Eventually, they came upon a platform that stretched from the chamber of the stairwell. It extended around them as the steps continued up, connecting to many bridges that further expanded the Carists’ web of secrets. Leo stepped off, and Lucia followed, her eyes locked on the citrine at the very top sparkling overhead like a watchful eye. She still felt the heat of her vision from earlier that night on her face. The exploding crystal was still present within her mind. Please, do not be true.
The platform was the shape of a circle and had bookcases with many shelves, with ladders and bridges between them. They appeared to be in a library of sorts, filled with busy scholars. The Carists did not notice them at first. Many stood whispering at the base of the bookcases, while others sat at tables with their masks and visors buried deep within piles of multicolored tomes. Lucia watched as some ventured past the bridges to lifts that propelled them along the edge of the tower walls, off to some unknown place. It did not take long before they realized exactly what this place was, standing like a fortress of history. The knowledge they sought certainly existed here. The lead they needed was closer than they thought.
Finally, Lucia’s eyes met with those of a girl reading at the edge of a bookcase. Her knuckles rested at the base of her chin as she snapped her book shut. For a moment, it was as if she hadn’t seen Lucia at all, but as soon as Lucia looked away, she took notice. Lucia hid behind Leo’s shoulder as the girl approached them with her book still wrapped in her grip. Lucia secured her band in place and touched the side of her face, her nerves shaking as the glare of the girl’s platinum armor nearly blinded her. The metal was molded onto her shoulders like a pair of wings and connected to a fine-fitting breastplate tied into place with magenta ribbons. Her mask was gentle, covering only the top part of her face. It resembled that of a simple white dove, with a soft beak above her lips and bright pink patches on her cheeks. She was different from the rest of them. In her eyes was an undeniable interest that showed care and curiosity. Lucia’s anxiety melted away as their eyes met again.
Lucia imagined the girl under the mask to be very beautiful. Her eyes were a stunning shade of aquamarine, and her blonde hair was tied into a stylish ponytail by a vivid pink ribbon that matched the ones dangling from the pieces of her armor.
She bowed before them, holding her book to her chest. “My deepest apologies. I was supposed to be at my post here, but I’ve been somewhat preoccupied today with my studies. I’ve been researching the history of Aldric’s electricity. It’s quite fascinating how much more efficient and innovative it has become over the centuries. Our current system is said to output nearly one hundred times more watts than that of our previous one. Remarkable, isn’t it?” She flashed her teeth, smiling greatly while her sky blue eyes sparkled like an ocean beneath her mask. There was something mysterious within them. “I’m Luzanna,” she said.
Lucia smiled, returning the bow. “I’m Lucia Sanoon, high maiden of Moz, and this is—”
Leo stepped forward and held out a hand to Luzanna, who took it and shook it softly. Leo smiled, turning on his charm as his eyes met with hers. “Leocadio Feral, sir of Pinea. But most call me Leo.”
Luzanna tilted her head playfully as she took back her hand and wrapped her arms around her book. “Nice to meet you, good sir.”
Lucia took a small step back, touching her head as if something was grinding inside it. She shook it off and put on a mask of her own, facing Luzanna with a simper.
Luzanna blinked her eyes. She noticed the pendant as it emitted a strange yet natural glow. “What a beautiful diamond,” she said, leaning in for a closer look as Lucia flinched. “Oh,” she said, stepping back, “it looks awfully familiar.” She placed a finger to the beak of her mask. “It’s as if I’ve seen it before. I just can’t remember where at the moment.”
Lucia jumped. “You’ve seen it?”
“Not with my own two eyes, of course. I’ve never seen it in person, but I think I’ve seen it in a book illustrated somewhere.” She laughed. “I’m not keen to forget anything I read, especially when it’s from the ancient archives. Oh, that must be it.”
“Ancient archives?” Lucia asked. She perceived that this girl was important somehow. Luzanna was complex, inquisitive, and free-thinking, so unlike the commander they had met before. A positive energy emitted from her eyes. Who was she, exactly?
“Ah. Well, only the council is allowed to read the archives, but I have special access to them as part of my training. Everything else here is free to the public.” Luzanna looked back to the many shelves behind her. “Pardon my distractions. I’ve been going on and on pondering such matters. There must be something I can help you with. No matter what you’re studying, I’m sure I can point you in the right direction.” She grinned. Obviously time wasn’t an issue to her, but to them it was wearing thin.
“We are actually here to plead”—shame cast its shadow on Lucia’s thoughts before she corrected herself with emphasis—“to inform the chief elder of the tragedies that have befallen the provinces of Moz and Pinea. We don’t know much about what is going on, and we fear that whatever attacked them will soon be coming here. I don’t wish to alarm you, but we all may be in danger.”
Luzanna’s eyes clearly lost their light as she heard that. “You can’t be serious,” she said flatly. “Nothing like that could ever befall Aldric. Aldric is the safest place in all of Terestria. Our technology surpasses all. Nothing can break through our walls.”
