Chapter 57: Chapter 57

AVERY

Gloom and frost enveloped me as I crouched in the corner like a hunted animal, trembling for its life. Any attempt to free myself ended in even deeper despair.

Strange feelings spread through me, dark, unknown forces that slowly devoured me. My thoughts kept circling round and round, always about the same things that were robbing me of my everyday life bit by bit.

This horror had crept into me quietly, first as self-reproach, then as sadness, and finally as sheer fear. I didn’t understand why it was holding me so captive. Why I couldn’t break out of it.

But the worst thing was the hatred that was fermenting inside me. Poisonous, cold, devastating.

It crawled under my skin, spreading until I could no longer fight it. Suddenly, I was no longer myself.

My body no longer obeyed me. I was nothing more than a tool, a powerless medium for this darkness.

I was looking through my own eyes, watching my hands do things that I had never wanted to do. It wasn’t me.

I screamed inside, tried to fight back—but with each resistance I was pushed deeper into myself, lost, forgotten, alone in the blackness.

Then that angel appeared. Her light pierced the darkness and for a moment I felt warmth, a fleeting hope.

But whatever was holding me in its grasp would not let go. Even when the angel’s light rose in me, touched my soul, I was still trapped.

And so I remained there, trembling, caught between light and darkness, unable to free myself.

This voice kept screaming inside me as if it wanted to drive me mad. Too much hate, too much rage burned inside me.

All that remained was this darkness.

“I never saw you like this, my son.”

My father’s voice echoed through me, familiar and yet so distant. I searched desperately for him, my eyes racing through the darkness.

“Father?” I breathed, but saw nothing. Was it all my imagination?

“You can’t see me because you’re not looking, Avery,” he said louder.

The words struck me like a blow.

“Where are you?” I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of my fear.

But then, in the darkness of my thoughts, his face emerged. That smile. Those warm eyes.

Suddenly, the darkness was torn apart. He stood in front of me, enveloped in a soft light that fought like a sword against the heaviness.

It grew stronger, brighter, until I could see nothing but this radiant warmth that engulfed everything around him.

“My son,” Father said gently. He knelt down in front of me.

I wanted to scream, wanted to beg him… but my throat was tight.

“Everything will be alright… I promise you,” he whispered. His arms wrapped around me, tight, safe.

His scent. His touch.

As if his presence alone would break the chains that held me captive.

“It’s the light of the angel… inside you,” he explained.

Did he come from the afterlife?

“I did, Avery,” he replied, amused.

Father smiled as if he had heard my thoughts, and then… a kiss on my forehead so tender it took my breath away.

“What’s happening to me, Father?” I asked worriedly.

“Timorax,” he replied. His gaze became serious.

“A demon that feeds on fear and anger. Abaddon knew what he was doing when he let you save Ava. It was his plan to smuggle Timorax into Antaris—to weaken the good until he could destroy everything. He wants the power of your mate,” he added.

A demon. Inside me.

Now that he said it, I felt it. A scratching, crawling something that ate at my thoughts, tried to drive Father away.

“When your mother died… Abaddon tried the same thing with me,” Father explained to me, his voice rough.

“Don’t let him destroy you. You are stronger than you think, my son.”

“How am I supposed to manage without you?” I asked desperately. My words were little more than a stifled sigh.

Then he smiled and tilted his head.

“~We~’re always with you, Avery,” I heard him say as his gaze slid behind him.

And then I saw her. Mother.

She was standing there, her gaze full of pride, full of love.

“My strong boy,” she said. Her hand touched my cheek, cold and gentle, as she wiped away a tear I hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m so proud of you.”

I was trembling. My heart was beating so wildly it felt like it would burst my chest.

I pulled them both into my arms, hugging them to me as if I could never let go.

“Your people need you, Avery… Iris needs you,” I heard Mum say gently.

But how? How was I supposed to fight that thing?

Dad’s voice cut through my sobs.

“Your mate, Avery… she’s reaching out to you. Can you feel it?” he asked.

~Your mate… your mate~

…My father’s voice pierced through me, deep and insistent, as I felt the tug of our soul bond. It was as strong, more alive than ever before. She was there.

Iris.

Suddenly, I heard her—not just with my ears, but with my whole existence. Her thoughts flooded through me, warm, desperate, endlessly loving. As if her heart was beating next to mine.

“She’s fighting, Avery… She’s fighting for you. Just like all the others who are standing by her,” Mother said.

Mum’s voice was gentle, but full of pride.

When I looked at her, her gaze hit me like a ray of sunshine—so full of tenderness, so full of love, just like the one Iris gave me.

And then… I felt Iris’s hand. Not just in my mind, not just a fleeting touch. She was holding me. Firmly. Unwavering.

As if she wanted to pull me out of the darkness, no matter what the cost.

“I’m here,” Iris’s voice echoed.

Her words cut through the chaos, through the demon’s voices, through my own despair.

“I’m not letting you fall. Never,” she called out.

And in that moment, between the tears, between the darkness… I felt it. Hope.

She must have known that if she let me go, I would disappear forever. That I would slip through her fingers and simply be gone… forever.

She did not take away all my pain. She didn’t solve all the problems, but that was never the point.

The only important thing was that she stayed. Until the moment she couldn’t take it anymore.

And even then, she didn’t give up… she went to find help for me.

Iris was willing to sacrifice everything. She was ready to give her life for me.

Because she loved me.

My hand reached for the soul bond, tugging at me as it pulled me out of the darkness.

I could feel Timorax’s power over me crumbling. His black mist swirled inside me, as if something was burning him from the inside, as if something was tearing him apart.

He screamed, a shrill, desperate scream as he raced through my mind, searching for a weak spot, for a last hold.

But now he was the one who had been cornered. He hissed, snarling like a wounded animal.

Then, with a final strangled growl, I felt him dissolve. My body returned to me.

I felt my mouth opening, the demon pouring out of me in a swirling cloud of smoke, and at that moment I gripped tighter.

I clawed at our mate bond until I felt every muscle, every nerve, every breath again. Until I was whole again.

“Go... go, Avery!” my mum called out, her voice shaking with relief, with joy.

Her laughter flooded through me, warm as sunlight, and I felt it permeate me, chasing away everything dark inside me.

“You’re my glory, Avery,” my father’s voice rolled like thunder, but softly, full of sheer pride.

“Lead ~our~ people, son.”

His light spread through me, a radiant storm that swallowed every last shadow.

But then… “Fight, darling…” Iris screamed.

Her voice wasn’t a whisper, it was a prayer, an order. “Fight your way back to me.”

And with those words, everything she was feeling exploded in my chest. Love. Desire. Hope.

My body awoke with a violent jolt, as if an invisible fist were snatching me from the jaws of death.

The air burned in my lungs like liquid fire as I struggled to catch my breath. A stifled scream, a shrill gasp, the echo of a man who had just escaped from the abyss.

Light… glaring and relentless, as if the world were about to smash into my face.

My eyes flew open. Tears streamed down, not from sadness, but from pure, overwhelming life.

Every nerve in me vibrated, as if I were feeling my own body for the first time. And it reacted before my mind realized it.

Muscles tensed, bones cracked as I stood up with a fierce, almost wild determination.

Not like a person waking from a nightmare. It was like a warrior digging himself out of his own grave.

My aura lit up… no longer just purple, but permeated by a golden shimmer that spread through me in thin threads.

I was back.