Chapter 48
Chapter Forty-Eight
Nova
“This feels like a trap,” said Aleks.
“It does,” I agreed. And yet, I couldn’t stop myself from stepping forward, even knowing Lorien had been here, that he’d left these swords for us to find—who else could have done it?
Grimnor hummed as I approached, sending a pleasant tingling through me. My chest flooded with warmth, as if I’d spotted an old friend from across the room; all I wanted to do was run and grab ahold of her, to never let her go again.
But I forced myself to move slowly.
Aleks did the same, cautiously reaching a hand toward Luminor, but not quite touching the blade or the ornate holder it rested within. “It feels like both swords are channeling their power into this structure,” he said, his gaze sweeping over the walls of the suspended room.
“I wonder what will happen when we pull them out of the holders?”
“No telling. But we should probably brace ourselves for the worst; nothing about this realm feels stable.”
I considered the two swords and the open door between them. As much as I longed to feel the weight of Grimnor in my hands once more, I didn’t want to risk disturbing whatever magic was currently keeping our path unobstructed and everything around us relatively sturdy.
“…Let’s leave them be for the moment,” I suggested. Looking to Captain Voss, I added, “Stay out here and keep watch, please.”
He agreed with a bow, gripping the pommel of his sword as he paced to a better vantage point.
I hesitated only long enough to send up an alert to my brother and the other search groups—the shadowy circle that we’d agreed upon; a signal that we’d found something worth everyone’s attention.
Pulse pounding in my ears, I gathered my courage and stepped into the room, Aleks following closely behind.
The energy that greeted us was nearly… indescribable . A hum that reverberated throughout my chest, a pressure that was almost unbearable, yet somehow invigorating. Like the very weight of existence, the fabric of life itself, was being woven together in this room. I shook from the mere effort of breathing it all in.
What had seemed like a large room from the outside now felt limitless—a small palace unto itself, with vaulted ceilings soaring dizzyingly high above us and walls draped in dark, velvety tapestries that made me think of an endless expanse of night sky. Competing scents of smoke and rose mingled in the air; a burning hint of decay tumbling with the richness of life—another reminder of the fragile balancing act that had led us to this point.
Across the middle of the vast space, a circular dais rose up, its face inlaid with scattered, precious stones and its edges etched with various runes, some of which glowed in the light streaming in from small cracks and gaps near the ceiling.
And at the center of this platform, the Aetherstone waited.
A relatively small pedestal held it above the dais. Surrounded by such vast opulence, it seemed oddly small. Unremarkable. But as I stepped toward it, the pressure in the room increased until I could hardly breathe, and I found myself fighting the urge to sink to my knees—to bow before it.
Aleks and I both took only a quick closer look before putting space between ourselves and that legendary object, studying the multitude of other interesting things around it instead.
“The openings seem very precisely carved,” Aleks said, after a moment, his eyes on the ceiling. “…To create specific patterns of light on these rune markings, maybe.”
I looked again at the light filtering in, and I realized he had a point; what had at first seemed like weathered cracks caused by time and neglect were actually purposeful, clean-edged openings of all different shapes and sizes.
Following the closest beam of light, I knelt before the rune it was illuminating and considered it more closely. Running my fingers over it, I could feel the pulse of some ancient magic on the cusp of awakening, I thought. Something I felt a deep connection to, even if I couldn’t fully explain it.
I stood and walked along the edge of the dais, studying the symbols, trying to imagine different patterns of light and shadows falling over them.
“I wonder where the light falls during Equinox…” I thought aloud. “According to most legends, the Stone is easiest to control on the dawn of that day. Maybe because of something these runes reveal in that specific lighting?”
“Maybe,” Aleks agreed. “But we’re still too early to see, aren’t we?”
He was right, yet my mind continued to stubbornly plot, turning over one unlikely plan after another until I settled on a possibility. “Perhaps we can simulate it?”
He gave me a curious look, but then caught on quickly, lifting his gaze to the openings above once more. “…Your shadows could block the light coming in.”
“And you could create only the light we need, casting it on specific runes.” His curiosity gave way to doubt, but I continued before he could interrupt: “We’re very close to the dawn of the day we need,” I pointed out. “Wouldn’t a glimpse of a future image that’s so close be easier for you to see?”
“…It’s worth a try, I guess,” he relented, making his way toward the platform’s edge, kneeling and running a hand over the same markings I had.
He closed his eyes and went almost perfectly still for a long moment—until the slightest twitch of his facial features suggested that he’d seen… something. Then he moved on to the next section without a word.
