Chapter 54: Chapter 55: Nyx was the one dying

Chapter 55: Nyx was the one dying

Nyx

Ivy body just lay there.

Lifeless.

Completely still in a way that felt unnatural, wrong, and profoundly final.

And for a long, stretched-out moment that felt far longer than it possibly could have been, none of us moved. No one spoke. No one even breathed properly. The entire clearing seemed to hold its collective breath alongside us, the air growing thick and heavy with disbelief.

We just... stood there.

Staring.

Like our bodies had suddenly forgotten how to function. Like the primal part of us that understood survival had gone strangely quiet, stunned into temporary paralysis by the sheer speed and quiet brutality of what had just happened.

Maybe it was shock.

Maybe it was fear sinking its claws deep into our bones.

Or maybe....

Morvalis had a cruel way of freezing you in place at the exact moment you realized just how easily, how effortlessly, it could snatch one of you away. No fanfare. No dramatic battle. Just a tiny bite in the dark and everything ended.

"Wait..." Theo’s voice finally broke through the suffocating silence, hesitant and raw with disbelief. "Is she...dead like she’s gone for real?"

Gone.

Such a small, inadequate word for something so enormous. Too small. Too casual. Too weak to carry the weight of what lay before us.

Ashriel moved first.

Of course he did.

No hesitation. No wasted motion. No visible emotion clouding his actions.

He and Kaden stepped forward together, closing the distance to Ivy’s body with a grim, unspoken understanding between them. Someone had to check. Someone had to confirm the terrible truth that none of us wanted to say out loud, even though we all already knew it in our hearts.

Lyra’s hands suddenly wrapped around my arm.

Both of them.

Tight. Almost desperate.

I hadn’t even noticed when she had moved closer to me. Her grip was firm, grounding, as if she needed something, anything, solid to hold onto in a world that kept shifting beneath our feet. Or maybe she simply didn’t want to stand alone in this moment.

I didn’t pull away. I let her cling to me, grateful for the contact myself.

Ashriel crouched beside Ivy’s still form.

Silent.

Focused.

His movements were precise and clinical as he reached down, his sharp gaze scanning every inch of her with an intensity that missed nothing. Kaden hovered right beside him, tense and restless, his eyes darting frantically over her body as if searching for some sign, any sign that this wasn’t real.

Then Kaden pointed, his voice dropping lower.

"There," he said. "It’s the Blood Ant."

His finger hovered near Ivy’s ankle, barely an inch above her skin.

We all moved closer.

Slowly.

Reluctantly.

Like stepping forward would somehow make the horror more real, more permanent.

I saw it.

Barely visible.

A tiny red mark against her pale skin.

So small. So insignificant-looking.

Almost harmless.

Like something you might brush off with casual annoyance and never think about again.

And yet....

That was all it had taken.

I stared at the minuscule bite, my mind struggling, almost refusing, to connect what I was seeing with the devastating reality lying on the ground. A single bite. From something so tiny. And it had killed her.

Ivy.

A pure vampire.

One of the strongest, most confident, most dangerous among us.

Gone.

Just like that.

No final words. No dramatic last stand. No chance to even fight back.

The thought didn’t sit right. It didn’t fit. My mind kept rejecting it, like if I stared long enough, if I willed it hard enough, something would change. She would move. She would breathe. She would open her eyes and snap at us for hovering over her like useless idiots.

But she didn’t.

She remained perfectly, terrifyingly still.

Time passed.

I don’t know how much.

Minutes. Hours. In Morvalis, time didn’t behave the way it was supposed to. It stretched endlessly, twisted unpredictably, and slipped through your fingers the harder you tried to hold onto it.

Eventually, we moved her.

Carefully.

Quietly.

Almost reverently.

No one said much. We didn’t have the words. Nothing felt adequate.

