Chapter 9
nine
Istand on a high balcony of my palace, watching my newly formed army train in the courtyard below.
The clash of metal against metal rings through the air, a discordant symphony so foreign to my peaceful Antalis.
My fingers curl around the stone railing, the cool surface grounds me as the heaviness of it settles in my chest.
“Again!” shouts Commander Selene, her voice carrying across the yard. “Your enemy won’t give you time to recover your balance!”
A year ago, these people had been bakers, merchants, and fishermen.
Now they wield swords and shields, their faces set with determination, but even that can’t mask their fear.
I had created this world for harmony, as a utopia …
not for war. Yet here I am, teaching my people to fight, to kill if necessary.
Since the first breach of souls have come from this world to go towards Mohasha, more have left and now I’ve noticed the subtle effects of the change.
The aging of those who never once shown it.
The feeling that soon I’ll have to find a way to call them home when their bodies can no longer support them.
“You’re troubled.”
I turn to find Thesix studying my face with concern. His presence sends a familiar current through my soul, a momentary balm to my distress. The people have accepted him as their Tinge now, at least those who have remained faithful.
“I never wanted this,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “To create warriors, to prepare for bloodshed.”
Thesix’s cool hand covers mine on the railing. “Atlas gave you no choice.”
The name sends a chill through my veins.
Atlas — once the trusted Tinge of Antalis, now proclaims himself “True King of Ashonera”.
Reports arrive daily of his growing influence in Midaeliea, the northern region that had once been a place of rolling mountains and peaceful villages.
Now it houses his fortress, his followers, and his army.
“The scouts returned this morning,” I say, watching a young man stumble, then rise with renewed vigor. “He’s conscripted three more villages. Those who refused were burned or captured.”
I close my eyes, feeling the pulse of Ashonera beneath my feet, the countless souls I’d crafted with such care. “Something in him changed, this isn’t who he was. Or perhaps it was always was, and I was too blind to see it.”
“This isn’t your fault, Drāhēn?.”
“Isn’t it?” I turn to face him fully, the wind lifting my hair around my shoulders. “I gave them free will. I believed that love and connection would guide them toward harmony. But I never accounted for ambition, for possession, for –”
“For someone like Atlas,” Thesix finished. “Someone who reminds you of Khaysus.”
Hair on my arm stands up at the name, the parallels are impossible to ignore. The possessiveness, the rage, the destructive response. But where Khaysus had no one to follow him, Atlas has found many.
Below us, Commander Selene pairs the soldiers for combat practice. Their movements awkward, hesitant. Will they be ready?
“What if you made some type of negotiation?” Thesix suggests as I watch a young woman fumble with a shield–again.
“I can feel every ripple of this world in my being. The northern part of Midaeliea screams of cruelty and fear. He doesn’t want negotiation. He wants surrender.”
A runner approaches from the castle entrance, his face flushed with exertion. He bows hostilely before delivering his message.
“My Queen, urgent news from the border. Atlas’s forces have seized the tributaries that lead to the farming communities in the valley near the eastern side. The woman with him has set flames to the areas surrounding it, a constant burning full of a rage I’ve never witnessed.”
My stomach drops. That valley feeds the entire eastern portion of Midaeliea. Without that water …
“He’s starving them,” Thesix says, his voice tight. “Forcing them to pledge allegiance or face drought.”
I think of them, the souls that I know are becoming thirsty and fearful. “Send someone who can manipulate the earth to build a new tributary.”
As the messenger hurries away, I turn back to the training yard with new resolve. The weight of creator and queen pressing down on me, heavier than ever before.
“He thinks I won’t fight,” I hiss. “He thinks I’m weak …
just as Khaysus did. It’s because I call the waters my home that I lack the will for confrontation.
” I feel an anger stir within me, something I haven’t felt since my battle with Khaysus.
“Water can also drown, can erode …” I look to Thesix, “And now because of our bond, it can also freeze and shatter.”
Thesix studies me, “What will you do?”
“What I must.” I straighten my shoulders, feeling my power ripple beneath my skin. “I’ve spent a year hoping for reconciliation, for Atlas to remember the leader he once was. But time runs out. Soon he’ll push beyond Midaeliea.”
“You think it will come to a true battle?”
“No.” I watch Commander Selene again, her body moving fluidly with the sword in her hand. “I know it will come to a war. Atlas doesn’t want part of my world. He wants all of it. And he wants me–not as an equal, but as a possession. The same thing Khaysus always did.”
I clench my fist as a storm appears on the horizon bringing the rains. The clang of metal against metal rings in my ears with the mix of the rolling thunder in the distance. All of them rely on me, for their safety … their lives.
“I will not be a trophy for either of them.” My voice is firm. “I never wanted to be someone to wage war — but I will become whatever Ashonera needs me to be.”