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~Vaela

Morality is a punishing thing.

Been there. Done that. Died young, spent nearly a century in death before arriving here. The immortal realm, where I am to live out a not so immortal existence, as I shall eventually die. The name must have sounded nice in its creation.

The only true immortality belongs to the pure-bloods.

Dark, twisted individuals with magic beyond their means. Magic to crush realms, to torture and abuse.

Eyla's voice echoes through my subconscious, jolting me from my vacant thoughts.

"No...No, no Vaela, tell me you're lying." She's at my side now, shaking me. I look up at her, tresses of dark hair spilling out from her woollen hat, pure alarm in her eyes.

"It's a mortality spell," I whisper.

With my backside on craggy rock, the puffy wound on my knee still seeping blood, I'm painfully aware of my sudden morality. It should have healed…I shouldn't be so damn cold.

Eyla blinks. "That's a thing?"

"Well of all places a mortality spell will be located, surely it would be here." I throw my hands up, gesturing at our environment, at the sinister pool.

"Okay, you can stop reminding me we are in a creepy cave up a mountain...Oh great, the cold is probably going to kill you." Eyla covers her hands with her mouth, visibly trying to stop her gaze from straying to my leg.

I lean back, although quickly decide against it as a particularly sharp edge nips at my vulnerable skin. "No shit, Eyla."

She pauses.

"What if I..."

"What?"

"You know. What if I..." She raises her arms, shaping her hands like she's clutching a ball, then twists her wrists, wincing at the same time.

My eyes narrow. "What are you doing?"

She drops her arms back to her lap, huffing out a breath. "What if I snapped your neck?"

"And what if I don't get a second chance at life?" I gasp out, edging away from her. Not to mention, I'm not spending another near century in Death's realm, working toward immortality. There has to be another solution…

Her nose scrunches up as she clambers to her feet. "Fine, let's check the rocks and see if there are any hints inscribed there."

"Oh, so now you're the sarcastic one?"

"I get snappy under pressure, alright? It's not every day I watch my best friend get turned into a mortal again in quite literally the worst place ever!" She whines.

Rolling my eyes, I prop myself up with enough leverage to be hauled to my feet by Eyla. I'm unsteady, weak. The stinging from my wound is distracting, although not as much as the cold nagging at me, crawling under what I thought was warm clothing.

"You go...You go get help and I'll stay here," I direct helplessly, pressing my teeth together to avoid them chattering.

"There's nothing to start a fire, you'll die."

"And if I go outside I'll die."

Eyla and I just stare at each other. Despite her breath clouding in front of her face, her cheeks are still crimson, her limbs agile. I imagine all healthy colour has seeped from my face, leaving me as nothing more than a cold, shuddering mess.

"I forgot how fragile mortals were," Eyla says distastefully, forehead creasing as she looks between me and the magical pool.

I tilt my knee. "Don't forget my wound...Infection?"

"I even forgot what an infection was." She presses her fingers against her temples, squeezing her eyes shut. "Okay, let me concentrate."

She doesn't even allow herself a moment before her eyes pop open again, alarmed.

"What if there really is a pure blood up here and it can smell your blood?" I can't tell if she sounds disgusted, or intrigued. I'm not in the mood to fall prey to a pure-blood just to satisfy Eyla's fantasies.

I let my head fall back. "What kind of research have you done?"

"Admittedly, nothing…" She rubs the back of her neck sheepishly.

Pure-bloods, created with the purpose of balancing nature, are the personification of everything that entails living. Seven Sins and Seven Virtues. I have my theories of which pure-blood lives up here, if any, and they aren't a Virtue.

"For a girl so willing to seduce one, you don't know an awful lot," I mutter, watching fresh blood trail down my leg, dribbling onto the rock.

They call him the Immortal Prince. The one I think is up here, I mean.

Naturally, when creatures as immortal as the pureblood's, who remain unseen to us commoner's eyes exist, legends are created. The Immortal Prince...Well, his are dark, and cruel.

If I had common sense, I wouldn't be up here.

Then again, if I had common sense, I wouldn't have slipped into a magical pool and turned myself mortal.

"I never said I was a good person…" I hear Eyla say from the cusp of attention.

I brush off the stray stones and pebbles stuck to my pants. "I'm going to look around, there has to be something in here to help."

"Wait! Vaela, what if there really is a pureblood up here?" Eyla cuts in front of me, gripping my shoulders.

"Then they can help us?"

I push past her, picking my way toward this room's exit. My chance of surviving this is already slim, so I'll take help, even if it comes in the form of a dangerous monster emerging from the shadows.

Eyla follows me out into the main part of the cave. Was it always this cold? My skin burns, my entire being protesting. I really am going to die.

"But they will be a Sin," Eyla asks, her anxious tone echoing across the walls. "What if it's Ira? Oh no...I can't meet Wrath, not today."

"From what I've read of Wrath, they don't live in some desolate cave," I note.

The cave thins out the more we walk, the dark walls frozen with ice. The heel of my palm smacks the top of my flashlight as my light flickers. This isn't going to be good.

"If it's going to be anyone, it's going to be..."

I draw off, not wanting to say his name, as if it may summon him.

"What?" Eyla's eyes widen, expression strained. "Vaela, what?"

