MALIN
IT WAS HORROR UNLEASHED.
So many dead, Malin lamented, feeling an ache deep in his chest.
The Pack stood somberly, overlooking scenes that should have remained in nightmares playing out before them. Spread out across Callorah's front steps, with the Grons standing around the large building, they surveyed the massacre their former comrades and friends inflicted on each other. Spurred on by distrust and anger and fear, they had lost what mattered most to them.
"When they have caused as much pain and suffering as they like, they can find us here for healing," Jan said as he had paced before his Pack. The Pack's children and a few women had already been escorted to Terek's manor, where Calla and Lessa oversaw them. "Our only task here is to bring the innocent into safety." He glanced over his shoulder, brow creasing. "And we'll need to do it quickly."
"You have already taken away those who would follow you," Serrin argued, scowling.
Alajan's eyes were stricken as he clarified, "I meant children, Serrin." His gaze returned to his people who had lost themselves below. "I couldn't save them, but we can save their children."
Malin didn’t care to remember the heart-pumping experience of maneuvering his way through the vicious fighting to find those who were hiding. The haunted expressions on the faces of every child he carried, and those who willingly ran behind him to Terek's home, tore at his core. He brought them to Calla's ready arms, enfolding them in safety and comfort.
In one case, he pried a boy, so terribly young, from the side of his dead mother. The feel of those little hands, sticky with blood that was still warm, encircling his neck to grasp the edges of his hair momentarily blurred his eyes with tears.
At another time he spotted Rya on her knees, sobbing uncontrollably over the bodies of three children whom they had been too late to rescue. Pulling her from the carnage, they ran, seeing that other Pack members made their way to the steps of Callorah. Jan had ordered them away from the increasing danger.
Hours passed. Though the Pack had obediently gathered, there was still no sign of Alajan.
Now, with his hands gripping his chipped metal staff, Malin’s head bowed under the weight of screams and burning homes and destruction. He wondered if he had turned to stone. What more horror would they discover once the fighting had stopped, and their task at healing begun? Why hadn't they allowed themselves to have hope in defeating Coerce? Why hadn't they followed after Jan, who had given so much in their behalf? Didn't sacrifice mean anything?
A small hand touched his shoulder cautiously, and he opened his eyes as Rya slid her arm through his, laying her head on his arm.
"I remember," he began, speaking lowly, "when King Anetherrin brought me here, shortly after I had lost my family and friends to Nathorin's attack. Tarnov was my home, and they destroyed it. But even as an orphan, I had found what I needed here over time." His vision swam, his features crumpling. "I never thought Callorah would be taken from me as well."
"It's just as Jan said before. Callorah is us now.” Rya her eyes over the haggard Pack. Looking back to Malin, squeezing his arm, she continued on earnestly, "You will never lose us."
No, Malin agreed silently, because I refuse to.
SERRIN
KICKING RUBBLE CARELESSLY TO THE SIDE, SERRIN ROAMED ACROSS GROUND that still smoldered. Stone and charred wood littered the area around him, the acrid smell of blood and smoke making his sensitive nose wrinkle. Remains were all that was left of what had once been Lord Entai's manor.
Serrin's footsteps came to a halt, and he crouched down, his gold-flecked eyes narrowing slightly.
A hand extended from among the rubble, thick-fingered and covered with crusted blood and gray ash. Several rings glittered dully. Serrin's own fingers hovered over it. All that was left of the man he had, years before when he was very young, been allowed to call Father.
After several moments with his hand quivering in the air, Serrin pulled back, standing up straight.
He walked away.
NATE
EVERYTHING WAS UNNERVINGLY QUIET NOW.
Technically, he wasn't supposed to know that, because he had been told to remain inside Terek's manor. But with such a crowd of depressed Nalii, it was easy to slip away with Joxie in tow. He hated sitting uselessly. Once outside he had realized there really wasn't anything he could do.
Joxie stood next to him on the crest of the hill, her hand in his, with tearstains on her cheek. From experience, Nate knew that it took a lot for Joxie to cry, and this... this had been a lot. Indescribably painful. They couldn't handle being around the Nalii who felt even worse than they did—two humans who were strangers to this place.
