Siren's Reach - Fallen Lands Book 3

Chapter Forty-Three

The Mourning Deep

Evelyn

"Maybe not," Sibylla answered, practically skipping toward the core. "I think that sound is coming from the core, and something is powering these runes."

Everyone followed her, Lilith quick to call after her, "Be careful. If it's not dead, it's certainly unstable."

Sibylla stopped, turned, and looked her right in the eye. "What could possibly go wrong?"

We all groaned, and she turned back cackling.

Despite her antics, even she stopped short of the circle of runes. "Evie, you like runes. Help me read this?"

I whined, but nodded, and Amélie handed me off to Sibylla, who held me like a cat. At least I didn't have to walk. She began very slowly walking around the room, reading off the runes she recognized in a quiet murmur, and I did the same. It was a confusing mess, but as each of us picked out some key runes, we put together some of the basics.

"Uh, I'm getting a really bad feeling about this. Is it just me, or is this some kind of prison?" Sibylla asked, and I nodded.

"No," I chirped, "The prison isn't here, but this is connected to it, feeding all the mana it generates that way. Or, at least it's supposed to. Who knows what it's doing now that it's broken." Amélie stepped up beside us. "So, we need to find this prison, then? If it still exists? How do we do that?"

Sibylla shrugged. "One way to find out."

Before anyone could say a word, she stepped over the core and put her hand against it. Of course, I was still lying in her arms, and tried to turn and look up at her in alarm, only for my tail to graze the edge of the core

The world froze. It wasn't like being trapped with everything around me frozen. I was frozen too, and I had no idea for how long, only that it happened. When my mind began working again, it felt like hours had passed, but I'd only experienced them in a very distant way. I tried to check on the others, but I was still frozen in place. Before I could begin panicking, a notification appeared.

Congratulations! You have completed a Grand Dungeon, The Drowned Reliquary. You have earned a Perk. Please select from the following list:

[Captain's Bond] – Any party you lead will gain a linked [Mage's Whisper], an unbroken channel of communication between members until the party disbands. You will maintain an [Arcane Cartograph], a living map drawn by the steps of you and your companions."

[Breaker of Chains] – All compulsions, bindings, and ritual links may be severed by your touch. Stronger effects demand longer contact. This protection is constant upon yourself, without conscious effort.

[Storm's Claim] – You may claim dominion over any storm you stand within. While doing so, the tempest bends to your will alone, but the heavens themselves will take note of a mortal daring to hold their leash.

I nearly froze again when I reached the second option. Chains. Always chains. I didn't have to close my eyes to see them—burning across my wrists, biting into my soul, pulling me somewhere I didn't want to go. Mezesh's voice. The ritual circle. The maw closing over me.

My tails lashed, fur bristling. Breaker of Chains. Of course I wanted it. Who wouldn't? No one would ever hold me again. No one would bind me, trap me, make me feel that helpless. Not ever.

But wanting it was the trap. I knew it. I forced myself to keep reading, though the words blurred. The third one was nothing new—I already commanded storms. The second… the second was the bait that could snap everything I loved in half. If it cut chains, it could cut the only chain that mattered. The one that dragged me here. The one that tethered me to this world. And then what? Back to Earth? Alone.

My eyes slid to the first. It was plain. Safe. A map, a link, a way to keep everyone together. No tricks or hidden cost. Exactly what we wanted for going on adventures together. It wasn't as flashy, but… it was what I needed.

"I thought you guys said these things didn't give any details… Wow. These are great!"

I nearly shot into the air at Sibylla's words. "What? Oh. Right. Yeah, this is new. I've never seen it before. Be careful. I think two of mine were traps. One might have killed us all and sent us back to earth."

She scratched me between the ears like a cat. "Well, aren't you smart. Yeah, now that I think about it, one of these might overwrite my mind eventually, and another sounds like it'll overhaul my class and make me dependent on worshippers. Absolutely not. I guess I'll take the one that helps with my shadow magic."

With her words, she froze, and I felt like the world was just waiting for me to make a decision. It wasn't anything like it had been the last time. I gave Breaker of Chains one last look. The freedom and safety were tempting. Going home was tempting. But.. I was long past that. My home was here, now. Earth was just a long, distant memory. I chose [Captain's Bond].

Reality snapped back into place around us, to a chorus of "Sibylla, no!" from Alice, Amélie, and Lilith.

We dropped into the shadow below us so fast it must have looked like we'd been teleported. I only held back a squeak as we appeared behind them because I was too stunned to react.

"What? You all worried I'll get some wicked cool perk and become unstoppable or something?"

