25. Thayla #2
I close my bloodstained hands around the feathers and my power answers before I even call for it. Warmth spills from my chest, flooding down my arms until brilliant goldish yellow gathers between my trembling palms.
It doesn’t vibrate. It pulses. Like a heartbeat.
Once. Twice. Again.
The light swells, stretching into something too bright to look at, and everything around me falls quiet. The hum from the hot spring buzzes low, the cries surrounding me stop, and the neighs from the Veilataras turn to gentle purrs.
Then it all fades away.
My tears continue to spill freely as I cradle the light against my chest.
“Please,” I sob. “Please let this be enough.”
My chest rattles as I take a deep breath.
A desperate, agonizing command leaves me.
“Create.”
I shove out every ounce of power I have in me. The pulse sends a shockwave across the meadow that I feel down to my toes.
My heart pounds so hard as my Creation settles back beneath my skin that I nearly miss it…
Miss the heartbeat in my hands. A tiny flutter brushes against my palm.
Then another.
“Get out of the water, Thayla. Bring us the Vedarya,” Seismet commands frantically, and my attention jerks to him.
What…What is the whole herd doing? When did they even get here?
A splash has me snapping my focus back the other way, and my gaze widens as my father rushes to me.
“You must listen to them, Thayla,” he says as he grabs my shoulders and turns me toward the built-in steps.
“What is happening?”
No one answers me as my father picks me up and sprints toward the Veilatara.
They stop their circling run just enough to let us slip through.
My confusion grows and worry sinks deeper beneath my skin as the little creatures in my hands hoot eagerly in my mind.
One sound is so deep, ancient. The other, soft, feminine.
“What is happening?” I ask again.
“Right there, Valthaneus. Thayla, put the hatchlings down,” Verlet orders.
“What? No. What is—”
“Do as they say, my shooting star,” my father begs.
No part of me wants to do that, but the fear on his face has me obeying.
“No. What are you doing? Let me go,” I scream as my father drags me away from them the second I lay them in the grass. “Stop. What are you doing?”
“Bring Creed now.”
Verlet’s bellow has my brain vibrating in my skull and dizziness wars with my confusion.
All the breath in my lungs escapes me as my eyes fall on Creed.
Gladian and Kyzen drag him to the center of the Veilatara.
“Creed!” I bawl, shoving away from my father’s chest.
He latches right back onto my arms. So do Amick and Riven.
“Stop, Mysenta. We’ve got you.”
“What is going on?” I ask, tangling my hands in Amick’s armor. “Please tell me.”
His mouth falls open, then closes.
“I don’t know.”
My head thrashes back and forth. He always knows. The streams of tears flowing down Riven’s cheeks have me falling still.
“What did I do?”
He swallows roughly as his eyes stop swirling.
“Saved a species,” he mumbles. “But then…I don’t know either, angel.”
Saved a species…
That’s what I thought I was doing. That was my intention.
But this…
What did I do wrong?
“Where’s Creed?” I ask, stumbling out of the center of my father’s, Amick’s, and Riven’s circle as Gladian and Kyzen emerge from the Veilatara’s ring. “Where is he?”
“In there, little goddess,” Kyzen mutters.
“Why? What did they need—”
A gasp silences my words as a beam of light crashes into the center of the Veilatara’s protective circle. They all halt their running and rear up on their hind legs.
The neighs they release are so powerful, we all stagger back a step. The ground hums and vibrates beneath my soaking wet boots. I can feel it in the depths of my bones.
Just as fast as it began, it stops.
We all fall statue still as we watch.
The Veilatara stomp their feet in an almost ritualistic way. The rhythm creates a beat that thunders in my chest.
My neck cranes back as the two creatures I just created slowly emerge in the air, flapping their wings as though they’re preparing to take their first flight.
I can’t breathe.
I can’t think.
I don’t know what is happening.
“No.”
My arms reach out as if I can actually reach them when they disappear in a bright flash of white light.
Slowly, one by one, the Veilatara peel off and run through the meadow, neighing and purring louder than I’ve ever heard before. My realm tilts as enough of them clear the way for me to see the center.