Several times, he did this, making his way around the entire circle before he finally turned back to me with more confidence shining in the golden depths of his eyes.
I didn’t speak, not wanting to break his concentration as he scanned the entire dais and all its symbols one last time, seemingly locking in whatever patterns he’d seen in his vision.
He tilted his face toward me and gave a single nod; an unspoken cue.
I reached toward the ceiling, fingers twisting and pulling thick tendrils of shadow into existence. With as much precision as I could manage, I sent my magic upward, fixing it over every hint of light I saw.
As I covered the last opening, we were plunged into a deep, all-consuming darkness. My heart skipped a few beats as I found myself reliving the horrible moments when we’d first touched down in this realm. But just as he’d done then, it wasn’t long before Aleksander calmly summoned his light.
He guided each spark of it methodically along the circle, putting it in its proper place, until he’d set a dozen of the etched runes aglow.
At first, nothing happened. But then a few adjustments, one rune dimmed, another illuminated…
The dais rumbled, and it seemed to twist—first one way, then the other—only to fall back into place so smoothly that I questioned whether or not it had actually moved at all.
But something was happening beneath the shiny surface of it, of that I was sure; I could feel the energy of it shifting, raising chill bumps along my arms.
I held my breath, watching as the gems within the platform’s polished face lit up one by one. Each illumination revealed a new image in the marble; they rose up like ink bleeding through a page—symbols that resembled all manner of things, from towers to forests to crests of ocean waves. Alongside each cluster of symbols were markings that vaguely resembled letters, a script that seemed to be some ancient, stylized version of the common one I’d grown up reading in the Above.
It took a moment of studying before I managed to read them—to recognize the name of a familiar kingdom.
Eldris.
And several more names became obvious, the closer I looked at them: Elarith. Rivenholt. Midna…
“It’s a map,” I realized, stepping back to the edge so I could get a more complete view. “A map of both the Above and the Below, with this realm we’re in—marked by the Aetherstone—in the very middle. Each of those jewels represents a kingdom.” A sense of awe blossomed in my chest as I stared at our world in its entirety…followed by a rising sense of despair.
It was strange to see all the realms united in one circle like this.
Aleks stepped onto the platform, walking between the kingdoms, considering each in turn.
“What about these empty spaces near the Stone?” he wondered, pausing next to a groove carved into the dais, far away from any kingdom. It looked almost like a wayward slash left by a careless hand—I hadn’t even noticed it before now. But there was an identical one on the Noctaris portion of the map, which made me think there was nothing random about it.
Curious, I went to Aleksander’s side. Bracing myself for whatever I might see, I crouched down, pressed my fingers firmly against the groove, and closed my eyes in search of its past.
It took several deep breaths before an image flickered into my mind: One of the Sword of Light impaling this spot, and then the Aetherstone glowing to life behind it. The sword took on the same glow, briefly, before sending cracks of white energy outward. Some branched toward the kingdoms, but most of it went northward, settling in an orb on display just beyond the platform.
The vision lasted only an instant before another vision seemed to be trying to push its way in. Then another, and another, and—
I felt a hand on my shoulder, squeezing tight.
“Nova?” came Aleksander’s concerned voice.
Slightly dizzy and breathing hard, I shook my head, blinking away the last bits of the chaotic vision.
“…Luminor has sank into that space more than once,” I told Aleks. “The memory was…strangely broken up. Like an overlapping of several different, but similar, impressions. But I saw the sword working as a conduit, guiding energy from the Stone across this platform…most of it went to that.” I pointed to the orb above the Soltaris portion of the map. It stood in a shadowy recess within the wall and, like the Aetherstone and its pedestal, it was small and unassuming, easy to overlook.
Aleks walked to the orb my vision had highlighted, circling it, tentatively running a hand over it—an action that made its center pulse with a dull light. “So is this the main way energy is fed into the Above? It’s linked to Soltaris in some way, I guess…” He looked across the dais and asked the same question I was thinking: “Where’s the one for Noctaris?”
Instead of answering, I made my way across the room, to the point exactly opposite of where he was standing. It was one of the only sections of the marble walls not covered by a tapestry, I noticed.
The source linked to the Above was already clear and on display; that wasn’t surprising. It had been for centuries, presumably, while the one for the Below had been shoved aside, hidden and buried.
But this room, and all the magic it represented, was about balance. Which meant there had to be a counter piece to Soltaris’s power source here, somewhere.
Aleks joined me, summoning a bit more light to help me inspect the wall more easily. Within the glow of his magic, I quickly spotted two diamond-shaped symbols etched deeply into the stone, their edges smoothed by time.
