Crown of Crimson (Underworld Gods 2)

I just have to hold on.

“Okay,” I tell Alku, trying to sound strong. I hold my hands out, ready to reach as the horn comes closer.

But then Alku’s eyes widen in their sockets.

Behind you! Alku yells.

I whirl around to see Rasmus emerging from the snow like a bear after hibernation, coming for me with this dumb kind of rage.

His eyes are still black as sin.

I scream and Alku flies forward, knocking me to the ground as it lunges at Rasmus, attempting to spear him in the chest with its horn.

But Rasmus is fast, faster than he’s ever been, and he’s ducking to the side and out of the way, disappearing in the snow again.

Meanwhile Alku can’t correct in time and his horn sinks into the snow and the giant unicorn is propelled into a summersault, its wings furiously flapping as it tries to right itself.

“Alku!” I scream helplessly as the unicorn goes flying over, landing in the snow with a thud until it nearly disappears.

Rasmus is still out of sight, but I don’t have time to worry about him. I try to run over to Alku to make sure the unicorn is okay, praying I don’t take the wrong step.

Its horn is sticking straight out of the snow, not moving. Then it inches forward and Alku’s massive head rises out of the snow, mouth open in a cry, showing a row of fanged teeth, which would be most unexpected and frightening if I weren’t in such shock. It shakes its neck and withers, mane flying, and tries to get the snow off.

I’m all right, Alku says, struggling to get up. I’m just…I’m just…

I can’t see the unicorn’s wings, but the snow moves up and down like its trying to flap them. I think I’m sinking…Alku says, its voice straining as it tries to lift its leg and pull itself up.

Oh hell no.

“No, you’re not,” I say, trudging through the snow even closer.

Don’t come any closer! The unicorn yells, pure terror in its voice. I’m sinking into Oblivion.

I shake my head, swallowing hard. “You’re just sinking through the snow, keep trying, you’ll make your way out.”

The unicorn’s eyes widen. No. I can’t feel my legs. I can’t…

“You’re frozen!” I cry out, trying not to panic. “You need to get out of the snow. Let me help you.”

I’m in the Star Swamp, Alku says hopelessly. Please, please don’t come any closer or you will fall in.

I shake my head, tears springing to my eyes. I don’t even know Alku very well, but the unicorn has only been a help to me, and I refuse to give up on it. The Never-Ending Story did a number on me when I saw it as a child, I don’t want to go through that in real life.

“Please, Alku, just try. If I could just get your horn, maybe I could pull you out.” I come forward an inch.

Alku just shakes its head. It doesn’t say anything else.

“Alku,” I say again, holding out my hands. “Let me try to save you.”

It blinks. It stops struggling. For a moment I think it’s sinking further but instead there’s a blackness rising up from the white canvas of the snow, a blackness that feels just as empty and soulless and horrible. It slides up the unicorn’s neck like an oil spill, erasing Alku as it goes.

“Alku!” I scream.

But it’s too late.

The blackness takes over its head and then suddenly it just ceases to exist. Like the blackness was just an illusion in the air, a moving shadow that’s suddenly gone.

Alku has been taken by Oblivion.

“Oh god,” I cry out, collapsing to my knees. I know I don’t have time to be sad or to be in shock, that an evil Rasmus is still around and I’m still surrounded by a hidden swamp that will quite literally kill me. And yet the loss of Alku stabs me right in the heart.

We were so close to escaping this world. And this is all my fault.

All my fault.

“So we finally meet,” a deep voice says from behind me.

I jolt, startled, my eyes glued to where Alku was, too scared to turn around. It’s a voice I’ve never heard before. Low, raspy, dripping with malice. It’s a voice that sinks deep into my marrow, threatening to rewrite the blood inside me.

I know it’s Louhi before I even turn around. Every cell inside me tells me so. They tell me to run, far far away.

I try to swallow the fear lodged in my throat, but even breathing feels impossible. I’m afraid I might turn to stone if I don’t move.

I turn around and look.

Standing about twenty-feet away from me is the most terrifying and powerful-looking being I’ve ever seen.

She’s tall. Maybe as tall as Death. Seven feet? Eight feet? She’s wearing a long black robe that’s cut down in a V-neck to her navel, iron armor plates at her shoulders and elbows. Giant wings come out from either side of her back, held in a V-shape, but they don’t seem like wings that would let her fly, they’re too thin and ragged for that, the color black and transparent enough that I can see through them.