I stop, coming to a fork in the cave. Shining my flickering light one way, I see nothing promising through the cloud of my breath fogging up in front of me. The other side reveals little too.

"Never mind, you go that way and I'll go this way." I point to the left, eyeing my skeptical friend.

She shakes her head, jacket rustling. "Uh ah-"

"Eyla, I have hours, if that, before I freeze to death. Mind making this quick?" I snap.

I don't mind to sound irritable, but the cold is so vicious it's all I can think about. I don't even have it in me to be worried about stumbling into this Immortal Prince on our hunt for some kind of salvation, nor what his intentions may be upon finding us.

The contours of Eyla's narrow face appear gaunt with the limited light. "Ugh, fine. Please don't slip on ice and crack your head open."

"I'll try my best," I drawl, turning to the right.

Eyla's scuffed footsteps down the other passageway are comforting enough, as I wander warily. With my patch of available light getting smaller with each passing minute, I opt for dragging my gloved hand against the walls, guiding myself across the treacherous terrain.

Suddenly, my finger knocks painfully against a random grove in the wall. Wincing, I tug my hand away, shaking it as I swing my light over to examine the inconsistency.

Strangely, slabs of wood are fitted neatly into the rock, of which I examine curiously.

"Eyla! Get over here," I call out.

She rushes over, swearing under her breath as she hops from rock to rock. I keep my light trained on the wood, and what appears to be a steel door handle etched into it.

"What is it?" Eyla is at my side, breathing heavily as she looks over my find.

When she realises we are looking at a door, we exchange opposing expressions.

Frankly, I'm relieved. I don't care what this leads to, it could be salvation. Eyla looks blatantly petrified, even taking an uncomfortable step backwards, her light quivering from her unsteady hand.

"You want to try it?" I motion to it.

Eyla's brow is so furrowed it could be a permanent fixture to her pretty face. "You brought me up here, you do it."

"I'm mortal!"

"Fine, geez."

She wrestles past me, gripping the door handle. It opens with ease, not locked or anything. Shining our lights down, it reveals another section of the cave. This time the ground is worn down and the walls are smoothed back.

Eyla steps forward, only to stumble back like she's been hit.

"Weird...I can't get through." She presses her hand up, laying it flat against an invisible wall. More magic, evidently.

"Are you sure? Let me try."

I'm not ready to give up on this so easily, so I step to the threshold, expecting to be shoved back by magic like Eyla, however I step through, meeting no resistance.

Turning around, I hold my hands out. "Would you look at that..."

"It's because you're mortal," Eyla gasps. The enigmatic nature of the magic in this cave system knows no bounds. I get a feeling, however, that it's not natural. Whoever is through this hallway intended to keep immortals out.

I step out of the hallway, pulling the door closed. "Okay, then we close the door and never speak of this again."

"What? What if help is down that dark, super creepy hallway?" Eyla drifts off, but pushes the door open regardless.

It creaks ominously, the sound carrying down through the darkness. Something is down there, lurking in the shadows, awaiting exploration. I step through the threshold again, but pause, looking back at a quivering Eyla.

"Are you thinking what I am?" I whisper.

"I know I joked about a pureblood husband, but I think I change my mind." Eyla starts pacing, pale and withdrawn suddenly.

I move down the hallway slightly, the darkness soaking up the entire beam from my flashlight. I don't need to go far, before the slightest wave of warmth rushes over me, cutting through the cold that encases my skin.

"It's warm down there..." I tell Eyla.

I know it's wrong…I shouldn't keep edging my way into the darkness like this, but the warmth is compelling, reliving all the pain the cold has inflicted on me.

"Go, if you're going to," Eyla exclaims, pressing herself against the wall of magic. "But if you're trapped, I can't get you out."

My feet tap through puddles, the ice from the walls having melted the deeper into the hallway I traverse. The palms of my hands skate along the smooth surface of the narrow walls, keeping my bearings with me.

"Just a few steps." I can't tell if I'm convincing myself or Eyla. I should turn around, find another way to save myself...But I can't physically bring myself to turn away from it.

I glance back to see Eyla throwing her hands up. "I'm going to be friendless."

Suddenly, my head slams against a wood structure, knocking me back.

I lay my palm flat against my forehead, wincing. "Fuck."

That hurt way more than it should have. Damn mortality.

Lifting my hand again, I run it over the wood, until my fingers knock against the handle. "It's another door."

"Open it," Eyla calls out. Oh, so now she is on board.

The door, like the other, is unlocked, gliding open with little resistance. More warmth rushes over me, and I nearly collapse. From what I can see peeking through the gap, the making of a home is laid out, the cave extending from the hallway into a magnificent space that I can tell is large, even with the shadows masking it.

I pull the door closed again, looking back at Eyla. "It's like it's someone's home."

"The pureblood!" she calls out. I huff out a breath. I'm hoping that's not the case, and instead, it's a kind cave-dweller that will grant me refuge until the lady returns to take Eyla and I home.

"I'm going in," I inform her hesitantly. I want her to tell me this is a bad idea, to summon me back, but she doesn't. "Give me a few minutes. If I don't come back, leave, and get help."

I can see her nod, so holding my breath, I open the door again, and wander inside.

Only to see a man standing in the centre of the space, completely naked.