Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
The kind voice of the barista pulled Augustine out of her daydream.
“Sorry!” she said, embarrassed. “Please, just an Americano.”
She paid and waited for her order at the counter. She longed to see Alderian, worried and anxious with the A’aruin shadowing her every move. She didn’t even want to go to the bathroom because they wouldn’t give her any privacy.
The Shadows were also restless. She could perceive them with total clarity—beneath her own shadow, hidden, masking their presence—though she perceived them as clearly as someone watching a child playing pranks.
She was stirring her coffee when the A’aruin leader appeared beside her and gave instructions to his subordinates. Seconds later, they had all disappeared, leaving her completely alone.
She exhaled in relief. Whatever Alderian had done, it had worked. She felt a flicker of gratitude, but quickly suppressed her feelings, aware that her own lack of common sense had caused this whole mess.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Alderian appeared, sitting across from her. Augustine felt her heart skip a beat upon seeing him. Despite the stress, she hadn’t forgotten that the night before she had given herself completely to this man. She couldn’t help but blush.
“We are in trouble and you’re only thinking about my body, right?” Alderian was laughing openly.
Augustine couldn’t answer. Not in an open place, but her face was redder than ever, so she didn’t need to say anything to prove him right. His countenance turned serious, though he maintained a sweet expression as he looked at her.
“I need you to keep drinking your coffee. Don’t look at me directly… if possible, take one of your notebooks and pretend you’re studying.”
Augustine obeyed in silence.
“I have come to apprise you of what has occurred, and what is imminent…” Alderian said.
“I considered for a moment saying nothing, leaving you in peace and sparing you another distress, but this matter is too crucial to keep you in the dark. Seven days from today, I will fight a duel with the General of the Elite Warriors—it is the price we have to pay for what happened yesterday. During this time, and from now on, I will not visit you in dreams. We must remain below the High Council’s radar because they already suspect us.
Yes, yes, I know you crave more details, but, my love, I cannot tell you more. ”
Augustine stared fixedly at her notebook, without moving a muscle in her face.
“If I succeed, the High Council will dismiss the idea that you caused yesterday’s anomaly. But if I lose—”
He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to; Augustine didn’t know the details, but she could easily imagine it wouldn’t be a happy ending.
“In these days I will come by very little. I hadn’t told you before and I know you were worried, but these last few days I have been training. I have skills I’m starting to discover and I know that, if I push myself enough, I have a chance, I think.”
Augustine had a strange thought. An urgent piece of advice for Alderian—an absurd tip, but one she felt she absolutely had to deliver. She jotted in her notebook and turned it so Alderian could see it.
“Use Karivan, the sword of suns.”
Alderian looked at her, stunned.
* * *
Augustine arrived at the classroom with her coffee already cold.
Another day passing by, and now, everything she had desired barely six months ago seemed meaningless.
With Alderian facing a risk she didn’t dare to measure, and her head feeling strangely dissociated from her reality, she struggled to connect with her daily life.
Meanwhile, the Shadows followed her silently.
Not even Alderian noticed their presence.
Sara approached and sat beside her in silence. Augustine greeted her with a nod and a smile. Sara tried to respond in kind, and immediately after, began reading a book.
She checked her email again. The recording date for the podcast was in exactly seven days.
How would she even hope to concentrate, knowing what was at stake?
But it would be a long week without Alderian, or seeing him very little.
Having a project in mind might help her face the wait better.
She hit the reply button and sent her email accepting the invitation.
When the lecture ended, while she was putting away her notebooks, someone stood in front of her. It was David. He was serious and seemed determined to have the conversation they had pending.
“Let’s go somewhere private; I don’t want new rumors starting now that everything is quiet again,” Augustine said, barely looking at him.
She didn’t see if he followed her until they reached a hallway where no one was around. Augustine turned then and saw that David had followed docilely.
“Hi, Augustine,” David said, smiling timidly.
Augustine didn’t answer; she only raised one of her eyebrows almost imperceptibly. David noticed the gesture and immediately continued.
“I don’t want to waste your time, and I’m not pretending we’ll go back to being friends right away. I just wanted to talk to you, see how you were, and, well—”
“David,” Augustine cut him off. “What exactly is it you want to say? What’s this about going back to being friends? Oh, maybe we should call your new girlfriend, Amanda, and see if the three of us can hang out?”
“We aren’t dating anymore. We broke up a couple of days ago.”
“Oh, I see,” Augustine scoffed, “and since you don’t have a girlfriend anymore, you come to me?”
“It’s not that! I truly regret what happened,” David pleaded, stepping closer. “Amanda was wrong; it wasn’t her intention to put you through all that… she was desperate.”
“Okay, I get it. David, I thought you wanted to tell me something, not justify your girlfriend. Please don’t come looking for me again. I’m not interested in what you have to say.”
She walked away and heard David say behind her, “You’re different, Augustine. You never would have spoken to me like that before.”
Augustine turned around and looked at him, smiling slightly. “Thank you for noticing.”
She left, and that was the last time she spoke to him.
* * *
Augustine stood alone in the chapel courtyard, her own sanctuary where no one else went. Yes, she had promised Alderian she wouldn’t try to do anything on her own, but an inexplicable urgency pushed her to call the Shadows that guarded her.
“Emerge,” she commanded with an ancient, ancestral authority.
The courtyard seemed to darken, as if an eclipse covered the sun. From her own shadow, hundreds of amorphous figures rose. They had no eyes or mouths. Only darkness.
“Our monarch summons us… she acknowledges us,” they acclaimed in unison.
Augustine stood up, haughty as a queen before her subjects.
“Why do you have no form?” she asked.
“Because in your mind you have not yet molded us. We shall be whatever you want us to be.”
Augustine observed them in silence. Gradually, the Shadows took shape as humanoid figures—towering, imposing.
“If we exist in your mind, we will exist in the world.”
A chill ran through Augustine at the magnitude of the power she felt awakening within her.
“Withdraw,” she said.
The Shadows retreated instantly. Light returned to her sanctuary, and the birds resumed their chirping.