Leo interjected. “This force is not of our world. It’s been prophesied that the emergence of the Light Wings would signify the end of things as we know it. Darkness would roam until balance was restored.” He crossed his arms, seizing the opportunity to probe her for information. “Surely, if you’ve truly read of the Light Wings someplace before, you would know something about this prophecy. Wouldn’t you?”
Luzanna narrowed her eyes before lowering them to the ground. She was clearly conflicted as she softly replied, “I’ve been told that Aldric is not to meddle in the affairs of Moz or Pinea. They would say anything to have us forgive their transgressions. Their war nearly destroyed the entire world before, and”—she shook—“I’m just going to tell you now. The elder won’t help you.” She closed her eyes. “I’m sorry.” She turned her head. “I really do wish I could, but my father simply wouldn’t stand for it. I would never be able to continue my research.”
“Your father?” Leo asked as a knot tightened within his chest.
At that moment, Luzanna smiled, almost as if she was surprised that they barely understood. “Talon Renon.”
Leo gasped. “The chief elder.”
Lucia’s gaze fell as Leo’s own widened in disbelief. Lucia frowned, accepting now the strict accusations placed against her people. All of this resentment stemmed from a firsthand account of war twenty years ago, one that sent ripples of distrust and deceit throughout the realms in the years that followed. Their war had set off a chain of events that would corrupt the powers of each province, allowing them to alter their own history and force their people to live within a world without knowing the very truth that could later save them. This city, like their own, was dependent on their governors—but how could their leaders protect them when they, too, denied the truth?
“Talon knows,” Lucia said quietly, stepping forward. “Luzanna, your father knows of the peril we are in. I’m sure of it. If you could please take us to him, I’m sure I can convince him to tell us how to stop it. If he rejects us, he will have doomed us all!”
Luzanna lowered her eyes again, thinking. “My father is very old and stubborn. He’s set in his ways. Even I struggle to change his mind from time to time. He doesn’t take to new discoveries well, but if what you say is true, and I do nothing . . . I, too, will be responsible for destroying the future of my people.”
Lucia sensed it then again, the tingling feeling inside her head. Within Luzanna’s words was something L
ucia knew all too well: a call of duty. Perhaps they were not so different after all. Lucia took Luzanna’s hand in hers. “Please, help us.” Lucia smiled, but not without that gleam of compassion in her eyes. “There’s not much time.”
“Yes,” Leo said in support. “Listen to Lucia. Together we can right the wrongs of our fathers. You, too, can do the same.”
Luzanna glanced at the pendant. “I remember my father telling me years ago, about a man from Moz coming to warn him of a catastrophe that would befall the world. My father said the man was driven insane by the guilt that corrupted him, by the choices he made in his own life. I thought of it as some fable my father made up to remind me that the past would always be there to haunt us. That’s why I have striven to walk this path every day of my life.
“But there is one thing that still troubles me, even to this day.” Luzanna looked up, recalling the memory. “The man also said that my father would die and that our tribe’s bloodline would fade into time. It chills me to think that could be true. This prophecy was supposed to be a lie, of course, created to absolve the guilt of some lunatic. It was supposed to be his own curse, not our own. How could that, of all things, be true?”
Lucia held her breath. “That sounds like one side of the story.” Hearing the tale again brought tears to her eyes. After all this time, thinking about her father and what he’d done, she felt her grief seep through the shell encased around her heart.
“I know,” Luzanna continued. “Often, I’ve thought why—why would he lie? I know it’s unreal to think prophecies like such could come true. It’s wise to be skeptical, but you’re supposed to see the good in people and keep an open mind. Why call them hopeless or deny them when they actually believe the words they speak? Why not pray for them and hope, no matter who they are, that they find the peace they are looking for? He was trying to warn us in order to protect us, but instead my father rejected him. I know we might not be right all the time, but my father and most of us have a hard time admitting when we’re wrong. If this prophecy is, in fact, true, I cannot stand idly by and allow my people to suffer.”
Lucia touched the Light Wings, the radiance warming the tips of her fingers. She saw the shame in Luzanna’s own eyes. “Your father may be keeping everyone away from the truth, but you—you’re the hope of your people. My father’s plight is your own. You just don’t know it yet.”
“Your father . . . .” Luzanna stepped back in shock, the fear rising within her.
“My father left Moz to seek the end of the same force that threatens our world now. He’s the one who left a prophecy for Pinea, and I’m sure he left this prophecy for Aldric too. Just as your father rejected mine, so did his.” Lucia gestured to Leo. “And not long ago, the darkness destroyed both our homes with fire.” Lucia’s eyes filled with tears as her voice tensed. “I’m sure it was my father you spoke of, and now I’m here pleading as he once did.” She choked, clasping the Light Wings. “His prophecy is bound to happen unless you do something about it.”
Luzanna put her hands to her chest, her eyes wet beneath her mask. The Carists around them took notice, rising up to look at the weeping dove.
“Are you saying your father was telling the truth?” Luzanna asked.
“Yes, nothing but the truth.”
“Then that means—”
“It’s coming,” Leo said, walking between them and reaching to Luzanna’s shoulder. “Please, take us to your father.”
Luzanna shook her head and tossed Leo’s arm from her side.
“Now,” he commanded.
