"So they decided to bide their time. To build a city in the very caverns below the Cliff, and to live as best they could until the moment was right. Until they could return to the surface once more, and none would dare challenge them.
"Perhaps you're wondering why the Masters never caught on? Why they never realized the Asylum had grown empty? There are two doors you see. An Ascended is taken past the first when they are forced inside the Asylum. The second door is then opened remotely, and a further contraption, a moving wall, pushes the Ascended inside the pit where we now stand. There are no windows. No way to look within. For the Masters feared what they would see. And even more, they feared their prisoners' escape.
"As the years passed, more and more Ascended were tossed inside the Asylum. They were taken into the city now called Alon Londal, and they were taught control. In time, they named themselves Ashwraiths, a title from legends, but one they wore proudly. A reminder that they were real, though others had forgotten.
"Their numbers grew. They were almost ready return to the surface. But first, they needed to weaken the empire that ruled the land. They needed to send someone out into the world, someone who could manipulate events in their favor. But their faces were known. Illian's most of all.
But soon they had someone known by no one. The first of his kind.
For Illian and Yosa had a child.
And that child was me."
Thirty-Eight
Illian
"But if this is true…" says Raven, "Then…"
Before she can finish her sentence, a man steps through the tunnel behind us. His robes are gray. His skin dark. His smile is wide and he looks happier than I've ever seen him.
"It's good to see you again," says Enzo with a thick French accent.
Raven runs into his arms, hugging him fiercely. She hides her eyes against his chest, but I can hear the soft whimper of sobs. "I missed you so much," she says.
Enzo caresses her hair. "And I missed you, little one. But I'm taken care of well here. I learn many things."
I wrap an arm around them both. "I'm glad you're safe."
"Me too," he says. "I thought my life was over. Worse than Charred. For the first few days, I lived in a dream, my body not my own. But then I hear a voice. Distant. Then closer. It guides me. I follow. A little the first day. Then more. I find the voice, in my mind, in my Sanctuary. It is a person. Iona, she calls herself. Tells me not all is lost. That I am not really Corrupted. That I simply need more training. So I learn from her. And one day, I find balance once more. And then I am in my body. And then I am meeting people and eating food and having a room all for myself. And now I am seeing you again."
Raven pulls away, her eyes red, but her face happy. "How did you find us?"
"Lord Kaden sent a message. Told me I could meet you here." He bows his head to the Ashlord, and I see the same reverence in his eyes for Kaden as I saw in the guards.
Enzo looks down at our shackled wrists and frowns. "What is the meaning of these?" he asks.
Kaden stands by my side. "They are yet to take the oath to our liege and lord."
"I see." Enzo locks eyes with me. "All will be well soon, I promise. The lord is understanding. No harm will come to you if you swear to peace."
Kaden clears his throat. "I wish you could have more time to talk, but I'm afraid we must move on. Perhaps, Enzo, you can accompany us to the throne room."
"Yes, my lord."
Enzo, Raven, and I follow Kaden back down the tunnel of stone, and into the heart of Alon Londal. A few Ashwraiths glance our way, but most go about their business, exchanging coin for goods I don't recognize: glowing pale blue mushrooms, crude utensils made of black steel, sapphire fishing nets that stretch to three times their size.
"It seems your people have made a world of their own here," I say.
Kaden smiles. "We had to make do with what the underground provides. The vegetation is different here. The animals as well." He bends down and picks a rock up from the ground. No. Not a rock. A dozen little legs expand from its shell, and it runs around Kaden's palm. "Rockbugs, we call them. These are small and harmless, but their cousins…" He shudders. "Their cousins the Rockdwellers are another matter. Five times the size of a person. Their pincers capable of snapping a man in two. They're tasty meat though." He scoops the Rockbug from its stone shell and plops it into his mouth.
My stomach turns at the sight.
Kaden grins, picking up another bug. "You should try one—"
"No. No, thank you," I say, pulling back.
