Vorrakis, as the Spell had called the abominable serpent... had changed.
The abomination was no longer the blood-soaked horror that had coiled through the battlefield. Now, beneath Maya's gaze, it stood reborn— an embodiment of her Winter's merciless chill.
Its serpentine body, once armored in sickly crimson scales, was now encased in jagged layers of translucent ice. Each segment shimmered with the cold brilliance of frozen glass.
The storm-slick surface of the Mawshade's ice-clad form gleamed in brief flashes of pale lightning. Rain whispered steadily across the ice, a constant hush beneath the distant rumble of thunder. Each illumination of the lightning cast the creature in a starker, crueler light.
Maya stood transfixed, the wind howling around her like a wounded beast. Where blood had once dripped and gleamed on the serpent, frost now traced delicate patterns across its surface, as if winter itself had painted over the gore.
Its grotesque head, still monstrous in size, was now a sculpture of shimmering frost. The once dagger-like teeth were now crystalline shards and razor-sharp icicles that glistened with an eerie, blue glow.
A cold mist swirled from its maw with each breath, and its forked tongue, now a thin wisp of swirling snow, flickered out to taste the chill in the air. The howling wind slipped between the creature's teeth, keening low as it passed, like the last breath of something buried beneath ice.
Its sunken, predatory eyes no longer burned red with bloodlust. Instead, they glowed with a spectral, icy-blue light— cold, distant, and unforgiving.
The raw malice remained, but it was tempered by an unsettling stillness, a quiet deathly chill that seeped into the bones. Even the storm seemed to quiet around its gaze, as if unwilling to disturb it.
The bony protrusions along its spine had transformed into jagged shards of frostbitten ice, each spike sharp and glistening. They refracted the dim light of the setting sun and the occasional flashes of lightning like shattered glass.
The serpent's elongated form, once slick with viscera, now left a trail of glittering frost in its wake. The very air around it was biting and brittle. Rain sheeted down in dark veils, making the world look blurred and fractured.
But Maya could feel it— her Winter, her claim.
The creature in front of her was no longer just an abomination. It was hers, sculpted by her will, bound by her burden. And as lightning crawled across the sky like veins of fire beneath skin, the Echo loomed silently. The serpent's towering form was draped in frost and snow, but it was no longer merely terrifying— it was beautiful in its cold, unrelenting cruelty.
Maya pushed aside the awe stirring within her as she gazed upon her majestic Echo.
Around her, the storm was pressing in, and so was the Dark Sea— it was steady, unceasing, and indifferent.
There would be time later to marvel at the snake's haunting beauty, but now... was not that time.
More pressing and perilous matters demanded her attention at the moment.
Her sharp eyes flicked to Cade, who also stood transfixed, his wide-eyed stare locked on the shimmering serpent. Rain streamed down his face, the dark waters lapping at his shoulders, unnoticed in the daze, as if the chilling depths of the Dark Sea were insignificant compared to the wonder before him. Above, thunder grumbled through the clouds like a distant threat— ignored, for now.
Maya's voice sliced through the stillness, harsh and urgent.
"Cade!" she snapped, shattering his awe-struck reverie and pulling him back to the harsh reality enveloping them. Her voice barely carried over the wind, which had begun to gust in erratic bursts. It tossed her hair into her eyes.
Cade flinched, blinking at her, confusion quickly overtaking the wonder in his eyes.
"Wha—" he began, but Maya cut him off sharply.
"It's the Echo of the snake," she said urgently, her voice a hiss above the ominous waters. The rain beat steadily against her face, each drop cold as steel.
As the words left her lips, her feet left the ground. She was now floating in the abominable black waters of the Dark Sea. Its unnatural chill was clawing at her resolve. It surged around her, rising and falling in dark and rolling waves, threatening to drag her under.
"I don't know why it looks like this, but we don't have time to admire it!"
Her gaze shifted to the Mawshade's Echo. Its serpentine form was gliding effortlessly through the black waves. It didn't struggle. It moved with an eerie grace, as though the sea was its natural domain. Rain slid down its icy hide, hissing softly where warmth tried and failed to cling.
So, it can swim... Thank the Gods, Maya thought, a flicker of relief piercing her tension.
