Shade pulled reluctantly out of our hug and moved his hand down from my shoulder to my own hand.

"L-lets go," I stuttered, still quite shaken by our kiss.

He nodded his head and kissed my hand that was held securely in his, never breaking his eye contact. I felt my face burn slightly as a sweet smile tugged at his lips.

"You were right about the river, that is the best place to cross," confirmed Shade, gesturing to the area that I had previously pointed out.

Another bolt of lightning struck somewhere behind me, making me jump forwards in surprise, in response, Shade wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to his body as we both struggled to move through the storm.

"For someone who needs our help, Emrick sure doesn't seem to care if we get to him alive" I shouted as the wind whipped my loosened hair around my face.

"I know, I'm starting to believe that he doesn't have the best intentions" joked Shade with a slight eye roll.

I gave him a small laugh that faded quickly as we approached the river bank, the water rippled fiercely and seemed to flow in different directions, giving it a much better chance of pulling us into its unknown depths.

"Sebastian's kingdom... or whatever is left of it, is just beyond that tree line" informed Shade, pointing to a barely visible line of tall darkened trees "We have to get into it undetected, find Chase and get the hell out of there" he finished, watching my expression carefully.

"You're right, there is no way that they are going to let Chase go... even if we were to willingly turn ourselves over" I concluded with a small sigh.

"And remember, just because Emrick needs us it doesn't necessarily mean that he will not kill us if we give him the chance to" he added, looking back at the river.

I nodded my head in response and took another step towards the river.

"Oh, and Aurora" called Shade.

I looked at him over my shoulder and tugged him forward with me in order to I hear him better.

"You may hear the forsaken voices in there," he said, filling my stomach with nerves "I don't think that they can physically hurt you, but they will try to get you to... fade away" he explained nervously.

"Let's just get this over with," I said while looking up at the thunderstruck ebony sky.

We stood directly on the river's edge and looked at each other one last time before we jumped into the enraged water.

The waters burning coldness struck me like a thousand tiny needles as I desperately thrashed around while trying to push myself to its surface. I held on to Shade's hand as if my life depended on it... and it kind of did, the grey wisps in the water were in fact the voices, and they haunted me greatly, surrounding me, whispering to me, basically doing anything they could to get me to let go.

With one final effort, I pushed myself above the water and filled my lungs with air as I pulled Shade up to join me.

"Can you even swim?" I asked loudly as I struggled to keep him above the surface.

"Of course I can!" he exclaimed "Just not very well" he coughed as a gust of wind caused a wave pushed itself over his head.

I wasted no more time and swam for the river bank, and even with me having to pull Shade faster, our chances of getting out of this drama-free were high, but of course, things had been going way too easy so far.

As if on cue, a humungous, unnatural wave hurled itself towards us, chilling my blood as I realised that it was filled with forsaken souls.

"Get ready to go down!" I shouted, watching the wave as it neared.

I waited until it was nearly upon us before I dove under the water to avoid its full hit, the slight undercurrent immediately thrust me and Shade in opposite directions, testing our strength. I threw my body back up above the water along with Shade only to be greeted by another wave that was quick to consume us.

Finding myself below the water's surface once more, I moved my arms as powerfully as I could in an attempt to get back to the air. I forced my eyes open and ignored their plea to snap shut as I stared over at Shade who was also fighting to swim upwards.

Just as he pierced the alluring surface, I felt an icy grasp on my foot that was followed by a shooting pain.

Noticing that it was one of the grey wisps, I resisted the urge to scream and kicked through it forcefully, trying my best to release myself from its grasp but it was soon joined by a growing force that whispered me promises of relief from the growing pain that filled my chest from a lack of oxygen.

I drowned them out and tightened my grip on Shades hand, fighting harder as he attempted to pull me free. A horrific pain erupted from the palm of my hand that was linked with Shades, causing me to loosen my grip for a brief second, I looked up at our hands and saw that dark liquid had begun to snuff out the little light that the stormy sky provided.

I regained my tight grip but immediately loosened it as the pain begun to spread down my wrist, making me desperate for a release. My body was on fire, agonising pain flowed around my chest freely, leaving no place free from its torturous grasp.

I closed my eyes and loosened my grip as a dark veil begun to shroud my body, taking my pain away with it. After one last attempt to break free, my body became limp, giving the souls the power to drag me away with them.

A unbreakable darkness and an undisturbed atmosphere surrounded me for what seemed like forever, leaving me helpless against the continuous whispers and pulls that acted around me. My body remained still and my voice remained silent, but inside I was screaming, I felt as though my soul was being ripped from my body piece by piece until finally, It stopped.