Chapter 8
Seda
The room was dark and musty, wrapping Seda’s exposed skin in a dense cloud of humid air, while a bubbling cauldron simmered with thick green liquid at its center. Tahti looked at Seda and grinned broadly, revealing sharp, stained teeth.
Trying not to be rude, Seda smiled back and averted her gaze as she looked around the room. Her eyes caught on disgusting bottles of brown liquid with floating body parts on the shelves. She tried to suppress her gag and covered her watering mouth with her hand.
“You are the key, young Seda.” Seda looked over at Tahti, and Tahti blinked, her eyes clouding to a milky white.
Seda gasped and took a hesitant step back toward the door, grabbing for the handle.
She felt the cool metal and took a deep breath to steady herself. She was here for questions. She could be brave and had seen worse before. She released the handle and quietly asked, “What do you know?”
Tahti watched as her hand retracted from the door, and a smirk formed on her lips. “You are the key to saving Xyberus. You’re the only one who can open the door.” She took a step closer to her, and Seda bristled.
“What does that mean? The Wisps told me I need to find stones and harmony. Would you know what I need?”
“I would know of the stones, but the harmony is up to you.” Tahti backed away from her and limped toward the boiling cauldron.
She collected spit from deep in her throat and spat it into the liquid.
A plume of green mist rose into the air, revealing images of four glowing stones, each with a different shape and color.
Seda lurched forward when she saw the stone from her necklace in the image. “I was right! My moonstone!”
“You will need the Stone of Protection.” She pointed to Seda’s stolen moonstone. “The Stone of Love,” she said, pointing at an anatomical heart-shaped ruby. “The Stone of Peace,” she continued, indicating the diamond-shaped sapphire. “And the Dark Stone. The Dark Stone is the Stone of Power.”
Seda moved closer to the images, feeling the cool mist brush her cheeks and a foreign smell, not entirely unpleasant, filled her nostrils. She examined the stones. She had only seen one of these before. “Where would I find these?”
“One was already yours, but you still need to find the others. King Ael tried to get the Dark Stone for you but failed. That stupid fool.” Tahti crinkled her nose in disgust.
“Lord Mordred has it,” Seda replied.
Tahti furrowed her eyebrows as her blank eyes stared intently at her. “He does not, child. Mordred is not the abuser of the Stone of Power.”
For a moment, Seda thought she had misheard. Thoughts raced through her mind. If Mordred didn’t have the stone, then who did? “Who has it?” she asked.
“The Monster King,” Tahti replied as she raised her hand and touched the mist with her fingers, swirling it around in the air. She waited for Seda to part her lips to ask who that was before she cut her off. “Don’t know. Don’t ask.”
Where could the rest of these be? She needed to find Kalon and get hers back. Anger surged through her body, and her palms lit up when she thought about him stealing from her.
“Now, now, child…” Tahti looked at Seda’s palms. “You need to practice conserving that. It’s not unlimited, you know.”
“I didn’t know that.” Seda looked at her palms and drew her power back in, letting them return to their natural color.
All her practice during the trip to the Wisps was paying off.
She knew how to call on it easily. All she had to do was think about what made her angry.
To pull the power back in, she needed to breathe calmly and stay grounded.
“All magic has limits. You must conserve and use only what you need. This is a good practice. The orbs you see flying around here can help you recharge quickly, but they do not exist in other parts of Xyberus. When you leave here, you’ll only have so much to give, and recharging your reserves without them takes time. ”
“Why do they only exist here?” Seda asked. She remembered how the orbs moved around her and the sense of completeness they left behind.
“It was the Mother Goddess’s first gift to Umbrea before she created the Fae,” Tahti responded with a shrug.
Seda looked out the small, crooked window at the green orbs flying around. “Is there anything else I should know?”
Tahti blinked again, and her eyes reverted to their natural color. She screamed and tore at her hair. “Please go, child. I can’t endure this so many times in a single day. Please go.”
Seda rushed out the door and slammed it shut behind her, muffling the screams inside. She leaned against it, her heart pounding wildly in her chest, and inhaling restricted breaths of the fresh outdoor air.
Luelle watched her from the gate. “Unfair.” She pouted at Seda.