Wind tugged at the soaked cloak of the Aegis. It made each stroke through the water more labored. Still, moving through the black waters, Maya looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of her companion. But night had shrouded the sensation of vision. The storm had stolen distance and turned the world into silhouettes and echoes.
Damn it! Maya cursed inwardly.
"Cade! I can't see you, but just grab onto one of the spikes!" she sent through the darkness enveloping the two of them, her voice strained but still sharp and clear. "We're hitching a ride home..."
A surge rocked her sideways, forcing her to spit out a mouthful of the abominable Sea.
"Got it!" Cade's voice shot out of nowhere.
Maya pushed through the waters and gripped one of the jagged ice spikes jutting from the serpent's back. The spike was slick with water, but she had to steady herself before the next wave hit.
A moment later, Cade appeared beside her, illuminated by the eerie glow emanated by the Mawshade's form. His breath was ragged as he clutched another spike. Rainwater streamed from his soaked hair and down his shoulders. He glanced at her, forcing a crooked smile despite the tension crackling in the air.
"To be completely honest with you, this is a little too crazy... even for me!" he shot over the roar of the surging waves. The wind tore at his words, but Maya heard him well enough.
"Let's just hope we live long enough to regret it!" she shot back, her voice wry. The Dark Sea heaved beneath them, slamming against the serpent's sides in relentless pulses. "We're not out of the waters yet."
She peered ahead, adding dryly, "Quite literally."
Cade let out a sharp laugh. "Ha! Did you just crack a joke while we're practically in the jaws of certain death?! Are you sure you're the same Maya?!"
Maya found herself smiling despite the chaos around them. Rain streamed between her long lashes. Her teeth chattered slightly from the cold. "Desperate times, Cade!"
With a steadying breath, she reached out with her will, commanding the Mawshade's Echo to move. The serpent surged forward. Its form cut through the dark waters, braving the relentless storm and moving in the direction of the Bone Ridge.
The Otherwalkers were going to survive this, no matter what. Maya would make sure of it.
***
The Mawshade's icy form cut through the black waters of the Dark Sea with an eerie, unnatural grace. Its jagged, ice-clad body shimmered faintly in the stormlight, leaving a trail of glittering frost in its wake. Behind it, the Dark Sea churned in its passage, an abyss in constant unrest.
Maya clung tightly to one of the ice spikes jutting from the Echo's spine, her fingers stiff and unfeeling. The dread was no longer just a sensation— it was a presence. It gnawed at her bones, seeped into her joints, and dragged her down with every crashing wave.
The wind screamed through the darkness. It lashed at her back like a living thing. Its icy claws ripped into her soaked cloak and cut down to the skin beneath her battered armor.
Breathing itself was a battle. The air had turned hostile— thin, frigid, and thick with rain that hammered down in merciless sheets. Every inhale scraped her throat raw, every exhale drowned in the wind's howl.
Lightning flashed in the distance. It revealed, for a split second, the serpent's immense silhouette coiling through the storm-torn Sea, before plunging it back into the void.
Beneath her, the Mawshade moved with fluid, terrible power. There was a beauty to its motion, smooth and unhurried, as though even the chaos of the storm bowed to its command.
But Maya felt no comfort.
Because she knew. Her gut twisted with the certainty that the Sea would not let them pass unchallenged.
Cade clung beside her, his knuckles white against the ice. Rain streamed down his face, plastering his hair to his skull. His jaw was clenched, his shoulders were hunched, and every muscle was tensed against the cold, ever-shifting pull of the Sea below.
He didn't speak. He didn't need to.
The silence between them was louder than any scream.
Around them, the Dark Sea groaned and rolled like a restless beast. Maya knew that this water wasn't just black— no, it was void incarnate, swallowing what little light the storm permitted.
The serpent moved above the surface, but everything else… everything else waited below.
Watching. Breathing. Waiting.
The waves rose high, breaking in great walls before crashing down again in violent pulses. Each one sent a spray arcing high into the air. The black water mingled with the rain until it was impossible to tell what came from sky and what came from the Sea.
