9. Thayla #3
“What the hell?” I breathe.
Val remains calm and steady.
“Sound barriers are rarely meant to silence everything equally.” He gestures to Yemi. “You created a barrier around you and your friends so no one outside could hear, but you couldn’t hear anything outside either. Boundaries can separate far more selectively.”
As he speaks, another barrier settles around us. This time, I hear his words, Yemi breathing, the grass moving around my feet, but the distant ruffling in the forest vanishes. Then those return, and Yemi’s breathing disappears instead. I blink hard.
“What is happening?” I ask, peering at her.
Her eyes widen like she’s shocked to hear my voice. Our attention whips toward Val as he clears his throat.
I fucking guess all sound is back now.
“You’re not creating silence. You’re deciding what sound is allowed to interact with a space.”
The silence that settles around us is completely by our own design this time.
“That’s…way more precise than what I did,” Yemi whispers.
“Of course it is,” Meridamus says. “He’s had several thousand more years to practice.”
Holy fuck…thousands of years.
The realization hits me.
My head twitches and Val sneers at Meridamus, faking—maybe not—offense. “That wasn’t the point of the demonstration.”
“Yeah, okay. I know showing off when I see it.”
Meridamus chuckles while Val scowls at him.
Gods. It’s strange and endearing watching the two of them bicker like lifelong friends.
Well, I suppose that’s exactly what they are.
Before the moment settles too comfortably, Val rolls his eyes and focuses back on Yemi and me. The humor on his face dims as his gaze bounces between us.
“You both keep limiting yourselves to barriers because barriers are the easiest application to visualize, and, well…you don’t know anything more than that,” he says. “But boundaries govern interaction itself.”
“Interaction,” Yemi repeats.
“Yes.”
He gestures toward the meadow.
“A physical barrier separates people from physical space. A sound barrier separates sound from an area. Emotional barriers separate influence from emotion. Isolation boundaries separate one force from another.”
The explanation is so painfully simple compared to what I expected that I almost get annoyed.
“You’re telling us this whole power is basically just deciding what can interact with what?” I ask.
“Essentially.”
I stare at him.
“That sounds way too…straightforward.”
Meridamus laughs. “The oldest powers usually are. It isn’t us who complicates them.”
“Like you just said you’ve had several thousand years to perfect them,” I sass, arching a brow.
He dips his head and chuckles.
“Regardless, you’ve both already accomplished impressive things instinctively,” Val says. “What you lack isn’t power. It’s understanding, guidance, and pairing intention with instinct. You’re barely touching the surface of what this domain is capable of.”
Without warning, the pressure of his power vanishes.
One second, the vast weight of his presence stretches across the space between us.
The next…nothing. I nearly step back as he and Meridamus suddenly resemble the versions of themselves I’ve always remembered.
No shiny skin or bright eyes, and they don’t carry the energy around them that all gods have.
“Kyzen, if you wouldn’t mind, use your power. Do as you please. Speed time up or slow it down,” Val instructs. “Focus on me, Thayla.”
My head jerks, stopping its slow pivot toward Kyzen. I do as I’m told and stay focused on Val. For what reason, I don’t know. He just stares at me.
After a moment of awkward eye contact, I finally shift my attention to Kyzen. His glowing baby-blue rings shock the shit out of me.
I didn’t even know he started using his power.
Why can’t I feel his brush of power? I always feel it.
The God of Boundaries’ cocky, small smile answers that question. When he laid his hand on Meridamus’s shoulder…it clicks.
That wasn’t just some random barrier.
“You’re hiding his power. Yours and Meridamus’s as well,” I mumble, tilting my head. Then my eyes fly open as another realization slams into me. “Oh my gods.”
“What?” Yemi asks.
“Gladian’s power. He didn’t lose it after he whipped me. You…you did something.”
Val stares at me. A hint of rage peeks behind his gaze, but he shoves it down.
“How?” Yemi breathes. “I’ve learned how to hide my own but not anyone else’s.”
“Not hiding,” he says, and a slow, forced smile replaces his frown. “If a boundary separates something from perception itself, people stop sensing it entirely.”
Everything falls silent. Not because of his power or mine or Yemi’s. I block it all out—including my confusion and shock over Gladian’s power—as I understand what his demonstrations were leading to.
“You knew before we even had a conversation with you that we’d need to travel to the Abandon, and we need to go in unseen. Unsensed.”
“Not exactly,” he admits. “I knew you’d have to travel somewhere, and you’d need to be able to get there undetected. And I’m going to teach you how.”
My mouth drops open.
Well…okay then.