They all spun, weapons and fists raised as if they expected a fight, making Sibylla laugh. "Oh yeah! This is going to be great!"

"Stop messing around! That could have been really dangerous!" Amélie yelled back, laced with as much fear as anger.

Sibylla nodded. "It was. I almost accidentally picked an option that might have outright killed me before Evie pointed out the traps. Be very careful."

I nodded, "Yeah. I had an option that would have… Well, it was something I really wanted. Only, I think it would have killed us all and sent us back to Earth. It was hidden in the effects."

While Lilith translated that for Alice, Amélie asked, "How many options were there? Are they better than the last dungeon—"

"Hold up." Alice cut in. "Back to Earth? You mean we can just up an' leave without finishin' our quest? Why's that even on the table?"

"Ah," Amélie replied. "Do not forget that our quest is self-imposed. We plan to save this world because it is the right thing to do, not because someone forced us to. And, as far as Earth goes, well, that is related to our previous conversation about home and how we got here. We never finished that… and I do not think we have the time to now."

Alice's jaw tightened. "Just tell me the short of it. And… what about the others? The ones who… didn't make it?"

I hopped to the ground and shifted back, sucking in a breath and ignoring the pain. "We don't know, Alice. There is more to the ritual than what was completed, and we're fairly certain they didn't do most of it right to begin with. It's complicated, and I'd need to explain more about ritual magic. I promise we'll talk when we're done here. About that, and about your sisters."

She looked reluctant to drop the subject, but after a few seconds, she just gave a sharp nod. "You sure you're really okay walkin' around again?"

I nodded. "I'm stiff and it hurts, but the injuries are gone. Maybe moving around will help. It was a little weird using the core. Everything froze for a moment. Are you guys going to risk it?"

"Here," Alice said, taking my hand and letting the cool, soothing touch of her magic flow through me. "Might help. And yeah, I s'pose we all better. Even if it's a risk, you warned us of the danger."

She didn't wait to discuss it with the others, so I stepped with her when she turned and put her hand on the core. From what I could tell, her experience was entirely different because she was able to talk to us while she was still going over the options.

"Alright, three options. First one gives anyone near me faster healing and stamina back when there's water. Sounds like a free aura. Second one… hell, it lets me split damage with y'all, even poison. And the third… the third's just wrong. Cruel. Don't know why this would even be on the table."

I squeezed her hand, "It sounds the same for you as me. The first option is the only one that is realistic; the other two are traps."

"The second one sounds useful, too. It might be dangerous, but it could save your life when things turn bad."

I shook my head. "Maybe one day. Right now, I think it would kill you outright. Imagine if you were splitting damage with me and I took a hit for more than a thousand health. It would destroy you. Even a couple of quick hits for half that… No, we have defensive magic and armor for that."

She gave a small shrug. "Alright then. [River's Grace] it is. Better for everyone that way."

I felt when she made the choice. A less powerful version of the healing sensation flowing into me from her hand filled the air. She stepped back, and both Amélie and Lilith took that as their cue to step forward. Amélie didn't say anything, just removing her hand and stepping back, but Lilith looked confused.

"If the second and third are both traps, I don't understand them. The second one I have says it'll make me fully human again, maintaining my relative age to what I am now, and the third basically says it'd make me a full-blooded Kitsune of my current age. What do either of those matter?"

Sibylla snorted, "Oh, that's great. I vote for option three, but either one would essentially turn you into a child. If you're part Kitsune now, that means you'd be, uh, about a four-year-old little girl, I think? And if you go the other way around, you're still in your early twenties. You'd be a kit stuck maturing for another eighty years or so. At least neither option would flat-out kill you."

"What's the other option?" I asked. "I mean, if you were seriously interested in either of those, we'd take care of you. I will, at least…" When everyone stared at me awkwardly, I cleared my throat, "Sorry, what was the last one?"

The amused smile stayed on her face as she answered, "It's called Foxfire Bloom. It will make me compatible with Kitsune magic and stabilize my soul. It isn't terribly descriptive."

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I blinked, switching to spiritual sight and looking at her soul, probably for the first time ever. It wasn't at all what I expected to see from a human. The feel was kind of like that, but more powerful and somehow fractured. As I looked closer, the best way I could describe it would be that if a soul were a glass sphere, this one was covered in a webwork of cracks, all slowly healing, but also leaking with foxfire. I wasn't sure if it would ever fully heal.

I blinked and refocused on her face. "I can see it. Your soul is leaking foxfire. I've never heard of anything like that. I'm really glad we came here now."

Sibylla nodded, "Yeah. You know, I really liked having you as a baby fox friend. I think that option should stay on the table. It'll be like old times!"

