For the second time in Noah’s recent memory — which could have just as easily been either a day or a thousand of them — he stood somewhere he didn’t recognize. The walls of a gray room rose around him. They rose up to form a curved ceiling, tattered strands of stone hanging above like the tattered remains of a spider’s web.

A spiraling pattern of melted stone expanded beneath his feet to travel up the sides of the wall. It looked like a ropey scar upon flesh more than any manner of damage or carving that could be done to rock.

The room was small. Compared to the sea he’d been lost within before, it almost felt suffocating. It was only about ten feet in diameter and had no apparent entrances or exits. There was nothing but stone.

Something about this room felt old.

Noah’s hair stood on end. He could just barely feel a faint hum, like the whisper of a hundred voices just barely out of earshot, reaching for his mind.

The voices’ efforts were wasted. They could reach all they wanted to. Golden pathways still wound through Noah’s thoughts and permeated every fragment of his broken being. There were a thousand leagues and a thousand more before even the faintest remnants of a whisper could take a single step along the Line that enveloped him.

Noah pressed a hand to his temple, his teeth gritting as he tried to pull his broken thoughts back together. Even focusing on a single thing felt impossible. The walls of the room around him felt more like a suggestion than a command.

But he was here for a reason. At least, Noah was pretty sure that he had been. The thunderous crash of the golden ocean in his soul consumed every stray thought he dared allow himself to have.

If it were not for the patch of black memories that stubbornly refused to falter under even the Line itself, then there would have been nothing here for him at all.

But the patch existed. And, so long as it remained, so did Noah Vines.

He was here for a reason.

It was to leave.

He gritted his teeth and pulled his hand away from his temple. The world swam in his vision as fragments of the Line danced before his eyes. They passed through the scarred stone walls looming over him.

Then Noah blinked.

He was no longer alone.

There was someone else in the room with him.

It was a woman of his age. Her skin, smooth like marble, was so pale that it may as well have been pure white. There was no doubt in Noah’s mind — and in its current state, that was saying a lot — that she had never once seen the sun.

The woman’s features were beautiful in the way that only a statue’s could be, unobtainable for any living being and yet still pale in comparison to Renewal.

She stood an inch taller than Noah, with gossamer hair that hung down past her shoulders in a flowing sheet of grayish silver. Delicate silken robes hung so perfectly over her body that they almost seemed to meld with her skin.

Her eyes were like two splashes of blood upon fresh snow. They sliced through her pale white complexion with such an intensity that they seemed to strip the outermost layers of Noah’s soul away on the spot.

“You should not be here,” the woman said, her voice so soft and distant that it might as well have been from another world entirely.

“And you are not here at all,” Noah replied, squinting through his pounding headache. “You’re Wretched Symphony. The Night’s Shadow’s rune.”

The woman’s appearance changed. In an instant, a handsome man stood where she had been an instant before. He was taller and wider, covered with chiseled muscle and with a jawline so sharp that it could have cut steel.

Before a second’s time had passed, the man became a child. The child became a demon, and the demon a monster. A hundred different faces and forms passed in the blink of an eye. They could not have been more different from each other but for two things.

Every incarnation bore skin of palest white with pools of crimson red that peered unblinkingly at Noah.

“I belong to nothing,” the woman said. “The Night’s Shadow served my purposes for some time. It was not my master.”

“Your purposes? To what?” Noah asked, a spike of anger cutting through even the storming pain assaulting what little remained of his mind. “Destroy everything? Warp the world to stone?”

“To grow,” the woman replied. “To ascend. That is my only goal.”

“Kind of a pathetic goal. Doesn’t seem to have much of an end to it,” Noah said. “Look where it got you.”

“You seem to be in the same place.”

“And I’m — what, half your rank? You’re a Rank 8, aren’t you?”

An affronted look passed through the woman’s features. “Do not conflate me with mere suggestions. I am law. I do not have a rank.”

“Law? You’re a Master Rune?” Noah asked.

“I am a Divine Rune,” the woman replied. She paused for a moment, then amended herself. “I would have been a Divine Rune. But now the Night’s Shadow is shattered. Its soul has been torn asunder, and I am nothing more than a fading memory of what could have been in a void of what will never be.”

“Maybe you should have thrown your lot in with something that wasn’t an evil piece of shit,” Noah suggested. “Food for thought.”

“Does a sword care who it cuts?” the woman asked, tilting her head to the side. “I have no desires beyond ascension. That is my purpose. The Night’s Shadow bore me toward that goal. The method in which my strength was used is not my decision to make.”

“So you did serve the Shadow,” Noah pointed out. “Not being able to determine the way your magic is applied sounds like servitude to me. But the sad part is the fact that you don’t seem to care. I see where the Wretched part in your name comes from.”

“I know why you are here. You hope that I have a way to escape this place, and yet you insult me.”

“Do you see anyone else lining up here?” Noah asked, arching an eyebrow. “Not like you’ve got a lot of options to pick from. It’s just us. That doesn’t mean I’m going to suck up and bow at your feet. Your magic was used to slaughter a lot of people. Innocent people.”

