Aiko held her breath as the void swallowed her. She kicked and flailed like she was swimming up through a dark lake, but no matter how hard she moved, she sank.

  I can’t breathe—I’m really drowning.

  Her chest burned. Her lungs clawed for air. Just one more second. I can’t give in… not here. Not now.

  Then the darkness shifted. The surface above glowed faintly purple, like bruised water. It rippled, spreading into spinning reds, blues, yellows—colors crashing together like a broken kaleidoscope.

  Her vision swam. The void didn’t look as scary anymore. It felt… different. Almost alive.

  And in the middle of it, words pressed against her mind. Lex Aeterna.

  She didn’t know what it meant, but it rang in her head like church bells, huge and strange. Was it calling to her? Saving her? Or just another trick of this place?

  Her mouth opened on instinct, bubbles rushing out. She thought of her parents—her mom’s laugh, her dad’s quiet voice. Please… let me see them again. Just once.

  Then the light surged, swallowing her whole.

  ***

  Aiko jerked awake on a splintery floor, coughing hard. Her throat burned. Her mouth felt full of sand. She tried to spit, but nothing came out. Dust puffed into the air, floating in the thin sunlight.

  Am I dead?

  She pushed herself up. The sunlight snapped out, and a single spotlight flicked on. In the center of the room was a stool. On it, a glass of water.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Drink and save yourself, Aiko,” a voice said. Neither boy nor girl. Flat.

  Her voice rasped. “Am I… in hell?”

  “Not yet, child,” another voice answered. This one she knew.

  Her stomach dropped. Malcolm.

  She blinked—suddenly she wasn’t in the dark room. Sunlight blasted her vision, hot wind brushing her face. And there he was: Malcolm, in his perfect white suit, holding the glass of water.

  “Are you ready to cooperate, Aiko?” he asked, smiling. He lifted the glass closer. “Just drink.”

  Her hand shot out. Water sloshed onto her skin—wet, cool, real. I’m alive. She gulped it down, drops spilling from her lips.

  Then her throat tightened. The taste curdled.

  She coughed, eyes bulging. She looked at her hand—

  The water was gone. Maggots writhed where it had spilled, crawling up her wrist. The glass was crawling too, little white worms slithering over the rim.

  Aiko gagged and hacked, spitting up a mess of bloody worms that wriggled across the floor.

  “No—no, no, no!” she choked, clawing at her skin.

  Malcolm’s laugh cut through her panic. “You’re mine now.”

  Aiko screamed.

  ***

  Aiko’s scream bounced off the walls, but no one came. The air stank of iron and rot, thick enough to choke her. Maggots squirmed on her arms, wriggling under her skin. She clawed at them, gagging. This isn’t real. It can’t be real.

  She dug her fingers into the floor, splinters stabbing her palms. Wake up, Aiko. Wake up.

  Malcolm stepped out of the light, perfect suit, perfect smile. Not a speck on him.

  “You think you can escape what’s coming?” he said, tilting his head. “The Lex Aeterna doesn’t forgive, Aiko. Not anymore.”

  Her breath caught. Lex Aeterna. That word again. She’d heard it before she sank. Had her parents whispered it? Or was her brain just breaking apart?

  “I don’t even know what that means!” she rasped, forcing the words past her raw throat.

  Malcolm’s smile widened. “You drowned in it. In guilt. In regret. And now they’re alive.”

  She looked down. The maggots twisted, melted—turning into her parents’ faces. Pale, hollow, reaching hands.

  “No!” She shook her head so hard it made her dizzy. “You’re lying. This is just another one of your tricks!”

  Malcolm’s laugh rattled her bones. “Trick? No, little one. Balance. You took their lives. Now you’ll carry them.”

  The floor rippled into black glass. Her parents clawed at her from below. Her heart hammered. She screamed until her voice broke, but the sound was swallowed by the void.

  “You’ll drown in them, Aiko,” Malcolm hissed in her ear. His face melted into something ancient, glowing eyes burning holes through her. And in those eyes—her own reflection, terrified and breaking.

  Then—silence.

  And the drowning began again.