Amélie laughed, "I am having trouble imagining you mothering a baby fox full-time. That might be interesting to see!"

Sibylla stiffened, her tail lashing once like a whip before she forced it still. Her ears tilted back, then forward again, and her lips pulled into that sharp little smirk she always used when she didn't want anyone to see past the mask. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh. Nothing. I was only teasing." Amélie's smile faltered, eyes widening as she caught the shift in Sibylla's tone. "You... look really mad. Sibylla, I am sorry. I am sure you would be a great mother. I really meant nothing by it."

Sibylla didn't answer her, only giving a small nod and turning to take a few steps away, her back stiff. Amélie turned a mortified look my way, but I could only shrug. That wasn't anger. It was hurt. I felt it in the silence that followed, in the way she didn't look back at any of us.

Trying to change the subject, I said, "Lilith, you don't have to choose any if you aren't comfortable with them."

She shook her head, "No, I am going to take the first option. The others are tempting in their own right, but the world isn't going to wait for me to grow up again. I think the pattern is the same. This is the most beneficial."

She didn't wait for any more feedback, and a wave of fire and shadow flowed over her. Lilith collapsed to a knee, cradling her head in her hands as the magic faded to motes in the air around her. When she finally lifted her gaze, her hair shifted and fox ears, violet at the tips and fading to the raven black of her hair, twitched to attention. Before I could even point it out, her skirt gave way with a sharp rip as a single tail lashed free, lustrous black fur down its length that ended in the same violet tip as her ears.

She froze, eyes wide, twisting around to see it herself. The tail flicked once, betraying nerves, then curled protectively around her legs as if it had a will of its own.

"Oh, gods." Her muttered words seemed lost between confusion and disbelief. "What am I supposed to tell Derik?"

"Probably something like, Look at my beautiful ears and tail," I answered without thinking, a little awe in my voice. I quickly covered my mouth. As she raised her hands up to touch the top of her head, her ears reflexively twitching at the touch, I tried again. "I'm sorry. I am serious, though. You are beautiful!"

She stood carefully, adjusting to the new balance. "This.. It's fine. Later. It is going to take some adjusting. We don't have time. What did you learn about the prison? How do we get to it?"

"Touch the core again," Sibylla answered, her voice a little off. She cleared her throat, but didn't turn back to face us. "The core has an option to leave the dungeon, and an option to enter a place called The Mourning Deep. I'm betting that's our goal."

"Alright. Is everyone ready to go?"

I almost agreed, but then turned to Amélie. "Did you pick a perk? You didn't mention… uh, why are you glowing?"

It wasn't bright, but she definitely had a glow. She held out her hands to inspect them before looking up at the rest of us.

"I did not realize the perk was so literal. I picked one called Consecrated Radiance. I think it's an aura, but it said my presence will repel dark influences like mind domination, compulsions, and corruption. I guess we will have to figure out exactly what that means the hard way."

"Really?" I asked. "That could be really useful! Talk about good timing!"

She shrugged, "It could also be entirely useless. I have no idea what qualifies as a dark influence, not that it mattered. It was the same as for everyone else. The other options were not great. Anyway, I guess we should prepare to all use the core together?"

"Yeah," Sibylla said, turning and moving quickly back to the core. "Let's get this over with. I don't want to fight more of those demons."

The rest of us looked each other over, and when we all confirmed we were ready to go, we stepped up together. I'd not let go of Alice's hand until that point, and only did so with great reluctance, so I'd have a free hand for my weapon. As our hands came apart, I was relieved to find the pain much more manageable.

"Alright," Lilith said, grabbing our attention. "Everyone ready? Good. We go on three. One. Two. Three!"

This wasn't like the last dungeon core teleportation I'd experienced. That had felt almost instantaneous. This time, when the world went dark, it stayed that way. I had a sensation of moving, but not really in any discernible direction. And, of course, none of us had activated the core at the exact same time, making the entire experience feel so much more ominous… and lonely.

I didn't know how long we were stuck like that. Time passed like a foggy dream, but everything seemed to compress back to normal when we appeared together, hands pressed against a pillar covered in runes. We were in a dark place with a faint blue glow from above, and a soft song whispered through the air. I blinked at the others, unsure if I'd imagined the whole thing, but I didn't get a chance to ask.

"Oh, that really is not good."

Amélie's words were an understatement. I followed her gaze to the ocean above our heads. It took a moment to realize it wasn't a flat surface, but an orb of water as my eyes searched its limits, but it was an orb that had to be miles in diameter.

"What is that?"

"The Mourning Deep," Sibylla said. "Listen to the song. She has lost everything."

