by Elise Kova
“You’re sure?” Yet even as Jayme was asking, Vi could make out the outline of a shadow in-between the trees that she would’ve missed if not for Ellene.
“One way to find out.” Vi led the charge, away from the lake itself and back into the jungle.
Sure enough, not far from the water, stood a ruin. It was completely unmarked on any of her maps—like most were, but Vi couldn’t believe no one knew of its existence. It seemed too magnificent to leave lost to time.
“It looks almost like another fortress,” Ellene whispered.
“It does,” Vi agreed, her voice falling to a hush as well.
Large archways supported crumbling stone pathways between trees, draped with vines and moss. The skeletons of long-dead trees rotted in the shadow of the ruins, feeding newer life that would someday grow tall enough that their mighty roots would crack even more of the crumbling foundation.
It wasn’t as pristine as the first ruins Vi had discovered. But it was far more intact than those around Soricium. Perhaps this site was more removed, protected from anyone bothering it throughout the ages. Or perhaps it had once been so large, that even what was left after time had taken its toll still maintained breathtaking grandeur.
“Have you ever seen anything like it?” Vi asked Ellene.
She shook her head. “Not outside of Soricium. It… I can’t describe it. It doesn’t look like the other cities in Shaldan.” She must’ve been truly confused, because she returned to her earlier sentiment. “It looks like the fortress—or an early version of it.”
“It’s incredible, whatever it is,” Andru whispered in awe. “This must be the place, right?”
“I think so.” Perhaps there were hundreds of ruins dotting the shore of the massive lake. But Vi didn’t think there were any that would look so grand. If any place was going to be an apex of fate, this would be it. “Let’s go in.”
“In?” Jayme caught her hand. “That’s a crumbling death trap.”
“Everywhere else, I’ve had to go in. I’ve had to stand right at the heart of it. There’s no time to waste debating this. You can wait out here if you’d like.”
“If you’re going in, then so are we,” Ellene declared. “We’ve come this far together. Besides, you have a Groundbreaker on your side. I’ll fix any cracking bits and keep us safe.”
“We won’t abandon you now,” Andru agreed.
“Fine. Even if I’m not completely thrilled by the idea…” Jayme looked uneasily up at the ruins.
Vi stared at her friends in wonder. Standing in front of ancient ruins that could well lead to their deaths, she felt the first cornerstone of something she could call “home” fall into place.
“Let’s go, then. Fate is waiting.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
They scrambled over large stones and other rubble as they neared the heart of the ruins.
Half perched in a tree, half supported by the stone that extended unnaturally from the earth, was a structure that looked more like the cathedrals to the Mother Vi had seen in her architecture books than anything Northern. It had pointed spires and more soaring archways to support its large columns.
“Where to from here?” Jayme asked as they climbed up a broken stairway to a wide platform.
“In there, I think.” Vi pointed across a crumbling bridge. “That looks like the center of it all.”
“Leave it to me.” Ellene stepped forward ahead of them. She swept her palm out and across her chest. Before their eyes, old cracks were smoothed, large chunks of stone settled back into place, and the vines tightened, lending further natural supports.
Yet, despite all this, Jayme and Andru seemed skeptical.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Jayme asked.
“We’re pretty high up…” Andru glanced over his shoulder, panting softly at the exertion of their climb.
“I may not be a builder, but I know how to use my magic to manipulate the earth enough to make a secure path,” Ellene insisted.
“I have faith in Ellene.” Vi started forward.
“As if I don’t.” Jayme rolled her eyes, taking a wide step, determined to be the second on the bridge.
Once across, the four stepped into the smothering darkness of the heart of the ruins. The shifting moonlight of the jungle already hadn’t been enough to see by. The small flame that magically hovered over Vi’s shoulder, guiding them, had provided just barely enough light.
