Chapter 38 #2
The next few days were surprisingly uneventful, and I couldn’t help but think that it felt like the calm before the storm—or the eye of a hurricane.
During the day, we traveled the main roads, and at night, we either camped or slept in roadside inns.
Everyone—even me—knew how many more risks we were taking compared to our earlier caution, but if I understood one thing from the tense mood around me, it was that our time was running out.
Luckily, everyone had healed as much as possible. Fig had earned another scar, adding to his collection, right on the bridge of his nose. Thain still wore bandages, and my back was sore, but all in all, these weren’t problems we couldn’t deal with.
The day after the attack of the Wailor, Dion handed me a piece of parchment containing the ritualistic words spoken during the ceremony part of the Rite.
I’d known that an oath was involved, but reading the words for the first or the tenth time had made me feel uncomfortable with the almost-decision I’d formed after talking to Dion about it.
Still, I learned the words by heart and talked to the soldiers about other customs involving the Rite.
I was a bit baffled. I thought that what Dion called the ceremony would be the whole Rite—but oh gods, was I wrong.
Antas had explained that in the old days, bindings were huge celebrations and incredibly joyous occasions that could last for several days.
Several rites were performed, all under the umbrella term of the Rite of Binding.
How all this could be done in a deserted and destroyed city that had been uninhabited for two hundred winters was a mystery to me, but he tried to calm me down.
Except for the main ceremony, everything else was just decoration.
It was during this conversation with Antas that I realized I’d made up my mind. The only way I left for myself as an out was that I hadn’t told Dion just yet, in case I'd change my mind, but somehow, both of us could tell that we wouldn’t back out anymore.
The mood between us was companionable but with underlying tension, and for the first time since we’d met, we acted mostly civil to each other. We didn’t fight, but we also didn’t get all cozy either.
More often than not, I would find one of the tendrils curled around one of my wrists or ankles, not restricting, just seeking the contact Dion normally sought directly.
This was strange in a way, but it didn’t feel important enough to open a discussion.
Over the course of the days, I’d started to think of the magic smoke as something akin to a rather clingy pet, as insane as that sounded.
The days blended together while we were in a weird in-between state where it seemed that even the worlds themselves held their breath.
Maybe it was arrogant to think that my decision must influence everyone and everything around me, but I couldn’t help how I felt and that the constant tension affected me more than I let on.
When I woke up this morning, the energy in our group was even more tense than it had been in the last few days, and it didn’t take me long to figure out why. The ultimatum mentioned in the letter—the one I had yet to see for myself—was up.
Had I asked to read the offending piece of mail? Of course I had, but I’d been confronted with a lot of male resistance. The joke was on me, and I should have foreseen it from the start.
Carrying my bag over to our horse, I was alone for once, but as I strolled toward our horse, Antas stopped me midway.
“Nayana, talk to me for just a second, please.”
“Sure.”
“Take this. It is for you, should you and Dion decide on binding. It is customary for the families of the participating Wielder and Amplifier to give gifts, so I wanted you to have at least something.”
He gently placed a small bundle wrapped in purple velvet in my hand, and I smiled at Antas with tears in my eyes before hugging him tight.
“Thank you. I…that…”
“I know. Just open it.” Antas hugged briefly—and very stiffly—back before we separated.
After putting my bag on the ground, I unwrapped the velvet and found the most beautiful bracelet I’d ever seen inside.
It was crafted from a golden metal with shimmering stones that changed their color depending on the angle of the light.
The whole piece was delicate and absolutely stunning. “Antas, it’s too much.”
Antas smiled at me and shook his head. “It is not. It belonged to Dion’s mother, and I am sure she would have wanted you to wear it.”
I stared at Antas with my mouth open. Like that, the expensive bracelet had turned into an invaluable family heirloom. “Why do you have that? I mean, you’ve been months on the road. Why did you bring such a piece with you from home?”
All Antas did was wink at me. He actually winked at me—he, the most serious man I knew—although, at times, Fig rivaled him for that title.
“Thank you…it’s beautiful.” My voice cracked as I gently caressed the colorful precious stones.
Determination washed over me, and I slammed the back door I’d left open for myself shut. I would go through with the binding—there was no other way. “Would you help me put it on, please?”
“Of course, Nayana.”
Antas took the precious bracelet from me and wrapped it carefully around my arm.
He had some problems with the clasp, as his hands were massive compared to the delicate closing, but in the end, the ornament wrapped snugly around my wrist, sparkling in the sun.
“Again, thank you. I have no other words for you—I’m speechless. ”
“That’s a first, then.”
“Did you just make a joke, Antas?”
“Don’t tell anyone else. I have an image to uphold.”
Laughing, I felt light and happy because I’d finally come to a conclusion and also because of the friends I’d found during the last few months.
Of course, I should have known that such positive feelings on this journey wouldn’t last too long.
I was still laughing when a high-pitched noise rang through the clearing we’d spent the night in.
As I whipped my head around to search for the source, everything happened all at once.
A few paces to my left, reality tore apart, as I’d seen twice before when we’d encountered the Wild Rifts.
Only at a second glance did I spot some differences.
