Lilith turned her head at the sound of footsteps approaching, it was Lucian and three guards. They rushed toward her, prying Hades from her embrace.
"Are you alright, Lilith?"
But her attention was fixed entirely on Hades. She couldn’t comprehend a single word Lucian was saying. The guards lifted the prince and began carrying him away. Lilith frowned, taking a step forward to follow, but a firm hand on her arm stopped her.
"Lilith! Listen to . Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" Lucian shook her lightly this ti, and it was enough to bring her back to herself.
Lilith quickly checked over her body. "No... I don’t think so. I don’t feel any pain. He protected from the fall," she whispered.
"Alright." Lucian exhaled in relief. "Co with . We must begin the ritual as soon as possible."
She nodded, allowing him to pull her along to the crypt.
Salistra was already there, making preparations. Hades lay flat on a table, his shirt ripped open. The witch reached for Lilith’s hand.
"It will hurt a little," she warned.
Before Lilith could ask what she ant, a sharp pain shot through her palm. She gasped as Salistra drew blood with a knife, collecting it in a small bowl before pouring it into a larger one.
"Co, lie over here." She pointed to the table beside the prince’s.
Lilith obeyed.
"Now, listen carefully," Salistra said firmly. "You are going to be connected to Hades’ mind. You must break him loose and save him before he drifts deeper into the darkness. You will have only three minutes. If you remain a second longer, you will be lost in nothingness forever. We begin now."
Everything was happening so fast. Lilith thought she was ready, but facing it now, she realized she had been fooling herself. Her heart thundered in her chest, her palms slick with sweat.
"Be careful." Salistra gave her a small, reassuring smile before placing an object on Lilith’s chest.
At first, nothing happened. But then, suddenly, her body began to float. Her vision blurred, her head spun violently. She couldn’t keep her eyes open. Shutting them tightly, she waited for the awful feeling to pass.
After what felt like forever, the sensation stopped. The only sound was her ragged breathing. Lilith slowly opened her eyes and found herself no longer in the crypt but in an unfamiliar space.
And she was lying on the ground.
Lilith quickly sprang to her feet. Three minutes, that was all she had. She needed to find Hades. But how?
She scanned the space around her. Four towering white walls rose endlessly upward, their tops hidden from sight. No windows, no doors just silence and blinding whiteness.
Keeping the ticking ti in the back of her mind, Lilith pressed her palms against the first wall, sliding her hands across it in search of anything, a button, a crack, a way out. Nothing. She moved to the second wall, then the third. Still nothing.
A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she pushed her damp hair away from her face. Determined, she hurried to the fourth wall. The mont her hand touched it, a thunderous grinding sound echoed all around her, walls shifting, stone scraping against stone. Lilith spun on her heels, eyes darting wildly, but nothing seed to have changed. Still, the sound roared until suddenly it stopped... replaced by the faint drip, drip, drip of water.
Her brows furrowed. She scanned the room, and there it was a small pool of water glistening at the far end of the space.
It hadn’t been there before. How could that be possible? Then she rembered, she was inside his mind. In here, anything was possible.
Cautiously, she knelt by the pool, hesitating before plunging her hand into the cold surface. At once, a vision shimred beneath the ripples, another room.
Wasting no ti, Lilith dove in. Her body hit the stone floor hard, water splashing off her as she landed, dripping wet and breathless. She gasped, clutching at her chest as she stared up at the rippling pool overhead.
Her temples throbbed. Everything was so strange, so disorienting. Still, she forced herself to her feet, eyes sweeping over the new space.
This place was nothing like the endless white chamber. It was darker. Heavy. Suffocating. The stench of decay and despair clung to the air, so sharp it made her throat tighten. Faint whispers drifted around her, eerie, as though the walls themselves were murmuring secrets she wasn’t ant to hear.
Lilith tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and pressed forward down a long, empty hallway. The corridor stretched endlessly. Each step echoed against the cold stone beneath her feet.
When the distance beca too long, she broke into a run. Her footsteps thundered through the silence, her heart hamring as if she were racing against death itself. Just when she thought the path would never end, a door appeared at the far end of the hallway.
Determination burned through her veins. Lilith forced herself to run faster, ignoring the fire in her chest, the tightness in her stomach, and the stabbing pain shooting up her legs. She pushed on, whispering to herself one more step, just one more, until she crashed into the door and tumbled to the ground.
Her breath ca in ragged gasps. Every inch of her body scread with exhaustion, but she had no ti to rest. Shoving herself upright, she scanned the space around her, then froze.
Her heart stopped.
There he was. Seated on the cold ground, arms and legs stretched out, hair grown down to his shoulders.
It was him. Hades.
Tears welled up and blurred her vision. With a broken sob, Lilith scrambled toward him. "Oh my gods... Hades..." She threw her arms around his neck, clinging to him desperately as tears poured down her face, sobbing uncontrollably against him.
She pulled back just enough to cradle his face in her trembling hands. His eyes were pitch black and empty as they stared lifelessly at the wall ahead, seeing nothing. Not her. Not the world. Nothing. And she knew it.
"Hades... Hades, please," she whispered, gently turning his face toward her. "Co back to . You have to co back to your senses. I want you back." Her voice broke. "I need you back. You cannot let this demon win."
Fresh tears slid down her cheeks. "Gods, I’ve missed you so much. You don’t know how many nights my dreams have been haunted by your face, your laughter, your beautiful smile. I’ve never wanted anyone as much as I want you, Hades." She swallowed hard, her fingers brushing over his cold cheek. "I love you so much. Please... co back to . I can’t live without you. I simply can’t."
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