Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
-brIDA-
Stepping from the water, it evaporated from my skin, as if it had never been there to begin with.
The last vestige of my mother was gone. Losing her had been the most difficult time in my life, Brida’s life.
But now, there was a spark in me, an essence that was new.
Parts of Brida remained, but there was a portion of me that was carved out just for Her. Her wants, desires…
Twigs snapped underfoot, my anxiety mounting with each growing sound.
“Brida.” I turned to find Marius kneeling before me, one arm resting atop his knee, his head bowed.
“Ilia,” he began, “tilavir stila mi, Ilia.” Without pause, he reached to his belt, where he unsheathed a beautiful dagger.
He struck his palm, leaving a gash across the center. Forming his hand into a fist, droplets of blood hit the earth, forcing a wave of heat, a rush of light, a slight crack in the forest floor.
Slowly, he rose from his position, offering the dagger to me. I didn’t want to, but part of me knew what I had to do. Closing my eyes, I took a breath and let her take over.
“Tilavir stila mi, adira e mariu, Marius.” With the words spoken, I slid the steel across my hand. My blood that once ran red now possessed specks of gold. I, too, formed a fist and allowed the droplets to fall before offering my hand to Marius. As our blood collided, I collapsed.
I saw the essence of light cresting through the void, the beginning. Her arrival.
I’ve seen this before.
Each face, each life of Dawn passed before my eyes. Her beginnings, the world she’d helped build, shape, mold to her will. The Pool of Vitality, the prison that held her hostage. I clutched at my heart as the pounding overtook me. I felt her fear and panic as she was dragged into its waters.
The song she had tried to sing as she was bound to the pool had been trapped in its depths. The song that had called to me when I had ventured into the cave that night. The song that hummed in the stone at Azmeer, and in the walls of my cell.
I felt her sorrow, her pain at being separated from those she loved, the one her soul craved, her anguish that she was no longer her own but required me in order to survive.
I’m sorry, she whispered as tendrils of light emerged from the ground, surrounding me in an embrace.
So similar to Dainan’s shadows, and wholly different.
Where his shadows had called to me, watched me, and playfully became companions over time, these were mine.
They knew me, were a part of me. They would yield to my word, come when I called.
Heaving a breath, I placed my hands on the ground, yearning for the feel of the dirt beneath my fingers.
She’d made this. All of this. Moving my fingers back and forth, I closed my eyes, allowing myself to feel each sediment, each seed, each root that had taken hold in the soil.
The sounds of the animals that had once lived in this wood, laughter from the orbs swirling around me.
I opened my eyes to see what had been barren moments ago was now lush.
Blades of grass had pierced the forest floor like the earliest days of spring.
Gnarled trees steadied themselves, their bark imbued with color once more, no longer the lifeless forms that had graced the entrance to the grove.
Vines wove beautiful webs throughout, moving from tree to tree, forming a barrier.
“It has been a long time,” Marius whispered, offering me his hand, helping me to rest on my knees.
“I believe,” I said, trying to find strength in my voice, “that there is much you have not told me, Marius Sodasa. A cataloguer, you said?”
His booming laugh echoed throughout, causing glowing green flecks to lift from the trees.
“What are those?” I found myself reaching for one.
“Wood sprites.” He smiled, “They have not been seen in the world for quite some time.”
“I didn’t know there had ever been sprites in the world…
” My voice faded as one landed in my hand.
It was no bigger than a sugar cube. Its green wings were almost translucent, its pigmentation so fair I could see the veins beneath its skin.
It opened its eyes and looked at me as it attempted to bat its wings.
“Hello.” I could feel my smile, uncontainable “Welcome to the world, little one. You are beautiful.”
The sprite focused on the beating of its wings, raising itself higher to meet my face. As it found its strength, it flew towards me, placing its hand on the tip of my nose. The noise that escaped me was one of pure glee.
“That one likes you,” Marius said.
“Naturally, it has good taste,” I laughed. At the magic, at the wonder, at this place.
“Saeria.” The sprite’s tiny voice said as she took off, swirling around my head, leaving trails of green light behind her as she flew.
Marius's face paled, stunned into silence for the first time.
“What?”
“She chose you,” he said, voice deep with reverence. “I do not recall the last sprite to select anyone…”
“Chose me? What does that mean?”
“Only time will tell,” his smile grew as he stretched out his hand towards me. “Now, I must ask you a question, but I promise it will be for the final time.”
I nodded, knowing before he uttered the words what they would be.
“Do you know me?”
There was a dichotomy that now lived inside me, one in which he remained a stranger, someone who had attempted to lull this part out of me, had left me teetering on the edge, and the spark that now bloomed within me, that knew him as well as I knew myself.
“I believe I do,” I said, “You, Marius, are a Memory Warden.”
“Yes,” he gestured to a felled tree off to the side for us to sit. “But do you understand what that means, Brida?”
In truth, I did not. There was very little written about Memory Wardens, in that they were a valuable commodity and more often than not, kept their magic a secret.
