Sovereign Sacrifice

by Kova, Elise

  “You have to,” Taavin said, as if he, too, was riding the tumultuous currents of her thoughts.

  Neither of them wanted to hope. Ignorance would be kinder.

  But the goddess hadn’t been kind to either of them when she’d given them this duty.

  Vi held out the sword between two open palms and took a deep breath. She drew power from the Caverns—in through her feet, leeching it from the air like moisture to a plant. A blue flame erupted over the flat of the blade before her and Vi stared directly at it, her heart racing.

  She wasn’t ready. But that didn’t matter. The world washed in white.

  And all Vi could do was brace herself for the future.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The light faded into darkness.

  Vi blinked several times, looking around. Slowly, shapes came into focus. A thin, bright line of crimson circled the horizon perfectly. It continued in all directions. But Vi couldn’t tell if it was from an early dawn, about to break, or the last light of sunset vanishing from the world.

  The color bled upward, casting the clouded depths of the sky in a bloody ombre. At the top, the clouds parted, the heavens had opened, and stars stretched to infinity. It was as though she stood on the top of the world. Everything stretched outward from this place where the earth and sky met.

  A crack of red lightning struck from sky to ground. There, on the steaming rock, was the hulking, godly form of death and darkness incarnate. Raspian’s skin was red and shining, like a blood-filled ruby. From his skeletal visage to his writhing hair, Vi knew the face of death. He turned his eyes to her, snarling and baring his razor-sharp teeth.

  Oddly, she wasn’t afraid.

  She stood in a well of calm and strength. There was a prevailing sense of rightness with the world. Rightness at facing off against this wretched creature.

  Once and for all.

  Vi took a step forward without thinking. More like, the body she was in stepped forward. Most of her visions had Vi as an outside observer, but this time she was rooted in another form. A form that sprang wildflowers from barren earth with a single step.

  A hand appeared in her field of vision—her hand, or the hand of the person she was in. Every color of the rainbow splashed across the woman’s body, brilliantly bright, deep and rich. The colors were so vibrant, Vi thought they’d sear into her eyes forever and make everything else seem dull.

  Clutched in the woman’s hand was a blue staff.

  The staff of the Champion.

  Raspian tilted his head up to the sky and let out a cry that seemed to shake the earth itself. The woman braced herself, guarding against a shock-wave of magic that radiated out from the man. Vi tipped her head back and gaze skyward to see the moon had appeared in the center of the clouds. It was cracked, like an egg, a dark red yolk pouring at Raspian’s feet and collecting in the shape of a great dragon.

  Still, the person Vi occupied didn’t panic. Though Vi certainly felt like she should.

  As the dragon took its shape, cut from primordial essence, Raspian lifted his hand, pointing at the staff the woman still held outright.

  “Let it be done,” he said without moving his jaw. The words seemed to resonate as thoughts, grating sharply in Vi’s mind. She wanted to wince, but she was subject to the vision before her.

  She couldn’t turn away, even if she’d wanted to, as Raspian lunged for her. Lunged for the woman whom Vi knew at her core was Yargen herself.

  Vi returned to the world with a sudden jolt, right as Raspian launched his first attack. The sword clattered to the ground as it slipped from her limp hands. Her arms swung at her sides and Vi staggered, forward and back. She gripped her head with one hand, her stomach with the other. The unnatural calm of Yargen had left her, and now Vi was filled with a panic that tasted like sickness.

  “Vi.” Two hands on her shoulders. Stable, sturdy, warm, all the things she’d been missing for months. “What did you see?” Taavin asked softly.

  She shook her head, leaning forward and pressing her face into his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, Vi inhaled the scent of him. Somehow, he still smelled faintly of the incense that burned in Risen a world away, and sunlight on a warm summer’s day. She missed those scents a painful amount.

  “Vi, you need to—”

  “Give her a moment, she’s been through enough,” Deneya snapped.

  A soft huff of amusement slipped through Vi’s lips and Taavin’s arms closed around her. She let out a sigh. Let this embrace never end, Vi wished.

  She did not pray. Because she knew what gods would be out there to hear her prayers. Vi didn’t want to leave her delicate wishes in either of their warring hands.

  “Raspian is set free,” she finally whispered.

  Taavin released her, almost pushing her back as though her words had burned him. He held her at arm’s length. As though with her, he could hold away her vision and prevent it from coming to pass.

  “What?”

  “Raspian is set free,” she repeated, louder. “He gains a physical form, I saw it.”

  “I don’t understand.” Deneya took a step forward, physically inserting herself into their conversation. “We sealed the Caverns. You have the sword. How do they manipulate the tomb?”

  “There are other crystal weapons. The crystals will never be safe,” Taavin muttered. His arms dropped to his sides and he slumped, swayed, righted himself, and then swayed again.

  “No, they’ll never be safe on this land,” Vi agreed easily. Perhaps there was some of Yargen’s unnatural calm still in her. Or perhaps feeling Taavin there had given her a peace she’d long since given up on.

