A shiver crept up Aldin’s back as he stepped through the portal, the moonlight bathing the rugged landscape in a ghostly silver. The rest of the group stepped out, Melissa, Delphine and Luna, their expressions were tight with anticipation.

“Everyone good to go?” Aldin broke the quiet.

“Yep,” Luna responded, her eyes scanning the dark crevices between the rocks as the portal closed behind her.

“Just keep focused and stay silent. Any sign of us could ruin everything,” Melissa cautioned, her voice serious.

Aldin wiped his clammy palms on his pants, trying to steady his nerves. He didn’t know why he was so nervous, but his heart was racing and his gut felt like it was in knots. Delphine noticed his discomfort. “You’re the sorcerer here, Aldin. Stand proud. He doesn’t know the force he’s dealing with.”

Luna managed a shaky smile. “You’ve got this, Aldin.”

Melissa’s voice grew somber. “Before we go any further, there’s something you need to know.”

“Is this the time?” Delphine asked, clearly anxious to proceed.

“It’s important,” Melissa said, locking eyes with Luna. “If things go south, there’s an envelope with your names on it among my things. I love you.”

“We should get moving. Time isn’t on our side,” Delphine urged.

Luna nodded and cast an illusion spell, cloaking them from sight.

Approaching the mountain’s base, Aldin noticed a solitary cabin. He signaled to the group to slow then creeped up along the side of the trail leading to it. He approached from the side and peeked in—the fire burned without fuel, an eerie sight.

“That’s strange,” he whispered, feeling the unnatural chill of the flames.

Suddenly, the cabin disappeared, replaced by a vast opening in the mountain. A stairway plunged into darkness. Aldin glanced back to see a note where the door had been. He read it, the words sending a cold dread through him.

Aldin’s hands shook as he held the note, its words seeming to writhe and twist in the dim light:

Venture down the stairway deep, where secrets in the mountain’s heart do sleep. I await in the shadows where few dare roam. Come alone, or fear will be sown.

C.

He stood straight and waved at the rest of his group. They all appeared from further back in an instant. A quiet pop he had never noticed sounded as Luna’s portal appeared next to him. He handed her the note. They all got a chance to look at it before anyone spoke.

“What the hell is this? Is he just playing games with us or what? What’s with the stupid poem?” Luna asked.

“Stealth is out the window, but there’s no word on the children,” Delphine remarked, handing the unsettling note back to Aldin.

“We move forward,” Melissa stated, her resolve clear as she began their descent.

Aldin was engulfed in an unusual silence, the guiding Voice now silent for over a day. As they descended into the darkness he tried to connect to the Collective. He did so repeatedly along their trek. It was a long way down a slope then eventually led to a long tunnel. The collective kept showing them walking on and on. He eventually stopped checking due to the monotony of it.

“We’re approaching the end. A tunnel stretches before us,” Melissa called out.

Leading the group, with Luna and Aldin behind her and Delphine at the back, they moved cautiously. Just as he was about to check the Collective again and without warning, a sharp pain burst in Aldin’s head, sending him sprawling to the ground. His vision blurred, he could only watch as Delphine turned on Luna and Melissa, a few fleeting flashes of light were all he saw. Struggling to stand, Aldin’s efforts were in vain. As his sight faded, Delphine delivered a brutal kick to his face, plunging him into darkness.

Consciousness briefly returned, and he heard two distinct voices—Delphine’s and one that sounded hauntingly like his sister Colleen’s, which couldn’t be. Dragged along the cold stone, Aldin’s mind raced with questions until darkness enveloped him once again.

Aldin snapped to attention, the oppressive chains gnawing into his skin. He fought against their hold, but they were unbreakable.

“Fight as much as you like, Aldin,” whispered a voice, ethereal and eerily gentle.

“Show yourself! What is this? Why am I chained?” he demanded, his voice bouncing off the invisible walls enclosing him.

“Easy now. You’ll be called to the grand chamber when it’s time. There’s a ritual, and you’re an essential guest,” the voice responded, tinged with a familiarity that sent a shiver down his spine.

“I’m not moving an inch until I get some answers! Where’s Delphine? And the others?” Aldin’s voice thundered in the emptiness.

“Oh, Aldin, still as spirited as ever. You haven’t mellowed a bit in five years,” the voice teased.

“Five years? What are you rambling about?” His words were steeped in bewilderment.

