Chapter 21
Chapter
It turned out there was such a thing as a Small Gathering.
Only the oldest members of the families, usually fathers and matriarchs, all gathered in the Regent’s offices.
There should have been ten people, but there were twelve, including Aidenar and me.
I guessed we were exceptions because of our power.
My father rose and stood at the center of the room.
“Our children deserve the truth.” he said, his voice calm and hard as tempered steel. “But it would also be good for everyone to hear this story again.”
The room fell still. I felt each breath strike the walls and return.
“Nicolas was always better at telling stories,” father went on. “But the sacrifice fell upon him.”
Aidenar lifted his head. The veins stood in his neck, and a shadow moved in his silver eyes. He understood no more than I.
“More than twenty years past,” Victor began, pacing slowly, “Valerius and Elara Cineris came to us all with a warning. They spoke of a darkness rising from the south, of beasts being wrought, of sickness that devoured the land. Most of you laughed.” He cast a meaningful look at several elder lords.
“But they knew. They knew the desert would not stand if savages and creatures poured out of the shadow.”
His voice hardened.
“Scorpions and spiders the size of hounds. Black jackals that attacked people. Vultures that bore away children. Then Valerius spoke of the Prophecy of the Elements, of words no one now remembers entirely.”
For a breath there was only silence. Then father spoke the vow I had seen in the catacombs.
When the breath of creation kissed the void,
Four rose to bind the chaos into form.
Water, that gives life and takes it.
Air, that whispers and suffocates.
Fire, that warms and devours.
Earth, that births and buries.
Together they rose, four forces divine,
In balance and bond, the world aligned.
From blood spilled in hatred, from anguish and pain,
A fifth power awakens, the Devourer’s reign.
Born of false tribute and cruel sacrifice made,
It spreads like death, a creeping decay.
his shadow hungers for all that is pure,
It twists living essence, corrupts and obscures.
The four chosen bearers shall face their dark test
For the Devourer seeks to consume and ingest.
Should it swallow their powers and drain their bright flame,
The world falls to ruin, and nothing remains.
“They were the first to offer their blood,” Victor said. “They believed the gods of the elements would send power to save the world.
“And the fire answered. It gave them a son born of a flame.
“But for this gift, it took the sacrifice.
“After that no one dared to do it for a long while. We were afraid. The deaths of Valerius and Elara were a terrible blow and a tragedy.” He glanced toward Dricus with open pain.
Dricus sat unmoving, face of stone, yet I saw his hand twitch upon the table.
“The world continued,” father said. “Until the creatures came to our islands. Sea serpents greater than ships. Octopuses that dragged vessels under. Then my wife, Sarah, believed the prophecy more fiercely than I. She persuaded me that we must make the sacrifice. And we spilled our blood.”
His voice faltered.
“The element gave us a daughter born of water.” He looked at me.
My heart clenched in my breast. I knew what he would say next.
“But it took our son.” The old ache I knew too well rose in his eyes.
The room wheeled. I wished him to stop.
“All heard of my son’s illness,” he finished softly. “And the world forgot the prophecy again.”
“Until now. The Plague has reached the capital. Nicolas knew time had run thin. He went to the gods to beg their blessing. And the element gave him a son born of wind. In the offering it took him.”
Aidenar ceased to breathe. Cassandra sat rigid, face as pale as ash, her eyes like twin blades full of hatred.
“The Plague and the monsters are no accident,” father said firmly. “Someone has opened our world to the dark. Someone prayed to the god of darkness and poisoned the elements. Yesterday, someone tried to kill my daughter. And nearly succeeded.”
A murmur stirred the hall. I felt every gaze turn upon me.
My father reached into his cloak and set upon the table black bracelets that the medic was wearing.
“My wife’s visions sent me here. There are people who are ready to serve darkness, who want to destroy Dominium and the peace that reigns here.
These stones bear forbidden magic, we will destroy them.
But I’m afraid it’s just the beginning. We do not know their number, nor who commands them.
Though I know this much. The prophecy is no myth. ”
He lifted his eyes and let them pass over the room.
“To save this world and bring back the balance, the four elements must be reborn. Three of the chosen sit in this chamber, children of Families that paid the price. We need the fourth.”
No one spoke. All stared at the obsidian stones as if they were the one to speak.
Suddenly Lord Mermont leapt to his feet, fury burning in his eyes.
