For what seemed to go on for hours on end, Calista kept pushing her body forward into the night. The only thing consuming her every thought as the rain continued to downpour was that she needed to get as far away from Ralayna as possible.

Each passing hour felt like someone tied an additional set of stones to each of her legs to try to weigh them down from having to run nonstop.

I can't stop here; I have to keep moving, Calista screamed inside her mind. She tried to convince herself that there was no other option, even though her body felt like it was on the brink of collapse from exhaustion.

"This should be far enough for now," She whispered in a nearly inaudible voice as her pace gradually slowed to an abrupt halt.

Calista's breathing was ragged, and her legs felt like they were about to give out at any moment. She then snapped her fingers to undo the spell she had cast earlier to disguise herself as a guard in the castle, revealing her true appearance.

She clutched her sides, trying to desperately offer herself some form of warmth since her body felt numb to the touch. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop shivering uncontrollably from the biting cold as the unrelenting rain beat down on her like a stampede of horses.

Calista's clothes stuck to her skin. Her naturally golden wavy locks of hair were temporarily longer and straighter from the weight of all the water. She tried her best to shield her face with her hand and looked around occasionally to see where she was going, but the heavy raindrops pelting down from the sky obscured her vision.

Suddenly, she let out a loud gasp as the ground beneath her feet caved in, sending her plummeting into pitch-black darkness. Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she reached out her hand, trying to grab ahold of something to break her fall. But to her dismay, the wall of the hole she fell into was far too slippery for her to get a firm grip on the rocks lining the walls.

With a loud thud, she felt her body collide with the bottom of what she assumed was a cave. Pain seared through her body before she forced her body up into a sitting position. The darkness of the cave stole away her sight. Judging by how much her hands were burning, she knew that they were littered with cuts, much like the rest of her body. But she was thankful not to have broken anything.

But the sudden tumble of rocks and the faint sound of something being dragged across the ground caused her to look into the pitch-black distance. She knew it was heading toward her even if she couldn't see what it was. But, just as quickly as the sound came, it disappeared before she could even ask what was there.

Calista wrapped her arms around herself to provide herself with warmth. But that didn't stop the paranoia from settling in her veins. She knew something else was there other than herself.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Calista shouted into the darkness and tried to use a spell to reveal whoever it was to her. She quickly scoffed in annoyance when her spell suddenly didn't work like it normally did.

But her body tensed up when she heard a low chuckle within the darkness that echoed off the cave walls. At that moment, the walls began to emit a faint golden glow, revealing intricate markings engraved into them.

"I regret to inform you, but spells don't work down here. The cave walls are covered with magic seals that suppress magic." A male spoke close to her ear, which caused her to move away from him in response.

"What is this? Some kind of sick trap set up to catch some innocent victim!" Calista said in a louder voice as she tried to stand up. She only ended up stumbling back to the ground because the immense pain from the fall earlier was too much for her to bear.

Calista's response only earned another low chuckle from him. "I think you should direct your anger at the person who built this trap to begin with. No one told you to come tumbling down here," he said, sounding annoyed. Despite spending only a few minutes with him, she was already getting on his nerves.

Calista let out a small sigh before tilting her head and pausing, "Fine, maybe you aren't the person responsible for this. But why are you even down here? I highly doubt you fell through a hole in the floor, not when you're wearing chains."

He then let out a small sigh mixed with frustration before replying, "Whether you believe me or not, I have been wrongly put down here and forcefully bound to this place by the very chains that are attached to my wrists."

She then raised an eyebrow and turned toward where his voice was projecting from within the darkness. "So, what you're saying is that someone just randomly wanted to put you in a dark ass cave with no hopes of getting out along with heavy chains to keep you here?"

"I don't think any sane person would go through all that trouble to put an innocent person through all this. Be truthful; you deserve to be down here, don't you?" Calista said honestly.

He let out a low chuckle in response before stating, "Oh? You're quite an insightful little dove, aren't you? But, who are you to question someone's sanity when you are clearly oblivious to those around you."

Calista's eyes narrowed in the dark at his comment, "Judging by that comment, you're not human, are you? What are you, and how long have you been down here exactly?"

Her words made him chuckle once more. "You're quite the clever one, aren't you? Would a god really need to worry about their time like humans do?"

Calista's eyes widened in surprise, "Why would a god be in a place like this? What god are you?"

He hesitated briefly before stating, "As I've already said, I was wrongly put here, but if you mean who, it was the works of other gods who put me down here. As for what god I am, I'm the most powerful one you'll find."

"You dodged my question," Calista said, raising her voice. "What is your name?"

He huffed in annoyance at her question, "I didn't feel like answering such a time-consuming question. We'll just say my name is The Forgotten One."

He paused momentarily before rambling on about something else, trying to change the subject. "I can hear them now. They sound like a unified chorus. It's making my ears bleed," he complained.

Irritation began to flare within her as she said, "You just love dodging every single question I ask you, don't you? And yet you want me to trust you? So, will you tell me who you really are?"

Rather than answer her question, he continued to carry on with what he was speaking about. "The gods, they're upset that the blood of one of their own was spilled. To make matters worse, it was the weakest of them all."

After hearing his comment, she went dead silent. There was no mistaking that the one who was considered the weakest of all the gods was also the one who was the most kind. This god also held a special place in her heart.

It finally dawned on her that the night before, when she had seen Klive and Marceus wandering outside, they must've been waiting for Silas to join them.

So, the blood-staining Silas's clothes that she saw when she had bumped into him when she was disguised as a guard must've belonged to Kalias.

This was the horrific event that Tristan had suspected Silas was up to. It was still hard for her to fathom that the Silas she knew would do something so terrible.

Taken aback by her reaction, The Forgotten One asked, "Why so silent all of a sudden? Did I say something that piqued your interest..." but he paused as soon as he heard her sniffle. He couldn't place his finger on why a human would suddenly start to cry; human emotions were more complex than what meets the eye.

"Why are you crying, human? Have your injuries finally caught up to you?" he asked.

"That's not why I'm crying, nor would I tell you why," she said, which only caused him to sigh.

"How about this, human. The faster you get me out of here, the quicker you can leave as well. Then you can do whatever it is that you need to do," he said in the most calculated, charming voice he could muster.

Calista inhaled deeply before speaking in a tone laced with skepticism, "You seriously don't think I'm dumb enough to let you free when you might just end up leaving me here? Also, I have a name you know, and it's Calista, so you can start with that first."

His eyes flickered with amusement in the dark over her words. "You're quite the entertaining and sassy little dove, aren't you? But, fine, Calista, it is. How about this? You and I form a contract. Even if I'm an untrustworthy god, as you claim, you won't lose."

"I'm listening," she said, leaning her head slightly forward, eager to hear what he was about to propose.