Magnus

“Every few minutes it loops through the same thing,” Wren said and turned away from the bars. She walked to the back of the cell and slid down the wall to sit on the floor again. “Thankfully, you can’t see or hear it from back here. There’s only so many times I can watch myself die, although the first time, I actually heard and felt my neck snap. It was horrible.”

“You experienced your death?” I asked.

“Yes. Well, sort of. The mortal version of me died in that world, but I was still alive when the scene started over.”

“Your torment is different from the others we witnessed, probably because the jinn and horsemen want you alive.”

“Why?”

“Because you are Corson’s Chosen and few are closer to the king than he is.”

Fire blazed from her eyes when they met mine. “They’re in for a rude fucking awakening then because I won’t allow them to use me for anything.”

I smiled at her before glancing at the hall. “What made you realize something was wrong in here?”

“His kiss,” she said. “Real or not, it felt so wrong. I went through the entire play once, but when he kissed me the second time, I almost threw up and my hand went to Corson’s marks.” Lifting her hand, she rested it against the fading marks on her neck. “Touching them woke me up to what was happening.”

“Then what happened?” I asked.

Gripping the bars, I braced my feet against the cell door as I attempted to pull the bars apart. They didn’t so much as groan, never mind bend or move in any way. My shoulder popped, my injuries protesting every movement, but I strained harder on them. Nothing.

“Then, I woke to find myself in here, and that… that playing over and over again. Do you want to know the weird thing?”

“Always.”

“I think it’s real. I mean, I know it’s some kind of movie or something, but I think that’s the way my life would have gone if the gateway never opened. I think I would have gone to school to become a doctor and dated the cute resident. My parents and I would have remained close, but it all would have come to a screeching halt the night I died in that car accident.”

I stopped yanking on the bars to look at her. “The jinn cannot reveal the future in such a way, and none of our paths are set for us. Free will tends to get in the way of that.”

“Maybe, but something about what happened out there feels right. For so long, I wished many things were different in my life. I wished my parents had lived and the gateway never opened, but I think if it remained closed, I would have died young. I think the death I was supposed to have in that world transferred over to this world when Greed’s horse pummeled me beneath its hooves and becoming a demon is the only thing that stopped it.”

“That’s not the way things work.”

“Then why does it feel so real?”

“Because the jinn are very good at imprisoning people in their thoughts. Before coming here, did you make a wish to someone?” I asked.

“No.”

“You didn’t wish life could be different? Or that the gateway never opened and demons never came to Earth?”

“I said no!” she retorted. “I realized years ago longing for things I could never have was pointless. Besides, I never would wish for it now that I have Corson. Never!”

“I believe you.”

I turned my attention back to the bars. I was still weakened from my fight and probably feeling some lingering effects from Sloth’s ability, but I should be able to do something with these bars.

“I told you, they don’t budge,” Wren said.

“Hmm.” I made my way around the cell, jerking on every bar I could, but none of them moved.

Glancing around the cell again, I stared at the sandstone floor before turning my attention to the ceiling where I spotted the large, circular symbol carved five feet over my head.

The circle encompassed a rotated square forming a diamond and another square imposed behind it. The squares held numerous lines etched into different angles that became a maze throughout them. At the center of the maze, a monolith shape rose tall.

“I don’t know what those markings are,” Wren said, and I realized there was an identical etching in the ceiling of her cell.

“Ancient symbols. When I saw them on the monolith, I assumed they might be some form of demonish, but it’s something different.”

“What?”

“I think it’s a binding mark.”

“But if they’re not demonic, then what are they?”

I rubbed my chin as I pondered this. “If they’re on the monolith, then they must be fae. But why would the fae need a prison? Unless….”

My voice trailed off while I inspected our surroundings again. My mind spun as I tried to puzzle it out.

“Unless what?” Wren prodded after a few minutes.

“Unless the fae had more abilities than anyone realized. They didn’t have abilities that manifested themselves physically, like your talons or my illusions, but inner ones that revealed themselves in this world and in their symbols.”

“Like they’re witches or something?”

“The fae could be where the legend of witches came from, though they were known for their fair beauty and didn’t wear pointed hats. They also didn’t cast spells.”

“Or maybe they did,” Wren said as she rose to her feet. “Not like a cauldron kind of spell, but maybe some other type, and maybe those markings are their spells.”

“It could be possible. There is power in symbols as evidenced by the ones that once held up the seals. I’d bet the fae learned the power of these symbols from Absenthees. The mark above us is something they took from the monolith to help them fight their enemies. We’d assumed the fae were pushed out of the Abyss without a fight, and maybe it didn’t become a physical altercation, but they did try to resist the jinn. The fae must have placed some of the jinn into these cells before they were overrun, and that symbol made it so they couldn’t escape.”

“So how do we get out of here?” Wren asked.

“Have you tried destroying the symbol?”

“No, but I didn’t think it was a mystical binding thing either.”

No, she probably wouldn’t have put the two together. She’d never seen the seals.

“Besides, I’m not entirely sure destroying some ancient, mystical binding thing is a good idea,” she said. “When the seals fell, they pretty much destroyed Hell.”

“Maybe it’s not a good idea, but it’s the only one we have.”

Grasping the bars, I locked my legs around them and started to climb.