We all stood in silence, listening for a moment. And that was all it took to get lost in it. The song wasn't about words. It was sorrow given voice, a lament carried on currents older than living memory. It pressed through my ears and into my chest, heavy and wet, pulling at old wounds I thought I'd buried.

Regret and loss smothered me. Loneliness so vast it made the air taste like salt. For a heartbeat, I almost believed it was mine. Home. Family. Children. All gone. I had been left to mourn until the grief hollowed me out and left only the song behind. Nothing remained—and I could, I would devour the world to fill that void.

The melody cracked and wavered, beautiful in the way broken glass is beautiful, each note cutting sharper the longer it lingered. The ocean above shifted with it, the entire orb trembling in time with her grief, until even the light seemed to bend under its weight.

When I finally broke free of the emotions, tears streaked my face. The others had all reacted in their own way. Amélie was pale, her lips pressed tight, unable to shield herself from the raw flood of feeling. Sibylla stood unnaturally still, her ears flat, shadows quivering at her feet. Alice curled in on herself like a child, drowning in sorrow. Only Lilith held steady, though her hands were clenched and shaking.

The silence stretched too long. The song pressed heavier and heavier, and I felt us sinking with it.

I shook my head hard, forcing words past the ache in my throat. "That's not ours. Not our grief. Not our song."

The sound of my own voice broke the spell. I saw it ripple through the others. Amélie's shoulders loosening like she'd been drowning, Alice drawing a sharp breath, Sibylla's eyes narrowing back to focus. Even Lilith blinked as if she'd been somewhere else. We were ourselves again. But the weight of the truth hung there, undeniable. That voice wasn't mortal. It was something vast, ancient, and broken.

Amélie's lips parted, her voice barely more than a whisper. "She's a Sentarith… or worse. I understand now. No wonder my foresight didn't work."

Her words sent a shiver down my spine, and I looked back up, and the sight finally made sense. It wasn't just water; it was an entire sea trapped in a sphere, suspended above us. And inside it, things moved.

Beyond the space above us, the whole orb writhed with life. Shapes too large to name twisted through the gloom, jaws tearing, claws raking, bodies swelling fat and strong as they fed. Every shudder of the divine song rippled through them, and they gorged on it like carrion birds at a feast.

I didn't understand at first how so much life could exist, feasting as it was. Wouldn't they run out of food? But as I looked closer, I saw they weren't eating each other. Things were swimming in there that didn't belong. Monsters, animals, and… even people. I spun, looking around. I hadn't noticed the movement from so far away, but there were more pillars, far brighter than this one. Unlike the link to this long-forgotten dungeon, those ones were occasionally letting people overwhelmed by the siren song step through.

All of them walked unseeing and helpless below the prison above. And it wasn't sealed. Not anymore.

Here and there, hairline cracks marred the perfect surface, spilling her song into the world outside. Worse—sometimes something pressed through. A tentacle, a claw, a feeler wet with lightless slime, snaking out to grope for anything unlucky enough to pass. When it found prey, the crack flared wide, just long enough to drag screaming bodies in. Then the wound healed. Seamless again. As if nothing had ever escaped.

I looked back to the others, lost and a little hopeless, to see them all looking as lost as I was, except one.

"Alice?" I asked because she was staring at the orb like it had called her name.

"Lift me up," she said simply, already holding out her arms.

I blinked, but her eyes were steady. I didn't know what else to do, so I wrapped her in my levitation aura and pulled her skyward beside me. She reached for the water, her hands grasping as if she intended to do more than just touch the surface. Her fingers pressed against the orb, and the barrier gave under the pressure like gelatine, thicker than it looked. The song inside throbbed against her hand, the rhythm pulsing with power. I felt it as she pushed her magic into the water. The flowing, healing purity of it, magic that only a naiad could possess.

Then she sang. They weren't words I knew or even any language I'd ever heard. The syllables were close to the divine voice filling the world around us, tantalizingly familiar, but they carried something else—something that didn't drag us down but pulled us up. Her song was still sad, yes, full of loss, but under it ran threads of love. Of hope. Of a promise that sorrow didn't have to devour everything it touched. I felt it against my own soul in the same way as I felt the song above. It was far weaker, even with Alice right beside me, but I knew everyone inside this vast chamber felt it, too.

For a moment, barely more than a heartbeat, the song inside wavered. The world was ever so slightly quieter, almost as if the power at its center was listening. Alice tried even harder, pushing even more magic into her healing and song. The grief inside the orb had shifted, if only slightly, as Alice's voice brushed against it. I didn't dare hope—but I did.