Enzo holds out his arm. "I'd like one, please." He chews down on the Rockbug, grimacing. "Every time I think maybe it'll taste better now. And every time I am wrong."
Raven chuckles.
A thought comes to mind. "Do the Masters drop food down into the Asylum?" I ask.
Kaden shakes his head. "The Ascended do not need food to survive. Our Spirit is so strong it sustains the body. We do grow hungry though, and we still enjoy taste. So food is a delicacy of sorts. Sometimes, we bring some juicy meat from the surface."
"We?" I raise an eyebrow. "Are there more like you? More Ashwraiths from birth?"
"There are," he says. "I was the first but not the last."
"Is Phoenix…"
"No. What you know of Phoenix is true. I met her when I first joined the Cliff. We trained together. Bled together. One night, when we were still children, she followed me into the catacombs. I was careful, but she was sneakier, and she trailed me all the way to Alon Londal. By the time I noticed her, she had already seen the truth of things. I told her all there was to know, and she swore to keep my secret."
I lower my head. "You could have told me, you know."
"I know," he says. "But it is not only my life on the line, but the life of thousands. The fewer people know, the safer we all are. And… I didn't want secrets between you and your squad. You needed to trust each other explicitly, and this would have gotten in the way."
My squad… "What happened to them after the dragons attacked?" I ask.
Enzo frowns. "This too, I wish to know."
Raven crosses her arms, eyeing Kaden suspiciously.
He sighs. "Phoenix ordered them to return to Dragoneyes Manor. We both agreed to tell them you were injured in battle and recovering safely at the Cliff." He pauses. "They ask about you often. Bix is physically ill with worry."
I imagine the poor giant bent over a toilet, spewing out his guts. Oh, Bix. How I miss him. How I miss all of them.
"How long have we been here?" I ask, feeling confident I will get true answers now that Kaden has shared his story.
"Only a day," he says. "And please, don't be too hard on Phoenix. She shouldn't have knocked you out, but she panicked. You must understand, she thought my life was on the line. She has protected my secret since we were children."
Raven's face softens a bit. "She will do anything for those she cares about. I saw it in her eyes. It… it reminded me of you, Sky."
I pause, suddenly overcome with tenderness. "I… I suppose I would have done the same for my squad as Phoenix did for you." I grin. "Though I would have tried talking first."
"We're here," says Kaden, as we reach a giant metal gate three times my height, images of people and Spirits carved into the steel. It takes four men to pull the gate open, the steel groaning throughout the caverns.
Enzo lowers his voice. "Once inside, you must show the outmost respect. Do not speak unless spoken to. And do not make threats, please. Your freedom depends on this."
I nod. "So who are we meeting?"
Kaden gestures forward into the darkness. "Our liege and lord. The first of our kind. My mother. Lord Illian."
We enter a hall of black and silver stone. Guards clad in dark armor line each side, their faces hidden behind mouthless masks. Kaden leads us forward, and at the end of the room, we reach her. Illian. She is a mirror of her statue, clad in silver armor, a gray veil upon her face, sitting on a stone throne.
"Kn
eel," whispers Enzo.
Raven and I exchange a look.
We stand firm.
And then Illian speaks, her voice gentle and soft. "I have seen you in my dreams... standing amongst a field of ash." Her words echo across the space and she sounds as close as if she was standing beside me. Her eyes are hidden behind the veil, and I do not know if she speaks to me or Raven or both. She raises a gloved hand, her fingers long and thin, and gestures at our shackles. "Those are unnecessary."
I expect Kaden to unlock our restraints.
Instead Illian flicks her wrist.
And the shackles fall unbound at our feet.
How? How does she have this power?
Are these the things a trained Corrupted can accomplish?
"Thank you," I say, rubbing at the cracked skin on my wrist. "We will do no harm to you or your people. I swear it." And I do mean it, unless someone gives me—
"Unless someone gives you cause to do otherwise," finishes Illian.
