by E. L. Todd
“Well?” Aleco asked.
Accacia ignored him and examined the heavier stone. She closed her eyes and absorbed the feel of the gem, trying to determine what set it apart from the lighter stone. She jumped when a jolt of electricity ran through her body, and gazed at the startling image of a singular eye staring back at her from the center of the stone. It disappeared as quickly as it came. She felt Aleco’s hand on her shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked with a voice full of concern.
“Did you see that?” she asked him.
Aleco was worried by her peculiar behavior. Perhaps she was just exhausted from their night of lovemaking. The thought pleased him. “See what?” he asked.
“There was an eye in the stone,” she said.
Aleco felt the temperature of her forehead with the back of his hand. She pushed it away. “I’m not hallucinating,” she said. “I know what I saw. It was a single blue eye and it flashed across the surface of the stone then disappeared.”
Aleco and Father Giloth exchanged worried glances.
Accacia sighed in frustration. “Here.” She handed Aleco the stone. “Just hold it for a while.” She grabbed the other stone and dropped the gem in his other palm. “Do you notice the difference?”
Aleco could see no physical anomalies other than their different shapes and varying textures. The only difference between the two stones was the weight. One was certainly heavier than the other. “They have different weights,” he observed.
“Yes,” she said. She took the lighter stone away and let him keep the other.
“Now what?” he asked.
“Just wait,” she said.
Several unremarkable minutes went by with no change. Father Giloth said nothing at the transaction and waited patiently for Accacia to make her point. Aleco was growing irritated with the charade. He thought she hit her head on something, perhaps the headboard. “Accacia, nothing is happening,” he said.
Defeated, she sighed. “You do believe me, don’t you?”
“I believe you think you really saw the image.”
Accacia reached for the stone to yank it out of his grasp. When her fingers touched the surface, the eye reappeared. Aleco dropped the gem in astonishment. Accacia grabbed the stone from the floorboards, but it was too late. The eye was already gone.
“Please tell me you saw that?”
“Actually, I did,” he said. The flashing image shook his composition. The picture itself wasn’t frightful, but it transmitted a feeling of pain and loss so deep it felt akin to losing your life’s love. He looked at Accacia. “What was that?”
“I have no idea,” she whispered. Her body still stung from the first electric spasm, and the second one caused her arm to twitch in pain. “Did you feel the shock?”
“No,” he said. “Did you feel complete and utter despair?”
“No.”
Father Giloth finally spoke. “Accacia, place the stone upon the table and walk towards me.”
Accacia did as she was told and stood next to the old man. He grasped the stone within his hand then instructed Accacia to touch it. Her fingers barely grazed the stone when the image appeared along with the shock, and Father Giloth felt the flood of depression Aleco described. He returned the stone to the counter.
“What are your thoughts, old man?” Aleco asked.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” he said as he pressed his fingertips to his lips.
Accacia returned to her seat and sipped her tea in silence, pondering the significance of the event. She thought of the eye within the image and realized it wasn’t exactly the typical eye of a human. The lines of the eye were slightly exaggerated, similar to the shape of her eyes, which were unusual for a human.
The line of electricity shocked her body, but made her feel a connection to the stone, like a handhold on your wrist from someone trying to grab your attention. The stone flooded with the color blue, deep like the middle of the ocean, and set the stone in a beautiful hue. She compared the two stones and wondered what their difference meant. It was almost like the heavier stone was alive, while the other died or was never born. It was odd. She didn’t experience the intense despair Aleco described, but the all-consuming need to attract her focus.
Father Giloth’s words shattered her focus. “I will research this. I don’t understand the meaning of this, but I assure you, I will find the answer,” he said. “Aleco, does the guild know of your association with either me or the forest?”
“No, not at all,” he said.
“Good,” he said. “I’m certain they are displeased with your actions. They will hunt you for a very long time, Aleco. The elemental power of the forest will conceal the stones within the border and protect its existence from those who should have no knowledge of it.” The Nature Priest knew the mysterious gems would be safe as long as no one entered the forest. When Drake found out the guild lost his precious stones, he would be furious. He would never stop searching for both Accacia and the stones until they were found. “Let’s hope Drake doesn’t suspect their hiding place.”
“That could complicate things,” Aleco said.
The Nature Priest nodded. “Drake is already incredibly powerful; his influence is stretching to every realm. It won’t be long until the Continent is unified under one leader, under one king, and I have a feeling there is only one candidate for the position.”
“An alliance where Drake is the sole king and sovereign is a nation I would recede from,” Aleco spat. “I would enlist as a Naturalist and hide under your protection.”
“Unfortunately, if these events come to pass there will be no forest to find escape in.”
“What do you mean, ‘no forest?’” Accacia asked.
“Drake will burn it to the ground,” he said. “With me included. That’s why he is waiting to gather the allegiance of all the armies of the Continent before he challenges me. I cannot possibly protect the entire forest against two hundred thousand soldiers.”