"Do you think it's over now?" Joxie asked, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. The very atmosphere high above seemed to demand hushed, somber voices as if it too were mourning what had just happened. On the far distant edges of the sky, rolling black clouds seeped onwards, smothering everything. Like the world was being abandoned and a terrible shroud was drawing over existence.
"If they've stopped killing each other, then the Pack is going to heal as many as possible," Nate responded, straining his eyes to see the desecrated city below. The lake no longer sparkled. Its edges were a mixture of coppery colored water from blood and wet clumps of ash scattered across its surface like an infesting disease.
"I don't understand any of it, but I hate not being able to help. Do you think we should go down there?"
"I don't—ow!" Nate scratched at his wrist, pulling off the Sacra Band and glaring at it in betrayal. "What was that for?"
Joxie's eyes were wide with concern. "What's the matter?"
"It's burning me," Nate yelped and let the metal band drop to the ground, shaking his fingers. The white scars on his hands from removing Coerce's collars seemed to glow, and he stopped, holding his hand before his eyes, bewilderment on his face.
From where she crouched, Joxie warily extended one finger to poke at the key. She hastily drew her hand back, hissing in pain. Standing up, she shrugged. "You would know what's going on with it before I would."
"I don't have a clue. We'd better find Jan." Nate bent down, scooping up the key, wincing as he did so. “Come on, we need to be quick."
Together, they ran.
The carnage below was awful. The smell assaulted Nate first as he pelted towards the wreckage, nearly causing him to stop right where he was and go seek fresh air. But the burning metal band in his hands kept him running forward.
Bodies everywhere. Destroyed homes. Screams of the wounded. Hands reaching out for him.
He felt Joxie take hold of his arm from where she was running beside him, and he burst forward with renewed fortitude, leading her through the desolation.
"Nate, stop," she suddenly insisted, dragging on his arm. Looking to her, he found she was pointing. "The Pack's down here. We were right, the fighting's over. They're healing now."
"Find Jan," Nate instructed, throwing his own gaze around in urgency. The Sacra Band throbbed unbearably in his hands, and he shook from the pain.
"Can you set it down? It's hurting you," Joxie asked in alarm. "Why is it hurting you?"
Nate's eyes suddenly flew wide. Without a word, he lifted a hand to point.
"That's..." Joxie paled, slowly taking one step towards the horizon they stared at. "Isn't that...?"
"That's a Horde," Nate whispered. "And it's coming right for us."
On the edge of the world, the iron-dark clouds that they had seen approaching had been the precursor to shadowy forms that trailed over the land. Even from this distance, they could see the frost that stretched over the ground, glittering wickedly.
"That's why they've stopped fighting." Joxie wrung the end of her hat in her hands. "What should we do?"
The key to Veils began to flicker in Nate's hands, and he cried out in shock, nearly dropping it to the ground.
"We need to split up and find Jan," Joxie answered herself, her voice firm. "I'll head this way." She began to backpedal the way they had come.
"No, wait! Jox!" Nate shouted, but his voice was lost as an earth-shaking crack exploded through the sky. Looking up, wondering if it was thunder that he had heard, Nate's jaw dropped at the swirling mass of blackness overhead.
If those were rain clouds, they definitely weren't like the ones back at home.
"Jox!" Nate called again, turning his eyes back down to where she had last been.
Gone.
With the Sacra PaBandck flickering earnestly in his grip, his hands now numb from its searing, he had no choice but to continue onward.
I've got to find Jan.
The oncoming Horde lay straight before his view as his feet carried him as fast as they could go. His skin prickled, his heart thumping wildly, for it seemed like it was coming directly towards him, and he was running straight for it. Nothing but ash and bodies surrounded him, nowhere to hide.
Where is he?
"Jan?" he finally shouted out, stopping where he was, panting heavily as he circled around to see everything. "Jan, where are you?" The metal band in his hands spat light furiously now, and it was all he could to hold on to it. He stopped his circling, looking to the oncoming Horde. His heart sank at its proximity.
Then, his eyes found a figure running towards him.
His heart nearly stopped beating as he gasped.
She wore all white, her hair flying behind her, her feet bare as she sprinted across the grassy plain that stretched before Callorah, untouched by the civil battle. The Horde was her backdrop, and the sky swirled with darkness overhead.
Running straight for him.
Nate no longer felt the key burning in his grip, as if he held the suns in his hands. Didn't notice as its light suddenly flared and went out.