The serpent never faltered, though. Maya and Cade, however, felt every jolt, every sway. Every time the Mawshade dipped lower, water surged over their backs, icy and suffocating.
The air reeked of salt, rot, and something fouler— something older. Maya's stomach tightened at the sensation.
Every now and then, the surface broke. Not far off. A ripple here, a shadow there. Nothing concrete, never close enough to see— but always just enough to freeze the blood in Maya's veins. Just enough to whisper that they were not alone. That the Mawshade was not the only thing awake in this Sea.
Each time, Maya's heart kicked in her chest, a cold, sharp beat of fear. But nothing came. The Sea closed again like a wound, as if mocking her.
Maya gritted her teeth in frustration.
While she had commanded the Mawshade to move in the direction where they'd originally come from— the direction of the Bone Ridge— she knew that the ice-clad serpent had lost its path. Navigating the Dark Sea under the weight of the starless void was close to impossible, even more so right now, with the relentless storm raging all around them.
Still, they couldn't afford to stop. Maya didn't know as to why the dwellers of the depths weren't coming for them right away. She guessed that maybe because they were soulless, they were unseen to the horrors. But she knew that that was neither here nor there.
The Corrupted horrors of the Dark Sea didn't care if their prey was a Nightmare Creature, a human, or soulless Dreamers like herself and Cade. No, they were poised to tear apart anything foolish enough to wade through the black waters of the Dark Sea.
Cade and Maya were no exception.
Maya had even been inclined to believe that maybe it was the Mawshade's presence that was keeping them at bay, but she quickly discarded that notion.
After all, no matter its Class, the Mawshade was still of the Awakened Rank. Maya knew that many of the depth dwellers were Corrupted, considering that the Dark Sea itself was a Great Nightmare Creature of the highest Class. And even a Corrupted Beast could easily rip the Mawshade to shreds.
So, it wasn't the Mawshade's presence that had kept the ancient leviathans from attacking them.
Maya let herself feel a feeble hope that maybe, just maybe Fate might allow them to reach their destination unscathed. Gods knew that they had endured enough for today.
After all, it wasn't exactly a given that they would be attacked in the first place. Hadn't the trio moved through the Dark Sea for hours without being attacked? Back when they'd left for the Dark City in their Demon boat?
Maybe Cade and Maya would get lucky too. Maybe they would reach their destination without encountering any harrowing abominations at all.
Maya scoffed despite the exertion, discarding the futile thoughts.
As if, she thought, cursing inwardly. Damn [Fated] is never gonna settle for that...
She forced the grim thoughts aside and stared forward into the black. Rain slashed across her face in stinging sheets, but she didn't blink.
The serpent's glowing blue eyes pierced the storm. They were like twin beacons in the night, casting a dim, spectral light across the churning waves. Its forked tongue flickered like drifting snow, and with every breath, mist coiled from its maw and froze in the air behind it. The frozen air left a shimmering trail of hoarfrost above the Sea's chaos.
It was terrifying— undeniably.
Yet in the cruel light of the storm, the scene carried a haunting beauty.
Something ancient. Elemental.
A god that had never known warmth moving through the blood of a harrowing, profane existence.
It was... breathtaking and horrifying at the same time.
Still, Maya couldn't afford to admire it, not here, not now. Awe would only get them killed.
The silence between her and Cade was loud— too loud. Not true silence, but the kind forged from tension.
Around them, the world was far from quiet, though.
The wind howled without pause. It tore through the open Sea, its voice shrill and merciless. The rain beat down harder than ever. It drummed against the serpent's frozen back and their own hunched shoulders.
Beneath them, the Mawshade moved with its steady, bone-deep groan. The water sloshed violently as its immense body shifted. Now and then, a brittle crack of ice echoed faintly, sharp as a distant scream.
Maya's thoughts wouldn't settle. Her mind raced, full of unfinished fears and half-formed plans, each one drowned before it could take shape. Every sound, every flicker on the water's surface sent her instincts flaring, but there was nothing. Always nothing.
But the storm raged, unchecked, as if deliberately trying to wear her down.
