Crowns of Nyaxia, #3
The Songbird and the Heart of Stone
by Carissa Broadbent
Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
Mische, Chandra, Asar, Elias, and Luce begin the Descent through Morthryn’s hidden passage to the underworld, revealing that the prison is an ancient bridge tied to Alarus’s death-realm. Asar explains the five Sanctums and the relics needed for Alarus’s resurrection, while Mische’s doubts about reviving him sharpen the ideological conflict between them.
The crossing of the veil proves immediately dangerous: the dead are in chaos, one guardian is missing, and an unseen attacker destabilizes the path. Elias and Chandra fall first, and when Mische saves Asar from the shadowy threat, she and Asar are pulled off the path as well.
Summary
Mische wakes from Atroxus’s command to find Luce prodding her awake. Still shaken by the reality of her god’s order to help resurrect and then kill Alarus, Mische changes into practical Shadowborn-style traveling clothes and follows Luce deeper into Morthryn.
In an ancient, oppressive chamber, Mische finds Chandra alive after Asar’s necromancy. Chandra is frightened of Mische at first, but relaxes when Mische shows Atroxus’s flame. Chandra admits Asar told her she died, though her memories are blurred, and Mische privately compares that confusion to the missing pieces of her own Turning.
Asar arrives with supplies and urges them onward, but Elias storms in, furious that Asar tried to leave without him by sending him on a false errand. Elias invokes the king’s command and Asar’s binding oaths, forcing Asar to accept him into the party despite open hostility. Mische realizes Morthryn is not merely a prison but a door—or bridge—to the underworld.
As the group descends, Asar explains they must cross the five Sanctums of the Descent: Body, Breath, Psyche, Secrets, and Soul. Because Alarus was a god, his resurrection requires relics tied to pieces of his own essence, and Atroxus placed sun-locked protections to prevent anyone from attempting it. Mische questions whether Alarus should remain dead, sparking a tense argument with Asar about divine violence, hidden wars, and the consequences of the White Pantheon’s actions.
The party reaches the veil between life and death, a crimson-edged not-water leading onto a broken path through a vast black expanse crowded with dead souls. The viper and lioness guardians tower over the chaos, while Asar warns everyone to stay on the path and avoid notice. As they cross, the transition triggers fragments of Mische’s suppressed memories from her Turning, and Chandra panics until Mische steadies her with a sun hymn.
An unseen, birdlike darkness attacks. Elias reacts instinctively and swings at it despite Asar’s warning, causing the path to quake; Elias and Chandra fall into the mist. Asar orders Mische to continue with Luce, but Mische sees the shadowy attacker rushing Asar and uses Atroxus’s flame to shield him. The attack is repelled, but Mische and Asar lose their footing and fall from the path into oblivion.
Who Appears
- MischeAtroxus-chosen vampire; steadies Chandra, questions Alarus’s resurrection, and saves Asar before falling.
- AsarShadowborn prince leading the underworld mission; explains the Descent and clashes with Mische and Elias.
- ChandraRecently resurrected human; confused by death, frightened during the veil crossing, and falls with Elias.
- EliasPrincess’s guard sent by the king; forces his way into the party and attacks the unseen threat.
- LuceSkull wolf companion; wakes and guides Mische, then leads the group onto the perilous path.
- AtroxusMische’s sun god; his recent command haunts Mische and his protections shape the mission’s stakes.
- AlarusDead god of the underworld; his essence relics are needed for the resurrection mission.
- RaoulShadowborn king; his binding authority forces Asar to accept Elias on the mission.