The opening between the worlds was perfectly round, without a single jagged edge, the air around it shimmered in rainbow colors, and it felt more—intentional.
Antas cursed loudly, and I could spot several vague shapes I tried hard to fully make out. I heard the clanging of multiple feet marching on the ground, and on instinct, I backed away.
After two steps, I collided with something solid. Arms wrapped around my waist like steel, pulling me closer to the edge of the clearing across from the tear, which slowly stabilized into some sort of archway, revealing five men and a woman in armor with their weapons raised.
“That’s our cue.”
“Dion? What are you doing? We have to help!”
Of course, it’d been Dion who caught me in a death grip and pulled me further away.
The telltale warmth that spread through my chest whenever he pulled from my Potential surged through me more suddenly than ever before.
However, instead of Dion charging toward the clearing, the world around us turned pitch-black.
This darkness was different. It didn’t appear around me, instead I was sinking into it, becoming it.
My being unraveled, sounds and smells disappeared, and the whole world—the whole existence—was a void.
I was a void. Even Dion’s never-faltering grip felt strange, but I clung to it with body and soul because it was the only sensation—apart from the warmth that told me my Potential was still being used—that I could ground myself in.
Every so often, a flash of light appeared, nearly blinding me, and in the blink of an eye, I was pulled out of the darkness before I was instantly hauled back into it again.
My perception of time faltered, and when the oblivion released me for good, I couldn’t say if it had been seconds or days I’d spent in—and as—the void.
My head spun, and sickness clouded my mind. Bile was rising in my throat, and before I could put up any struggle, I bent over while Dion still held me tight. Heaving and gagging, I threw up my entire breakfast. Even when my stomach was empty, I couldn’t stop.
“Shh, it’ll get better soon,” Dion said, supporting my body with one hand and keeping my hair out of harm’s way with the other. “Shadowwalking is something that needs some getting used to. I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you.”
When I was sure the heaving had stopped, I slowly straightened. “Shadowwalking.”
“Yes, traveling from shadow to shadow.” Dion sounded tired, and there were bags under his eyes as if this magical journey had cost him a lot.
I wanted to ask him more questions when the last moments in the clearing jumped back to my mind. “We have to go back and help the others! Dion, you can’t just take me away from a potential threat!”
I gritted my teeth, absolutely ready to fight him so he would return us to the others. Because of his stupid, overprotective streak, he’d left them behind, and I wouldn’t accept that.
“They’ll be fine, Nayana.”
“You abandoned them!”
A muscle in Dion’s jaw twitched. “Can’t you trust me for once? That I have a plan?”
“Well, it looks to me like you took me away because I hadn’t promised to stand back while you’d fight.”
Dion sighed deeply. “If you think I’d abandon my comrades without a better reason, you don’t know me at all, Nayana.
We left because I had to give my word to Antas to leave with you at the moment I sensed that the time had come.
And it felt like the right moment, for fuck’s sake.
Also, we can’t even be sure if there was a fight coming. ”
Dion’s revelations were like a bucket of cold water dumped on me, and my upset stomach complained again.
I took a few deep, grounding breaths, and it was safe to say that shadowwalking was by far my least favorite method of transportation.
“Couldn’t you have taken the others too?
And what in the gods’ good names was that distortion in reality?
It didn’t look like a Wild Rift at all.”
“We’ve traveled a three-day distance just now, Naya. I never even shadowwalked this far alone—let alone while transporting someone else. I’m spent. Besides, put into consideration that no one without a darkness predisposition can travel through the shadows anyway.”
Dion’s jaw worked, and I glared at him, waiting for him to answer my second question.
“And it was a portal. Like a Wild Rift, but intentionally built. So yes, on top of all the shit we’re currently dealing with, we’ve also attracted the attention of Galanta, but it was only a matter of time anyway. Fucking shit.”
“You mean, those people were—”
“Fae. Yes.”
I was stunned. For the first time, I’d seen the inhabitants of the other world, and I hadn’t even known. “I had no idea. Maybe they just came to talk?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. What I’m sure of, though, is that the others will be fine.
Even if there is a skirmish, it wouldn’t be the first time that at least Fig and Antas have to fight against fae.
” Dion’s voice sounded softer, and he finally released me from his hold. “They’ll be fine, Nayana. I promise.”
“I’m worried.”
“I know you are.”
Both of us fell silent for a moment.
“Naya, what is this?”
“The bracelet?”
“Yes.”
Dion stood completely still in his unique way and canted his head, scanning my wrist.
“Antas gave it to me right before the portal opened. As a present for the binding.”
“My mother’s bracelet,” Dion said, and his eyes roamed from the bracelet to mine. They were full of reverence, had a glossy sheen, and his throat bobbed.
Something told me he wouldn’t appreciate me prying deeper, so I didn’t.
“He gave it to you as a customary gift. And you’ve accepted it.”
I nodded. “Yes Dion, and I’m aware of what wearing it means.”
“So you’ve decided?”
“Yes. Once we’re in Amalach, I’ll be ready for the Rite of Binding. If you still want it as well.”
Dion’s eyes softened, and he smiled. “I told you I would,” a grin formed on his face. “And as for Amalach, I have news for you.”