Chapter 55
Fifty-five
Jada
Iscan the three walls visible to me, taking in the rest of the imagery and signs.
No further doors are found, but on the furthest wall from us, a cloaked figure has been carved with their arms extended; head down so their face is not visible.
Sculpted into the stone on each side of their armspan, as if they were holding them themselves, were two hanging scales.
“Holy shit,” I breathe, as the force of fate speeding towards this moment hits me in full force. The scales were cut deep into the rock, creating rough, flat surfaces.
“They look like seats,” Elio observes as I move closer, examining more of that ancient, whimsical scripture whittled into the being’s cloak.
“What does it say?”
“The Libra of Legacy will restore the balance of the Astrological Accord like once before."
He scrubs his jaw and slides onto one of the scaled seats while I take in the primitive scripture. “These prophets really had a thing for rhymes, huh?”
My eyes flick from the cloaked figure to Elio, then to the empty scale.
This couldn’t be clearer. The Scales are out of balance due to the disparity of humans by the Kosmos.
I have a Kosmo—and myself—to even the balance.
“Of course!” Excitedly, I hurry to the seat and gently lower myself.
There are no doors—we must take the first step together, embracing the change as a united front.
Stars, would I have been stuck in here forever if I came by myself or with someone else?
The thought makes me shudder. Yet the shaking continues, and I realize that it is we who are trembling. Not us, but the Scales.
I shriek and grasp the ledge of the seat as Elio lets out a similar yelp. “Hold on!” he shouts over the noise of sliding rock.
Loose pebbles rain down on us, a dusty haze obscuring my vision of the temple before we’re surrounded on all sides by stretching rock. We’re descending—these are like the chutes back on Lunara—only a much more rustic version. “We’re going down!” Just a slower, dustier chute.
The stone creaks and rumbles until ending with a hearty slam once we’ve reached our destination. “You okay?” Elio calls out from the other side of the scale.
I swat away the lingering rock dust, noting that the air is far more damp down here than it was above. “Yeah, fine. You?”
“All good over here.”
As the dust settles, it slowly reveals a small iridescent body of water set off in the distance. The glow casts the room in a deep shade of blue—midnight blue. Goosebumps scatter across my skin; that feeling of fate pressing on my chest.
The colors shift as I step onto the stone. It's not just blue—it’s shimmering shades of purple, and pink, even a golden bronze. It’s dawn. It's not water; it’s the dawnfire—a whole lake of it.
A woman—no, a creature—emerges slowly, water dripping down her high cheekbones.
She’s not quite a mermaid… is she part sea dragon?
Her skin is scaled, iridescent plates of the deepest turquoise.
Long hair covers curved breasts, and just under her navel, her body transforms from being into a beast. Two webbed wings and a lengthy curled tail sway underneath the water’s surface.
“Are you—are you real?” I take a hesitant step towards the water, awestruck by the creature in front of me.
“As real as one can be, but not of these worlds.” Her voice is ethereal, echoing throughout the chamber, her almond eyes turned upwards in amusement.
Elio moves from his seat to stand by me but grunts in frustration. I peer over my shoulder to find him stalled, his eyebrows furrowed.
“Only mortals with the blood of the Legacy can approach.”
“Jada—” Elio’s voice calls out in a warning.
“It’s okay,” I reassure both him and myself. I haven’t come this far only for this beautiful woman-mermaid-sea dragon thing to murder me… right?
“We have been waiting for you,” she calls, her head bobbing in the water. A magnetic pull has me closing the distance to the water’s edge, kneeling before the goddess in front of me. Elio’s shouts are muffled, my heart pounding in my ears, my focus entranced by this moment. This is it.
“You have a choice to make, Jada Bellamy.”
I take a deep breath, rubbing my palms against my thighs. One choice—it’s only the fate of the worlds hanging in the balance. “Okay,” I give an affirming nod. I’m ready.
“What you see behind me is the very essence of dawnfire. You can submerge yourself and face certain death, but in doing so, your people will be saved.” My stomach clenches as the shock of what she has said sets in.
She continues on, as if she isn’t providing life-changing—or ending—instructions.
I’m not ready to die, not when I’ve just begun to live.
I’ve only just discovered what these worlds have to offer. There has to be another way.
“Or… You can kill me, avoid your own pain and loss, and face an alternate reality without the aid of the dawnfire.” She says this so matter-of-factly, as if she is not offering me her life on a platter.
“Do you not fear death?”
“Death comes for us all, Jada.”
My body slumps, sliding from my knees to my bottom on the damp ground.
No option is perfect. My mortality has never felt so crucial; each inhale in my chest feels like a gift.
I think about everyone I care about back on Lunara and in Astralis.
There is so much I want, yet my wants are those of just one person.
What about those with dreams and plans and love bursting from their hearts?
Do I risk their futures to save myself? Is that the right choice?
There isn’t even a guarantee that if I kill this being, the outcome will be one we all desire.
But that’s what this trial is about: being fair and just. I could never take a life to forsake my own—I won’t. This isn't about me, it’s so much bigger.
“Have you decided?”
Elio pleads with me in the background to wait, to think, to talk this over. But my mind is already made up. Hands shaking, I rise, giving an affirming nod. My legs move on their own accord, bringing me to the edge of the dawnfire.
The creature moves aside, observing and waiting. I feel my heart hammer a final time before closing my eyes and stepping into the fire.