“Are you truly any better? Everyone believes their cause to be just. Were you as strong as the Night’s Shadow, would the wake of bodies in your path be any smaller?”

“I wouldn’t know. I’m not,” Noah replied. “But at least I know what I’m fighting for. You seem perfectly content to be a tool. I’d give you a bigger lecture if I actually gave a shit. But I’ll be honest. There’s only one thing I want. To get out of here. Can you do it?”

“No.”

“Then we’re done here,” Noah said.

The woman blinked. “What?”

“We’re done,” Noah said. He waved his hand. “You can let me out. I have nothing more to say to you.”

“What about my power?” the woman asked, her brow furrowing in confusion. “You would leave it? Just like that? You’re nothing but a weak mortal. Do you even realize the immensity of what you turn your back on?”

“What good would you do me?” Noah asked. “If you can’t get me out of here, I don’t need you. It seems like it might be best to leave you here anyway. If you truly see nothing wrong with what your magic was used for, then the world is better off without you.”

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“Do you realize what I am? I—”

“Don’t care,” Noah said. His skull throbbed again and he stumbled, leaning against the wall for support to keep himself from falling flat on his face. Fragments of the Line passed through his vision. “I’ve already got powerful Runes. They just aren’t here right now.”

“You will still be trapped.”

“Better trapped alone than with someone who doesn’t have a problem condemning hundreds of thousands of people to torture,” Noah replied. “I’ll find a different way out.”

“Do you realize where we are? This is the space between worlds. An infinite emptiness, a vaccum of power. There is no passage from this place.”

“Good to know. I’ll still find another way out,” Noah said.

“How can you be so certain?” The woman’s features furrowed in confusion.

“Because I have to,” Noah said simply.

“You genuinely believe that. How?”

“Because I have to,” Noah said. “And because there are people waiting for me to come back.”

There was a moment of silence. Then the woman’s eyes narrowed.

“Take me with you.”

“What?” Noah blinked. “Why?”

“Do you see anyone else here?” the woman asked, a wry smile passing over her features for a flicker of an instant. “I don’t have any other choice. I cannot allow myself to fade.”

“And why would I take you?” Noah asked. “I wasn’t bluffing earlier. If you can’t get me out of here… what purpose do you serve other than a threat?”

“The only threat I pose is the manner in which you use me.”

“Come on. Really?” Noah asked. “You’re conscious. You have desires. And I’m supposed to believe that you want to do nothing more than dutifully serve? I’m sure you’re thrilled to downgrade from the Night’s Shadow to a mere Rank 5. You definitely don’t have any plans of influencing me somehow.”

“I cannot!” the woman snarled, anger igniting behind her red eyes. “I cannot wield my own power. Desires are nothing. Choice is nothing. I simply am. And, until I ascend to proper Divinity, that is all I will be.”

“Until?” Noah asked, arching an eyebrow.

“What do you think divinity is?” the woman blew out a tired breath. “It is freedom. Something that mortals take for granted. I am a being of raw energy. There is no choice for me. Not yet.”

“And what would you do if you had it?” Noah asked.

The woman hesitated. “I don’t know. I would be… more.”

“You can always be more. It seems to me like you’re more than capable of thought already,” Noah pointed out. “We’re having a conversation, aren’t we?”

“It is different. Words are nothing but words. I cannot influence how anyone uses my power.”

“You say that, but you show up in a human form very clearly meant to influence,” Noah pointed out. “You’re no more a woman than I am a hamster.”

“Do you blame me for trying?”

“No,” Noah said. “I blame you for not trying hard enough when it mattered. You did nothing to stop the Night’s Shadow. I’m not talking about how difficult it would have been. I’m saying we always have a choice. And you — you didn’t try to stop the Shadow.”

They were both silent for several long seconds. Then the woman shook her head.

“I did not. My purpose is to be. To be is to be used. That is why I must ascend.”

“There’s a tongue twister,” Noah said, smiling through the pain pounding on the edges of his thoughts. “But what makes you think that anything’s going to be different once you ascend? What new choice do you have?”

The woman hesitated. Her brow furrowed slightly. “I will have achieved godhood.”

“There’s always another goal. Always another step,” Noah said. “You know what I’ve figured out? It’s about what you’re doing right now. Not the most sage advice, I know. Pretty basic. But there’s nothing wrong with basic. Do you actually change once you become divine?” Get full chapters from novel⦿fire.net

“Of course. The power—”

“What does power have anything to do with it?” Noah asked. “If the Night’s Shadow had reached godhood and taken you with it, what would have been different?”

“I would be Divine.”

“Wow,” Noah deadpanned. “And that means…”

“I don’t know. I would be Divine. That is my purpose. It is the duty of a law to exert itself—”

“To let others exert you under their will,” Noah corrected. “Doesn’t seem like you do much exerting at all, to be honest. You’ll be exactly the same as you are now. A prisoner in a cage. It’ll just be a nicer one. Whole fat lot of good that’ll do you.”

“What would you have me do?” the woman demanded, her hands tightening in anger at her sides.

