Chapter 12
TWELVE
Nova
It was extraordinary, how much easier it was to move through Midna with Aleks at my side. How much it felt like the exact place I was supposed to be, the exact path I was meant to walk—even if I didn’t yet know where it would lead.
I clung to that feeling as we moved deeper into the haunting, ruined palace
I led everyone—Aleks, Thalia, Zayn, and Eamon—to the spot in the library where, just days ago, I’d been overwhelmed by that sudden, uncontrollable surge of energy.
Just like before, the moment I stepped into the space, it hit me again: a pulse of raw, strange power that sent a chill skittering down my spine and made me want to retreat.
But this time, I wasn’t alone.
Aleks placed a hand on the small of my back, silently anchoring me. Light magic bled into the space between us. My shadows answered, and our two energies wove together to create a balanced sort of bubble that we could all brace ourselves within.
It was comforting and familiar, watching the faint ribbons of golden light twisting in and out of my darkness…even as all my questions from yesterday—about his true magic and strength—still lingered.
“This is where I felt that strange surge I told you all about,” I said, determined to stay focused only on the problems directly before us.
“And I felt it, again, just now. There’s something significant tucked away in this corner, I’m certain of it.
Something that’s trying to knock us off balance and drive us away. ”
We explored the space for a moment, studying the busts that had intrigued me on my last visit, and the artwork hanging on the wall across from them.
“These statues…they’re the kings and queens of Midna, I assume?” Aleks asked.
Eamon nodded, running his fingers over one of the plaques fixed below a bust, translating the ancient words etched into the shiny metal.
“Solemn looking group, aren’t they?” Zayn commented.
“Most of Midna’s history is made up of bloody wars and desperate schemes to keep their power as the central kingdom of what was once known as the Nerithys Empire,” Thalia said.
“And, after the realms split into the Above and Below, they were stuck in the middle, and so tasked with trying to keep the peace between them. The gods asked much of these kings and queens; you’d be serious-looking, too. ”
Zayn appeared to be only halfway listening to her.
He’d gotten distracted by the row of paintings hanging across from the statues, which featured several colorful beasts and elaborate, beautiful figures surrounded by swirls of what could only be magic.
Divine beings, if I had to guess—and more evidence of this kingdom’s deep ties to the gods.
“I doubt he’d be serious-looking, even then,” Aleks said under his breath.
Thalia rolled her eyes in Zayn’s general direction.
I smiled, attempting to fend off the ominous feeling creeping in as I reached for one of the stone-faced rulers.
To my surprise, the statue moved even from just the light brush of my hand. Cautiously, I tried to pick it up, and I found that it was light—hollow, almost. It lifted easily from its pedestal.
And there, underneath it, half-covered with bits of plaster and dust, was the same symbol I’d seen in my vision of the past, etched into the floor of the queen’s glass-walled sitting room.
“What is this?” I asked, wiping it off. “I saw it in the room where Calista cursed Lorien. And I’ve noticed it in a few other places in Midna, as well.”
Eamon spun to face me. His gaze darted between me and the uncovered mark, and his eyes widened. “Where else have you seen it?” he asked, drawing excitedly toward me, so close our noses nearly touched. “Give me exact details.”
“I…”
Thalia grabbed the hood of his coat, dragging him back to a more socially-acceptable distance. “Not all of us are walking record books,” she reminded him, dryly. “Or diligent note-takers, like yourself.”
“Yes, of course not. But, Nova…” He gave me an imploring look. “Try to remember.”
“Um…well…it’s never been in particularly noticeable places, I guess?”
“…Yes, that makes sense.”
“It does?”
“Yes. But I do wonder…” He let the thought hang in the air for a long moment.
Zayn cleared his throat. “Are you going to enlighten the rest of us about whatever is going on in that frighteningly brilliant little head of yours? Or should we just start throwing out guesses?”
Eamon still didn’t answer immediately. But I could tell from the furrow of his brow and the gleam in his grey eyes that his silence wasn’t because he didn’t know the answer; rather, he was trying to remember every detail he could before speaking.
“The Void Order,” he finally said. “It’s a name that’s shown up—alongside this symbol—in a few places throughout the texts and other artifacts that I’ve been studying from this realm.