“Creed,” Kyzen, Amick, and Riven shout.
My feet pound against the ground as I sprint to him. None of the remaining Veilatara attempt to stop me as I throw myself down beside him.
“Creed,” I whisper.
His eyes are shut and he lies there so unnaturally still.
Terror holds me and the air in my lungs frozen as I stare down at him.
Amick, on the other hand, slings him to his back and lays his head against his heart. His fingers press into the side of his neck for a petrifying second.
“He’s alive,” he says, and I finally release the breath I was holding.
“He is,” Verlet says as he strides over to us. “He has completely exhausted his power, though. He is empty.”
“Empty?” I ask. “What do you mean?”
“I mean it as what I said. His power is drained. As of right now, he lies there as weak as an ungodly being.”
“Vullie!” Riven bellows. “Get me a fucking vial. Three. Five. Bring me the gods damned batch.”
Vulius doesn’t argue as he runs over to us and practically throws his waist pack on the ground beside Creed. Riven doesn’t waste a heartbeat prying Creed’s jaw open and pouring the liquid down his throat.
Nothing.
He doesn’t even stir.
“Another,” Amick orders.
“Just one more,” Vullie says, then flinches as all our gazes snap to him. “We don’t know the side effects of using more than two at a time. It could do more harm than good right now. Just two, then rest. You can administer more in a little while.”
“We need to get him home,” Kyzen says.
My attention turns to Verlet and Seismet as they stand over us quietly. Too fucking quietly.
“What happened?” I ask, and they turn their attention to me. “Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me? Where did the creatures go? Please, just explain.”
“You did nothing wrong, Thayla. You…” Seismet trails off as he lowers himself to the ground in front of me. “You have done what has never been done before. You created two new Vedarya.”
I nod.
“Yeah, I know that. I could feel it in my soul that’s what”—I swallow hard—“V wanted me to do, but after that. Everyone was frantic and yelling at me like I fucked it all up.”
“You didn’t,” he says softly, then sighs.
“In our creation, as in the creation of revered creatures, there is a process. Once our bodies form, we are to look at the stars and receive our Valories blessing. That blessing consists of our purpose, our knowledge, our power. The Valories didn’t create the two of them, though. ”
A shuddering gasp spills through my lips.
“Did I rob them of their Valories blessing?”
“No, you didn’t. They still received one and their power. That was that beam of light, but they didn’t…”
“Didn’t what? What happened?” I press.
He holds my gaze for so long, I fear he isn’t going to answer me.
“They didn’t receive any knowledge,” he says, turning his head to Verlet.
“What you just witnessed us do is the passing of knowledge. The Veilatara welcome a youngling into the realm by sharing all that we’ve learned over many lifetimes.
It is called communal knowledge. It is a process many creatures, across many realms, partake in.
The two new Vedarya you just created will be wise. We made sure of that,” Verlet says.
Oh gods.
Thank goodness.
Well…thank the Veilatara.
My eyes drift shut as I fight back the new tears that want to fall from my eyes.
“What part did Creed play in this?” Amick asks.
I force my lids to open when neither Veilatara offers an answer.
“Seismet,” I beg.
He tilts his muzzle to Creed, then back at me.
“He refused to let go of V’s soul.”
My stomach cramps like he just kicked me in it.
“He…is V’s soul in one of those Vedarya?”
“Creed should explain when he wakes,” Verlet says and I shove myself to my feet.
“No. You or the new Vedarya can explain now.”
“We will not see the new Vedarya for a few days,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because they are bonding,” Seismet says, rising to his feet. “That is the way of the Starwoven. They will spend their lives, from this day forward, as one.”
My bottom lip trembles and I press my hand against my roaring heart.
“As one,” I mumble. “So, if that is still our V, he’ll never be alone again?”
“Regardless if that is our V or not, or maybe even a variation of the weathering owl we love…” he says, shaking his head once and stomping his hoof. “The two of them will never be alone again. They will never go extinct as long as you walk this realm.”
A breathless laugh tumbles out of me.
Then it rolls right into a sob.
My legs give out beneath me faster than I can lock my knees.