41. Vera
Vera
You are not alone.
The words settled into my core. I looked between Arcadia, Julius, and Maeve with cautious wonder. “Does everyone in Pyraeth have our magic?”
“Everyone has some level of Fate blood in them, yes, but each magic can vary in strength. That is why Aramanth is a healer—her magic over nature and the body is much stronger than others.” Arcadia gestured toward me.
“We always knew the one destined to free us would be powerful, but how is it that you have come to possess similar magic?”
“We’re from a place called the Veridian Empire.
Well, some of us are.” I pointed to Everett, Tessa, and Kieran.
As succinctly as I could, I told the Pyraethis how several hundred years ago, the Fates issued a challenge to the Veridian Empire and our southern neighbor, Mysthelm, saying that whoever could conquer the uninhabited land holding the magic of the Fates would be granted their power.
When the Veridian Empire bested the kingdom of Mysthelm, our ancestors received the magic.
“Our empire was split into six provinces,” I said, “and each province got one type of magic. Sort of like what you were saying, about light and dark, mind and nature, all of that. We just call them different names. Everett is an Illusionist, and both Tessa and Kieran are Shifters.” At my words, Tessa shifted her hand into a paw and waved it at the Elders.
“And you, daughter? What are you called?” Arcadia asked.
Heat rose to my cheeks. “I—I don’t have a name. I’m somewhat of an…abnormality where I’m from.”
Freak of nature. Monster. Unnatural.
Arcadia’s warm smile melted those thoughts away. “Not with us. Here, you are just like everyone else.”
It was such a small, simple concept, and yet it made something new stir in my chest. Something I’d never felt before. Something like belonging.
Arcadia continued, “But there is a difference. It sounds as if your people, these Veridians that you speak of, actively sought their magic. They desired it so much that they were willing to wage war for it, yes?” I nodded, and he said, “That is not the case for Pyraethis.”
“The Fates didn’t know what they were putting into motion when they conceived with the humans,” Julius added, “and once they realized how powerful their offspring was, they grew to hate their own creation.”
Arcadia shook his head. “Demithes did not ask for this power. It’s through no fault of our own that we’re born with it, and yet, we are who suffer the consequences.”
Behind me, Tessa spoke. “So the Fates punished your ancestors just because they were jealous?”
Arcadia nodded. “The Fates gave life to the first beings because they wanted a sentient creation that would worship them. A people they could rule over. But when their own children proved to be just as mighty, the Fates became envious. They wanted sole dominion over magic. They tried to annihilate their creation, but were unprepared for how powerful the demithes had become.”
Arcadia began to pace in front of me. “They failed to defeat them, so their last resort was to send the entire kingdom into nothingness. To isolate them in a separate world, on a parallel, unreachable plane, away from even the very sun that rules over the rest of the world.” He looked up, as if trying to see into the black sky.
“They wanted to start creation anew with a species that wouldn’t inherit their Fated power. A lesser, non-magical people.”
“I suppose that would be us,” Starke said gruffly.
“Please don’t misunderstand,” Maeve said.
“We don’t mean to demean your kind. We know next to nothing about you or the outside world.
Our people have been banished here for nearly a thousand years, only able to send scouts to your world every century.
Anything we have learned comes from the records these scouts passed down to us, if they even made it back to Pyraeth. ”
Something about that piqued my curiosity. “So you can send people to the real world?”
Maeve nodded. “Every one hundred years on the spring equinox. It was the single favor the Fates bestowed us: the chance to leave Pyraeth for twenty-four hours and find someone with the power to come here and raise our kingdom.”
Julius cut in. “The last crew to return from their search was three centuries ago.”
“What happens to the ones that don’t return?” I pressed.
“They are presumed dead,” Julius answered.
“You have seen for yourself the lengths the Fates would go to in order to prevent someone from finding us,” Arcadia said.
“The kraken you spoke of, the skeletal guardians, sirens, even the quicksand are all myths brought to life to ensure nobody can infiltrate us. All weapons in the Fates’ arsenal. ”
The quicksand. My heart stuttered. “Arcadia—Your Grace, there’s something else you need to know. We weren’t the only ones who came through that portal. There was another, a man from my empire who must’ve been tracking me to find Pyraeth.”
Maeve’s brow furrowed. “And where is this man now?”
“Six feet under, if I had to guess,” Tessa muttered behind me.