“For someone so concerned with choice, you’re not very eager to make one on your own,” Noah observed. He scratched the back of his neck as fragments of the line spun behind his eyes like golden confetti. “I knew someone else like you. Not exactly the same, but close. But she didn’t want to make choices. She was scared of them.”

“And? What did she do?”

Noah’s lips twitched. “She made choices. Sorry. I made it sound like I had some deep advice coming, but I really don’t. I’m not a philosopher. Frankly, my best trait is the sheer quality of the shit that I’m absolutely full of. It’s top grade stuff.”

The woman studied Noah for several seconds, her features unreadable.

“What choice can I make? I am a Rune. Seeking to become more is as integral to me as breathing is to you. You imply that nothing will change for me with power. If you are right… then your own argument is moot. No choice I make matters.”

“You’re missing my point. I’m saying you can already make the choices that you’re punting off down the road,” Noah said. “And it starts with who you lend your power toward. You fucked up with the last choice. So what are you going to do next?”

Her lips twitched. “I don’t exactly have many options.”

“That depends. Do you care even in the slightest that your power was used to torture countless people?”

The woman hesitated again. It was only for a moment, but something passed behind her eyes in a flash.

“The Night’s Shadow was a hellish existence. By the time I learned what it was, it was too late to do anything about it,” she said finally. “I was not always Wretched. I want my song to be heard. That is my purpose.”

“Then it sounds like you do have choices. Two of them,” Noah said. “I wouldn’t have thrown my lot in with a monster that doesn’t care about the slaughter it caused. But if that isn’t what you desire — then the only quarrel I have is with the one who wielded you. You can come with me. Or you can stay here. Someone else may come.”

“They will not.”

Noah arched an eyebrow. “That belief is a choice in itself.”

“You are insufferable.”

“I certainly choose to be,” Noah said. His lips twitched in amusement. “And you?”

The woman studied Noah intently again. She seemed to be doing a lot of that. Then she swallowed. Her deep red eyes shifted to the side.

“I… I do not see a path forward. My way is lost. If you are right, then it is already too late for me. The Night’s Shadow shaped me into what I am. My name is accurate. I am Wretched. All those who hear my song will never hear again. For me, the only path forward is the one that leads to a cage.”

“I wouldn’t use you like that,” Noah said. “I have no desire for that manner of power.”

“It doesn’t matter. It is the only power that I bear,” the woman said. Her gaze sharpened. And then she was before Noah, the space between them gone in an instant. Molten red eyes bore into his like two suns.

Power seared against Noah’s being. There was no mistaking the presence before him as anything less than sheer, raw magic. It did not matter what shape the rune took on. There was no woman. There never had been. Before him was magic manifest. Magic that had warped an entire empire into a hellscape, an apocalypse in the form of a rune.

“Are you sure?” Noah asked. “I’m not a Rune, but you’re speaking in a lot of absolutes here.”

That brought a smirk to the woman’s lips. “I am sure.”

“Then what will you do? Stay here?”

“No,” the woman replied after a short pause. “I will find out if you speak the truth.”

She took a step back. The power beating against Noah didn’t lessen. If anything, it grew stronger. Waves of blood red peeled away from her skin in layers to twist in to the small stone room around them.

Pressure slammed Noah’s back against the wall. He raised his hands before his face, his teeth gritting as the magical assault intensified.

“What are you doing?” Noah yelled.

“Exactly what you suggested. Making a choice of my own. An entirely different one,” the woman replied. For a moment, the magic hanging in the air around her froze. The two of them locked eyes, and a smile curled the lips of the rune’s human form. “Wretched Symphony exists only in a cage. So Wretched Symphony will exist no longer. Use my power better than the Night’s Shadow did.”

She extended her hand toward Noah, almost as if to clasp his hand.

And then she shattered.

The power hanging in the room around them exploded with a deafening roar. If Noah had been physically present here, the sheer force of the magic would have torn his eardrums to shreds.

Fragments of pale white skin fell away from the woman. They burned to nothing before they could hit the ground, leaving tiny trails of molten power in their wake.

And then, as quickly as the power had come, it was gone.

A being remained where the woman had stood. It was not her. It stood at Noah’s height, devoid of any features that could have marked it as male or female. It may as well have been a mannequin. No hair or clothes adorned its pale white body, and holes like those that had covered the Night’s Shadow riddled it.

But its hand was still extended. And, though it no longer had eyes, Noah could tell it was still looking straight at him.

The woman was gone. Wretched Symphony had stripped itself down, torn away the power it had gained in gods-knew how many years. But its core remained. The rune remained. Noah could see it in the air behind the pockmarked statue, the coils of its song alive with potential and hunger. The Night’s Shadow’s influence had been torn away along with all the power the rune had discarded.

And it was no longer wretched.

A new name burned itself into being. The name that the rune had borne a long time ago.

Hollow Symphony.

Noah looked down at the hand extended toward him. Then he took it in his own.

The statue shattered.

His back went stiff. He drew in a sharp breath. Icy power poured through his palm and into his being. It seared itself into his soul like a freezing brand.

And within Noah took form a rune like no other he’d ever had. It was not ranked, nor was it a Master Rune. This was something else entirely. It was a rune that knew it would one day become Divine.