Ethereal Chronicles

An extract from a book I started to write

I woke from a dream, a terrible dream, as the mark on my shoulder burned incessantly against my skin. My mind, numb from the possession, took a few moments to stir. When it did, I looked down at my hands, at the blood caked into my skin, and felt my heart sink to the pits of my stomach. My eyes remained there, too afraid, too disgusted to look up and face what I already realised I had done. People would find out soon. I knew that I had to get out, and quickly.

Woosily, I staggered to my feet, taking care to avoid the accusing gaze of the lifeless bodies strewn across the room. It reeked of blood. Blood in pools on the floor, sinking into the rugs and seeping through cracks in the wood. It was smeared on the furniture, which had been overturned in the struggle, and across the walls. The silence was shattered by the clatter of armour as guards rushed up along the landing to bang harshly against the door, sealing my only exit.

“Open up, and you won’t get hurt.” A stern voice sounded, muffled against the wood, which had been blocked with a crimson splattered dresser. Creeping closer, I pressed a trembling hand against the door, staring at the redness congealed against my skin.

“Ciaran?” I whispered. “Ciaran, please help me.”

The knocking ceased for a moment as Ciaran conferred quietly with the others, however many there were, and there was some movement. “Onyx.” He said eventually, his voice pained but gentle as though he were speaking with a naughty child, not the heir to the throne. “Open the door. I don’t want this anymore than you do but I need you to open the door.”

“I can’t.” I said tightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Then I will have to force myself in. I can’t keep protecting you, Onyx. You’ve gone too far. I need to see what you’ve done this time.”

“Ciaran.” My mouth was dry. “I’m still me, the same as I always have been. I won’t let him take control again. I won’t-”

I stopped. The stench of blood filled my nostrils, seeping down my throat, choking me.

“What have you done? Who’s in there?” Ciaran demanded, fear sharpening his tone.

I hesitated, unable to look at them. “Everyone. I think…I think I killed them.”

I heard Ciaran breathe in sharply. “Open the damned door, Onyx.”

“No.” I said with as much defiance as I could muster, but the breaks in my voice betrayed me. I would never be welcomed in Narva again.

“I’m breaking it down.” He said.

I edged back, keeping my eyes on the door as he began to crash against it with his bodyweight. It took only a few tries before the door began to buckle under the force. I saw his hand curl around the edge, wedging the crack open further. For a brief moment I wanted to slam the door down on his fingers and crush them, watch flesh burst around the bone, but the thought flickered away as quickly as it had come.

“Get the hell out of my head.” I growled to myself, stepping back again, almost tripping over one of the bodies. I squeezed my eyes shut so that I could blindly climb over the rest of them, until my hands reached the wall at the other side of the room. The window stood open.  My only chance of escape.

Without hesitation, I hauled myself up onto the ledge,  so that my legs were dangling over the other side.

You could just…jump. Then it would all be over.

Behind me, there was a crash and a groan as the dresser gave way, and Ciaran’s footsteps thundered into the room. “Stop.” He commanded. I could not bear to meet his gaze, hearing the anguish in his words as he saw the lifeless carcasses. “Stop this and face what you’ve done, Onyx.”

I shook my head. “I can’t.”

“LOOK AT THEM!” He roared, and the sound rushed through my ears. “LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE DONE, YOU COWARD!”

“I know what I’ve done.” I said, quietly. “And I’m sorry. More than you can imagine. That’s why I have to stay away, make myself disappear.”

“You could stay away or do the honourable thing, and face your crimes.” Ciaran said. I could hear him edging closer to me.

A bitter smile crossed my lips. “I lost my honour long before this night. Even if I stay, even if it is to answer for my crimes, then more people will die. I won’t let that happen. Goodbye, Ciaran.” With those final words, I dropped from the ledge so that I was dangling, and, hooking my stained hands into holes in the stone, lowered myself down the stone exterior.

“Onyx, stop.” Ciaran rushed to the window, leaning out, attempting to grab me with his hands, but I was faster and smaller than he was, slipping through his grasp like water from a cupped hand. He didn’t stop me. He couldn’t, and as I peered upward to meet his gaze as he watched me flee, I saw not rage in his eyes, but a gut wrenching sorrow. But I could feel the mark pulsating beneath my shirt, and so looked away, gritting my teeth.

“You’ve taken my sanity, my honour, now my family. Whatever else you want I won’t let you take it. Not here.” I spat to the thing inside me.

By the time I reached the ground, rain laden clouds hung low and hungry in the sky, as if they too wanted to claim me. My hands, already scratched and bleeding, bore the marks of my descent. I held them up to the sky and allowed the rain to pellet down, drenching me and my sin with it. My dark hair clung to my forehead, and I pushed it away with one hand. Shutting my eyes, I felt the cool water run down my bloodstained face, trying to shut out the cries of terror and commotion that had erupted upstairs as more and more people peered in to see what I had done.

“Oh, gods.” I rubbed my skin. I looked up at the window that I had climbed from, trying to push the bodies from my mind. “There’s no way I can ever come back.” Anger welled up inside me, a deep, searing rage. I cast off my overcoat and flung it to the ground before harshly pulling back the sleeves of my shirt. On my shoulder, the treacherous mark glowed red. I could’ve sworn it had grown some more, its tendrils reaching out even further, reaching for my chest, begging to blacken my heart further.

I felt myself kneel in the mud. “It was all for nothing.” I whispered, pushing my head in my hands. A splitting headache pounded, and my knees felt weak, but I knew unless I wanted to meet death I needed to move, and fast. More shouts from the castle reached my ears, panicked and accusatory.

Hurriedly, I yanked my sleeve back down to conceal the damning mark and slipped back into my overcoat. The only escape lay in the shadowy forest only a few feet from me. I glanced back up at the tower, at where Ciaran still watched me, and searched his face one last time. He said nothing, just stared at me blankly. My face hot with shame, I turned away, wordlessly slipping into the shelter of the woods.

The trees stood like silent sentinels, their thick bodies offering me sanctuary. Under their shelter, I could barely feel the cold droplets on my skin. The path, however, seemed to betray me, growing thinner with every step I took, and the closeness of the trees pressed in, muffling my surroundings. It quickly became so dark I could only feel myself stumbling blindly through the darkness. A sharp pain jolted through my foot as it caught on something unseen, and I suddenly felt myself sprawling forward, face down in the mud. I didn’t even bother to move. In the darkness, I lay there, my thoughts running wild. I saw their faces in my mind. Haunting visions of my mother, my father, my brothers and sisters, all staring at me with lifeless eyes. Discomfort clawed at my throat as I tried to scream, but no sound escaped. With clumsy, blundering arms I reached out to them, but they turned away from me. I’d lost them forever. A frustrated grunt passed my lips as I sat up, shaking off the images and forcing myself to my feet, drawing my sword from my back. The blade, still slick with blood, glinted in the dim light. I held it out, hacking out a path in front of me. My stomach twinged, not from hunger but from the deep realisation that I truly was evil, and there was no chance of redemption for me. Maybe I’d always been this way. Maybe the demon that lived inside me brought out a part of me that had been there all along.