Did she just… Did she just read my thoughts?
The Lord of Ashwraiths turns her head to the side, and I see a hint of a smile beneath the veil, lips stained black on a pale face. "Thoughts and words are but ripples in an ocean to me. I see and hear so much more. The past. The present. The future. They draw closer and closer, folding in on each other." She clenches and unclenches her hand. "I believe one day I will lose my sanity once again. The Spirit can comprehend so much more than the mind, after all. But do not fear… Perhaps our kind are not meant to live forever. Perhaps we must choose to Ascend to something even higher. Leave the body behind. Once and for all."
She turns her face back to us, smile fading. "You have questions."
I nod, trembling, caught off guard by her abilities. "When can we go—"
"You may leave whenever you wish. But you will not. You will stay and hear what I have to say. You will find it most interesting. You will wish to ask why Kaden did not bring you to me sooner, but know that you were not ready before." Illian smiles a chilling smile. "I will tell you what I have seen. But to understand the future, you must first understand the past. You know the secret of the Asylum. Now learn the secret of the Ashpriests. The secret of the Wall of Light. One man stands at the center of it all. The one you seek. The one who calls himself Pike. I will tell you how his story began. Only you can tell me how it will end."
"You know that Nir created the Wall of Light to keep the dragons at bay," she says, falling into a rhythmic vocal pattern that draws me into her story. "What you do not know is that every millennium the Wall fades, the light wanes, and a Sundering begins. You see, the Wall is not eternal, not without help at least. Someone must keep it alight.
"Two were tasked with the duty. Ordained by Nir himself. Me, and the one you know as Pike.
"We were friends, once. I, the first Twin Spirit, and Pike, the first child of Nir. Not the first human, no. You see, Pike…
"Pike is a son of Nir. A dragon.
"That is why none can match him in battle. Why he has powers Twin Spirits cannot comprehend. The skin he wears is not his own. But an Illusion. He has had many faces. Many names. Pike was but one of the first. One I knew.
"When Nir created the Wall of Light, he tasked us with its protection. Together, we oversaw the creation of Dragoncliff and the training of the first Ashlings. By the elder dragon, I was named the first Ashlord, and Pike the first Ashpriest. I was tasked the command of Ashknights in defense of the Wall. Pike was tasked to remember and uphold of the Code of Ash. You may have heard of it… but there is a part you have not heard. The key to keeping the Wall alight.
"It requires sacrifice.
"A Twin Spirit must give themselves to the light. Their body and soul burned until nothing but ash remains.
"They must be placed on the Pyre of Light. The pyre only found in the Dream that Cannot be Dreamt.
"The sacrifice must be strong, trained in the highest arts of our order. At first, the strongest Ashlords and Ashknights were enough. Each millennium or so, one would willingly sacrifice themselves to the light. But as each cycle of the Wall passed, Pike and I became aware of something. The Sunderings grew closer together, the need for sacrifice more common, and the strength of the Spirit required stronger. In time, only those who were trained from birth were strong enough for the light. But they were few. Too few. So Pike began to seek them out with the strongest devotion.
"And when once the sacrifices were willing, they began to have no say in the matter.
"At first, I approved. For what else was there to do but keep the Wall alight? Yet, as the centuries wore on, I grew tired of the death, of the endless battle between man and dragon. I sought to break the cycle.
"I delved into the ancient caves left behind by the elder dragons. I studied their magics, seeking to understand the spell that created the Wall of Light in the first place. It took many years, but finally I learned the truth. Nir had never completed the spell. His injuries at the hand of Val's children prevented him from doing so. The Wall of Light wasn't meant to simply contain the dragons, but to burn them out. To kill them once and for all.
"And it could still be done. If the sacrifice was strong enough, the Wall of Light would burn brighter than ever, so bright that all dragons within would burn to ash, and our eternal struggle would finally end.