“To be a Memory Warden is a rare and limited gift.”
“Limited?” I questioned.
“We are granted the ability to guard memories, but we may only do so for one individual, other than ourselves. Once we accept the memories of said individual, it is our task, our purpose to ensure that nothing happens to them. They remain hidden, protected.”
“And you were chosen by Dawn?” I brushed a few needles that had embedded themselves into my pants.
“No,” his eyes grew distant, as if he had travelled back into the memory itself. With a sigh, he continued, “Memories do not work the same for mortals the way they do for the spirits of Primals.”
Spirits of Primals. Gods, that’s what now resides in me.
“I had never stayed in one place for long. In fact, I am not even from Eldara, I was merely visiting. It used to be that we could travel freely between the worlds, but that changed in the last war. Groups of islands, peoples, all but disappeared, depending on which sides they chose. Some chose to abstain altogether, hiding themselves from the Primals through magic.” He shook his head, “I never agreed with it. They needed us, every able-bodied fighter, and the queen at that time, well, she made a poor choice.”
He’s not from Eldara… but where is he from? Worlds? Different worlds? My head spun. Lil, Dainan—would they be facing the magic of another world? Would they be able to survive there?
“There was a time when those of us who wanted to leave were allowed to do so. And I did, offering myself as a fighter. At that time, it was not yet known what I was. Memory Wardens can live for hundreds of years without knowing what we are.”
I nodded.
“I was a decent fighter, skilled against those from Eldara who were unused to my magic. I made an impression,” his smile returned, “and Thale…”
My eyebrows surged upwards.
“Thale found me and brought me into her ranks. Of course, she is mostly known for her trials, which she underwent before Dawn chose her, in many ways, it was why Dawn chose her. She was a force to be reckoned with.”
“I’m sure she was,” I said, thinking back to my book that I had read countless times.
“I was with her,” Marius's voice cracked. “When she was captured. We had been on the front lines. Dusk, at that time, had been killed in front of us, and Chaos had made their way towards us on the battlefield. She felt it, the loss of him. Mates are a fickle thing,” His expression grew weary.
Mate. You have a mate. Mates are real. At the thought, an ember of light sparked in my hands before fading away.
“She collapsed when he fell, and they surged. I did my best to protect her, but there were hundreds of them, and tens of us. They clasped chains around her hands, ones I had never seen before, and took her away.”
I reached for his hand. “It’s okay,” I whispered.
“They took her to the Pool of Vitality. I thought…” Tears welled in his eyes, “I hoped I had made it in time, but I knew when I entered that cave that it was too late. Thale was gone. But part of her remained. A song,” he whispered, “she was always singing this song, she had a beautiful voice. It echoed through the cave, and I followed it, and finally I arrived at the pool.”
Your music is beautiful is what I had said to the pool.
“There was a glowing orb in the water, and I knew that was what remained of her, but somehow, the pool contained her fully, her essence, her soul. I couldn’t free her.
But I knew I could help her still. I felt a snap in me, and it clicked.
I knew my purpose, why I had been called here in the first place, why she had found me.
I had faith that one day, she would be free of her prison, and that the world would need to remember who she was and what she had done. So I chose her. I became her warden. I took water from the pool, I brought it here.”
“You brought it here,” I repeated, tightening my squeeze.
“Sorry,” he muttered, pulling his hand from mine, rubbing the tears from his cheeks.
Instinctively, that part of me that knew him reached out and cupped his face, “Thank you,” I said. “We wouldn’t be here without you.”
He nodded, steadying his breathing. “I had to be sure… that you were who I thought you were. The pool can only be used once. A blessing and a curse.”
“Who did the Court of Whispers members think you were? How did you get a purple suit? How did you know I was there?”
“There was a glow,” he said, “coming from the Court. It had been a long time since I had seen it, felt that pull. As for the suit, you’d be surprised how many of them there are just laying around. They’re a particularly vain group.”
A laugh escaped me.
“How much do you remember, exactly?” He asked as we rose to our feet, making our way to the exit.
“I’ve been shown bits and pieces. I think certain things will come to me with time.” I sighed.
“She is part of you, but she is not you. You remain who you are, but know that she chose you for a reason.” He smiled. “Sometimes she can be pushy, just keep that in mind.”
Have her wants been driving some of my desires? Is she the reason I could not stay away from Dainan? There had been an attraction from the moment I had seen Dainan atop the gates of Azmeer, but after my visit to the pool… it had changed. Everything had changed.
As we crested the entryway, Marius placed his palm on the sentinel, whispered a few words, and the trees returned to their original stances.
The living forest returned to its static, quiet, nature.
The further we moved from the forest, the more difficult it became to see.
Snow rose from the cold floor and masked the trees in their cover.
“It’s hidden in plain sight,” I said, admiring how he had constructed it.
“It is.” Marius's mouth opened to say something, but the words never came as they were muted by a familiar voice shouting in the distance.