Chapter 29 #2
“You can only imagine the way Thayan must have felt when he woke up by her side, and her body was stiff and cold,” Mrs. Ilden continued.
“When you love with such intensity, losing the person you love is more devastating than losing your own life. It is like slowly being sucked into the darkness, as if the purpose of life had been lost. Believe me, I know.”
It was clear to Alissa why Eldric held his teacher in such high regard; everything about her radiated wisdom and passion. She spoke with such propriety that it was impossible not to admire that woman.
“Lost in his grief, Thayan did the unimaginable. He took Karine to what he believed was a sacred place and used his magic of time to bring her back to life. Maybe you are not familiar with the concept of the Magic Edictum, but resuscitating people is one of the forbidden acts. By doing that, he violated the very laws of magic.”
“Oh no! We were told breaking the Magic Edictum could mean the magic turning against its holder,” Freyah said, biting her nails in anticipation.
Mrs. Ilden’s eyes widened. “You are correct, dear.”
Eldric placed his hand on his chin. “What happened then?”
“When Karine woke up, alive and well, Thayan saw white and black glowing threads encircling her body, flowing and dancing around her in harmony. He was instantly enchanted by it, imagining it was the magical way to bless them together into a life of union for all time. If only he had realized back then that the black was death, gradually consuming her soul, and the white the life slowly slipping through her fingers.”
The threads of life and death. Alissa had always suspected.
“That’s exactly what I see in the victims of Senectus,” she noted.
“I know, dear, you’ll soon understand why.
” Mrs. Ilden cleared her throat. “For six months, Thayan saw Karine glow. In the meantime, they got married, and he grew fond of the people of this lovely, small town, who had become his family. They dreamed of the future together, of building a family and helping the people in need. They lived the life of their dreams until one day, Karine suddenly aged to death. She died again in his arms twenty-four hours later. Thayan tried but was unable to bring her back this time. Her death was caused by what you now call Senectus Subita.”
For six months, Thayan and Karine knew each other before she died of natural causes. For six months, she lived with him before his own magic claimed her life. For six months, the victims of Senectus Subita carried sparkling threads in their auras.
It’s no coincidence.
“Why did she die? Did he not bring her back to life?” Freyah asked, chewing at what little was left of her nails.
“Magic is a living being. It has its own will and strength, like a parasite using our bodies as a means to an end. That is why following the Magic Edictum was so important. If people ever let the magic take control over them, it would be their ruin.”
Mrs. Ilden pursed her lips. “When Thayan broke one of the Magic Edictum rules, he didn’t understand the gravity of what he had done.
The truth is that the magic acted on its own and took the life of the person he loved the most by using his own skill—the one of flesh and time to take back all the years they were destined to live together.
Magic brought the balance he had taken from the universe when he gave her life back.
When Thayan tried resuscitating Karine for the second time, his magic acted at will once more and cursed the city he called home with the same spell, finding a new victim every six months.
It was a lesson sent to mankind, to never again break the Magic Edictum. ”
It is a curse. It had been a curse all along.
“That is the saddest story I’ve ever heard.” Freyah’s lips curved down slightly, a shadow of desolation in her eyes.
Eldric was simply speechless. He couldn’t even begin to process everything.
“Wait, my dear, you haven’t heard the worst part yet.” The teacher’s words left them all in stunned silence, their eyes wide in horror.
What could possibly be worse than that?
“You can deduce that having the prince break the Magic Edictum and accidentally curse the denizens of an entire city didn’t quite send the best impressions of the Crown to the world.
The king back then was as ruthless as King Luwrel is today.
As a damage control measure, the king ordered Ksaren from all of Heldraine to build a wall made of stone spellbound by magic around Bryniard so the curse that lay within wouldn’t spread to the rest of the realm. ”
“The Crown had all previous records of Bryniard erased from textbooks and made up the tale you probably have heard several times before, fabricating the lie of the Battle of the Mundane and made-up monsters to keep the population far from the walls of Bryniard, where the truth hid.” Mrs. Ilden’s voice became more somber by the second.
