The Stars are Dying : (Nytefall: Book 1)

“A peculiar thing you are.”

The first thing to trickle into my senses was the curiosity of an old man. With the flashback of lethal fangs promising a painful end, my eyes snapped open at the jarring sound. I shot upright, registering I was lying on stone, but heat crept over me. Beside me I found a humble fire. The room looked similar to the one I’d left Hektor in, and in my panic I searched for him.

“You will not find him here,” the old man said.

I followed the voice to the armchair, and its gentle tone quelled my fear to stand steadily. “Where am I?” I asked, looking for Zath or Calix or Rose, but it was just us.

Just us, and as I surveyed the room again to discover why my throat had begun to tighten, I realized one thing that sped up my pulse.

There was no door. No windows.

“Where do you want to be?”

A tap against stone turned me around. I took a step back when the man revealed himself. His yellow-green eyes were sliced by a vertical pupil. The irises of a serpent. Around the edges of his tired, pale skin green scales crept out, starting at his silver hairline and traveling up his neck. Despite my wariness of the large beast who had chased us, I couldn’t be fearful of this man’s presence.

His cane tapped the ground as he came closer, the top of it carved into a snake. He waited, and I remembered his question.

“Does it really matter where I want to be?” I asked back.

His smile curled with warmth. “Of course. This life can drag us to many places against our will. Destiny is a sea, and the boat that fights it will drown. That which rides the storm finds the strength to conquer it.”

I thought on his words, staring at the back wall that had become a depthless void. I wasn’t sure whether it was the way out or a trick that would claim me for good.

“I am where I want to be,” I whispered. It kindled something inside me. Threads of memory that led into a space as uncertain as the one I stared at.

“Then you made a brave choice to come back,” he said.

“I’m not sure destiny wants me here though.”

“Waves can seem high and they fight with direction, but no storm is eternal. Venture the path that calls to your soul when the sea calms enough for you to see what lies ahead. That is our want, though it is never without challenge.”

My eyes closed with the liberation he lifted from me. The glimmer of hope that dispersed shadows of uncertainty. “Your serpent attacked me,” I said, wondering where I truly was.

“Many have faced the Hasseria, but she is actually very peaceful. Like the Crocotta, she is a spirit guardian protecting the thing at the very center of the maze people have come from far and wide to attempt to retrieve. It is impossible, however. A masterful illusion that lures those with ill will toward it into her lair. It keeps her fed and entertained.”

I shuddered at the casual way he spoke of it. “What is it?”

“Why don’t you see for yourself?”

I really had nothing to lose. If I’d died from being swallowed by the Hasseria, then this passing would be inevitable.

“What about you?” I asked, turning my head back as I stepped closer to the wall. I blinked at the empty room, raising a hand to my forehead with the dizzy spell. I couldn’t keep up with the tricks of this game.

Is he just another illusion?

I reached out to the wall, and when my hand passed through it, I forced my body to follow. The darkness that guided me was weightless. A void of nothing. Calm like an ocean at peace. While my feet still walked on firm ground, my form drifted. Then, slowly, my anchor was sinking, gently drawing me back and reminding my soul to abide by the laws of gravity.

Light broke to reveal the steps I climbed, and I felt oddly spirited and lightweight as though coming out of a trance. At the top, I was encased by four walls, but casting my sight up I knew I was back in the maze from the square balconies. In the distance I thought I heard voices, but I paid them no attention as my sight fell to the podium only a few strides away.

I turned back as if the old man would appear to help explain, but the stairs were gone.

They didn’t exist.

My hand cupped my forehead. I couldn’t handle any more obscure conjurings, or I was sure to start slipping from my grasp on reality. I breathed slowly, making my only focus to feel through my senses one by one and confirm that what was unfolding around me was real.

Calmed, I was drawn to the podium again. It whispered in a language so ancient and beautiful, moving my steps and stealing the world around me as I stared at the most magnificent thing I had ever laid eyes upon. Resting beautifully on a cushion of blue velvet was a giant, scaled black egg with silver etchings. I thought I could hold it in both palms, but as I reached, a familiar hiss coiled up my spine.

“Where have you been?” the Hasseria asked in that serpentine voice. It moved like a slow lap of water toward me, circling me and the podium as though it wasn’t done deciding my worth. “You fled in your cowardice, and now you come to claim as if you didn’t abandon us for centuries.”

“It wasn’t my choice,” I pleaded, overcome with sorrow though I didn’t have a full recollection of what for.

“You should have stayed away.”

“No.”

It began to rise, towering over me, and this time I didn’t think its attack would be so merciful. “As soon as what dwells within you is released, history will begin to repeat. You think the stars are dying now, but if you are unleashed, the nights will fall for longer…the darkness will shroud. Without the sun, the fae and humans will be powerless. Without the stars, the celestials will fall again. The moon will thrive eternal, and the reign of the vampires will begin.”

