Underworld 76_Goddess Of The Underworld

Chapter 76 

 The sun hasn’t risen yet. The world is quiet when I wake, still, soft, heavy with the kind of silence thates after a storm. For a moment, I don’t move. My body aches. Not in the usual way, not in the after–a–fight way. It’s a deeper kind of soreness, like my bones have been hollowed out and stitched together again with fire. I sit up slowly. Someone’s thrown a nket over me, and there’s a weight at my feet. Noah,‘ sprawled out like a feral dog who refused to leave his post. His brows are furrowed even in sleep. I rise carefully, stretching. My legs protest. My ribs ache. But I’m whole. I’m breathing.

 Layah stirs inside me.

 You ready for this?” 

 “No”

 “Good. That means you know it matters.”

 The packhouse is quiet when I step into the hall. But the bond tugs toward the kitchen, warmth and magic and calmness thrumming like a distant heartbeat.

 Levi’s already there, sleeves rolled, herbs spread across the counter like an apothecary’s altar.

 “You should still be resting,” he says, without looking up.

 “I did,” I reply, voice rough. “Now I’m ready.“.

 Levi finally meets my eyes. He nods, slowly, like he knew this wasing before I said anything. “I’ve prepared what I need. Noah will anchor your mind. I’ll work through the locks in there.” 

 He hesitates. “It’s not going to be nice…”

 “I don’t need gentle. I need the truth.” 

 Footsteps approach behind me. Noah. Shirtless and barely awake.

 “Luna,” he says softly. “You sure?” 

 “No,” I admit. “But I’m doing it anyway.

 We clear out the center room in the old library, thick stone walls, magic–heavy air, windows sealed tight against the outside world. Levi draws sigils in salt and soot on the floor. Noah ces a single obsidian mirror at the north end. I sit in the center, cross–legged, with a thin ring of blood around me. Mine, 

 My mates line the room. Haiden crouched, staring intently. Noah leans against the wall, eyes narrowed, ready to rip the world apart if something goes wrong. Xavier watches from the far side, still and cold like a de in shadow.

 Noah moves to kneel behind me, palms gently resting on my shoulders. His voice is a balm, “You’ll feel the memory break first. Then it’ll pour through you. Let it. I’ll hold you together.”

 Levi stands before me. “Ready?”

 “Do it.”

 His hands hover over my head like he does when he’s entering someone’s mind. Magic hums around him with intent as he hums lowly in thought. Then the paines, Not sharp, not sudden. It builds pressure behind my eyes, a twisting at the edge of my mind. Like ws scraping at the seal of a locked door…and then the door cracks. I fall inward. Into her. Into me. Into before. 

 Memory 

 I’m in a stone room, Shackled. Cold, Blood on the floor, not mine. Marcus stands above her. Salira chants beside him, her eyes wild with magic,

 “You will not remember,” she whispers, magicshing out like threads. “You are too dangerous. We will make you sleep.”

 “No, no, please!” I sob.

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 Chapter 76

 “She will destroy everything,” Salira says. “She’s too much.” 

 “That’s the point,” Marcus snaps. “We control her; the world is ours.” 

 I scream as the spell strikes me. My magic tries to fight back, light explodes from me, blinding, furious, holy. I shriek in rage, but it’s not enough.

 10

 Felix, he’s in the doorway. Watching. Silently. Face pale. He turns away. He lets it happen.

 Back in the present.

 I scream. My body arches. My hands w at the salt line. Noah holds me tighter, whispering sweet nothings. Levi is humming again, louder now. Blood drips from my nose, my eyes, a thin stream down my chin, and then, it stops. I copse into Noah’s arms, gasping like I’ve been drowning.

 “Fuck,” Haiden breathes.

 Noah’s at my side in seconds, brushing hair from my face. “What did you see?”

 I shake my head. “Not yet,” I whisper. “Not yet. Just… give me a second.”

 Xavier watches me, jaw locked. “Was it him? Marcus?” 

 I nod once. Then I open my mouth and sob, because the worst part wasn’t Marcus. It wasn’t even Salira. It was Felix. Standing there. Turning away. He knew. He always knew.

 “I’m not done,” I rasp.

 Levi blinks, sweat on his brow. “Doll, your nose is bleeding, your magic’s fraying at the edges. You need to rest.”

 “No.” My voice shakes, but the fire behind it doesn’t. “There’s more. I felt it. That wasn’t everything.”

 Noah holds me tighter from behind, grounding me. “She’s right. The lock broke, but there are more doors inside. Someone buried her under <byers.” 

 Levi hesitates. “If we go deeper, there’s no way to know if we go too far. We could awaken something that shouldn’t be touched.”

 “Then let it wake.” I lift my gaze to his. “I need all of it. Every stolen second. Every lie. Every piece of what I lost.” 

 There’s a moment of silence.

 Then Levi kneels before me again. “Hold on, then. And if you feel yourself slipping,e back to us.”

 This time, the magic doesn’t crack; it shatters. Like a mirror dropped from a great height

 Memory. 

 A flicker. A sh. Screams in the dark. A ritual circle. Me at fifteen on my knees, power wing at my throat, bleeding from the eyes as Marcus watches, fascinated.

 Marcus: “It’s working! Her magic is seeping out; we can use it! Channel It! Weild it!”

 Salira looked uneasy at me, wincing in pain. “It’s notplete, not yet…We’re missing something.”

 Marcus: “I want that gate unlocked, witch. Make it happen!” 

 Another flicker. Felix is in a corridor, whispering to someone in the shadows.

 Felix: “She can’t know what she is. If the others find out…if the prophecy is real…”

 Shadow voice: “You fear her?”

 Felix: “I fear what Marcus will do with her. What he will do to the world.”

 Another flicker. A cage made of silver and bone. I’m ten years old, vomiting blood.

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 Marcus: “When she breaks, she’ll tear the veil between realms. We just have to control the copse.”

 Salira: We’re taking this too far. This wasn’t what we agreed upon.” 

 Marcus: “She’s a key. My key and I’ll use it however I want.”

 Back to the present. 

 I scream again, but this time, it’s not fear. It’s fury. Magic explodes outward from my chest, cracking the salt lines, blowing candles to smoke. The walls tremble. Lightning races across the floor.

 Xavier snarls and lunges forward to anchor the warding again. “Levi, she’s destabilizing…” 

 “She’s venting,” Noah says, voice quiet but sure. “Let her.” 

 This work, Goddess of the Underworld by Sheridan Hartin, is an exclusive intellectual property legally contracted with NovelSnack. Any reproduction, distribution, or upload outside NovelFlow, AnyStories, NovGo, and Readink is unauthorized and constitutes copyright infringement.

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