CHAPTER ELEVEN #3
It became soundless, like my head had been shoved beneath water as Vivianna said the warriors name, then her mission. And her destiny.
The light seared brighter and the Valkara blazed, her body shimmering as though a star had been forced under her skin.
Vivianna’s voice returned, clear and terrible. “I have remade her, infused our essence into her veins.”
Aelia’s breath caught. “You... gave her your own life?”
Vivianna shook her head. “No. She bears none of our bloodlines. She is not our kin.” Her eyes shifted again, violet and firm. “But she will answer to us. She has sworn the oath, has drunk the Blood of Life.”
Callisto’s eyes narrowed. “Then she lives between worlds.”
Vivianna nodded. “She will remain untouched by what is coming. No shadow can bite her, no curse can corrupt her, no blade forged in magic can lay claim to her. She will guard Selvarra,” she finished. “To the last breath. Against all who would break it. Even those she loves.”
Orion leaned forward, eyes sharpening as his fingers wove the air into patterns of war. “And if the kingdoms do not rule united?”
“Orion’s already making battle plans,” Callisto muttered.
They all watched as his hands twisted, spastic with hunger. His grin widened, war already written in his smile.
Vivianna turned to them. Then beyond the veil of the clouds. Until her wavering eyes landed on a world already unraveling.
“If the Valkara fails,” she said, “Selvarra will fall.” Her voice fractured into a thousand echoes, all layered and blending into one.
“So let them be warned—if war devours the land, if deception rots the throne, Selvarra will be cleansed. Every kingdom, every crown, returned to stillness. To the beginning.”
“A plague,” Zeki rasped.
“A mercy,” Vivianna corrected quietly.
The Bale.
Orion stepped forward. “And the Valkara, what becomes of her?”
For the first time, Vivianna’s expression faltered, sorrow following beyond eternity. “She cannot die. If she fails, she will remain trapped between worlds. Unable to return.”
The Valkara didn’t cower at what she had promised to her Primal. Only lifted her chin, acknowledging. Accepting.
Vivianna’s hand rose, the glow fading altogether. The warrior nodded to each God, one by one, before turning, climbing the marble steps, and leaving them in the stillness.
Ophielle’s fingers tapped the rim of her flute, the sound too soft, too fragile in the vast chamber. “How are we any better than Deimos?”
Orion scoffed, tilting back his glass. “Who cares?”
Wine slicked his mouth as the empty goblet hit the table with a satisfying clink. Beyond the open arch, more Pegasi sailed through the clouds, their feathers catching the blush-colored light, glittering against the sky.
He leaned back, sneering. “How did the Angels win themselves such a view while we were left to rot in dirt?”
Aelia clicked her tongue. “You are so horrid, Orion. Try finding one thing not to complain about. It might even do you some good.”
He flashed her a savage grin. “Took that to heart, land God?” Aelia only crossed her arms, scoffing as she turned away.
“I will also create a cure.” Vivianna glided to Orion. “A final chance.” She reached for him, fingers brushing the edge of his hand, just a pinky grazed. Her breath faltered as he pulled away without the kindness of acknowledgment.
Ophielle whispered beneath her breath, too foreign for my ears, though I didn’t miss the thread of mist that pulled Orion’s eyes back to Vivianna for a fragmented moment.
“Let the plague rise,” Vivianna commanded, her voice sliding low. “For it is not the ending but reckoning. And we will let goodness ascend to meet it.”
“A reckoning leaves nothing standing,” Callisto breathed.
Light moved beneath Vivianna’s skin as she stepped forward. “That’s why I am creating what can.”
Aelia’s voice fractured. “What will it be?”
Vivianna’s eyes traced the horizon again, seeing centuries that had not yet come. “Born not of good or bad. But choice.”
Orion exhaled slowly, death recognizing its equal. “And if it fails?” he asked.
Her expression softened into something that could almost be called love. “Then Selvarra was never meant to be saved.”
Orion turned his back to her, prowling the dais, shoulders rolling with restless disdain.
“Perhaps this is what Deimos wants,” he mused.
“For us to flee, to abandon. So, he may strike and reign in peace.” He halted before a guard stationed near the arch, staring at his reflection in the soldier’s armor, daring the steel to mock him.
“Deimos cannot rule above his depths as long as we exist,” Vivianna’s eyes blazed, her voice scorching his retreating spine. “He knows that." She stepped closer. “You know that.”
Orion said nothing.
“And the curse?” The depth in Zeki’s stare shifted, searching, desperate.
Vivianna returned to the chambers center, the stone bright in her palms. “Everything must have a counter, a balance. Even annihilation must birth a flicker of redemption.” Light surged through her veins, luminous and violent, cracking beneath her skin like fault lines of creation.
“Where darkness rises,” she said. “Light will always follow.”
Aelia’s fawn-brown eyes widened, her hand slipping from Callisto’s thigh, trembling as she whispered, “Can you create that?”
“I must.” Vivianna lifted her hands, the celestial glow unchaining itself, bleeding into the stone she carried.
“Each of you was summoned to bring forth a stone. You will pour a sliver of your power into it, willingly. After which it will be set into the divinity stone. My creation… of good.” Her eyes shimmered silver, the exact hue of the gem in her palms. “The balance.”
A single jewel appeared before each God, spinning slowly in the charged air. Power thickened, the room amplified with it.
“One by one,” she commanded, “present yourself and your stones.”
Orion grunted, stepping forward first, the bloodstone in his hand glowing like a clot torn from flesh. “For determination,” he said. “And confidence.”
Vivianna gave him a sad smile as it vanished into hers.
Zeki raised his lapis lazuli, the blue of oceans too deep for light. “For wisdom and clarity.”
Ophielle’s ruby gleamed, blushing like her lips. “For love.” Her eyes slid to Vivianna. Then lingered on Orion. “And protection.”
Callisto lifted a turquoise stone, freckles across her cheeks catching like starlight. “Purification and truth.” She squeezed Aelia’s hand, motioning her turn.
Aelia’s sunstone flared like dawn breaking over mountains. “For happiness and light.”
The divinity stone devoured them all. Drank their essence in silent pulses before returning to its master. Vivianna lifted a final gem, amethyst and obsidian, swirling together like a velvet void.
“A hybrid,” Zeki noted.
“For balance,” she said, “and strength.”
The stone breathed once, twice, then shrunk to the size of a pearl—
A heartbeat. A living essence.
It floated, hovering before Vivianna’s chest, her stare savoring the sight like a plea answered. An energy rushed through the room as it pulsed, flaring one last time before vanishing.
My stare snapped up to where Vivianna’s lingered, our eyes connecting, through the dais, through time. As if she could see through the vision. Through my soul.
My chest seized, goosebumps prickling over my skin. She couldn’t actually see me, right?
Aelia’s voice shattered the silence, raw with concern. “What did you just create?”
Vivianna didn’t turn, didn’t spare her even a hint of attention.
She only smiled, eyes still on me. “Selvarra’s salvation.”