Chapter 57
No one shall have any god before me. You, my favored people, will seek all others out and destroy them. You shall bring me proof of their destruction, and I shall reward you for your faith.
~Edicts of Elthir
Fiona
My back hits hard stone with a thud, and I can’t move.
Only one leg works, and I can’t seem to leverage it to get into a sitting position.
Isola’s scream echoes in my mind. The image of a dagger in Jorren’s chest won’t leave my thoughts.
My mother and father’s voices are still there, still telling me they love me.
Behind it all is Kaelith’s warning not to walk off the ledge, not to give up. I didn’t, and my heart is breaking because of it. Isola and Jorren died because of me, just like my parents.
I can’t move, and all I can see are the stars above me. The moon is gone, and the sun will rise soon, but the world around me is still shrouded in darkness. They say it’s always darkest just before the dawn, and I understand the phrase now. I feel like my heart can’t handle anything else.
Then I hear his voice. The low rumble that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. Nyxthos. The God of Darkness and Secrets. The God of Fear. The God of the Realm of Night.
I’m about to become his champion. Even as my heart breaks for the ones that have been lost because of me, I know I’m going to save more because of their sacrifices. I’m going to become the monster I was raised to kill so that countless more will survive.
I survived Saelira’s prophecy. Somehow. Is the Mark of the Coin truly strong enough to alter destiny’s path? I thought only Caeldra’s powers could do that.
“Fiona Thorne, Daughter of Rhaskar Thorne, has won the title of Champion of Darkness and Secrets,” Nyxthos says slowly, and while I doubt his tone sounds any different to the rest of the audience, I know the seething anger he’s directing toward me.
He didn’t want me as his champion. He doesn’t want anything to change.
My body slowly leaves the stone, his powers making me float and spin to face the audience. I still can’t feel my arms or left leg, but I don’t have to when Nyxthos is controlling my body.
I can see everyone sitting in the outdoor amphitheater while only Nyxthos and I are on the stage.
Rhion and Ainslee are in the first row. Azric is in a back corner shrouded in shadows, his eyes never leaving me.
All the dragons are perched along the top wall that rings the amphitheater.
The other champions are here as well. The competitors who died in the first two trials are here, though none of them are dressed for battle this time.
“She will succeed where Echo failed,” Nyxthos continues. “She will wield shadows like her predecessor. She will command my armies in my place, and she will be my voice when I am not available. But first, she will come with me to the Realm of Night to be trained.”
There’s a rumbling in the crowd, and a voice whispers to me from behind me, from the shadows. Azric. “Everyone heard what you told Isola. They know what you are and what you becoming the Champion of Darkness and Secrets means to the world.”
I smile at his words. Nyxthos jerks toward the sound, but I know Azric’s magic is already gone.
Nyxthos turns to me, putting himself between me and the crowd gathered around us.
The God of Fear truly should be his title as I stare into those black eyes and realize just how furious he is.
“You think you’re so clever, and you’ve been told that I cannot kill you, but there are no rules about how much I can torture you.
Time is a strange thing, human. In the Realm of Night, years can pass in the span of a few breaths here, and you are mine until I say that you’re trained.
By the time I’m done with you, you will wish for death, and I’m sure you’ll achieve it. That does not break any laws or oaths.”
Terror sweeps through me. I won, but what exactly did I win?
He presses his hand against my chest, and dark power flows through me like a tidal wave of anguish.
I try to scream, but the scream is swallowed up by the pain.
“I give you the gift of true magic in the form of darkness, Fiona Thorne. I give you the gift of shadows. I give you the gift of immortality. From this night forth, you will be known as the Champion of Nyxthos, the Champion of Darkness and Secrets. From now until the end of time, you are mine. Your soul has been bound to me.”
It’s exactly as he says. I feel him in every corner of my being, in my very soul. His power is washing over the woman I thought I was, and it’s changing me, altering the fabric of my existence. I am no longer human. I am no longer a Priest. I am no longer Rhaskar Thorne’s daughter.
I am the Champion of Nyxthos.