We didn’t have anything proper to cover her with either, no shroud, no blanket, nothing that felt respectful or dignified. So we used what little we had: torn bits of spare fabric, extra clothes we could spare from our packs. It wasn’t enough. It didn’t feel nearly enough. But it was all we could offer.

I kept my eyes intentionally away from her.

Stubbornly.

I couldn’t look. Didn’t want to.

Because looking meant accepting it fully.

And I wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

I had thought, stupidly, selfishly, that after this mission, I would still be holding onto all that anger. The irritation. The resentment from nearly dying because of her. That I would have something sharp and petty and deserved to say to her face when the time came.... When we get back to Altheris.

But now?

She was just... gone.

No closure.

No final argument.

No resolution.

Just an empty space where a complicated, hostile, living person had been.

"It’s okay," Elion said quietly beside me, his voice softer than usual. Almost careful. Gentle in a way that felt rare for him.

I nodded.

Automatically.

Because that’s what you do when someone offers empty comfort. You nod. You pretend it helps. You pretend the words can fill the hollow ache growing inside your chest.

But my thoughts didn’t change. Not even a little.

Lyra was still holding my hand tightly.

Her head now resting lightly against my shoulder, her breathing uneven and shallow.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

I could feel it radiating from her, the same deep, gnawing fear sitting heavy in my own chest, pressing against my ribs and refusing to let go.

Because the thought wouldn’t leave me alone, no matter how hard I tried to push it away.

What if that voice hadn’t woken me up?

What if I hadn’t seen the first ant?

What if I hadn’t reacted in time?

What if... what if...

There are a lot of what if in my head, that I can’t even imagine them happening. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Because they did happened....

I would have been the one lying there right now.

Still. Cold and Gone for good.

My fingers curled slightly. Unconsciously.

And judging by the heavy silence...

The oppressive weight in the air...

The haunted looks etched across everyone’s faces...

I wasn’t the only one thinking it.

Because any of us could be next as long as we keep coming to Morvalis.

"I would have bet my life Nyx was the one dying here in Morvalis," Kaden said suddenly, the words spilling out before he could stop them because he looked shocked after saying it.

The words landed hard.

Too hard.

Like a slap in the already raw silence.

"Are you crazy?" Thorne snapped immediately, his voice sharp and cutting through the air like a blade.

Kaden raised his hands slightly in defense. "I was just saying..."

But I didn’t blame him. Not really.

Because the ugly truth was....

I had thought the exact same thing more than once since we arrived.

"You should have kept your thoughts to yourself," Theo said, his tone tight with disapproval and exhaustion.

"I don’t know why you feel the need to speak when your silence would be more honorable," Lyra added quietly beside me, her grip on my hand tightening slightly in quiet solidarity.

Kaden exhaled heavily, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "I’m sorry. I was just... shocked. I still can’t believe it."

None of us could.

That was the problem.

"We’re all shocked," Elion said, his voice colder now. "But saying something like that... about a teammate... just shows how little you think before you speak."

The tension rose again.

Sharp.

Unnecessary.

But maybe... We it was needed.

Because anger was easier to hold onto than this bottomless fear.

"It’s enough," I said, cutting in before it could escalate further. "Everyone’s allowed to think whatever they want."

My voice came out calmer than I felt inside.

Detached.

Almost hollow.

"Freedom of thought doesn’t kill people," I added lightly, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. "At least... not directly."

No one replied.

The group fell back into heavy silence.

And then...

A sound.

A very Loud one.

And it sounded deeply.

Resonant.

Echoing through the ancient forest like something ancient and powerful had just been awakened from a long slumber.

A horn.

It cut through the silence.

Through the trees.

Through us.

I froze.

My head snapped up instinctively, my heart already starting to race again, adrenaline flooding my exhausted system once more.

"What the hell is that now...?" I muttered under my breath, the words barely audible even to myself.

The forest answered with another long, ominous note that seemed to vibrate deep in my bones, promising that whatever came next would be far worse than what we had already endured.