Alissa’s nails pressed into her palms as she clenched her fists. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might burst from her chest.
“They made Thayan a hero in their story, while in reality, after Karine’s death, he lived his life hidden as a coward…
” Mrs. Ilden shook her head, suffering over the words she would have to speak aloud.
“To cover up the shame Thayan brought to the realm and add truth to their stories, the king mandated the assassination of all those who carried magic in their veins.”
The atmosphere shifted into something inexplicable; the weight of the revelation left them all numb. Disbelief and unease filled the room in a mournful silence. Eldric’s voice broke through the silence, laced with a mixture of betrayal and rage.
“I can’t believe this!” he exclaimed. “It was all a lie…” His voice faltered with the realization that the kingdom he had once taken pride in defending was built on deceit and cold-blooded murder. He felt sick.
Alissa rose to her feet, her eyes burning with a fury she hadn’t known she possessed. It overwhelmed every fiber of her being.
“So, you’re telling me,” she said, her voice trembling with indignation, “that they let my people suffer and die for centuries over a mistake they were too proud and arrogant to correct? And then, they murdered thousands of innocent people to make their lies seem more credible?” Her nose wrinkled in disgust; the bitter taste of the truth lingered on her tongue, making her feel sick.
Mrs. Ilden nodded, her lips drawn into a tight, sorrowful line.
Eldric punched the brick wall, his knuckles bleeding.
Freyah sobbed uncontrollably in Alissa’s arms, mourning for the countless victims of ruthless kings.
The enormity of the deception and cruelty was suffocating.
They had suspected that the story of the Battle of the Mundane could hold lies, but the harsh reality was far more devastating than they could have ever imagined.
“That still doesn’t explain why I see people glowing.”
“Of course it does, my dear. You see, Thayan could see Karine’s glowing threads because he was gifted with magic. Only a Ksaren, a Zeity, or a Hozter can see a spell marking. I can see it. So can you.” Mrs. Ilden spoke with such certainty that Alissa thought the woman was losing her mind.
She snorted. “No, ma’am, that’s impossible. I’m not a mage.”
“You are. You might not have found out what your magic is, but you have it living inside you.”
Alissa watched Mrs. Ilden with skepticism, her smile wavering as she shook her head in denial.
Eldric, however, looked on with wide-eyed amazement, thoroughly convinced by the teacher’s explanation. “But why does she see people in Golheim encircled with the threads, too?”
“Every spell and curse has a color of its own. These people glow in other colors because the spell cast on them is a different one. Those two had spells cast on their ancestors centuries ago, but because it’s a generational spell, all their bloodlines will be affected by it.
Don’t worry, theirs are for the good—the red for true love and the green for luck,” Mrs. Ilden explained.
“And how do you explain that my daughter is now cursed by Senectus Subita?”
“That is not a generational curse—it was a result of violating the Magic Edictum. As I explained, the magic is a living being, a parasite feeding from us. For the same reason, the curse chooses its next victim, not at all randomly. It chooses to take the life of whoever seems to be a threat to their existence. I can imagine the last victims were well-educated, strong people, usually no children or elders. Am I right?” Mrs. Ilden asked, and Alissa confirmed.
“But my daughter is just a child. She poses no threats to ending a centuries-old curse.”
“But you do, my dear. You have magic in your blood. The curse can’t reach you. But because you might be able to end this—given your magical blood—it targeted your daughter to destroy you. To annihilate the person who can threaten its existence.”
The curse couldn’t have been more wrong in believing Alissa would watch her daughter die and kill herself in the process.
The curse might be a living, sentient being, but it clearly did not know her.
It did not know she was entirely made of love for that child, and she would never give her up without a fight.
Not knowing what a mother was capable of might have been the curse’s greatest mistake.
Alissa held her head in her hands, not knowing what to feel at that point.
All those revelations, the true story about the past, and Senectus Subita.
The power she possibly carried dormant within her.
Although she was still reluctant to believe such magic could have been living inside of her all this time, a memory from the canyons made her wonder.
The twins had called her blood rare. Could it have been a coincidence, or did they sense her power all along?