Zodiac Academy 6: Fated Throne

The chamber I was in was dark and cold but somewhere ahead of me, golden light spilled into the shadows, guiding me closer.

My skin was tingling with the power in this place and my pulse thumped to a sultry beat that seemed to be lulling me deeper into the cave.

As I took a step forward, a golden rune illuminated beneath my foot, the symbol twisted and beautiful and seeming to whisper its meaning into my ear. 

“Truth.”

I took another step and another rune lit up beneath me, this one breathing, ‘fortune‘ on the air. As I continued on, more runes illuminated and more of their meanings were whispered to me.

“Honesty. Virtue. Life. Growth. Strength. Sacrifice. Power. Death. Destiny. Fate.”

As the echoes of the last word fell from the air and I was plunged into silence once more, I found myself standing before a huge stone which glowed ever so faintly in the dark.

It hummed with a power so visceral that the hairs along the back of my neck stood on end.

I reached out for it hesitantly, my fingertips brushing against the rough stone before a jolt of power slammed into my chest and I was drawn undeniably closer.

I sucked in a deep breath as the entire thing began to glow with a deep, golden light which reminded me of my Dragon’s scales when the setting sun hit them just right. It was rich and vibrant and so full of power that it stole my breath away.

The entire thing seemed to hum with a power so ancient that I felt utterly insignificant standing before it as it scrutinised every dark corner of my soul.

‘Acrux,’ it breathed, its voice deeper now that I was touching it and my pulse galloping as I felt like it truly knew me.

In the centre of the stone was a perfectly smooth hole and I slid my hand down to touch it, finding coins, jewels and other small tokens that had been left there in offering so long ago that even the earth beneath my feet could hardly remember the Fae who had left them. But it was clear to me that this had been a place of worship once and this relic was crafted with the deep and ancient magic our kind had long since forgotten.

The space surrounding us was pregnant with expectation but as the voice failed to speak again, I was struck with the need to offer up something of my own in payment for its words, the way that others had clearly done before me.

I ran my hands over my pockets uselessly, cursing as I found nothing at all in my possession that I could offer up aside from the clothes on my back. And a suit made for a wedding I hadn’t even wanted to attend didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice to me.

I frowned as I tried to think of something I could offer it, going over all the tales Orion had told me about ancient magic when teaching me how to wield my draining dagger and cast blood magic. The things he knew were relics of the magic from long ago according to his father. So much knowledge had been lost to time and with dark magic being outlawed, even more of it had fallen from memory. 

But some knowledge had remained. Like the power of blood.

I twisted my fingers in a subtle pattern, creating a blade with my ice magic before lifting my other hand and placing it inside the hole in the centre of the stone.

I closed my eyes for a moment, holding the dagger ready and hoping that I wasn’t losing my damn mind before scoring it straight across my palm and slicing deep.

Blood welled in the wound, splashing down inside the hole and I gasped as the entire cavern was lit up by the bright golden light and my arm was dragged deeper within the stone by some unworldly magic.

‘The price of knowledge is power. The price of power is great. Every bargain has a cost. What will you trade for a different fate?’

The voice rebounded off of the walls, driving into my skull until I was crying out from the force of it, desperately trying to tear my hand back out of the hole as the stone drew more and more of my blood from my body and I could feel it feeding on my power too.

I cursed as I fought to free myself, beating at the stone with my free hand and finding myself unable to cast any magic, as if it were a Vampire using venom to immobilise it.

Strength began to leave my limbs and I scrunched my eyes closed as I hit the stone until my knuckles were busted open and my mind was filled with an image of the girl I loved.

Of her in my arms, wrapped up tight in my bed with me, her eyes filled with laughter and her hands on my flesh. She stroked her fingers down my jaw and looked into my eyes, consuming me with the warmth in her expression and making me feel content in a way I never had before. Roxy tugged the white sheet up over our heads and we were lost in a cocoon of white.

‘I love you, Darius,’ she breathed, her words so pure and real that they made my chest ache with the most desperate desire to truly hear her say them. ‘I love you, Roxy,’ I growled in reply, my words echoing in the cavern as I spoke them aloud and not just in the vision. She leaned forward, pressing the sweetest kiss to my lips as my hand moved down over the swollen curve of her stomach as an ache unlike anything I’d ever felt before consumed me.

The vision fell away and the voice spoke again. ‘You wish for love with the girl who denied you. But fate has other designs in mind.’

I was thrust into a series of visions, one after another, some just flashes and others lasting longer as I saw the people I loved most in this world engaged in a battle at the amphitheatre in the palace grounds. My heartbeat thundered desperately as I saw each of the Heirs hurt or dying, Orion skewered on the probes of a Nymph, Darcy screaming as Clara tore her apart with her teeth and blood flowed hot and fast, too much for her to possibly survive losing. I saw my brother dashed against a stone wall with a blast of magic and finally Roxy fighting to save my Father’s life against her will, only to have him stab her in the back the moment the fight was won.

The vision lingered on her face as she dropped to her knees, my name on her lips as the brightness dulled from her eyes and she collapsed to the floor beneath him, red blood staining her white dress as my entire world was torn away from me.

‘What would you give for them, Darius Acrux? What would you sacrifice to see them survive?’