Then something moved. I thought it was only the shadow of some distant, massive fish. But it was too fast, the movement predatory. A shape slicing through the water so quickly my eyes barely caught it before it struck.

The barrier shuddered like glass under a hammer as six jaws slammed against it, teeth gnashing inches from Alice's outstretched hand. The hydrashark, because I had no other words for what to call it, writhed behind the maws, twisting in the water as it snapped again, trying to force its way through.

The orb bulged with the impact. Cracks spidered out for an instant before sealing, leaving only the sound of its violent thrashing through the deep. And then another shadow joined it. And another.

Alice gasped, jerking her hand back, and I yanked her down just as the second beast hurled itself against the barrier.

I didn't think. I just dropped the aura, dragging Alice with me as the first hydrashark's teeth clashed shut where we'd been a blink before. The impact rattled the barrier, and the shock of it reverberated through the air.

The second one was already there. A streak of muscle and scales, jaws yawning wide enough to swallow us both whole. I blasted wind to throw us sideways, and felt the suction of its passing drag the breath from my lungs.

Above, the orb writhed. Shapes were moving now, dozens of them, stirred to attention by the disturbance. Their hunger was palpable.

"I think you've gotten the attention of everything in there!" Sibylla shouted, her voice tight with something I almost never heard from her. Fear.

"Time to go!" I barked, not waiting for any argument.

We sprinted for the pillar. Every step felt too slow, like the water itself was pulling at our heels. The song in the air grew, pressing louder, but jagged and different. We didn't stop to try and understand.

We skidded to the pillar, hands slamming against the runes hard enough to sting. The glow surged, bright and hot, and we all started shouting the numbers before anyone even called it.

"Three—!"

"Two—!"

The water above churned, a hundred shadows breaking loose and rushing down toward us. The song sharpened into a scream.

"One—"

The world shattered. Light ripped us out of the Mourning Deep, and we slammed back into the core room, gasping like we'd just surfaced from drowning, and thrown clear of the core.

I felt reality warp around us, and I knew in my heart it was the things behind us trying to follow. There was a terrible pulling sensation, like something massive trying to squeeze the world through a straw, and with how the others were getting to their feet with a look of relief, I knew they didn't feel it at all. My eyebrows knit as I focused harder and realized it was through my aspect of magic. Those sensations, as clear as day to me with my crown, were absent to everyone else.

"They're trying to follow us through!" Everyone's attention snapped to me, and I answered their unasked question. "Something is letting monsters pass through as easily as people. Didn't you see them coming in through the other pillars?"

Alice looked back to the core, "Ain't no way we're outrunnin' those things if they chase us out the dungeon. Teleportin' ain't gonna save us, just get us killed slower."

"It's a prison, isn't it? How do we close it?" Lilith asked, and I looked around at the scattered shards of the core.

"This circle is powered by the core. We have to fix it. It's the only way to keep them inside and keep that prison from breaking further."

We all turned to look at Sibylla, causing her to blink. "What? You want me to do it?"

"Yes!" I nearly yelled with exasperation. "You threw the other one back together like it was nothing. You're the only one who knows how to deal with dungeon cores at all!"

She suddenly looked a little sheepish. "Yeah, maybe. But that thing was broken into nine perfectly even pieces. This thing has shattered bits everywhere! Besides, I didn't just slap it together with some duct tape and hope for the best! I spent every night for a week communing with Elder Kazeharu while he taught me the basics. You've probably noticed this is a little advanced than that!"

"We do not have a choice!" Amélie shot back. "You saw what was in there. If that spills out into the Shallow Sea, anyone even near the water is dead. I will help you. We were able to piece parts of Shiori's airship back together with my mend spell and keep the runes intact. We will try that here, but you will have to line them up for me."

"We'll help gather them up," I added quickly, turning to Lilith to split the cavern up for searching, and… my eyes met hers.

Gods, she was beautiful. More than that—perfect. I always knew that. I must have. But just, wow. I couldn't look away. My chest ached with it, the rush of heat and swelling emotion. How had I been so blind? Of course, it had always been her. If I just reached out—

A wave of golden fire seared through me, a cleansing blaze that burned the thoughts to ash in an instant. I staggered, gasping, horror rising in the hollow it left.

I shook my head violently and froze. "Oh, no. We have company."

Everyone spun, looking for the source of the cursed aura, but I called them back on task as I spotted the hound… and then the second, both coming around a bend in a tunnel that had been hidden in shadow.

"You two keep working on the core. I'll hold them in the tunnel. Alice, Lilith, cover me!"

I didn't wait for their confirmation. I just charged to get to the tunnel exit first.