- and now she knew, looking down upon the son of raleska, that her life's purpose had nearly achieved its end.
just one more thing to do.
one more knot to tie before she herself was undone.