A hush fell, then the sound of footsteps, measured and haunting, filled the space. A figure shrouded in deep red loomed out of the darkness, her hood casting a shadow over her face. With a deliberate gesture, she unveiled herself. Aldin’s heart felt as if it were attempting to jump out of his mouth and run. Colleen, his sister, whom he had mourned, stood before him.

“Hey there, little brother,” she intoned, her voice a distorted echo of affection.

“What in the world—?” Aldin recoiled, the chains rattling in discord. He propped himself up against the wall, his gaze locked on her in disbelief.

“You… you’re dead. How can…?” He stammered.

Stolen story; please report.

“I didn’t die. It’s as simple as that. Corthus approached me a few weeks prior to my “Accident”. He told me about you and how our dear parents were going to eventually lose interest in me. Because of you. How you were going to be the great Sorcerer and save the world. How I would be cast aside due to your fame. Then he told me how I could change that.”

“But mom and dad died a year after you were supposed to. I don’t understand why you would still help him.”

“Because Aldin. It’s not about their approval anymore. I mourned them why Corthus killed them but…”

“Corthus killed them?”

“Oh yeah. That was his intention. He said that if they died you would never grow to be a strong Sorcerer and it would make it easier to end you later. He just wants your power. That’s it. I stayed because who else was I going to go to? One of the Covens? Corthus is the only one who ever saw my potential. Now, I’m more of a mage than any other. And with Corthus finally taking the Sorcerers power, we will rule over the entire world.”

“How could you do this? How are you so casual about our parents’ deaths?!” He shouted at her in outrage, tears pouring down his face as he watched a different person than the sister he had known say vile things.

“Let’s not dwell on that. Corthus is waiting for us in the main chamber,” she said, reaching down to grab him. As she came close to his face with her own, he noticed something behind her ear and let out a small gasp.

“Damn.” Not Colleen said. “The jig is up, I guess. Of course I’m not your sister. I mean I am, but she has been dead a long time. Corthus thought you would like to see a friendly face before you died. He’s a big softy. Now, lets get a move on, yes?”

With heavy reluctance, he trailed behind her, his feet dragging. The hallway mirrored the one before, lined with stone and flickering torches, leading to a chamber bathed in an ominous orange light. The room expanded into a colossal dome, a void at its heart. The air was thick with heat, radiating from the fiery chasm below.

Off to the side, Luna, Melissa, and the children were bound by the same chains that restrained him. Delphine was nowhere to be seen.

“Are you guys alright?” he shouted to them.

“They’re safe for the moment. But one wrong move from you, and that could change,” came a voice from the shadows, known yet menacing.

“Corthus,” Aldin spat out, the name a venomous whisper.

Aldin’s breath caught as Corthus stepped out from the gloom, a mocking smile on his face. “Well, Aldin, color me surprised. You’ve figured out I exist, even without any real training in magic. You’ve got my attention again. Now, here we are, finally meeting in person,” he said, his smile stretching further.

Corthus was something out of a nightmare. His eyes burned red, his skin was deathly pale, and his long, dark hair fell around him. He wore nothing but black pants, and his skin was marked with red tattoos in some strange script Aldin couldn’t read. Not Colleen walked Aldin over to a post and chained him up with another set of heavy chains that echoed through the room then, she stood by Corthus.

“You must have a lot of questions. Let me clear a few things up. First, those chains are so strong, they’d stop anyone, even a god, from using magic. Don’t bother trying. Second, yes, this is your sister. Well, she used to be your sister. It’s been a long time since she was that.”

“Was Delphine part of your plan from the start, or did you rope her in later?” Aldin asked, his voice calm but filled with fear.

“Delphine played her part after our little fight outside Tacoma. But that’s all over now. She was disposed of once she did what she was supposed to,” Corthus said casually, as if it was nothing, making Aldin’s skin crawl.

“Just gotten rid of, just like that?”

“Oh, please. You don’t really care, do you?”

“Of course, I care. Traitor or not, she didn’t deserve to be killed just because you were done with her! That’s not your call to make!”

“Who says? You think I care about your opinion? I do what I want. That’s what gods do.”

“You think you’re a god?”

“You don’t? Obviously, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Why kidnap the kids?”

“Oh, that. It’s simple. I’m going to sacrifice them to free my creation.”

“You’re going to… You can’t just kill a bunch of kids!”

“Why not? Their pure, unshaped power will fuel the spell I need to unleash the most destructive force ever made. My creation.”

“Why would you need to sacrifice these kids if you’re a god? Gods can do whatever they want. They don’t need rituals and spells. Sounds like you’re not the god you thought you were, huh?” Aldin challenged, standing his ground.