Here, however, the darkness seemed to have that same impenetrable quality as the first set of ruins Vi had stumbled on. It clung to every corner of the cavernous inner space, darkening relief sculptures and collapsed columns alike. Her friends huddled closer, staying in the halo of light from her flame.
“This feels like the right place,” Vi whispered.
“How so?” Jayme’s voice had dropped to a whisper as well. Something about the atmosphere was making them all tense. Perhaps it was they couldn’t see the far walls or ceiling. The only source of pale moonlight was the archway they’d entered from.
“I can’t describe it…” Vi shook her head. “A place with purpose? Something important happened here.” Vi wondered if she truly felt that way, or if Taavin’s words were merely inspiring the feeling.
“I can only imagine.” Ellene’s voice echoed off the high ceiling. Whatever the girl could imagine, it wasn’t the need that Vi felt to remain as quiet as possible. “What’s over there?”
With a flick of her fingers, Vi sent the small flame ahead of them. They hustled to keep up, none seeming to want to linger in the darkness for too long. The pale outline of two figures were highlighted in orange, slick with damp that dripped softly from the tall ceiling. One figure held an axe and knelt before the other. It was almost an exact replica of the statue in the Mother Tree… save for a few key differences.
“Is that… a man?” Jayme squinted. Time and age had taken its toll on the statue and it was impossible to tell. “Wearing a crown?”
“I think so?” Vi tilted her head, trying to imagine what the statue might have looked like when it was first made. There was something masculine about the figure… yet it also had a litheness that read as feminine. Androgynous, would be a better term. “Wearing a crown? I didn’t think chieftains wore crowns?”
“We don’t.” Ellene frowned slightly. She seemed disturbed by the sculpture. “And what’s he holding in his other hand?”
“Some kind of blade?” Vi wondered aloud. It was curved but half-broken. She couldn’t tell from the blunted end alone what it may have been originally.
“He has a sword on his hip, though,” Jayme pointed out.
“Maybe he was some kind of warrior?”
“Dia would kneel to no warrior,” Ellene insisted. “She would only kneel to the Mother.”
“Perhaps it’s not Dia,” Vi suggested, more out of kindness. The woman was holding an axe, and nearly in the same pose as the sculpture of Dia in Soricium. It seemed too similar to be mere chance.
“Maybe not…” Ellene was seeing what she wanted to see. But there was no use in pointing that out.
“Perhaps he’s a warrior for whoever this is…” Andru’s focus had wandered to the wall behind the statue. Whatever he saw had him entranced enough that he’d wandered away from the halo of light.
Vi, Ellene, and Jayme joined him. With a mental command, Vi had the fire lift above her head, illuminating another relief on the wall.
It was massive in scale, the figures easily four times life-sized. A man and a woman were locked in combat. The woman had a blazing sun behind her and she pointed a staff at the man. The man was angular and sharp-looking, wings of lightning crackled behind him. Soundless cries of battle had been cast on their stone faces, resisting the wear of time in an impossible way.
“I would think it’s the Mother and Father but…” Andru trailed off.
But they’re fighting, Vi finished mentally. The Mother and Father were said to be in an eternal dance, hand in hand, forever with each other throughou
t the ages as one watched over day and the other night. The crones of the Empire said they were lovers, not enemies… And that’s what Vi would’ve believed before Taavin had told her his truths. Now, she saw it and knew she was laying eyes on a great battle.
This was the truth of their world. An ancient good—Yargen—pitted against an ancient evil—Raspian. They were all mortal pawns laid between them, cast in stone at the gods’ feet.
The Solaris Empire and its people had been so far removed from this great struggle that they didn’t even see its impact on their lives.
“It’s likely also something else.” Vi shrugged. She might know better, but her friends didn’t and there was no way she could explain otherwise. Just looking at the image was making her uncomfortable. It was as if she was looking at something she was never meant to see. “Who knows what this place really was, or who even built it.”
“Maybe your vision will give us insight?” Ellene suggested.