Mostly only mentioned in passing…but in important places.
Like in correspondence from the kings and queens of Midna, for example.
My understanding is that this Order secretly helped oversee the Vaeloran Cycle. ”
“Something like the Keepers of Light?” Aleks asked.
“…It’s possible some of those Keepers were once members of this order, I suppose—Aetherkin who took their servitude in a different direction.” He considered for another moment before adding, “Yes, at least some overlap certainly must have occurred.”
“Were there Keepers of Shadow at some point, too?” I asked. “Or some sort of corresponding group, whatever they might have been called? I’ve always wondered about that.”
“Maybe not as well known, but there were organized sects of Shadow-aligned Aetherkin, certainly. Orin once associated with one of the largest groups I’m aware of—the Umbral Hands.
Though these groups all disappeared during the long stretch between Calista’s death and the birth of her next successor.
Long before Orin undertook his mission to protect Nova in the Above, in other words. ”
He still could have mentioned something about all these things, I thought, bitterly.
But I said nothing; I still didn’t want to talk about my former mentor. I doubted Thalia did, either; she had suddenly become very interested in adjusting the jewels on the magical staff she carried.
Eamon moved on, oblivious to any emotional wounds he might have re-opened. He was still talking in an enthusiastic rush, only growing silent whenever he stopped to more closely examine the artifacts around us, searching for more marks from this mysterious order.
“I think this Order was more concerned with the overall cycle of magic than with any individual Vaelora,” he said. “There are references to them being god-touched—divinely chosen, just as the Vaelora themselves were. Though not with power, but with wisdom. Of course, whether that was true or not…”
“If the Midnasian leaders were desperate for more help to fulfill their role as balance-keepers, it makes sense that they’d want to believe it was true,” I said.
“And they likely welcomed them into the palace with open arms,” Aleks added. “Which would explain the marks.”
“But were they a force for good or evil?” I wondered.
“I need to collect more data before I can say for certain,” Eamon said.
“If one can ever be certain about something like that,” said Zayn, with a shrug.
“Well, one can always do more research,” Eamon countered, looking longingly in the direction of the main room of the library.
“And you seem entirely too excited about the prospect,” Zayn replied.
While they fell into a spirited argument about the merits, burdens and shortcomings of knowledge, Aleks and I drew closer to the mark I’d uncovered moments ago.
Aleks reached for it first, light dancing from his fingertips and further illuminating the symbol.
I was paying attention to what he was doing, but I was also watching Thalia out of the corner of my eye. She had withdrawn into herself—likely still thinking about the father who had abandoned her.
We’d have to see Orin, eventually. He was too tangled up in the history and magic of our world to be ignored forever. And part of me did want to confront him and demand explanations for all he’d kept from me—which made me look forward to our reunion with a strange combination of longing and dread.
I jumped as the wall before me gave a violent rumble.
We stared at it, holding our breath, watching a thin crack splitting all the way up to the ceiling.
Nothing else happened.
When I dared to glance away, though, I noticed the top half of the Order mark was glowing—as if it had absorbed some of the magic Aleks had been using to illuminate it.
“…Try adding Shadow magic?” Aleks suggested, pointing to the bottom half of that circle divided by the vine-wrapped sword.
I sent a swirl of black into it, to no effect—
At first.
But as I started to take a step back, the floor beneath me rumbled even more violently than the wall had. Another crack appeared, joining with the first. It was enough to make the fissure in the wall expand, giving us a glimpse of something on the other side.
I thought maybe I was seeing things, until Aleks said, “There’s a room hidden behind this wall.”
The symbol on the pedestal blazed brighter and brighter with our combined power, and I wondered how many other secrets might be revealed in this way—by a balance of darkness and light.
After a brief search, we uncovered more Order marks hidden around the bases of the statues.
We activated them in the same way as the first. One by one, they responded, humming faintly as they lit up.
Soon, cracks began to split through the entire wall, outlining the shape of massive double doors.
Then those doors pulsed with a dull light, slowly sliding apart and into hidden channels on either side, rattling and groaning like stone giants waking from a long sleep.