56. Prophecy
A eden stood dumbfounded at what the director had just said to him. This was not how he had envisioned this conversation going down.
“Listen, you have the wrong person,” he said, “I don’t believe in fairy tales.”
The director waved Aeden’s defence away before she diverted her attention back to the open book in front of her and started reading aloud.
“It is written right here, in this very book. ‘When stone is split and silence breaks, the hidden thread shall start to weave. A bond forbidden, forged in grief, will call to that which none believe. The healer’s hand shall fail to mend, yet from that loss, the path shall bend. One soul unbound by rite or chain, shall reach beyond the Weave’s domain.
Where darkness feeds and roots run deep, a whisper wakes the one who sleeps.
And should the bond endure the cost, what once was hidden won’t be lost. But if that thread is torn in two, the world shall break and bleed anew.
Yet if it holds, as legends say, new life shall rise in lightless day, an untapped power, long concealed, and a new line of Aer-Kin revealed. ’”
Aeden looked back across the table with a blank expression. He could barely remember the entire paragraph of text the director had just recited.
“A bond forbidden,” the director started as she moved from behind her table.
“You’re the first person to bond with an Aer-Kin outside of the hatching ceremony at the academy.
Forged in grief,” she continued. “You are orphaned, are you not? The healer’s hand,” she referenced another part of the text, “all of these things are simply too much of a coincidence. Don’t you see? You are him.”
A torrent of thoughts battled inside Aeden’s mind, and he had so many questions. What was this prophecy? Who exactly had said it, where had it come from, and what was it that they expected it to mean?
The director moved in front of Aeden, wide-eyed with wonder.
“What was hidden won’t be lost, long concealed, a new line of Aer-Kin revealed.
Don’t you get it? You are the key in all of this, to strengthening this academy and all of its students, to helping us become more powerful than you could even begin to comprehend.
Powerful enough to stop wars ever starting. ”
“He’s a boy, Vale. Not your saviour. Putting a prophecy on his shoulders won’t stop what’s coming,” Master Storme said, reminding everyone of his presence.
“We don’t have time. If the Sable twins react as expected, we need to ready ourselves for what is to come,” Director Vale said.
“At least that is one thing we can agree on,” Master Sorrel said. “Their master will not be happy in the least. ”
“What are you all talking about? This is too much. I’m not anyone, I’m just here to train how to be a rider.” It was a lie but something that Aeden was happy to stick to. For now, at least. “Who is their master and what does he want?”
Master Storme let out a huge huff of frustration.
“You see what talking in riddles does?” He stepped towards Aeden, and for a second Aeden thought he was about to receive a blow to the side of the head.
It was what he had come to expect from Master Storme every time he made a mistake.
“Your parents’ deaths weren’t an accident.
It was calculated, they were murdered to try and eradicate a bloodline, the one this prophecy speaks of.
We don’t know how they knew about it or why they suspected the Support class was involved, but they instigated the attack that killed them all.
” There was a desperation in Master Storme’s eyes.
Aeden had to remind himself that those killed were from his cohort, that he had lost people he cared about that day, too.
“When the Sable twins turned up unannounced, we knew they were looking for that same bloodline, the one we all thought had been wiped out. You were not the only one orphaned by the Battle of Weir, and we’re sure we were not far away from them executing every one of you, which is why we’ve been doing our best to hide all of your records.
To at least delay them. They were growing desperate, but their power is unmatched. ”
“What he’s trying to say is that up until Kael told them about you and your ‘broken Aer-Kin’, we thought we had a chance,” Director Vale said.
“Everything from that point moved so quickly that we didn’t have time to regroup.
We had to make a decision, and that decision was to stand side by side with you. Because of the prophecy. ”
“And damn the rest of us at the same time,” Master Sorrel quipped, a look of disgust on his face.
The director didn’t respond immediately.
“A chance against who? Who is it that we are fighting against? Who is it the Sable twins are working for?” Aeden pressed.
Director Vale cut a solemn figure as she weighed up her options, eyeing each of the masters in the room.
“What are you not telling me?” Aeden’s frustration spiked. “What are you not telling all of us?”
Director Vale leaned against her table and let out a slow sigh. “What I am about to tell you cannot be shared amongst the other students. I am only telling you as I believe you are key to ending all of this. Do I have your word?”
With little other option, Aeden reluctantly nodded.
“Twenty-two years ago, a man known as Malveus Viroz contested everything that the Conclave was doing. He challenged the very foundations of everything they stand for.” Director Vale had a serious look on her face.
“The problem was, Malveus was always an opinionated rider, but he was also an Archon, one of only a handful of the most powerful riders across Nevaria. Their role was to serve the crown they had sworn to protect. Malveus was strong and cunning. He should never have been allowed that rank, but no one could have foreseen the depth he would sink for power. He believed in blood purity just like the Conclave, however that was where his beliefs started to change. He wanted to mix pure bloodlines, to create new breeds of Aer-Kin. He wanted to create a new line of powers by messing with the very fibres of the Weave. ”
Aeden listened intently as he tried to process everything Director Vale was saying.
“He started experimenting on his own Weave with his own Aer-Kin. When this was discovered by the Conclave, he was condemned and stripped of his rank and tossed in the dungeon for execution. This was to be behind closed doors. They wanted no one to know about the unnatural things that Malveus spoke of, his ideation was simply unhinged. Unfortunately for the Conclave, he had already started gathering followers, people within the Conclave. They helped him escape, and they fled. To where, no one knows, but he has shown his face now through the Sable twins, which means his numbers have grown. There have been whispers in the Conclave about him, but until now, nothing concrete. I have no doubt that he is the master that the Sable twins spoke of. Which is why we have sent word to the Conclave for support. He has had twenty-two years to grow, and to what levels, we do not know. We’re effectively going into battle blind. ”
Aeden was reeling from everything he was hearing. There was so much to take in, so much information that had been shared, that he didn’t know what to do with it all.
“Why me, why here, why now?” he said. “Maybe you’ve got it all wrong, maybe what the prophecy is saying isn’t linked to me but to someone else, or maybe it’s exactly what I see, just some words written on a page.”
“It’s so much more than that,” Director Vale said.
“If the prophecy is true, which I have come to believe, then you will be the force to tip the scales of war in our favour and restore the balance. This won’t just affect the academy, it will bring a new era across Nevaria, one of prosperity.
Not only that, it will ensure that whatever Malveus is planning, we are able to defend ourselves and Nevaria. ”
Director Vale moved back behind her desk and studied the set once more.
“We have all been keeping a close eye on you. You bonded outside of our ceremony. That is the forbidden link. You are a healer, just as the text explains. What was hidden won’t be lost. The bloodline, the ancient bloodline that they are looking for, it’s you, it has always been you.
I believe it now.” Director Vale looked at Master Sorrel, who looked far from happy with her.
“This prophecy is so much bigger than you or I, Master Sorrel,” she said, “and if we are correct, you know the impact this will have on the wider world, and you know as well as I just how important that is.”
If Director Vale was correct, then the Sable twins would be back. “How do you think they will retaliate?” Aeden asked. This was on him. The academy was now in danger, and it was all his fault.
“With force,” Master Storme growled. “And we’ll be ready for them. Orion thinks little of the calibre of students we are training here, but I think we should let them come. We’ll show them exactly what the academy stands for. And we must protect Harrington at all costs.”