KAIN
HIS CRY ECHOED around him, the agony and ache of the river left behind a massive hole. Where there had once been a constant warmth he had never noticed, was now left cold and hallow. The Phlegethon river had reduced him to nothing more than a wraith… unfeeling, a barely existing stream of thought, forcing him to surrender himself wholly.
He had walked through fire and now there was nothing. No pain, no warmth, just… nothing. Kain grasped at his chest. The void inside him left him gasping for air, until the shock of what happened mellowed to a low, steady hum.
Getting past these rivers was a kind of torment he’d never thought possible. And three more awaited him still.
Kain crossed the small divide to the next river, stumbling and tripping as his numb, unresponsive body made its way forward through the mixture of dried dirt and mud that made up the strip of land.
He looked down into the water’s murky depth and sneered at his own reflection, wondering what fresh hell this one would bring. Kain wished he’d paid better attention in school when they went over mythology, especially the part about the rivers. Not a single thing came to mind.
With unsteady steps, Kain entered the river Styx. Nothing could possibly be worse than the last.
Water splashed around his legs as he stomped through, following the curve of the bend, causing it to be stretch much wider than the previous two.
Nivian…
Ice flowed through the veins of his soul, slowing his steps. A spike of adrenaline shot down his spine.
Nivian…
He was doing this for her. So she could be at peace. Kain stomped through the water as if each step could tramp it down and make it disappear, even as it rose higher around him, swallowing his body with its monstrous appetite.
Kain slowed as the water reached the bottom of his rib cage. His chest heaved with breath he didn’t need as thoughts came to him slowly rising like flames consuming a forest.
It was all for her. A splash punctuated each word as they echoed in the hollows of his heart. He slammed his fists into the surface, not caring that he drenched himself.
He had loved her. Had never once tried to hide it from her since the moment he realized how he’d felt. Always showed her, never once hesitated.
But it wasn’t real. How could anything one-sided be real?
Kain could feel the false joy, the superficial and naïve love he’d felt for her sluicing off him with each drop of water that coated his skin, that soaked into his clothes.
He was dead, stuck in the Underworld being tortured slowly and painfully, all because he would have done anything for Nivian. And it took his death to figure out the truth.
Waves wrinkled the surface of the river as if it too was realizing the same things as he.
Like a lovesick fool, he had thrown himself in front of Yeva’s blast of power, taking the hit for her.
He was in hell—there was no other place it could be—losing parts of himself. Slowly. Painfully. Because of that fatal blow meant for Nivian. Nivian who had… had… sliced his life thread and had ended his life.
This was her fault.
Kain slowed his pace, the water up to his chest, thick and syrup like. Crystalline and icy cold to match the anger coating his heart. He swallowed down the lump that seemed to form in his chest, heavy and bitter.
The emotion was so clear. But it wasn’t just anger, it was so much more. With every passing moment, he was forced to face every aspect of his life, forced to open his eyes to how blind living had made him.
She had tricked him, manipulated him, and let him die for her.
Whatever stupid emotion he had thought he’d felt for her withered, shriveling up and growing black like a stain upon his heart, the utter wrath he felt for her taking its place.
He had never been an angry person. His life had been good, and it was a rare occasion when he felt anything even close to this.
It was unsettling. And somewhere in the back of his mind an alarm went off. Something wasn’t right.
Confusion tinted his heart in shades of burnt orange. By nature he tried to be logical in life.
He’d always known his mind.
Nothing she did ever made him feel as if what he felt for her had been anything other than his own choice. Being a Hunter, he could always sense when she used her power near him. He would have known if she’d used it on him at any point.
Kain thought back to the expression he’d seen on Nivian’s face as he turned to follow his Spirit Councilor to the Underworld. The tears in her eyes, the heartbreak on her face, her pain so great he had almost physically felt it like a punch to the gut.
She couldn’t have faked it.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at his hands through the water that almost reached his neck. It was perfectly clear, glinting even in the dim light.
The farther he waded into the river, the more he could feel it clamp down on him, stealing away a large, important part of him. Sneaking where the others took outright or demanded he willingly hand something over.
The river Styx would take Nivian from him. Poisoning away every reason he’d ever had for loving her, turning it into something dark and ugly.
Kain tried to push away the thoughts of wrath and hate, and he ran. The harder he fought it, the more he could feel the slimy fingers of the river’s will forcing itself upon him. He could feel the war raging within, spreading like a wave over his feelings. A deluge to sweep them away.
The water’s depth began to lower as he neared the far side of the shore, racing against the time and affects, trying to save some small part of himself.
Kain stumbled over his own numb limbs. If only he had control of his body, he could escape this horrid river faster.
So close... he was so close to the edge.
Time, if such a thing existed in this place, seemed to slow way down as he fell face first, the water rising up to meet him. Kain opened his mouth in a mixture of surprise and horror and inhaled a large lungful of water, swallowing on instinct.
A tsunami seemed to crash over him, consuming his love for Nivian. He could almost see it. Photographs burning to ash and cinders.
He shoved himself up, pushing away from the slimy algae coated riverbed, and clawed his way out onto the rocky shore, panting and coughing up as much of the water as he could.
He blinked and looked back over his shoulder at the river with narrowed eyes, watching the current send the surface splashing as if in a triumphant dance.
Kain’s arms trembled, and he collapsed face down among the rocks and mud.