I pressed a hand to both of them. My bracelets shivered—all of them, at first. But the turquoise one continued to move long after the others had stilled. I stared at the word spelled across that bracelet, thinking of the meaning my brother had shared with me weeks ago.
Kindred spirits…souls that are bound to one another…
I carried the force of an untold number of those ancient bonds, of countless lifetimes and the magic they had wielded across thousands of years.
And together, we were going to find a way to save our realm.
The surge of Shadow magic that followed this thought was violent and swift, sweeping over the wall with a force that left the nearby tapestries hanging haphazardly and sent me stumbling backward.
Aleks caught me against his chest. I stood perfectly still, bracing myself against his strength, as we watched the wall begin to glow with symbols that had been invisible before.
They were faint, their glow more like foggy moonlight than the brilliant blaze of the runes we’d illuminated earlier. But soon that moonlight was shifting, pulling away from the symbols and etching out a tall, rectangular shape against the marble.
I still didn’t move, even as parts of the wall slid open, revealing the Noctaris orb.
I scarcely breathed as the moment settled, along with a silence that felt ancient and deep, and I slowly realized what I needed to do next—a relatively simple next step, in the end.
Almost too simple , whispered a quiet, wary voice in the back of my mind.
I shook the warning off.
“The swords…” I said, finally breaking free of my stupor and looking to the door.
Aleks nodded, but neither of us moved right away, as if struck simultaneously by the weight of what we were about to do—or attempt to do.
I still had far too many questions.
Far too many doubts.
But we’d had two main goals when we’d stepped into this realm: To stop Lorien, and to keep Noctaris from fading beyond repair before it was too late. We were perhaps moments away from accomplishing at least one of those things. I had to do what I could with this orb—to pour magic into it, somehow—and start rebalancing things. I refused to think beyond this.
With renewed determination, I marched to the doorway and reached for Grimnor.
Sounds of distant shouting stopped me in my tracks.
My gaze jerked to the bridge, seeking Captain Voss. He emerged from the doorway of the palace, his eyes trained on the yard below. His gaze was stoic, but his lips were tightly pursed—as if he’d just held in a gasp.
I followed his line of sight, and I didn’t bother holding in my gasp when I saw what he did: A host of enemy soldiers pouring into the yard.
My brother and some of the others had obviously seen my signal—they’d joined my own search party, swelling the number to at least twenty—but they were still outnumbered.
I took a few steps toward Captain Voss, panic gripping my throat. “We have to help them!”
He moved to follow this order while I turned and grabbed my sword. Aleks already had Luminor in his grasp. He was standing on the very edge of the bridge, watching the violence unfold. But he hesitated to follow the captain—
And so did I.
Because the Aetherstone still beckoned.
I bit back a curse, knowing I couldn’t fight every battle at once, yet unable to make myself abandon my soldiers so readily—not when the number of enemies below seemed to have doubled in the span of seconds. “There are so many …”
“You didn’t think I’d finish off this last part of my plan all on my own, did you?” came a cold, amused voice.
I twisted around, heart leaping into my throat.
And there he stood on the other side of the bridge, leaning against a broken slab of the palace wall: Lorien Blackvale.
A visceral reaction curled through me at the mere sight of his smiling face. A dozen different responses to his words flashed in my mind, each more violent than the last—he sauntered forward before I could decide on any of them.
“Now, while they stay busy below, let’s step back inside and finish what you started, shall we?” he said, nodding to the Aetherstone’s room.
Aleks moved between us, lifting the Sword of Light, pointing it threateningly at Lorien’s chest.
Lorien’s gaze drifted lazily toward him. “Don’t worry. You can come, too—you and I are far from finished, anyway.”
“We’re not going anywhere with you,” I snapped.
“It wasn’t an invitation ,” he replied, lifting his hands.
My first instinct was to grip my sword more tightly, expecting him to try and rip it from my grasp.
Aleks held just as tightly to Luminor.
But rather than trying to steal the swords back, Lorien merely struck out with a wave of shadowy magic— my magic—possessing the blades and sending them hurtling backwards into the room, dragging us with them.
Aleks and I both hit the ground with a jarring thud, our bodies crashing into the cold, unforgiving stone floor.
The door began to close as soon as the swords crossed the threshold, two great, wooden slabs groaning and shifting into place with a deafening screech.
Lorien stepped through just before they closed us off completely from the outside world.
I rose alongside Aleks, the blood pounding in my ears. Both our swords shimmered with energy as the Aetherstone itself flared to life behind us, flooding the room in a storm of light and shadow.