Philo Amarus's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

The water swallowed Philo whole. He kicked downward, the chain sliding through his free hand, the small flame in his fist still burning bright beneath the surface. Eris was a shadow below him, pulling herself deeper. The pond opened into a wider dark, stone walls closing in around them. Somewhere far below, the chain tightened against something heavy — something that had been waiting a long time to be found. They broke into a pocket of still air inside a submerged chamber. Pink flame lit the walls, and there, chained to the floor, stood a great golden swan with a glowing heart at its center. Eris went still the way she did when something mattered. Philo touched the swan's warm side and felt the heart pulse once, like it had been holding its breath since before either of them was born. The chain fell loose in his hand. Whatever his parents had hidden down here was his now.