You have her? Herric asked, and Rion nodded, relief expanding in his chest. Despite everything and the lengths he’d gone to find this place, a small part of him had wondered if any of this had been real. And the ark?

“I have it.”

There was a long pause as Rion was left stewing in the bleak mire of uncertainty.

A click broke through the whispers, and then, the wall started to move. It ground open slowly, dust and debris raining down as though it hadn’t been opened in a very long time.

Rion stepped back, his chest and shoulders expanding with deep breaths.

Then Rion, king of The Aurora, enter.

The door revealed another tunnel, glowing with purple light, its walls made of luminescent stone.

“Come,” Herric said, his voice no longer a whisper in his mind but solid and corporeal, echoing off the walls like nails penetrating steel. Rion hesitated, suddenly wondering if this was madness. Some instinct told him he could still turn back if he chose. That it wasn’t too late. But if he crossed over that threshold, he might be trapped here forever.

“She’s waiting for you,” Herric said, and that was all the motivation he needed. It was a risk he would take willingly. There was nothing left for him on the surface, anyway.

Rion proceeded carefully down the tunnel as the colors shifted around him in a wash of glowing pinks and greens and blues. He’d always imagined the Underworld to be even darker than the mountains—not this riot of color. He wondered if this was all an homage to the aurora that Herric had lost sight of all those years ago. Perhaps deep down, every one of us was a bit sentimental.

Rion continued walking, his shoulders and back aching from carrying the girl for so many hours. The alcohol in his blood had finally worn off, and though his head pounded, he could at least manage a straight line.

Movements slithered in and out of Rion’s periphery, and every time he turned, they would be gone. It was impossible to catch their source. He shook his head, deciding it didn’t matter. He had one destination now, and it was the woman waiting for him.

He wound down, deeper and deeper, like the world was swallowing him up, until finally the path leveled off and he entered another long tunnel, this one lined with mirrors reflecting more of that eerie luminescent light. He continued walking, seeing his face reflected in the mirror over and over. He barely recognized himself, his eyes wild and his skin pale. He was no longer the king he once was. Maybe he hadn’t been for a long time.

The ground vibrated beneath his feet, a thrumming swimming in his limbs. As he continued walking, the rhythm pulsed through his chest, throbbing into the marrow of his bones.