  No matter what, they were opened. They couldn’t stop the Crystal Caverns from being destroyed, not even after ninety-three times. Not even after what had seemed like their best showing yet, despite all Vi’s shortcomings.

  Vi slowly ascended the steps to the crystal-coated doors. She ran her hands along the stone. Feeling the deeply rooted magic within.

  Destruction always reaped destruction.

  “Maybe that’s it.”

  “What is?” Deneya asked. Even Taavin stopped his murmuring.

  Vi turned to face Taavin, bracing herself for what she already knew his reaction would be. “Maybe that’s been our error all along.”

  “What has?” Taavin lowered his hand to look at her with his piercing green eyes.

  “All these times, we’ve been trying to stop the Caverns from being opened, stop Raspian from being set free.”

  “That is your job—to change the fate of the world and prevent that.”

  “But what if there’s another way?” Vi asked. The words felt like blasphemy ignited by a spark of red lightning in the darkness. “I’m supposed to change fate, but keep enough the same that I’m reborn. I have to alter the outcome of events, but accept that some things will always happen. Don’t you think it sounds rather impossible?”

  “If it were easy—”

  “—we would’ve already done it, I know,” Vi finished hastily. “Think about it,” she implored him. “What was the problem in our world? What were we trying to stop?”

  “The Crystal Caverns were destroyed and Raspian was set free.” Taavin played along.

  “Now, think about it in a different way. Why was Raspian being set free a problem?” She’d talk him through it so he’d understand. So she could vet this mad idea that had overtaken her.

  “Because he’s evil and darkness incarnate.”

  “Because Yargen couldn’t stop him, because her power was fractured by the crystal weapons being destroyed across time,” Vi corrected. “If Raspian was set free, but Yargen had all of her power, she could face him once more. It would be like every other war of light and dark through the ages.”

  “Stop.” Taavin held up both his hands. “You’re thinking about letting Raspian be set free?”

  “Yes. And I know how it sounds,” Vi added hastily. “But no matter what we’ve done, throughout the history of the Dark
Isle, men have sought out the Crystal Caverns. They will continue to. Even if we’re successful, Yargen’s magic and Raspian’s tomb will never be safe as long as they’re within the reach of power-hungry people—here on the Dark Isle or anywhere else.

  “What if, rather than stopping the Caverns from being opened, we focus instead on merely preserving Yargen’s power? We store it in the Caverns. We allow the crystal weapons to be brought here as time dictates so a new Champion can be reborn, just in case I’m wrong.”

  Taavin nodded approvingly at that sentiment.

  “We preserve the events that must happen to see a new Champion born. We allow the crystal weapons to come here, and allow the people of this world to think they’ve been destroyed. On the surface, it will all look the same—or same enough. But we’ll hold the ace. We’ll transfer the power from the crystal weapons into the Caverns, rather than allow them to be destroyed.”

  “Can you do that?” Deneya asked skeptically.

  “With enough time to practice.” Vi lifted her hand off the crystals, feeling the way the magic clung to her. She’d seen Fiera work to manipulate the crystals. She’d already begun exploring the notion herself before that.

  “So we allow time to progress, ensure that all the stones in the river and Apexes of Fate are attended to, to see a new Champion reborn,” Taavin started, somewhat hesitantly. “But when the weapons are brought here, throughout time, you’ll transfer their power to the Caverns?”

  “Yes.” Vi knew what she was about to say next would be the hardest for them to swallow. “Then, when all of her power is here, we will be the ones to open the Caverns, properly.”

  “Wait…” Deneya tilted her head to the side, processing. “Tell me I can’t be following this right. You want to be the one who sets Raspian free?”

  “If I do it, I’ll make sure all of Yargen’s power is collected beforehand so she can do battle.” And she will win, that quiet calmness from her vision assured Vi. “Once she is victorious, she will seal him away somewhere new—somewhere far from this place and far from the knowledge of men who would try to tap into power they don’t understand for nefarious purposes. It’ll not only ensure success in this time, but the safety of the world for eons to come.”

  Taavin turned away from her, as if he couldn’t even bear looking at her when she presented him with this theory. He ran his hands through his dark, plum colored hair, short waves curling around his fingers.

  “He can only be set free by destroying the seal on the Crystal Caverns, which means turning the part of Yargen’s magic that’s contained within the crystal weapons against the portion of her magic that’s here in the Caverns. Which results in the Caverns weakening and ultimate destruction.”

  “But does it have to?” Vi asked, an honest question. She let it hover in the air, waiting to see his response. When there was none, she repeated, “Does it have to? Or… do you not know?”

  “I can’t claim to know all the details of her power. I have the benefit of experience, but that still only comes from trial and error.”

  “And have we tried this?”

  “No.”

  “What happens if we fail?” Vi dared to ask, though she already suspected the answer.

  “Everything repeats again.” He turned back to look at her with his dread-filled eyes.

