Chapter 9 Kieran #2
No one spoke and the heavy silence pressed down on me.
I met Gabe’s mom’s eyes shining back at me before meeting Mithrie’s and Selene’s.
All three radiated the same quiet belief that the wyvern queen had.
I knew their silence wasn’t disrespect or a sign of any lack of support as I stared back.
It became clear as the crowd began to quietly speak amongst themselves that they were allowing those gathered here to come to their own conclusions.
I understood that. Now was the time to give a voice back to the citizens, instead of taking the choice away from them in how to move forward.
That was a way of the past, and I wouldn’t ask anyone to blindly follow me because the leaders that were still respected demanded it.
So I stood tall with my shoulders back and chin high as I gazed out at the crowd.
“If you place your trust in me and what I’ve told you, I will consider it a high honor, but I will not make myself the figurehead of Alfemir.
All I wish to do is unite our forces for what is coming our way, still, as we work to rebuild a future together. ”
There were some faces I recognized from the crowd that had watched my execution in Alfemir. A few turned away from me as my eyes passed over them, mostly the Archangels among them, guilt shadowing familiar features.
It urged me on, lending strength and volume to my voice as it rose.
“I do not wish for any of you here to feel guilt in not knowing what was happening. We were all kept in the dark on purpose–to control us and use us in their schemes. All of us are victims of their tyranny. We can all stand together now, knowing that.”
My eyes fell over each group as I continued. “The wyverns. The fallen. The remaining angels in Alfemir. We can be united once more.”
From somewhere near the back of the Elementalist side, a voice rose. “We will stand with you.”
That one voice was all it took to become a steady, slow build of those standing and joining in with their agreement, until it was a cacophony of support. My chest tightened, breath catching as I realized they weren’t turning away this time. They saw me. They believed me.
“You may be wondering why we decided to return now to the very place that drove us out,” I began as the crowd settled down.
“Some may even be wondering who I am to stand before you now and offer myself as a voice as we forge a path forward. Some did not hear my words during my trial, so I will say it once more and expand for all to hear.”
The crowd was silent once more, enraptured and hanging on to each word.
“When I fled Alfemir, I was running from a society that decided I had no worth because I failed my placement test again and again. That I deserved to have my wings ripped from my body and to no longer call myself an angel. What I found in the Rebellion was a truth that changed everything and gave myself and all the others in my position our worth back. We weren’t powerless or less than.
We just had powers that Alfemir sought to kill, now known as dead affinities since they no longer existed–which was due to the Archangel's diligence in ensuring that stayed true.”
A few gasps rang out and my lips thinned. I was sure that my words had spread throughout Alfemir by now, but hearing it firsthand was likely a lot to take in. Rumors were one thing; having life-altering truths confirmed from my own lips was another.
“A prophecy was revealed to me when I found out that I’m a Star Keeper,” I said, drawing a deep breath before continuing.
“It spoke of an end for the world as we know it, when all the stars in our sky fall. My father and all of those that knew of the dead affinities sought to kill me, without knowing or caring that I am the one fated to try to save us all from that same prophecy.”
I steadied myself. “They were so blinded by my father’s bruised ego that couldn’t stand having a daughter who freely chose to escape him and this society, that they almost condemned us all with my death.
That is the world we will break away from.
We will rebuild a new one in which all of our well-being matters, equally. ”
A ripple of voices spread through the chamber.
“Behind me are a Shadow Commander, Archimage, Rune Maker, and Shape Shifter.”
Wide eyes stared back at me from both sides of the crowd as their gazes roamed over my men.
“The triads declared our affinities extinct centuries ago, but the truth is that we were erased—cut from every record, every memory—because our existence threatened the order they built after our ancestors rebelled and threatened their power.”
No one dared to speak and my eyes shifted to the wyvern along the wall, knowing it was vital to speak of their history here and now.
“This isn’t the first time they’ve purged what they feared,” I said, meeting the eyes of each of the wyvern in the room.
“You may not recognize the two standing before you, but you should. They are as much a part of Alfemir’s history as any angel.