"Pike and I both agreed, there was only one strong enough for such a sacrifice.
"The child of Nir, the first Ashpriest, Pike himself.
"He took the duty. When the time came, he would give himself to the light, putting an end to the need for more death.
A day later, I received word. Some of my Ashknights were attacked beyond the wall. Pike and I rushed out to help them. As I passed beyond the gates, they sealed behind me. And too late I realized… There was no attack. No dragons. Only Pike standing on the other side of the Wall. "I'm sorry, my friend," he said. "But I cannot give my life. There would be no one to lead otherwise."
"He walked away. Left me to die.
"And the dragons came.
"Hundreds of them.
"I fought with all my strength.
"I would make it back somehow. I would tell others the truth. That Pike could end the battles, the sacrifices, but he would rather give the lives of others than his own. He had lived too long to think otherwise. And if he could not give himself willingly, then I would make him. One final sacrifice to end it all.
"I fought with all my strength.
"And the Corruption took hold.
"Amidst a thousand corpses I fell into insanity.
"My Ashknights found me then. But I could not tell them the truth. I could not speak. To me, they were but a dream I could only watch. I watched them debate my life. My future. In the end, they locked me away, and Pike's betrayal went unpunished.
"The cycle continued.
"The Wall would fade.
"A Sundering would come.
"Dragons would fly over Nirandel.
"Hundreds would die.
"A sacrifice would be made.
"The Wall relit.
"And so it would be as it always was." She sits forward, her eyes glued to me.
"I have seen you in a vision, standing in the Dream that Cannot be Dreamt, the choice before you. Let the Wall fade and the dragons reign. Sacrifice the Twin Spirit trained from birth and let the cycle continue. Or place Pike upon the pyre and end the cycle once and for all.”
She pauses. “The ritual to rekindle the Wall of Light can only be done during a Sundering, and only when the three moons are high in the sky at the mid point of night. You have until then to find your daughter.”
I freeze. My blood runs cold. “Kara… Kara is dead.”
“No,” says Illian. “She lives. She is the next sacrifice. That is her purpose. You know, somewhere deep within, this to be true.”
“I…” my voice cracks. "I buried her bones."
"There are many ways to get bones. They were not the bones of your daughter. She has been trained as th
e next sacrifice."
My heart speeds up. My palms sweat. My head spins. Kara may yet live. I may yet save her.
Illian continues. "But first, you must find the dragon who fights his own kind. The first Ashpriest, my old friend, Pike, son of Nir. You must find him, for the Dream that Cannot be Dreamt is his Sanctuary."
Thirty-Nine
The Sundering
My mind overflows with what Lord Illian has told me. Kara is alive. It's not too late. I can still save her.
But Pike… he could be anyone. What if he's a friend? Someone I trust? Is that possible?
Whoever he is, he has great power, and he can change faces. Perhaps Pike isn't his only identity. Perhaps he has a more inconspicuous one that he uses to go about everyday life. "Can you see Pike's identities with your abilities?" I ask.
The woman—Kaden's mother, I keep reminding myself—tilts her head, considering. "It is possible I have seen one of his faces, but how could I be sure? He hides his transformations well," Illian says.
How do you track an enemy who can look like anyone at any time? "There must be some way to detect his true self," I say. I won't allow frustration or the impossibleness of this situation to deter me. Granted, it was hard enough to track this man when he was just one man with a single, identifiable face. But this?
My mind flashes to when I first met him. When I tried to describe what he looked like to Dean and Blake. Could this explain why they didn't understand me?
"The first Ashpriest always relished his abilities, and enjoyed using them to gain the awe and admiration of the public. Seek out those who do things you cannot explain," she says.
Her words trigger an idea that's been slowly growing in my mind. "I need to get to the library at the Cliff. If Pike has lived for centuries, then at least one of his identities is likely in the histories."
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