Faintly, he could hear her calling out, "Nate!"
He took a few stumbling steps forward, disbelieving, his heart thundering in his ears. Unheeding to the crowd that had begun to accumulate behind him, drawn together to face the oncoming danger.
"Nate! Bring me my key!"
A few more teetering steps and he suddenly stopped, simply staring. His head felt fuzzy, as if his thoughts were obscured in fog. Frost raced across the ground, stretching out to curl around his toes.
She came to a standstill several paces before him, blue eyes wide with concern. One hand lifted, palm up. "Nate? Give me my Sacra Band."
The air he breathed in was frigid. "Why should I?"
Stunned, she stared at him. Looking back to the Horde, looking to the collapsed Callorah, she finally said, "What do you mean by that? If I had been here before this all started, I could have prevented this." She flung an arm out, gesturing towards the ruin. "Give me my Sacra Band and let me cleanse those who are still alive. I can free them from their Dark Emotions." She took a step forward. "It's what I'm meant for."
His grip tightened on the key as he clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head. The fog in his mind was brutally painful. "You want to force them? They made a choice. You can't force them to be free."
She shook her head at him, looking dismayed. "It's for their own good. It's for good." Her eyes blinked once, glimmering with tears, her features almost crumpling. "Please, Nate, don't do this to me. Let me save them. Give me my Sacra Band."
The fog in his head vanished, something in the back of his mind sending it rushing away in a torrent simply because he didn't want it there. Nate lifted his head. His blue eyes were hard. "No."
There was betrayal in her gaze. "Don't." She slowly shook her head. "Don't make me take it back by force."
"You'll have to," Nate snapped, "because that's all you're capable of, Coerce!"
She stared at him.
A tall figure came to stand beside Nate, setting a steady hand on his shoulder, bringing calm. Then Jan continued forward, placing himself between Nate and her.
"So be it," she whispered, closing her eyes.
Shadows swirled down from the sky as the wind howled like the world was in pain, encasing her from their view. Frost trailed through the air, growing upward in mocking replicas of the Serene Wood's trees before shattering, the pieces scattering with the wind. The shadows swirled away.
Coerce stood before them, half of her form melded into shadows and curling smoke, her veil fluttering over the upper half of her face. She smiled cruelly. "I've missed you, Jan," she said, extending her hands out, beseeching. "Won't you come back to me?"
Nate couldn't see what Jan’s expression was, but he was glad he wasn't on the receiving end of it. His growl rumbled the earth beneath their feet.
Coerce merely seemed amused. Frost coated across the ground in earnest as she moved.
ALAJAN
THE GIFT PULSED DEEP IN HIS CORE LIKE A CURRENT OF POWER THAT his body could barely contain. It was like the last strand of rhythm that his mind-song had been missing all along, unfinished until it had been freed from its prison to wander his veins from the moment Kaleen had purified it.
Coerce's proximity enraged it.
Haunting memories rose unbidden in his mind, and one glance to Nate earlier had told him the same was occurring to the human boy. The nightmare of living with no will, surrounded by Dark, was one that would follow them for as long as they would live.
"Where's my sister?" Nate demanded behind him. Jan set out a hand to stop him from moving any farther forward as his ears told him the boy was coming closer. His hand met Nate's shoulder and the human halted, quivering with rage beneath his fingers.
"She can see you," Coerce assured him. "She can hear you." Her veil fluttered, tattered and gray in the wind.
With his jaw clenched, Jan’s voice rumbled with suppressed anger. "Why are you here?"
Coerce regarded him levelly. "Certainly not for you, Crownless One. You are rather useless to me now." She shook her head in remorse. "If only you had your Gift. But you gave it to your Liiara to keep her safe from me, and that left yourself exposed instead. It was far too easy to strip you of your will."
"I have it," Jan barked, infuriated. His blood pounded in his veins. It wanted to be free from its hold. It wanted him to shift. "I’ve had it all along. The Gift is mine to control. The Charm Kaleen carries is empty." His fangs gleamed as he snarled, "I let you capture me. But I will never let you take her."
She tilted her head to the side curiously. "So you've managed to control it completely?" She was suddenly smiling, the expression sending shivers along his spine. "Isn't it interesting how you were unable to control it until you set it free, Crownless One?" She drew closer, and he stiffened as she came face-to-face with him, walking among her frost and shadows, her eyes covered by her veil. "Do you realize now that I am only here to make you all free?"