Corthus’s cackle reverberated off the stone walls, a symphony of insanity. “Aldin, you’re quite the entertainer! Your so-called resistance is amusingly futile. I’ve extinguished more Sorcerers than you can fathom, yet here you are, amusing me with your childish defiance.”

“You’re wrong, Corthus! These children are innocent!”

“Am I? The final act is upon us. Isn’t it magnificent?” he said, turning to Colleen.

“Yes, my lord,” she responded, her voice devoid of life.

“Lord? You buy into this charade?” Aldin spat out, his voice laced with contempt.

“Your skepticism doesn’t diminish my godhood. Only a deity could devise such an impeccable scheme.”

“You’ve lost touch with reality.”

“Have I? Was it an illusion when I first saw your name? When I found you through her?” He pointed at Luna.

“These bonds are new to me. There was no connection before.”

“You’re sorely mistaken. The tie between you is eternal, unbreakable by even death itself.”

Melissa’s anguished sounds pierced the silence, her eyes begging for compassion.

“Speak up, mother,” Corthus ordered, and the gag disappeared.

“I can’t… not now,” Melissa pleaded.

“She’s afraid to reveal the truth—that she’s not Luna’s biological mother.”

“Please, stop,” Melissa cried. “Luna, I always meant to tell you…”

“That she’s merely a name to you.”

“…that you weren’t born to me. But there was never a right moment…”

“That we discovered Aldin because…”

“…I was scared of how you’d react…”

“…she’s, his twin.”

Their tears mingled, a silent pact of understanding and grief.

“How foolish to think you could conceal the Sorcerer’s sister from me.”

Luna’s tear-stained eyes met Aldin’s, a wordless acknowledgment of their unshakable bond.

“Was it a delusion that drove me to murder your parents and take your other sister?”

Aldin felt a chill, then a surge of anger, his presence crackling with emerging power.

“Your parents were mere playthings. Their agony was exquisite. Once they reconciled with their loss, I struck, breaking you utterly. The ideal prelude to your rise as the Sorcerer. I've crushed your spirit, and now you’re nothing but refuse to me.”

“You’re despicable,” Aldin seethed, his aura blazing with purple flames. “How could you… why would you do this…?”

“The Sorcerer is my creation, a trinket for my diversion. Did you really believe your kind perished while I thrived by mere chance? Your feeble show of strength is as insignificant as your life. You cannot escape those—” His mockery was silenced as a wave of energy burst forth from Aldin, the chains disintegrating under his newfound power.

Surprise flickered across Corthus's face, a rare break from his usual arrogance, as Aldin's roar filled the air. His punch landed squarely, sending Corthus crashing into the wall. Rage surged through Aldin, his hands crackling with lightning, each bolt a crescendo of his fury. But Corthus, growling fiercely, caught Aldin's wrists and tossed him upwards.

"Such primitive attacks won't defeat a god," Corthus thundered.

Corthus's hands danced apart, conjuring a growing sphere of darkness, a manifestation of his wrath.

"I will not fall to a child! My divinity is absolute!" he declared, launching the dark sphere at Aldin. The chamber shook with the force of the collision, and Aldin, overwhelmed by the blast, began to lose consciousness, his body falling.

"You'll find no escape in this domain, 'hero'," Corthus taunted. He stopped Aldin's descent with a wave of his hand, then twisted reality open, creating a portal.

"Begone," he sneered, and Aldin was cast into the void.

Aldin's eyes flew open mid-fall. Below, Luna and Melissa reached for him in vain. The despair in Luna's eyes haunted him as he was swallowed by the portal.

He fell through an endless expanse, where time and space meant nothing. His own image aged and rejuvenated endlessly before him. As he flipped through the void, from old man to boy and back again, he faced the prospect of an eternal fall. So this was it? The end of him and all he cared for. One sister lost, another gained and no time left for either. Would this void swallow him whole or would he fly off into nothing forever? Hungry, thirsty and alone for all of eternity?

"Aldin," a voice called, soft and familiar. It couldn't end like this. The children, Melissa, Colleen, Luna—they all needed him. The truth about Melissa and the shock of Luna being his twin sister lingered, secrets kept by his parents.

Could this be the afterlife? An infinite plummet into nothingness? Was all of life just a prelude to this? He considered letting go, succumbing to the dark. But had he not done all he could?

He relaxed his body, accepting what came next, whatever that might be. What was the point of it all? He had failed and…

Aldin.

Who was that?

It’s okay brother. I’ll help.