“I—I think I killed him,” I said. “But he was swallowed by the quicksand and disappeared, so I can’t be sure.
Do you know where his body might’ve gone?
Or is it possible he escaped somewhere on the island?
” My pulse pounded at the thought of Mortep still lurking around.
I couldn’t seem to accept his fate, even as his flaming body flashed before my eyes. I had to know. I had to be sure.
Seven years, I had despised this man. If he was truly gone…I didn’t know where to put that hatred.
Arcadia stepped forward and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Daughter, not many can survive the traps set by the Fates, except you, evidently. If you saw him succumb to the sand’s fatal pull, then there is nothing that could have saved him.”
A heavy silence filled the room, but the quiet only heightened the distant sounds. Every heartbeat, every breath, every creak and groan of the palace. My chest constricted at Arcadia’s words, and my Shifter half clawed to the surface, desperate to spread her wings.
It didn’t seem possible. Was I really free of him? Was it all over, just like that?
“V.” Starke tapped my arm, drawing me back to the present. “He said there are some Pyraethi crews that don’t ever return. What about the one we found beneath Twin Tides?”
I blinked, barely registering what he said as I came out of my daze.
I nodded, then pulled out the phoenix crest from the wreckage.
I knew Maeve’s sun locket looked familiar—it was the same gold chain, the same filigree around the edges.
I fingered the heavy gold, hesitating to hand it to them.
It was silly to have such a strong connection to a piece of jewelry that wasn’t even mine, but it felt like it called to me.
Finally, I held it out to Arcadia. He took it with wide eyes, his long beard bobbing as his mouth parted. “We found this in the wreckage of an old crew back in our realm, along with part of a map that led us here,” I said. “I think maybe they were from Pyraeth.”
Maeve slowly let out a breath and touched the matching chain around her neck. “You were right, this belongs to us. This amulet has been lost for centuries.” Her eyes lifted to mine in wonder. “I can’t believe you found it.”
I shuffled on my feet. I wasn’t used to this much attention—good attention. “Um…you’re welcome,” I said. “What is it? I figured it’s magical, because it scared away the kraken we fought getting here. It saved my life.”
“It’s one of the amulets of the Sacred Three,” Julius said. “Ancient artifacts created to hold the power of the original demithes. They were passed on for safe-keeping after they died.” At the last part, he exchanged a look with Arcadia.
“Safe-keeping for what?” I asked.
“For you,” Arcadia said. “For the one sent here to raise us. And now there is only one amulet left to find. We must begin your quest immediately.”
My eyebrows shot into my forehead. “I’m sorry, my what?”
“Your quest,” Arcadia repeated. “To unite the Sacred Three and use the power of the original demithes to save us.” The three High Elders gave me that look again, one that spoke of such great trust and belief. It felt like a boulder balanced on my shoulders.
I held out a hand. “Wait, I don’t even know what this Sacred Three part means. I thought I already raised the kingdom.”
Arcadia shook his head. “You merely opened the portal from the outside realm.”
The boulder pressed down harder, and my brow pinched. “I’m sorry, this—this is a lot to take in. I don’t—”
“The portal,” Starke interjected. “You said it only opens for twenty-four hours. We have to get back to it before it closes.”
Kieran and Everett exchanged wary looks. “He’s right,” Kieran said. “We must return to our homes. This was never part of the plan.”
“You cannot leave,” Julius insisted, facing me. “You are the Lightbringer! We need you.”
“Excuse me, what do you mean, we can’t leave?” Tessa jumped in, her voice sharper than usual. “Are you saying we’re stuck here?”
Heated tension rose in the room like a furnace. The others argued back and forth, but I wasn’t listening. Julius’s words rang through my head.
We need you.
In a way, I’d been a symbol of hope for Mortep and Scarven.
A sick, twisted hope, but hope nonetheless.
I was a way for them to bend the will of Veridian magic to their own whims. But this…
this hope was different. These people looked to me, a woman they didn’t even know, in faith.
For a better life beyond their entrapment.
For a chance to break free of their own cell and see the sun again.
I didn’t know what I was. I didn’t know if I was their mystical Lightbringer or not. But I couldn’t deny that it felt good to know that for once, I could bring a good kind of hope to someone else. A hope I had gone so long without.
What kind of a person would I be if I knowingly shunned ones who needed me? These people were trapped, just as I had been. What was the harm in staying? In trying to help?
But all thoughts fled me when Odessa’s scream shattered the room.