“Right. I’ll need to use my flame for it… if it goes out when I’m finished, it may be dark for a moment.”
“I think we can survive the dark.” Jayme readjusted her stance, stalwart as usual.
“All right, then.” Vi closed her eyes and held out her hand. Like a bird, her flame perched in her palm. She felt as much as saw the orb of light moving on the other side of her eyelids. When Vi opened her eyes, she prepared herself to be thrown into the vision.
This time, she wasn’t disappointed.
Once more, the world was over-saturated with white. Slowly, by the brush of an invisible artist, color returned, filling in shapes and lines that were as foreign as the last time. As she was coming to learn was normal, there was no sound filling the cavernous room she stood in.
Taavin knelt before her in stunning clarity.
For a brief moment, Vi merely studied his face: immobile, focused, sharp. Sharper than she’d ever seen it before. He looked real, almost like something she could reach out and touch…
Her hands were frozen in place, and Vi was forced to be nothing more than the observer she’d always been during her visions.
His expression was somber. He stared forward, seeing through her, but Vi felt as if he could actually see her. His shaggy hair had been pushed back from his face and set. It was the first time she’d seen it not spilling over his brow, curling around the pointed tips of elongated ears.
The light of a fire blazing behind her, glowing through her disembodied spirit, cast his cheeks in oranges and yellows. His mouth was moving quickly, though the words were lost on her deaf ears, and Vi got the distinct feeling that she was watching another ritual unfold. Light peeled off his skin, spinning around his form, condensing over his hands as he continued to chant.
Taavin’s hands were folded together, holding something. A silver chain looped around them, dangling and catching the firelight. She could recognize those links anywhere. They were identical to the chain she wore around her neck.
A shadow moved in the background.
Inexplicable dread filled her and Vi fought the urge to shut her eyes. She didn’t want to see this. Somehow, she knew what was coming with a sickening certainty.
No, don’t do this.
The words drifted through her, soft as a whisper, heartbreaking as a scream.
The man continued to chant, continued to stare at the flame at her back that Vi couldn’t see. All she wanted to focus on was him and the steadily intensifying light peeling off his flesh. The world was reduced to his magic as it mingled with the bright white power that always hovered at the edges of her visions.
In the background, there was more movement. Vi squinted. She could see a figure nearing, but the darkness of the room had become so intense that it was impossible for her to make out who the person was.
A pair of feminine hands rested themselves on his shoulders. Light wrapping around them as well. The glyphs of the two sorcerers bounced and sparked off each other in the air before they merged. One spell, two casters; without even seeing the person’s face, Vi knew the stranger was reciting the chant in unison with Taavin. Just as she knew that soon, it would all be over.
The glyphs brightened and spun to their breaking point, shattering in a blaze. She watched Taavin’s head tilt back, mouth open in a soundless scream, as fire arced forward—through Vi herself—and onto him. He was immolated as the glyphs brightened to strands of pure light that wrapped tightly around him.
Vi bit back a cry of anguish as the world turned white. She kept her eyes on his face for as long as possible, watching as flames cracked through his skin, charring it instantly to ash. It was a horror she did not want to see, but she refused to turn away. She would see every detail up until the end.
She hadn’t made a sound this time when her vision ended, it seemed, nor had she fallen. Vi spun in place, looking for her mysterious ally. Panic set her heart to racing, as if somehow he could’ve already been lost to her.
What did she say to him? How could she tell him? Panic rose in her. She had to protect him.
“Hoolo!” Taavin’s voice rang through the darkness, ceasing all thoughts with the single word. It curled between her ears, taking residence in her mind with all the rightness of the world. “Vi, Yargen has spoken! She’s given you a word!”
Vi turned, looking for Taavin. But she did not find him. Instead, she saw a pair of glowing red eyes cutting through the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Six
“You see her visions. One of the Dark Isle is truly Yargen’s champion,” the man with the red eyes spoke. “How the mighty fall…”
“Stay back,” Vi commanded, scrambling to her feet. She held out her hand, fire igniting across her fingers. “Or I’ll—”
She never had the chance to finish her threat.
