Chapter Sixty: A trip into the soul

Alaric

"TIA!!!"  I started walking towards her, almost becoming completely parallel with the ground as the castle fell around us.

Her power came off of her in waves, pushing the walls outwards which caused the collapse of the entire castle. The ceiling started to fall but would break from an unseen force that protected Celestia as she floated while I had to avoid the hunks of ceiling which took out parts of the floor.

It didn't take long for the rest of the castle to fall into the dark chasm below, leaving only the floor and a few piles of rubble; swaying on top of the jagged outcrop.

"TIA!! CAN YOU HEAR ME!??!!?"  I tried to yell over the roar of her power and the wind, but she didn't respond to a word I said.

I grew even more anxious when I saw tears falling down her face as her eyes turned white and silver marks started to appear up and down her arms and legs. I struggled towards her, my feet sliding back with each step.

'D*mn it!' I started cussing inside my head when I couldn't get any closer. I could hear Kimbra yelling at me faintly, but ignored it as I reached for the thread that attached the two of us together. 'Tia! Answer me!'

I held onto the thread tightly, repeatedly calling her name over and over again inside my head; not noticing silver marks starting to appear on my hand originating from the ring.

:::::::

I flinched from the sudden light that appeared from Celestia; closing my eyes and found myself in a dark room filled with chains. I look around confused for a moment until I see Celestia hanging from those chains, blood slowly dripping down her arms which were held behind her back as she bent over a fallen figure.

Her hair covered her face, but sobs echoed in the space.

'Tia.' I carefully start to approach her and called out her name. I  came closer to her and started to see the figure that she was crying over when I was blocked.

'Tia?' I looked at the two women in confusion. Another Celestia had suddenly appeared before me; but something was off.

She showed no recognition of me at all and her hair was not silver and long- but short and brown. This Celestia wore a strange outfit with a short black skirt and thick tunic that was tucked into it with a spattering of blood staining the white coloring of  the shirt.

'Are you Tia?...' I ask, feeling a strange sense familiarity as I stared at her.

She nods, before glancing back.

'Is that also Tia?'

She nods again, smiling at me sadly. The other Celestia approaches me and leans in close to my ear.

Find the chain.

Her hand brushes against mine, the ring glowing for a moment before she disappears before my eyes.

The chain. I looked around the room that was covered in chains and took a deep breath. I examine the walls, ceiling and the floor chains but did not see anything that was noticeable.

Feeling a slight pull in my hand, I start following it which took me close to the hanging Celestia; but when I tried to further approach her, chains rose up and tried to wrap around my legs and arms.

I fought back, pulling my leg out from a chain's grasp and took a few steps back; noticing that the chains did not follow. It seemed that they were making sure that nothing could approach Celestia.

'That must be where the chain is...' I say thoughtfully, watching them return to hanging and laying on the floor.

I tested the chains a few times, learning that they had a slow response time after the initial few attempts to come close to Celestia. So I waited until the chains were sluggish in their movements and quickly broke through their defense, kneeling besides her and looking down at the figure.

It was me.

That was when I realized that Celestia wasn't bleeding at all, it seemed to be from the fake me which she was crying over.

'Tia.' I gently brush her hair out of her face, noticing that her eyes were still white. 'Look at me.'

Tears continued to fall down her face as she stared blankly at the fake me. I cradle her ice cold face in my hands, lifting her head up to face me while my heart started to break from her expression.

As I was touching her, I started hearing her voice; words of apologies and begging for forgiveness circled within my mind as she cried out in pain. Her emotions threatened to overwhelm me as the feeling of being stabbed in the chest sent shooting pain throughout my body.

'Tia.' I call out her name, her face slowly warming in my hands. 'Tia.'

I place my forehead against her's, looking into her white eyes- seeing them starting to shake a little the more I called her name. I felt my arm start to be pulled down and I look down to see my legs and arm wrapped in chains which I hadn't noticed moving.

They tighten, slowly pulling me away from Celestia.

'Tia!' I tried to keep ahold of her for a moment before leaning forward to kiss her, in a last ditch effort to bring her back. As I did, my free arm brushed against her neck and something cold which cause the ring to start glowing.

The chains start to forcibly pull me back but I managed to curl my fingers around the cold metal around her neck and used the momentum from the chains to break it's hold from her.

I held the broken chain in my hand and shook off the chains which had suddenly grown slack before heading over to Celestia once more.

'Tia.' I helped her up as her eyes slowly returned to normal and cracks started to appear in the dark room, sunlight streaming in from the ceiling and bright green grass popping from the floor as the walls fell to reveal a lush forest.

'Alaric?' Celestia looks up at me confused the rest of the room gone like it never existed. 'Is that really you?'

Celestia raised a shaking hand to my face as I smiled down at her, wiping her tears away as they sprang up.

'It's me.'

'I thought I killed you....' She starts to sob a little.

'You didn't.' I gently reassured her, kissing her. We stayed like that as birds starting to sing and magic floated on the breeze that blew around us. I held her close to me as we kissed, reassuring myself that she was back in my arms once again.

'We need to go back.' I reluctantly pulled away, holding her hand and resisting the urge to kiss her again as she looked up at me. 'Everyone is worried about you.'

'Hmm.' Celestia hums a little as a door appears before us, hesitating a little as I reached for the door.

'It's okay.' I tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. 'I am here with you now. I will not allow anything to happen you ever again.... I promise.'

I lightly raise her hand and kissed it, a feeling of satisfaction darted through me as she blushed.

I open the door; allowing her to pass though it first and looked back, seeing the other Tia. She  smiles and waves as she turned into a shimmer which floats pass me to Celestia causing her skin to glow for a second before fading away.

:::::::::

I blink as I returned to my senses and see Celestia slowly drifting down towards the ground, her power disappearing and the silver marks recede back into her skin.

I felt strangely weak as I quickly run over to Celestia and catch her but it disappears after she was settled in my arms.

"Tia?" I call her name as I saw her eyes moving underneath her eyelids.

"Al..aric?" Her eyes struggle open while her voice was hoarse as it passed through her dried cracked lips.

"It's okay. I'm here." I kissed her lightly. "It's okay to rest."

Celestia sighs a little as her weak body relaxed into me. Her breathing even outs as Kimbra runs over with the rest of my party including Suli and Jewel.

"Is she okay?" Everyone starts asking questions as they approach, looking concerned.

"Yes." I nod at each of them and saw that both Suli and Jewel had some  preliminary treatment already.

Glancing down at my hand with the light, I saw that it only had a few minutes left.

"We need to get moving." I showed my hand to the rest who all pale. "There isn't much time left."

We all turn our backs to the castle, but a  sudden explosion stops out movement.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me." I hear someone mutter as Radna burst out of the rubble laughing and agreed with them.