“No,” she cried fiercely. “My father, he’s going to . . . ” She stepped back, wiping the tears from her mask. “He’ll die!”
“He won’t if we act,” Lucia pleaded. “Please, Luzanna.”
Luzanna blinked wildly as she considered. Suddenly, she picked up her eyes. “You will need proof. The council won’t accept your plea without proof.” She stepped forward, dropping her book on a nearby table, and gripping her hands together.
Lucia followed her, placing only a foot between her and the dove. “You said you’ve seen this somewhere, right?” She pointed to the pendant.
“Yes,” Luzanna said softly, “in the ancient archives. I’m sure of it.”
Lucia nodded, calming herself. She took Luzanna’s hand and placed it over the pendant. “These are the Light Wings, a relic of ancient origin created solely for preserving the light and restoring balance to this world.”
Luzanna’s eyes focused on the light illuminating through her fingers. She retracted her hand slowly and touched the top of her head, a sudden rush of wisdom flowing through her mind. “The Light Wings, I remember.” She panicked, breathing rapidly. Her hands shook as her armor rattled over her. “The vessel of virtue, born of the light. Those holy wings and cleanser of sin.” She gasped as tears flooded her eyes. “Oh no!”
There it was, within Luzanna’s eyes. Lucia saw it coming like a light from the end of a long dark tunnel: the truth.
Luzanna continued, “The age of corruption is signified by the coming of the Light Wings. It’s said that during this time, the darkness would cross over into our realm to take back its creation and rid the light of its own. It would corrupt the land with sin, all so that the world would belong to the darkness forever. The darkness will come to reclaim the earth and bring about life’s destruction, leaving the Light Wings no choice but to summon the light’s virtue in order to thwart its rival.”
Reclaim the earth and bring about life’s destruction? Lucia thought as it all started falling into place. “You do know, and I’m sure your father knows even more. We must speak with him now. Your father has seen the darkness. He saw it in the heat of our war. He knows what’s at stake, and we must go to him before it’s too late. There must be a way we can stop it.”
Lucia felt the relief in her chest as Luzanna’s eyes filled with a new trust, a bond forged in hope. Luzanna took their hands, and Lucia felt the connection between the three of them, as if it were fate that they would someday come together, like it was destined to happen this way.
Lucia glanced up into the citrine and sensed the fire. “Please, let’s save the world.”
Luzanna nodded and pulled them behind her. “This way!” She led them to the edge of the tower and up a flight of stairs.
As they climbed, Lucia finally felt the pleasure of their progress. Everything had seemed so hopeless, but with Luzanna there was now a certainty that things would be alright, an optimism that felt unreal. It was strong, and like an aura, it shaped the core of Luzanna’s being just as Leo’s calmness and self-restraint shaped his. There was a clearness encased within her opal eyes, just as there was something shining within the coolness of Leo’s eyes of sapphire.
Then, just as Lucia felt that hope once more, just as she felt it peak as they ran up those steps, something cold coiled itself around her, rushing blood to her face and sending a chill shuddering through her. She stared up into the vibrant citrine, her eyes drawn to it as the frost formed over it. “No,” Lucia whispered, feeling the Light Wings vibrate with light. She held her head as the lamps around them burst into extinguishing flames one by one, exploding violently and plunging every space and corner of the tower into darkness.
Leo and Luzanna huddled around Lucia and the bleak light of the Light Wings as she dropped down, embracing the steps with her hands and sheltering her face away from the falling glass. She heard it shatter and fall around them, but oddly enough she could not tell from where.
“What’s happening?” Luzanna cried out.
Lucia tried to yell but was overcome by a violent roar that shook the tower. It was a deafening and antagonizing sound, screeching over the screams of the Carists above and below.
Leo pulled the girls behind him, pushing them closer to the steps and standing protectively over them as the platform shook. He stared up into the citrine as an orange glow b
led into the gray light of the sky, sending only remnants below. This brought fear into him as it seemed like the darkness was swallowing them whole. His fear of the blackening sky above grew, and he knew that the light would not last much longer. They were not fast enough. He grasped the glass rail of the stairs as the earth began to quake, pushing him forward against the railing. He tried to push away, his muscles tightening as his body was forced forward. How far up were they? Leo stared out into the growing darkness into the pitch black hole beneath them. He could not tell if it was real or merely a figment of his imagination, but he felt it pulling him in. His hands shook as he held on with all his might. “I can’t . . . ”
The glow of the Light Wings was faint, but Lucia made out Leo’s struggling figure within its radiance. The tower was shaking violently as she tried to stand. She slipped a bit as she attempted to balance herself and reach for Leo. She was wobbling back and forth in the darkness as gusts of wind pulled her downward. The light of the citrine was falling and dissolving, mixing into the shadows that surrounded them. Lucia felt its warmth as it started to haze. The Light Wings dangled below her head like a single firefly, its light pulsating as they rocked. She had to do something. Whatever this was, it was drawing everything to the center. The tower was going to collapse in and on itself. They were going to be crushed within it. The darkness had never felt so strong before. It was almost as if it was being concentrated. Was only the tower feeling its impact? The city outside, was it safe?
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