The man moved so quickly that he became one with the shadows themselves. He was in one place, and then in a blink he was before her. Red magic sparked off his shoulders, casting the relief sculpture on the wall of the battle between the gods in a bloody glow. He held up a hand, a red circle forming around his palms, and brought it down to her.
“No!” Ellene cried.
Suddenly a column of stone emerged from the ground at Vi’s feet. The side of her foot caught its edge and was pushed upward. As she slid off, she lost her balance, staggering and hopping from foot to foot. Her fire was extinguished and the only light was from the man’s red irises.
“This doesn’t concern you, child,” he growled from the other side of the column. Vi was quickly scrambling to her feet, heading opposite of where Ellene stood; she had to draw his attention away from her friends. “But that won’t stop me from killing you.”
Vi held out her hand. Strands of magic were already collecting, illuminating the room.
“Juth!”
Vi felt her magic split and the glyph took shape. The swirling circles curled around him, a smaller replica before her palm. It happened in a single breath, but Vi felt every shift and change in her powers. She had never been so utterly confident wielding magic before. There was not an ounce of fear at losing control; every inch of her will was woven into the carefully crafted glyph.
The only person that should be afraid was the man she was levying it against.
The elfin’ra spun, raising his hands upward, as though her circle had become ropes around his arms that he was breaking with muscle alone. But this wasn’t a physical resistance. His magic pushed against Vi’s, and they shattered together in an explosion of flame and red lightning.
Fearlessly, Jayme dove in with a shout.
She leapt through the fire and sparking magic, sword in hand, elbows tight to her, point tracked over the man’s chest. She lunged, and the sword point almost hit. But the man, or whatever he was, was too fast and well trained. He brought up a hand, as if batting the sword away with a shield. The magic that arced from his middle finger to twist around his pinkie to form the half-shield was hotter than any blacksmith’s tool.
It seared off the edge of Jayme’s blade
and cast the woman off-balance. Vi could see her eyes, bulging in shock, outlined by the glowing red stump of her sword.
“You think that could harm me?” The man laughed. “You worthless girl, you do not even have magic, not even an element of Yargen’s precious, splintered boon on this Dark Isle.”
Luckily, Ellene was not so distracted. A box of stone rose up around the man. It stretched in a blink up to the ceiling, trapping him in a column of rock.
“Let’s go, now!” Ellene shouted.
Jayme had recovered and was on her feet, sheathing her now useless sword. Vi started to move, but then looked around. Where had Andru gone in all the chaos?
Her eyes landed on him, huddled in the corner by the statue, looking between Vi and the stone box trapping the elfin’ra in. Vi sprinted over and linked her arms around him. “We have to go.”
“What’s going on?” He jerked away, eyes wide. They were fearful… of her. These were the eyes she’d expected from the Southerners. So why did they hurt?
“We have to go!” Vi ignored the sensation. “Get to the noru, get away.” She ran around behind him, pushing the small of his back. Andru finally spurred into motion and Vi wasted no more time behind him.
A surge of magic had her skidding to a stop.
“Vi, come on!” Ellene shouted.
He was about to break free. She could feel it before she saw the red cracks in the stone or felt the rumbling. Even if they ran, they wouldn’t get very far. The elfin’ra was faster than lightning and more powerful than all three of them combined. They had to fight here, or they would die running.
Her mind cycled through all the words she knew. She repeated everything Taavin had ever told her on how to string them together. Every lesson they had stolen with each other would have to pay off now.
“You three go ahead.”
“I’m not leaving you. I am your guard and—” Jayme started an objection that Vi would have none of.
“That is an order from your Crown Princess!” Vi shouted. Jayme stared at her, shocked. “I know what I’m doing.” She hoped.