“Why would he do such a thing? We can’t let that happen,” she cried. “There must be something we can do. It’s not just about the protection of the forest, but the people of the entire Continent. When he comes into power, he’ll behead someone simply because they are breathing the same air as he.”
Father Giloth didn’t respond to Accacia’s emotional words. He couldn’t tell her the truth; that Drake wanted to punish him for his opposition, both in retrieving Accacia and the crown to the Continent. He wished he could comfort her, but found no words that could be strung together without being a lie. They were doomed. The once flourishing Continent would be trampled under that man’s boot.
Father Giloth knew he was running out of time. There were many things he hid from his adopted daughter, and he knew it was time to confide in her. Now that Aleco was by her side, as her friend and partner, he knew it was right. “There is something you need to know, Accacia. I have waited a very long time to speak of this to you, mostly because this information will only hurt you, but I can’t wait any longer,” the old man said.
Accacia looked at him and nodded. She already knew what Father Giloth was going to reveal. She hoped she would survive the tale.
“Do you mind if Aleco is present? Personally, I prefer that he is.”
She nodded again and braced herself for the impact. Accacia wanted to tell Father Giloth she would rather not know, but she steeled her resolve and said nothing. She had to know the truth.
Father Giloth stared at her for a moment before he spoke. He knew this information would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. “Your mother and father were traveling past my border, carrying a very powerful weapon, toward the center of the Continent when they were killed. They were invited to these lands under the establishment of peace, but they were betrayed,” he said. “Rather than honoring the agreement of a non-violent transgression, the ambassadors and their small army were annihilated—you were the only survivor.”
Accacia closed her eyes an
d forced the tears back. She wished she wasn’t the only survivor—she wished she hadn’t survived at all. She spent most of her life as a slave to a lunatic—a life not worth living anyway. After Accacia filtered through her emotions of their deaths, she focused on Father Giloth’s words. They were invited to these lands. She didn’t have a clue what that meant.
Father Giloth continued. “The weapon stolen from your parents, the Aqua Stone, has the ability to move, change, and evaporate large bodies of water from any medium. It was used to destroy your island and its inhabitants in a tsunami that completely drowned the land,” he said. “The death of the entire race ensured no further retaliation.”
His words hung in her mind and echoed through her thoughts, breaking her resolve as she collapsed in tears. Her entire race and their home had disappeared beneath the waves. She wasn’t just the sole survivor of her family—but of her whole race.
Aleco wrapped his arms around her and calmed her breathing. He ran his hands through her hair and whispered words of comfort until the sobs trickled to a controlled cry. Father Giloth watched Aleco in surprise. He had never seen him be so gentle, even with the plants he attended to in his youth.
Accacia exhaled deeply before she asked the question on her mind. “Where did they come from?” Accacia had no knowledge of her lineage, but she didn’t expect to be from any exotic place since the Continent was the only land in the known world.
“The secret code I taught you, the one we write, speak, and communicate with in delicate situations, is the language of the Asquith, an ancient race of people I spoke of on a few occasions. I chose to impart this knowledge to you because you are descended from that race. In fact, you are Asquithian. Your family was from the land of Asylinth, making you one of its members. Your mother and father had a prominent role in their complicated government, and volunteered as ambassadors to come to this continent and establish ties, in the hope they would be welcomed to live with the humans of the Continent.”
Accacia had never expected such a revelation. She had felt a connection to the Asquith people, agreeing with their spiritual viewpoints, the ones Orgoom Forest worshipped, and their respect of their fellow creatures, but she never expected a genetic tie to them. The more she thought about it, the less surprise she felt. She knew her features were slightly different than the humans of the Continent, with prominent angled features in her eyes and cheekbones. Her lithe body was petite and slight in stature, smaller than the average female human. Her skin was a shade darker than the rest of the populace, like the glow of summer touched her skin throughout the year, and she always felt cold—always. She wondered if she came from a warmer climate.
“When the ambassadors and the army were attacked, somehow you ran from the carnage and into the woods, landing in my arms. I immediately recognized you for what you were, having knowledge of the meeting beforehand. I took you in and kept you hidden from the world. When Drake stumbled into my lands one afternoon and spotted you in the field, I assumed he recognized your ethnicity, but obviously that wasn’t so.”
“Why would he recognize me?”
Father Giloth lowered his gaze to the floor. He knew his following words would cause her the most pain. The Nature Priest wished he could lie to her. “Drake is the one who killed them.”
Accacia felt the hot tears fall down her face and soak her lips. She wiped them away with the sleeve of her shirt, but they continued to pour down her cheeks. Drake had destroyed her entire world, first stealing her freedom, killing her child, and then murdering her family, along with her entire race. Father Giloth watched the tears streak down her face. He hated having to reveal these disturbing words, but she needed to hear them. He had spared her as long as possible, but he couldn’t drag it out any longer.
Accacia looked down at her knotted hands and fought back the tears. She had always wanted to know how they met their end, and now that the time was here, she didn’t want to hear it. Aleco held her hand within his own and squeezed it. Drake had also killed his parents, so he understood her feelings more than anyone else. Now she knew why Father Giloth had waited to tell her.