She glanced toward Cade. He hadn't moved. His eyes were locked on the horizon— or where the horizon would be, if anything could be seen through the veil of winds and darkness. His face was hard to read in the dim light emanated by the Echo. His features were made vague by the rain, but the tight set of his jaw, the tension in his shoulders, the way his fingers twitched against the ice—they said enough. He didn't expect this crossing to go smoothly either.
Minutes stretched and broke apart, losing meaning. There was no sense of progress, only survival.
But the Bone Ridge was nowhere in sight.
The Mawshade swam forward without pause, its rhythm unnervingly perfect, like it was following a path only it could sense.
Yet... the journey simply felt endless.
The Dark Sea stretched in every direction. It was a vast and featureless plain of thrashing water and wind. A prison of black with no walls— only the threat of vanishing, of being swallowed whole.
Maya's legs ached from the strain of holding her position on the serpent's slick back. Her muscles were shaking beneath the battered Aegis. Her arms were stiff, her joints barely responding through the fear in her chest. When she shifted to ease the tension, the pain was immediate— needling fire shooting through frozen limbs.
There was no comfort to be found. No relief. Only the constant battle to hold on.
And still, the storm didn't let up. The Sea roared below, the wind shrieked above, and the rain beat on— an unending onslaught from a world that had forgotten mercy.
Cade's voice suddenly cracked through the storm like a thrown rock, raw and strained.
"How much longer do you think it'll take?!"
Maya barely caught the words. Wind tore them apart mid-air, forcing her to lean closer, squinting through the sheets of rain. Her soaked hair clung to her face as she shouted back, "I don't know! But we can't stop! Not here!"
He gave a tight nod. His eyes were sharp despite the exhaustion creeping into his features. Then, through the downpour, Cade sent:
"Something's wrong! Where are the towering structures?! The coral pillars?! We should've seen some by now!"
Maya's eyes narrowed. She turned her head, scanning the black waves around them. Just more water. More darkness. No silhouettes. No crumbling structures piercing the surface. Her stomach clenched as realization set in.
"You're right…" she shouted. "I didn't even notice— been watching for the leviathans! But this— this is wrong!"
Her voice cracked slightly. The wind shrieked louder now, making it harder to speak. Cade leaned toward her, his face deathly pale from the cold, but his eyes determined.
"You don't think we're over the crater, do you?! Between the Barrow and the City?!" she yelled, clutching the ice spike harder.
"There's no way to be sure!" Cade called back. "But we should've passed at least a few coral trees by now! There're plenty of them east of the Barrow! If we've seen nothing— then we passed the Barrow already!"
Maya swore under her breath, the wind swallowing the sound.
"Why didn't you say anything earlier?!" she snapped, not hiding her frustration. "That's the kind of thing you mention, Cade!"
"Well, I wasn't sure, was I?!" he shouted. "But now I am!"
They fell silent for a long moment, hunched against the storm. The Mawshade glided forward through waves that heaved like breathing beasts.
Maya exhaled through gritted teeth. Then, she raised her voice again, "Should we just go on ahead?! To the Dark City?! Those three will eventually end up there, anyway!"
Cade turned his head slowly, locking eyes with her through the sheets of rain. His jaw was tight, his expression unreadable as if he were suppressing raging emotions. Something flickered behind his eyes. Was it guilt? Or reluctance? Maybe something else entirely?
Maya's logic was sound. And brutal. And maybe even necessary. After all, the Dark City had been their destination all along.
After a while, Cade shouted over the wind, "Do you even know where the City is?!"
"No!" Maya fired back. "But we haven't made any sharp turns for a long while! And if this really is the crater, then we're on the right path!"
Another long pause.
Cade didn't look away. Water streamed down his face, half-rain, half-sea. Then, voice hoarse, he said, "I get where you're coming from, Maya. I really do. But... I don't want to leave them behind. I..." He hesitated. "Not while that damnable tree still has its claws in their minds!"
Maya stared at him, thunder rumbling overhead like a distant avalanche.
Then, slowly, she nodded. In truth, she also didn't feel like leaving the three Sleepers behind.
Maya wasn't exactly a kind or righteous person. At least, that's what she believed.
But she wasn't completely heartless either. She already felt bad that the two of them were watching the three Sleepers slowly lose their minds under the influence of that abominable tree. Especially so, because Maya could've easily helped them escape its clutches.