Wyverns lived beside us once, as equals, until their power grew too great to control. ”
I drew a steadying breath. “When one of the triad’s members wanted what they couldn’t have and the wyverns refused to bend, they called them dangerous. They ordered a cleansing.”
My voice didn’t waver as I clarified. “It was genocide.”
My gaze found Nora and Conan. “They ripped magic from the wyverns they didn’t slaughter, leaving them without a human form to shift into.
They drove them into the forests and mountains, leaving them to use as beasts to tame in the future–the wyverns you all know.
But some survived with their magic intact and escaped.
They endured and rebuilt against all odds. ”
A tremor crossed Nora’s face as I saw tears gathering in her eyes. My own throat grew tight with emotion but I swallowed it down to gaze back out at the crowd.
“I can’t undo what they did,” I said softly, shaking my head for a moment to gather my surging anger.
“But I can promise this: while I still draw breath, I won’t sit aside and let this happen ever again.
Not to the wyverns. Not to anyone. I will fight to save the stars from falling and allow us all the time needed to rebuild together. ”
Nora’s sharp gaze lingered on me as the chamber fell silent and she stepped forward, drawing the attention of all in the room.
“Our trust is not easily given after what our people have had to endure,” she announced with the composure of a queen, “but it is time to acknowledge that the past doesn’t dictate the future.
We once viewed all angels as our enemies in the fallout of our near extinction, but no longer.
You do not stand alone, Kieran. You have the backing of all the wyvern. ”
Her words settled deep within my heart and all I could manage was a grateful nod as heat pricked at my eyes.
When Archangel Astor stepped forward and drew my focus, the concern etched across her pinched face quickly quelled any warm feelings stirring within my chest.
“Kieran,” she said, voice steady but heavy, “before we let ourselves hope too much for a future past the stars falling, we need to remember the nature of the triads we served and what could happen in our rebellion now.”
You could have heard a pin drop in the silence of her words, and my gut churned with apprehension. I had known in the back of my mind since Niz explained the history of wyverns to us that the upper triads could be a problem, but everything in me hoped to not worry about that yet.
My body tensed as I gestured toward her. “Please expand. We need all of the information we can get.”
There was already so much on our plates with needing to get Alfemir in a new order and for my focus to turn to the dying stars. I didn’t know how we were supposed to handle anything more.
“The Archangels were created to maintain balance between Alfemir and the first and second triads,” she said, her tone steady but edged with regret.
“We have always served their orders and in hearing the truth of what has occurred, I fear that those orders will always be righteous violence in their eyes. Archangel Shrue can expand.”
An older Archangel stood up next to her and twined his hands together.
“There is a pattern in all of these histories. When the wyverns’ power grew too great, the triads answered with annihilation.
When the angelic rebellion rose, they did the same and rewrote history, wiping affinities from our knowledge. ”
My lips thinned, my head nodding in acknowledgement.
He cleared his throat and announced, “I knew of everything going on and was too fearful to speak up and stop it. I knew my dissent alone couldn’t change anything.”
Unease rippled through the chamber and he nodded. “I understand your anger and I am ashamed of placing my selfishness to live above the good of all. I can do nothing but ensure that we are all aware of the dangers we face now, with my knowledge.”
While I would have loved if someone else stood up earlier within Alfemir to put an end to this, deep down I knew the truth in his words.
If he had spoken up alone, he would have been disposed of before he could take another breath.
I held no judgment for his actions–it was survival in a world that held no room for leniency or questioning.
“And now with Alfemir’s careful order destroyed, they’ll see this alliance,” Archangel Astor said, as her hand swept toward the wyverns and us, “as another rebellion. They’ll come to correct it as they have with anyone who stepped out of line or didn’t abide by their rules, as they always have.”
A low murmur spread through the chamber as my men edged closer at my back.
Bile rose in my throat as my stomach twisted. Everything I wanted to shove to the corner of my mind to worry about later was suddenly being ripped to the forefront.
“You think this isn’t just a possibility, but a certainty?” I asked, needing clarity as I looked between Astor and Shrue.
They exchanged a look and nodded at each other, clearly already having had this somber conversation.
Archangel Astor’s voice carried over the quiet. “The only question is when will they come to correct this uprising.”