Chapter Thirty-Nine:
"Cards of Blood and Bone"
Raya had been descending for only moments before the cold stone started to bite against the soles of her bare feet.
The steps, smooth yet blanketed in dust, bore the weight of abandonment, each step leaving a faint imprint behind her. The warm, perfumed air of the palace had long since faded, replaced by a quiet emptiness. The deeper she went, the more the darkness thickened, swallowing the last remnants of light until she could barely see the steps beneath her feet.
Ani moved in silence beside her, his steps blending into the hush of the descent. Then, he halted, and light began flowing to life within his fur.
It started at the tips, a slow pulse of color pushing through his coat before spreading into a steady, bioluminescent glow. Deep blue hues pulsed through his thick coat, washing the curved stone walls in a soothing glow.
Raya exhaled, breath misting in the air. The cold was really starting to settle in now. With every step, the warmth of the palace above faded, replaced by a steady chill sinking deeper and deeper into her skin.
The further she descended, the heavier the silence became, pressing against her ears. Only the faint jingle of Ani’s tag against her chest marked her presence, tapping lightly against her collarbone with each footfall, an unspoken reminder of what tethered him to her.
They descended for what felt like an eternity. Thirty minutes? Maybe more. The steps wound endlessly downward, a spiral without a clear destination. The monotony of it gnawed at her nerves, each step the same, the cold stone unchanging, the silence absolute save for the rhythmic patter of Ani’s paws and the beat of her own heart.
She began to hesitate.
Raya hesitated, glancing at Ani. "What do you think? Should we turn back?" Her voice was hushed, barely more than a breath in the empty space. She was alone, besides Ani. Barefoot. Clad only in a thin nightgown, the warmth of the palace now a distant memory. How much further could this possibly go? What if it never ended, what if-"
A light.
Far below, faint but unmistakable. A break in the darkness.
It was a distant glimmer, barely more than a breath of illumination, but enough to tell her the descent was not infinite.
She stilled, her fingers brushing against Ani’s fur, his glow shifting subtly with the motion.
Then.
Movement.
A shadow moved at the edge of the light, a figure hovering just beyond its reach. Raya took a sharp breath, her pulse hammering against her ribs. Someone was down there.
The cold no longer felt like the worst of her problems.
Raya swallowed down the unease tightening in her throat. The glow from Ani’s fur felt like a beacon, one that would surely give her away. She crouched slightly, pressing a hand to his thick coat and whispering, "Ani, Come."
The moment the words left her lips, Ani's glow faded, his form collapsing inward in a swirl of dimming light.
The metal of his tag, now warm with his presence, continued its tapping as she slowed her decent.
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Darkness swallowed everything. The absence of Ani’s light was immediate, suffocating.
Raya waited, giving her eyes time to adjust, but the blackness was absolute. She was completely alone now.
Moving cautiously, she crept down the last of the steps, each footfall silent against the dust-coated stone. The staircase spilled into a small chamber, no larger than the bottom of a forgotten well. Against the far wall, an open doorway gaped, revealing a much larger space beyond.
Raya pressed against the edge of the doorway, heart pounding.
The room ahead stretched wide, an underground chamber lined with doors, sealed passageways that must have led to other places long forgotten.
In the farthest reaches of the room, a set of rusted iron bars sectioned off what could only be described as a dungeon. Ancient torture devices, their surfaces darkened with time and old blood, lay abandoned. Shackles hung from the walls, untouched for who knew how long.
But it was the center of the room that held her attention.
A long stone table sat beneath a single hanging lantern, its glow stretching unevenly across the chamber.
At one end of the table stood a man, built with an imposing frame, his face hidden in the dim light. Across from him, a hooded woman loomed, her delicate fingers moving the cards with care, each placement measured, each motion calculated.
Raya narrowed her eyes. The figures on the cards moved.
This wasn’t a game, it was a war. A battle playing out on the table in miniature, the figures moving with each turn.
The man smirked, tapping his fingers against the table. "Once again, Kolnheim. The warfront. The unending siege."
The hooded woman sighed, shifting her cards slightly. "You act as though this war is just a game to you."
"Isn't it?" he replied smoothly, setting another card down. "Every choice, every move, a piece in a grander strategy. My Hollow Mother ensures the cycle continues."
"And my Players will fight to end it," the woman countered, her voice firm. "You push, and I push back."
He chuckled. "And yet, the siege holds. The people of Kolnheim... of Eldoria suffer, and your Players? They'll die for nothing."
The man reached forward, placing a card onto the table. The snap of the card echoing through the chamber. His voice was low, rich with amusement.
"Hollow Mother."
On the table, the battlefield twisted. A dark mass unfurled across the miniature warfront, a writhing void swallowing soldiers in its path.
Raya’s stomach clenched.
The woman across from him, this version of Gameweaver, if that’s what she was, sighed again, a note of quiet frustration beneath her breath. She slid a card from her between her fingers before placing it carefully before her.
"Players."
The battlefield shifted again. The figures on the table flared with golden light, warriors standing their ground, fighting back against the encroaching darkness. The tide of war changed in response, but only slightly.
The man chuckled. "I'm so glad you finally resorted to your Player Deck! Do you really think it will make a difference?"
His fingers hovered over her cards, considering. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he laid another down.
His voice carried a note of satisfaction.
"Leo’s card does cause quite the problem for me," he admitted. "I suppose I’ll have to start getting creative if I’m ever going to bring down that Waystone."
The hooded woman didn’t respond immediately. Her fingers lingered over her deck, as if in prayer.
Raya barely dared to breathe.
Gameweaver, or whoever she was, was hoping her Players would be enough.
And this dark man, was planning their destruction.
Raya took a slow step back, keeping to the edges of the room. Her pulse pounded in her ears, drowning out the voices at the table. She needed to leave, now.
She turned, careful. She had to be silent.
But as she moved, her foot brushed against something, an uneven stone, just enough to make a faint sound. A sound too quiet for the man to even notice.
But the woman did.
Her hood shifted slightly as her gaze flicked toward the doorway, her reaction small, but enough.
The man followed her line of sight. His head turned, eyes locking onto Raya.
For a moment, there was stillness. A heartbeat stretched too long. Then his lips curled.
"Raya! Ah, how sweet."
Before she could move, before she could even think, he was there.
It shouldn’t have been possible.
He closed the distance in an instant, as if he had simply chosen to be beside her. One moment he was at the table, the next, his presence loomed over her, terrifying.
A gloved hand reached out, and she barely had time to gasp before his fingers found the latch on her necklace, the only thing tethering Ani to her. With an effortless snap, it came undone.
The feel of Ani's presence vanished, his collar slipping free. No. No-
The man chuckled, tilting his head as he examined her, amusement glaring behind his horrifying expression.
"Now," he mused, his voice smooth, unsettling. "What am I going to do with you?"