And now, completely abandoning them while they weren't in their right minds? That was too cruel... even for someone like Maya.
Besides, their escape from the Soul Devourer had been largely based on luck. And in case of [Fated] like Sunny, Maya and Cade, luck could never be trusted.
Even still, she'd wanted to hear Cade's thoughts. He was her companion, and he had a say in all their decisions.
"I guess we're turning around then?!" she called.
Cade offered a small, weary smile. "Yeah! The Barrow's probably straight behind us! Keep wide of it... I don't want to see a single leaf from that cursed thing!"
"Got it!" she yelled, planting one hand firmly against the Mawshade's frozen hide.
And with that, she pushed her will through the storm, commanding the serpent to turn.
The Mawshade's pace slowed, just slightly. Its massive head tilted— listening, sensing. Then, without hesitation, it twisted mid-glide and began to carve back through the black waters in the direction they had come. The mist spilling from its jaws thickened. It curled around Maya and Cade like a silent shroud, ghostly and cold.
Then, suddenly, came a sound— a splash.
A ripple followed.
Subtle. But real.
Maya's fingers dug harder into the ice spike, her knuckles whitening. Her chest tightened as a deep, instinctive dread coiled low in her gut. Something had changed. The Sea beneath them trembled— not visibly, not loudly, but in a way that only prey would recognize when a predator drew near. She felt it. In the air, in the cold. In her very bones.
"...Maya," Cade's voice came out of nowhere, strained and low— almost a whisper, but cutting through the wind all the same. "Be ready."
She didn't answer with words. Just a short nod. Her throat was too dry to speak.
He had sensed it.
Maya knew Cade's affinity— True Darkness. He was Stygian, after all. She knew that the Attribute allowed him to see what others couldn't, to feel what lingered in the void beneath.
But he had always resisted reaching too far into the Sea's unnatural stillness. It was too vast. Too old. Too unkind. Too unfathomable, and too insidious to be messed with by the likes of her and Cade.
And yet, now… he had dared to listen. To push his senses into the depths of this abyssal nightmare.
The spike of ice beneath her hand felt like it was shaking, ever so faintly.
Cade moved. His hand gripped the hilt of the Voidfang, which emerged from black mist like a shadow forming teeth. He pulled it free. The blade swallowed the dim light around it as if hungering for the storm. A breath left Cade's lips, controlled but tight, as he began to draw on the dark tether within him.
Maya followed suit, summoning the Oblivion Reaver from her Winter. As the serpentine blade of ice dropped into her free hand, her thoughts sharpened, narrowed to survival.
Then— barely more than a whisper— another ripple spread across the Sea.
It was growing.
The surface, once deceptively smooth, began to bulge.
First a tremor. Then a rise.
The Mawshade sensed it too. Its head snapped toward the swelling water. Its glowing eyes flared with sudden intensity. A deep, low growl rolled from its throat, not unlike the warning rumble of thunder. It rattled through Maya's ribs, leaving her breathless.
And then—
The water erupted.
And then, it rose.
__________________________________
This one might just be the toughest chapter I've ever written. I remember struggling for hours to write the storm, along with the dread pooling in Maya's chest, and their precarious situation in addition to the ever-churning Dark Sea. At one point, I even debated getting rid of the storm entirely, but then I wouldn't have been able to explain how they lost their path. So, it was necessary.
Still, I think it turned out alright. What did you think? Did I focus too much on the atmosphere, and the surrounding? Was it too boring? Or was it cool?
Not much talking happened in here, but the part where Maya asked Cade to continue on to the City, I tried to show Cade's reluctance. To make it more apparent.
'Why, though? Doesn't he want the story to progress like in the original novel? Why doesn't he just leave?'
The answer's kinda obvious. For Cassie, ofc. Duh!
Would you wanna leave a girl you like in the hands of a mind-shattering abomination with no way of intervening? I know Cade wouldn't...
Anyway, that's that. I'd forgotten to update the day before yesterday, so that's why there were two consecutive updates yesterday andtoday. Tomorrow, it'll be a break and the schedule will continue unabated. Hopefully.
So, hope you liked it! Until next time, people! :]