  “Then I think it’s worth trying,” Vi said definitively. “Maybe, with a few years’ time here, I could learn how to use the crystals for purposes beyond just transferring their power. With all of Yargen’s power collected here, I have to believe we can break the seal without destroying her magic.” Rohko was in her mind—to seal. If the word could make a seal, perhaps it could also be used to break one. “And if I’m wrong in that assumption… then the new Vi, the new Champion, will face whatever happens then.”

  “Your plan works, assuming Yargen is able to return to the world and—”

  “She does,” Vi interrupted Taavin. “She was in my vision, facing off against Raspian. What if that vision wasn’t of failure, but of success? What if that’s what she wanted us to work to all along?”

  Vi descended the stairs hastily, crossed over to him, and stopped short as she was pinned in place by his wary eyes.

  “Is she always this insane?” Deneya asked Taavin. Even in his state, he managed a nod. Vi ignored it.

  “If we’re working to see a Vi born in this age, we know when the crystal weapons will come. Their fate is linked with Solaris. They’ll all return here, in the end, in the hands of my family… And I’ll be ready to meet them when they do.

  “Thanks to your memories, I’ll know where they’ll come from. I know how they’ll get here. I can shepherd time along. Rather than trying to completely alter fate, I’ll just nudge it in the right direction.”

  Vi had no idea if her plan would work. But she was ready to defend it and continue defending it. She no longer just wanted to keep Raspian sealed away. She wanted to see Yargen usher in a new age of light. She wanted the one thing she’d always wanted: To keep her family safe.

  And Solaris would never be safe as long as the crystal weapons and Caverns existed on the continent.

  Deneya folded and unfolded her arms, as though she was uncomfortable in her own body. Taavin paced several times. The silence grew heavy.

  “You know what you’re suggesting, right?” he finally said. “You know what it means for the people you love?”

  “I do,” Vi whispered softly.

  “This idea of guiding time, guiding events that happened before…”

  “Means people will be hurt as they have always been,” she finished for him, for once reading his mind. “People will die,” she corrected herself, not wanting to mince words. “They’ll die like Fiera did. They’ll suffer under the blight of the crystals on this land.”

  Vi swallowed hard, looking at the crystals that surrounded her. This was the physical essence of Yargen’s power—the power of life, light, and creation. But it had only ever spelled death for those she loved. It was a stain on her family’s history. One that Vi would take up the torch from Fiera to burn away.

  “But those deaths will mean something, this time. We’re on the right path. This time, it ends.”

  * * *

  Vi’s epic adventure comes to an end in the fifth and final book of Vortex Chronicles: CRYSTAL CAGED

  Click here to grab Crystal Caged: http://viewbook.at/CrystalCaged

  * * *

  But… before you continue, please consider leaving a review on this book. Even just one or two sentences helps greatly!

  * * *

  Want to explore my other worlds?

  Keep reading or turn to “Also by Elise Kova” to learn more about my fantasy series that don’t take place in the Air Awakens universe.

  Next Book in Series

  Will Vi bring an end to the vortex and save the world?

  What will she have to sacrifice?

  Will she ever be reunited with her family?

  Find out in the final book of Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles — a conclusion that will leave you breathless!

  CRYSTAL CAGED

  http://viewbook.at/CrystalCaged

  Also by Elise Kova

  Want to know Vhalla and Aldrik’s story?

  If you haven’t already, now is the perfect time to read the original Air Awakens series!

  (You may have to turn the page to see the cover.)

  Binge readers rejoice, the original Air Awakens series is complete!

  Get book one here: http://getbook.at/AAGG

  Or, if you like getting great deals on your books… Save over 50% by buying the digital boxed set: http://mybook.to/AirAwakensBoxedSet

  * * *

  Want even more of the Air Awakens world?

  The events of the Golden Guard trilogy will play out in book five of Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles. Get a sneak peek by reading the Golden Guard Trilogy today!

  Start with The Crown’s Dog: http://viewbook.at/TheCrownsDog

&nb
sp; (You may have to flip the page to see the cover)

  Or, get the complete trilogy at a discount by grabbing the boxed set: http://viewbook.at/GoldenGuardBox

  * * *

  Not in the Air Awakens Universe

  LOOM SAGA

  (A dark, epic fantasy)

  Recently listed by Bustle as one of 15 new fantasy for Game of Thrones fans! Dark fantasy, grit, enemies to lovers, in an epic new world.

  Series complete!

  READ NOW: http://mybook.to/TAOL

  * * *

  WISH QUARTET

  (Paranormal romance, urban fantasy)

  A hacker who can’t handle her magic. A demigod who can’t handle her. Perfect for readers who enjoy time travel, alternate histories, romance, and twisty slow-burn stories.

  Series complete!

  READ NOW: http://getbook.at/sow

  Appendix

  Want even more about the world of Air Awakens than what’s in this book?

  Visit Elise’s website at:

  http://elisekova.com/the-world-of-air-awakens/

  Pronounciation

  There is no “wrong way” to pronounce any words in this book. However, if you would like to know how Elise Kova pronounces some of the trickier words and names…