Accacia stood up and wiped her tears. “Please excuse me,” she said as she walked to her bedroom. “I need a moment.”
Father Giloth and Aleco could hear her cries even from her bedroom. Aleco’s body burned with hatred when he thought of his disturbed twin. He thought he couldn’t hate that fiend more than he already did, but he was wrong about that; hatred had an infinite value. Father Giloth pressed his fingertips to his lips and closed his eyes.
Aleco didn’t know if he should follow her. He wanted to comfort her, but he didn’t know if she wanted company. Whenever Aleco struggled with an emotion or dilemma, he never wanted to be bothered—until now. He would prefer Accacia by his side. Aleco wondered if she felt the same.
Aleco dropped his face into his palms. “Damn,” Aleco said. He thought about what she must be feeling and knew it was scarring enough to break her soul. There was a lot of disturbing information to take in at once. He wondered why Father Giloth knew so much about the event. He had never confided any of it to Aleco. “How do you know all of this? How could you possibly know he drowned their world? Drake would never confide that information to anyone.”
“I just do,” he said noncommittally.
Aleco thought about the lore of the stones of the universe. They were created by the ancient Asquith people, but were lost over time. Aleco knew a group of Asquithians had settled on the Continent to escape the battles plaguing their own island, but due to continental drift and the passage of time, they evolved into the humans they are today. The ancient stones were lost with no records of their whereabouts in existence. No one knew of their location. They were practically a myth.
Father Giloth told Aleco stories of their power in his youth, that they had the ability to destroy the earth in volcanic fire, erasing earth from existence. Father Giloth said the disappearance of the stones was a blessing; the Asquith people never should have made them to begin with. Drake’s possession of even one stone was a death sentence. It explained the severe dryness of Morkarh and their empty fountains.
“What are the other stones again?” Aleco asked.
“There is the Fire Stone, the Time Stone, the Death Stone, and the fifth one is the Prescient Stone,” he said.
“Do you think he has the remaining four?” Aleco asked.
“No,” he said. “If he did, we would know. We wouldn’t be here to discuss it.” His meaning hung heavy in the air.
“Do you know where they are?” Aleco asked.
Father Giloth took a long sip of his tea before he spoke. “I think you should check on Accacia,” he said. “I’m worried about her.”
Father Giloth was right. Aleco shouldn’t be concerned about any of the things out of his control. He should be concerned with what was in his control, which was Accacia.
Aleco walked up the stairs and knocked on her bedroom door. He heard her sobs through the wooden doorway, but she didn’t respond to his announcement. He entered the room and found her lying on the bedspread, hugging a pillow to her chest. Aleco closed the door and approached the bed, sitting at the foot of the mattress. He removed his boots, crawled alongside her, and hugged her body next to his. She didn’t object to his closeness, even though their physical relationship was over. He kissed her on the forehead and ran his hand through her silky locks, an attempt to calm her heaving sobs. He kissed the tears dripping from her eyes and held her close in silence. He had nothing to say, nothing worth saying at least. He held her to his chest until she stopped crying and fell asleep.
Aleco watched her sleep for an hour. Her eyes finally opened and she grinned at the sight of his face next to hers. It made his heart melt, as it always did when she flashed him that perfect smile. He cupped her face with his hands and his thumb rested on her lips. He wanted to kiss her, but she made it clear that was no longer appropriate, so he forced himself to remain in control. The last thing he wanted was
to upset her in this time of despair. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t being selfish. “Would you like to be alone?” he asked.
“Not particularly,” she said as she squeezed his hand.
“Are you ready to go back downstairs?”
“I suppose.”
Aleco wanted to dispel the agony he knew she was feeling. It was a pain he had carried his entire life. “Would you like to go on a walk through the forest?” he asked.
“That sounds lovely.” She smiled. “But I should probably stay inside as often as possible since the soldiers are patrolling the area.”
Aleco felt like an idiot. Instead of cheering her up, he reminded her of the man who was hunting her. He lifted her from the bed, and they walked down the stairs and back into the study. Father Giloth was staring at the stone on his desk when they entered.
“I apologize for my departure,” she said. “I just needed a moment to gather my bearings.”
“Not at all,” Father Giloth encouraged her. “I can only imagine what you must be feeling.” Accacia nodded. Aleco grabbed her hand within his own, and she squeezed it in return.
“There is one more thing I need to tell you, Accacia,” the Nature Priest said. Accacia’s eyes dropped to the ground and she sighed deeply. She didn’t know how much more she could take. “But I promise this will be the least painful, and may even give you a sense of hope.”
Accacia met his gaze. “What is it?”
“There is a smaller island adjacent to the destroyed one of the Asquith people, and it is populated with survivors of the catastrophe. I hope it brings you comfort knowing you are not the sole survivor of your race.”
“That’s wonderful.” She smiled. He was right, it did give her hope, however slim it was.
“I know where it’s located if you ever wish to travel there.”
“I would love to go there someday,” she said.