“After all this, do you really expect any of us to risk the lives of our Families to make another sacrifice?!” he exploded, pounding the table with his fist.
“Preposterous,” Orthalis shouted.
“You ruined your own Family with black arts and the ravings of your wife,” hissed Salvadore, pointing at my father.
“No one will force us to sacrifice our children,” Dorthal added, rising from his chair and spreading his arms dramatically.
The room turned to chaos.
Voices rose together, shouts and wrath and blame. The air trembled with feeling, and I sat motionless, as if ice bound every limb.
Then my father’s voice thundered. “Enough!”
Stillness fell like a sword. Victor Veymaris stood, vast and unshaken, a light in his eyes that made even the boldest lords lower their gaze.
Even Cassandra, at the end of the table, started.
“The fourth is already born,” he said slowly. “We just don’t know who he or she is.”
Disbelief moved from face to face.
“That is why the Plague strikes ever nearer,” he said. “The balance is broken, and only the four can restore it.”
“How are you certain?” Lord Orthalis asked, cool and leaning forward. “What tells you the fourth has come?”
Father sighed.
“My wife’s visions.” Several lords groaned in doubt.
“All signs agree. Ask the astrologers what transpires in the night sky. The wandering stars have aligned in a specific constellation. The last to rise was Aetheris.” He glanced at the star map on the wall, where silver lines bound four sigils: Pyrrhos, Gaia, Thalassa, Aetheris.
Then he looked to Aidenar, whom he deemed the last change.
“Very well,” another lord said, uncertain. “Say we find the fourth. What then?”
“Then we have four youths, each bearing an element. And what? Are they supposed to vanquish all monsters with a wave of their hand?” someone at the far end muttered.
Father’s gaze grew flint-hard.
“We do not know yet how to break the Plague,” he said. “But without the four we have no hope at all.”
Murmurs returned.
“We must find the old element temples,” he added. “Each Family had its own, each made a sacrifice within its own walls. Power still smolders in the ruins. Only there may we find the prophecy in full.”
He took a map of the Dominium and unrolled it upon the table.
“Most temples lie broken, but their forces still breathe. If there is any chance, we must reach as many as we can.”
The lords whispered among themselves until Victor lifted his voice again.
“As for the fourth heir,” he said, and paused, measuring every face, “one of you made the sacrifice. Willingly or not. Someone among your Families bestowed the gift of earth upon a child.”
A rumble moved through the chamber.
“If it is one of yours,” Father said, “this is the hour to speak. You may wish to hide the child, but it is better to keep him with us than to leave it to the demons of the dark.”
“So you suggest,” Lord Salvadore drawled, “that one of us has an illegitimate child for whom he’s made a sacrifice to the gods?”
“Absurd,” Ortalis scoffed.
“Don’t creep into people’s beds, Victor,” Mermont growled.
“Perhaps we should,” Lady Dravenor said, her eyes like frost upon Mermont. “Secrets do not last long in yours.”
“Hold your tongue, woman,” he grated, his face reddening like a ripe apple.
Some lords barked nervous laughter.
Others rose, gesturing, quarreling without aim. Chaos again. I saw Cassandra shut her eyes as though to master a pounding ache. Finally, she stood, composed as ever, though there was a glint of ice in her eyes.
“I think we all need a moment to calm down,” she said. “I propose a recess.” She looked at my father. “Before anyone here actually strangles someone.”
Father inclined his head, and the assembly slowly broke apart, cloaks whispering, voices muttering. I felt sick. I could not endure another word. Before anyone could stop me, I fled the room.
The cold corridors struck my face with air sharp enough to spin my head. I reached the stables, stumbled at the threshold, and vomited between the bales of hay. The words were ringing in my head.
The four chosen bearers shall face their dark test
For the Devourer seeks to consume and ingest.
Should it swallow their powers and drain their bright flame,
The world falls to ruin, and nothing remains.
My whole body shook. Then I took a horse. I didn’t think. The gray gelding snorted, as if he felt my turmoil. I sprang to the saddle and raced forward, across the court, through the gate, until the wind sheared tears from my cheeks.
White City lay in a bay, but beyond that stretched the white cliffs, stretching along the coast like giant’s teeth.
I galloped toward them, faster and harder, my heart beating to the drum of hooves. I felt nothing, neither chill nor weariness, only emptiness. I did not want to be chosen. I did not wish to save the world. I didn’t even want the world that asked it of me.