“What is?” she asked.
“She didn’t hit you with the broom,” Luelle responded.
Seda nervously laughed, glancing back at the door, and walked toward Luelle.
Luelle and Seda stopped at the library doors. Seda was eager to get inside and see if she could find information on the stones that Tahti had mentioned.
“You sure you’ll be okay in there alone?” Luelle asked her.
She responded with a smile and said, “Yes, I’ll find my way around.”
“Good, I have something I need to follow up on. I’ll see you tonight at dinner. You should change out of that miserable dress. You can’t breathe in it. Ael said he asked the chef to make something good,” Luelle said as she winked at Seda.
“I’d love to wear anything except this thing.” She looked down at the constricting dress with a frown.
Luelle laughed and inclined her head toward Seda’s chest. “I noticed several Fae looking there today. Even a certain king of mine.”
Seda chuckled nervously. She hadn’t noticed Cahir watching her, but he was adamant about his hand on her knee.
“I’ll see you later,” Luelle said as she walked down the hall, whistling and bouncing her ponytail as she left.
Seda turned around and opened the thick wooden door to the library, and her eyes widened in awe.
Three stories of books greeted her, with floor-to-ceiling stained-glass windows casting a soft green light into the room.
The rich-toned wood of the shelves and tables all matched, and the most enormous chandelier she had ever seen hung from the center of the room, hundreds of sparkling candles lit, the wax slowly dripping onto a large table at its base.
Multiple Fae were inside, seated at the many tables and quietly reading.
She approached a desk where an older woman sat. The woman looked up at her curiously, glasses resting low on her long nose. “I haven’t encountered a human in ages. What brings you here, young lady? What can I help you find?”
“I was hoping you could point me toward mysterious stones? Specifically, any information about a moon-shaped stone,” Seda asked.
The librarian pursed her lips and placed a finger on her chin before muttering something and smiling.
She walked around the counter. “I’m not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but I’ll lead you to the section of crystals and similar items. Perhaps you can find something of interest there.
If not, feel free to come back to me, and we can look around some more. ”
She followed her up to the third floor and down several aisles, noting the row numbers as she passed. The librarian stopped at a section of the bookshelf, and Seda browsed through the titles.
“The Properties of Crystals.”
“Where to find Gemstones.”
“Gemstone Hunting.”
None of them looked quite right, but she thanked the woman who quietly left the area. Seda searched through the bookshelves, muttering in frustration. None of the books looked remotely helpful, but she didn’t want to return to the librarian and ask for more help.
She slowly walked around the library, searching for the history section and examining the titles on each shelf. She turned a corner and bumped into someone carrying a stack of books and scrolls, which covered their face. All the items fell to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” Seda said as she bent down to help pick up the fallen items. She looked up, seeing Meir, and a strange feeling crept up her spine. “Oh… hello.”
He responded with an eerie smile. “Hello, Seda. No worries. I tend to overload.”
She looked at the fallen items. They were all texts and scrolls written in a foreign language. She noted the word custos on several titles and handed him a couple.
She suppressed the shudder she felt from being so close to this man, and asked, “Maybe you can help me? I was looking for the history section. Can you point me in the right direction, please?”
“Yes. Follow me. I have some questions I’d like to ask you, if that’s okay? I’d love to learn more about your powers.”
She helped him gather the remaining scrolls, carrying some for him as they went. They moved farther into the second floor and found a table to place the items on.
“History’s all in here.” He waved his hands around him toward the alcove of books. There were hundreds of them. “It’s a rather large section.”
She reached for a book title as he sat back in his chair, adjusted his glasses, and looked at her. “Do you love King Ael?”
Seda hesitated, almost dropping the book. Why would he ask that? She paused before responding, “He was my best friend in Joro, my only true friend there outside of my family.”
Meir looked at her without saying anything, slowly chewing his thumbnail and watching her. “How did your powers emerge?”
“Umm…” She wasn’t sure how much she wanted to share about herself or her past, but she said, “I defended myself at the Camp and it just… happened.”
Meir continued watching her with his hand under his chin, listening to her words. “And what happened then?”
“Well, the man died. He was electrocuted. Elco disposed of the body for me before anyone found out.”