Chapter 219: Last Hope

Waking up, Alice’s tired eyes flickered; the bouncing of the horse was comfortable in how she was seated. Tied around her body, a thin robe bound her to keep her steady, and despite trying to break free, she couldn’t. "Let me go." Her voice was rough, dehydrated, and in her mouth she tasted the slightest amount of blood, as she had just eaten a cut of meat.

No one answered her, and looking around, she saw the scarred woman looking ahead with unblinking eyes, her pale skin whiter than it usually was, her mouth moving as she continued to speak silent prayers to herself. Behind her, she felt the large man tense up at her words but do nothing else, continuing to ride. "Why didn’t you wake me up if we are moving again?" Although she didn’t really care, having found the travels boring, it was what they had always done. "HELLO!" The large man sighed at her shout.

"We are a few hours out from Last Hope" His voice was soft, lacking its usual power. Alice smiled and chuckled, but suddenly felt confused. From what she had heard, it should have taken much longer.

"It’s too quick." The large man tensed up again, and Alice peeked behind her at him. His gaze, much like the scarred woman’s, was focused dead ahead.

"You slept for a long time." Saying that, Alice could tell he didn’t wish to say anything more. Trying to shrug, she failed; her arms were bound tightly together. Sighing and looking up into the sky with nothing else to do, the idea of burning the robes holding her came to mind, but she pushed it out of her mind, realising that it would just slow things down. Letting out a deep exhale, Alice’s mind wandered, falling into a long daydream, imagining a massive ice sculpture of Chesh, trying to refine it to perfection. She didn’t know how long it lasted, and was only broken when she heard the rope around her snap, followed by her body being free.

"Ahead of us." The large man said, his quiet voice filled with awe and fear. Alice turned, moving in a way that made the horse make a noise of annoyance whilst the large man used a hand to steady her so she wouldn’t fall. Unlike everything she had seen before, there was no village or town that greeted them, just the sole castle.

In the centre of the grey plain, colour returned. The giant castle was black, cut into two segments, the walls imposing. The stone didn’t feel normal; instead of looking like individual stones stacked and mortared together, it was a massive construct, moulded as if the earth had been pulled up and shaped. The wall broke into perfectly even segments, and large towers rose to break it; their tops, like the stone walls, bent rather than built to form statues of massive ravens, their eyes filled with burning fire, for a total of ten.

It was the lowest of the walls, a second set in the centre, much like before but lacking the raven statues. On one side of the castle, which was split into two, she could tell even from there that there was a massive courtyard in the centre. Within it a large tree shot out, taller then the wallsm but smaller then the other half of the castle. It wasn’t normal, curving like a sickle, with a small amount of leaves for something so large. Its bark was white, not like the ash colour of the land surrounding it, but white like the clouds. And atop it, the leaves were blue, with a faint glow whenever light hit them, giving a glossy shine.

The other segment of the castle was massive; it was built in three sections that got smaller as it rose, the final top section turning into a massive tower that opened at the top, the stone splitting apart to support an eye that watched the distance; underneath it, a bonfire. Within the wall, there were no windows, nor slits for archers, and fire burned endlessly on each corner of the three separate sections, yet no smoke rose from them, as if they were an illusion.

Alice took a deep breath, staring as they approached, the black gate opening for them as they approached. Waiting to greet them, rows of people stood parallel. They all wore the same black robes, their hoods up. At the centre opposite them, an old man with a long grey beard waited, one hand clutching a withered walking stick, the other tucked behind his back to support himself. He didn’t wear the same robes as the rest, but his outfit was the same black; the only colour was the pelt of a white animal wrapped around his shoulders.

The horses came to a stop just before the old man, and jumping down, Alice held herself back from running off, an ever-present feeling that she was being watched, suffocating and paralysing her even when she did everything to fight against it. The old man stepped forward, his walking stick echoing for all to hear despite hitting the dirt.

"You two will be taken to your lodgings." The old man spoke, his voice powerful despite his old age and hunched-back appearance. "You shall wait for Lord Raven’s sentencing. The Magi shall follow me; Lord Raven awaits you." Tapping his walking stick on the ground twice, the cloaked people who stood by the side all moved simultaneously, approaching the large man and scarred woman. Without touching them, they forced them to move, pulling them right towards the castle. "Follow." The old man said when they had cleared, and Alice, without thinking, did as told; the feeling of being watched grew far more intense as they walked deeper towards the tree she had seen in the distance.

Arriving at a building, before they entered the courtyard, there were no doors; instead, each entrance opened via a lever that, when pulled, moved a section of wall to let a person in. The cold of the outside vanished in an instant, warm air filling the building despite no fires. There was no light, yet each hall seemed no different to the outside. Slowly they walked; the suffocation on Alice grew to the point where she felt sweat on her head and her hair bouncing on her arms. It was fear, not a rational one, but an instinctual one that a person felt before an apex predator.

Turning through the corridors, Alice saw an opening that led outside; by it, another old man identical to the one who led her, minus the hunchback appearance and longer fingernails. "Lord Raven awaits. He orders that she meet him alone." The old man said to the one with the walking stick. Bringing his hand behind his back to his chest, he lowered his head and nodded, stepping to the side to let Alice pass. "Enter the courtyard, please." His polite request couldn’t be refused, and Alice stepped forward, the cold breeze assaulting her the moment she stepped past.

The massive tree hung above, creating no shadows, the leaves acting as a replacement for the sunlight, yet Alice didn’t focus on that. Down the centre of the path at the end of the cobble track, out of place compared to the material of the castle’s walls, a lone figure sat, cross-legged. The only sign they were alive was the shallow bouncing of their chest as they breathed. Behind him, a large tablet was carved with names that ended in Raven.

Every instinct Alice had flared up, screaming of certain danger, that before her wasn’t a person but a force of nature that ended stories even when they hadn’t finished. Even if she wanted to turn and run, she couldn’t. Even if she wanted to laugh, she couldn’t. Before it, she felt there was nothing anyone could do but walk closer; the majesty radiating from the being as they sat, compelling someone to approach, even when it meant death.

It was slow, and despite the blue of the tree leaves, when its red irises revealed themselves, it was the only colour that could exist in the world. They were hypnotic without doing anything. They were as dreadful as they were beautiful. It was like blood, a symbol of life and death. Everything held within them was a contradiction.

’Is this the Eldest One?’

The being didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t order, nor flex its power. It needed to do nothing to force her to keep walking closer. Each step felt as if she travelled through a pit of oil, and when she was ready to take a final step, she stopped herself, a strange feeling coming over her as if any extra would have been disrespectful. It was a strange feeling, one she had never felt before.

The being finally moved when she stood still. Their towering body straightened until a long shadow was cast over her. Hesitantly, she looked up, their body bending to look down at her, the piercing red eyes looking to meet hers. She couldn’t see its face even when it stood before her now, a deep shadow cast over it, only letting its eyes be seen.

All it did was stare. The same omnipresent eye she had felt watching when she first entered was now truly looking at her. Nothing could be hidden; nothing could pretend or lie. Any lie that was dared to be uttered would be trapped in the throat anyway. A second dragged for an hour. A minute for an eternity.

She didn’t dare breathe too loudly, nor move; it was a matter of survival. She couldn’t be sure how long had passed, but the creature finally acted.

"Magi." Its whispering voice was like a spell, pulling her closer to listen. "It is clear to me now."