I fell to my knees. “There has to be another way.”

“It is unfair,” it said, almost with pity. “That the one who belongs is the only one who can be destroyed to stop the plague.”

“What is the plague? What is making the stars die?”

“Search your heart and you will find it.”

I shook my head with a surge of denial, not knowing exactly what for, only that my world might be cleaved in two if I discovered it.

“I have a duty, just like you,” it went on, and I balked at the threat looming over me. “I too am a protector of the celestials, and right now, you are a threat to them.”

“Wait,” I breathed, reaching for my dagger, but it looked feeble against the mighty serpent.

“Goodbye, maide—”

I winced at the high-pitched screech that pierced my ears, smothering the human cry I’d heard right before it. But I’d seen the flash of pink, and out of fear for Rose I snapped my eyes open, incredulous to find her atop the serpent’s head, two hands wrapped around the hilt of a blade she’d plunged between its eyes.

Stars, I didn’t know how she’d climbed the wall to leap down, nor how she’d gathered the unwavering courage I watched in awe of.

“Shit,” Zath swore, passing me just as I surged toward the battling duo as they came crashing down. He got to her before she hit the ground. I winced at the impact that slammed them both down as he wrapped his arms around her to take the worst of the fall.

The Hasseria withered, still shrieking.

“How did she do that?” Calix said beside me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the fascinating beast as it turned to sparkling gold dust. Beginning at its tail, its whole huge body dissipated until it floated like wisps, a snake of the air that soared high, and my momentary sorrow turned to wonder, somehow knowing…it was not the end for the Guardian. Only the end of this form.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Zath groaned, pain straining his voice as he rolled onto his side.

Rose was already standing, frowning at him as if she were debating whether or not to help him. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she grumbled, bending to hook her arm through his.

Zath glanced at her touch, and I felt the need to look away from them, instead occupying my attention with the egg that remained.

“You’re welcome,” Zath said without a thank-you.

“What is that?” Calix asked, coming up by my side.

I reached for it, but Zath grabbed my wrist.

“Oh, hell no. We are not taking that to hatch a baby serpent demon.”

“I don’t think that’s what it is,” I said.

He let me go, but his wariness remained.

My palms went to cup the egg, skin pricking with anticipation. I hesitated in awe when it changed color. Texture. It became gritty white with fiery red hues like it had been born of flame. Though it was equally as mesmerizing, it wasn’t the one I wanted. It switched back as if posing a question.

A choice.

Though the brilliant, warm-toned egg was beautiful, it didn’t feel right in this realm. So when it changed twice more, my hands flattened on the black-and-silver etched egg.

My heart skipped a couple of beats.

Nothing happened, but it did not switch again.

“It’s probably dead,” Zath muttered.

The shell was cold. My fingers moved over the thin, glittery scales, tracing the silver swirls that reminded me of my own. I marveled at it with a flare of protection, but Zath’s assumption dropped in my stomach. I lifted it fully, momentarily bracing as though the walls would tumble down with my claim on it.

“I send you for the key and you retrieve trinkets.”

My blood chilled at Drystan’s voice from above. Our attention whipped up to him, and the others braced. The prince leaned over the balcony on his forearms as if we were an amusing spectacle.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, but he’s right. It’s nothing more than an ornament. Perhaps worth a pretty penny though. Now dip into your pocket, Calix, and give her what she needs.”

Calix frowned, patting his side, and his eyes slipped to me as he retrieved…

My final key piece.

“You might want to hurry along. I would have killed that past lover of yours, but I’m trying to remain unseen, and it seems he has the protection of guards, which only means one thing: right now he’s heading to my father, and if he already knows about you, you’ll have to trust I’m a lesser force to fear.”

“Hektor is here?” Zath growled.

I shivered at the lethal glare he cast Calix in accusation. My brow furrowed in apology to find Calix still clutching his wound.

“Calix needs help,” I said to Zath.

“I’m not leaving you with him,” he snarled.

“You have to. It’s almost over.”

I approached Rose, and she seemed to read me as her hands reached for the egg. I released it to her with a dash of reluctance. She wasn’t one to express her concern often, and I could only smile to ease whatever pinched her expression in protest. We both knew there was no other way. This was the sacrifice Cassia had been willing to make.

Rose extended her key to me. “Good luck.”

I nodded, trying to appear brave for them. “Don’t let the king capture you. It might be best to find somewhere in the city to lie low for a while. I’ll find you all after,” I promised.

When I scanned the space above, Drystan was gone.

“Stray—”

“I’ll be okay,” I said at Zath’s pained objection. Taking the final key piece from Calix, I braced. Held my breath. As the world engulfed me in light.