The Scattered Bones: A Dark Fantasy Romance by Nicole Scarano

Author:Nicole Scarano [Scarano, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Eight

The imposing cliffs loom so high, their greyness blots out the sun. Nothing touches this land, save rocks and shadows. No vegetation. No life. No color. Just harsh stone and jagged edges. Yet this task is one I don’t fear. The threads binding our hearts led me here, and for the first time, I stare at the danger with confidence. I can climb and climb well. How many nights did we spend skirting the walls of the temple? How many hours did he train my fingers to hold the small ledges and crevices? He prepared me for this quest, gave me the tools to face a peril most never lay eyes upon, and I silently thank him for his training. My love didn’t send me into the darkness unprepared.

“What’s up there?” I ask the empty air. “What’s on the other side?”

“No one knows,” The Stranger answers in my mind. “No one’s ever crossed the Verdens Kant. It is the end of the realm. The edge of our world.”

“Not even the gods?” I ask. The Verdens Kant is a stretch of uninhabitable mountains and cliffs that mark the boundary of every map known to man. No one has ever climbed these ridges and survived to discover what lies beyond, but because his pull dragged me here, Valka at least ascended part of the way to hide his bones. Perhaps the realm of the gods hides behind this natural fortress. Perhaps I’ll find Hreinasta’s true form waiting for me. Oh, to see her true self face to face and let her witness what became of her favorite vessel. I’m scarred and starving. Sunburned and frost kissed. I’m not the beauty I was when she claimed me. I am a savage. His savage, and if my fall from grace returns him to me, I’ll accept every blemish and disfigured scar this brutal life offers. May the Pure One look at what I’ve become with shame. Shame that it was her selfishness that brought me so marred to her feet. I would allow her shock to settle before I strangled her, though. Blasphemous as it may be, I know it in my soul. If I ever lay eyes upon the true form of Hreinasta, I’ll test just how long the primordial goddess can survive with my fingers around her throat.

“Who’s to say what the gods do and do not know,” The Stranger answers. “Their minds and knowledge are not for us to question.”

I snort at his comment, but his tone is playful as if he only half believes his words. “Is this truly the end of the world?”

“Climb and find out, my child.”

I strain my neck to see where the monotone peaks disappear into the colorless clouds. To scale this height will take days. Days where my entire survival will rely on what I can carry on my back. The Verdens Kant is a barren citadel of stone. No life grows along its harsh ridges. No fresh-water pools in its crevices. My only hope of water is the rain, but if the heavens open up and weep, I won’t count that as a blessing.

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