Page 18 of Fallacies

I begin moving without a plan, panic gripping me by the throat. It’s like concrete has been poured over my feet, and instead of stone slabs, I’m walking along the ocean floor, the pressure of all the heat and energy making my ears pop.

I need to put it somewhere before I implode under the pressure.

Making my way down the hall, flames race faster over every square inch of my body, searching for a way in. I have no more room for it.

Deciding the corridor the snake crawled out of is my only option, I release every flame in a violent crack of magic that jolts my body backwards.

Fire barrels down the stone, a stampede of flames, and then it explodes like a hand grenade, the echo ringing out through the halls.

There’s a muffled shout, then a grunt, and I whirl towards the sound with my hands up, ready to fight.

Down the hall, sparks still dancing over stone, there’s a body slumped against the wall.

I killed someone. Oh my gods, I killed someone.

My feet can’t get me there fast enough, and as I near the slumped figure, burned and blistered, I recognize him instantly.

“Phoenix!” I shout, sprinting the rest of the way towards him. His burnt flesh ripples, the mender pill stitching it back together.

With brutal clarity, I realize why Callan had taken one too. And why he’d said, “we.”

“Gods, Nix! Are you okay⁠—”

Phoenix starts laughing. A manic and sinister laugh that crawls over my freshly healed skin.

As quickly as it started, it stops, and he slips into a deadly calm, his colorless eye darkening somehow. “I’m gonna get you,” he grunts.

I back away a step, my eyes widening, and he tracks the movement much like a predator would.

“Faster, little Reenan,” Nix taunts. “As soon as I heal, you’re fair game.”

My eyes bulge as I turn, taking off down the corridor to the sound of more manic laughter.

I take random corners, spinning around at dead ends, all while constantly checking over my shoulder. The anticipation is scarier; the promise of coming face to face with whatever is next. If it’s anything like the Scarlet Serpent, I’m fucked.

Soon, it grows eerily quiet once more. The only sound aside from my footsteps is my desperate attempt to steady my breathing.

I jump when some sort of fog sweeps out over the dark grey stone, pouring from around the next corner. Then comes the sound of rushing water, followed by the soft creak of…wood? Like a bridge swaying or a dock bobbing over shallow waves.

Magic rushes to my fingertips, the portion I’d kept from the snake. My Solian reserves have dwindled enough that the beast lurking in the void beneath rears its head—a silent request to invite him up.

I decline.

Refusing to let my swelling fear fester, I choke down a few more breaths, and I force myself forward. I turn the corner in one quick step and nearly lose my balance, my arms shooting out to wave in wide circles. My stomach flips, my heart sinks, and only when I’m steady enough to catch my breath do I register my surroundings.

I’m teetering off the edge of a cliff.

A fucking cliff.

The rock I’m standing on is perched high above a thunderous current of water. The roaring, rapid rises and crashes around me, water spraying onto my face. The air is foggy, barely clear enough to make out the tops of the stone walls of Albatross towering on the other side.

I’ve never hated Callan more than I do right now. As soon as I catch my breath, I flip off the sky—just in case he’s watching—then I begin to assess the very unfortunate obstacle I’ve found myself in front of.

If I’d known this godsforsaken place was a part of Initiation, I would have found some way to get some pointers, and I would have started with Pax. He would have given me some hints at least. Anything would have been more than what Callan provided.

Wiping a spray of water off my face, I prop my hands on my hips. I’m going to have to cross. That much is obvious.

My knees shake as I peer over the side of the rock, looking for anything that I can use, but all I can see through the dense fog is a plank of wood.