His hand encircled the handle of his scrith, and within a blink of an eye he had it drawn by his side, slicing the blade through the air towards her neck.
Her hand ripped her veil free, letting it dissolve into curling ash and smoke in the wind.
The scrith froze, suspended before her skin.
"As I've already told my brother," Kaleen said, her blue eyes cold with fury, "I'm here to do what I have always been supposed to do. Isn't this what you Nalii have been saying all along, for so many generations? That I would come to free you?"
Jan’s scrith lowered to his side as he stared, numb with horror, taking a step back in disbelief.
Her eyes slid to Nate. "I see you. I hear you." She looked past him, to the blood-stained, bone-weary Nalii and their allies, standing among the corpses of their friends. "You now see me for who I truly am, and it’s time for you to hear me."
The skin beneath Nate's freckles pooled red with building rage. "Who do you think you are, pretending to be Kal?" Joxie took his hand, pulling him to a stop as he stepped forward, shouting, "None of this is a game, Coerce! Take your sick and twisted ideas to the Abyss where you belong!"
Her eyes flashed. "I understand what's happening here much more than you ever could, Nate, so be quiet!"
The boy reeled as if slapped. "You're not Kal."
"Aren't I?" she countered bitterly. "Who held you when Mom died, Nate? Who told you everything would be okay? Who came after you to save you when you fell alone and defenseless into this world?"
Nate's eyes were wide, unseeing, as blank as glass.
"Who spent months serving Soniiya so she could discover where Caraak had sent you?" Kaleen persisted, taking a step towards Nate before Jan sidestepped and halted her progress. She ignored him entirely, her gaze fixated on the boy. "Who moved aside two Veils to let you rescue Joxie from our dying world?"
Nate simply shook his head slowly, sounding broken as he whispered, "You can't be her."
"I AM!" she screamed, and the wind swirled her shadows around her, frost shattering with a snap like thunder. "I am the key's wielder! I am the mover of Veils! I am the one freed to save you all from yourselves!" The Nalii shrank before her onslaught of Darkness, several crying out as her shards of ice tore across their skin, scattering more blood to the already soaked ground. Her Horde loomed ever closer, like an unstoppable storm. "And you..." She suddenly gave a sob, pointing her finger accusingly at the Nalii. "You betrayed me. From the very beginning, you made me who I am!" Tears flicked from her eyelashes as she shook her head sharply. "I became Coerce to save you all, and you betrayed me!"
"The ones who betrayed you, as you claim, are long dead, Coerce."
She turned her head to look at Jan, who met her frigid glare calmly. "You aren't," she seethed, with frost curling around her shoulders.
His eyes narrowed just the slightest.
"Do you remember me?" she questioned, her voice quiet, stepping nearer to him. "You know now what the Gift is. You know that it is the destroyed soul of the one who had given his heart to the key's first wielder, because he betrayed her. And you've set it free inside of you. You became him."
He bit down on his tongue, tasting blood.
"Do you remember me?" Coerce's finger hovered above his cheekbone, frost gathering on his skin in a tiny circle. "You are the one who split me in half, back when I joined with the Dark in the First War. I gave it a physical form so it could be defeated." She leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "That's how you got the color of your eyes, you know."
Remember her? Do you remember?
Coerce gave a wry smirk. "And now you are here, just as you promised, to split me apart again." The Dark in her eyes gave way to an unveiling, light blue—and he reeled back, disbelief clinging to his voice, rendering it useless in his throat.
He remembered.
THE SKY ITSELF WAS IN THOSE EYES, AND THEY WATCHED HIM CALMLY. His own showed the royal blue of midnight, restless, afraid.
"Now or never," she whispered to him through a smile that was of genuine Sorrow.
His hand, laced in the mauve fire of his healing ability reversed, trembled. His fingers were stiff and poised above her heart.
Then her eyes began to roil, starting to film over in a web of shadows. "That means now!"
"I'm so sorry," he breathed, his mind burning into ashes. "I'm so—"
He kissed her as his fingers plunged into her heart, reaching to her core. He watched as her eyes turned into a shade of pure white, and saw his own irises, reflecting off of her emptying orbs, started to tint darker. They hardened into a crimson hue—a memento he would forget why he had received.
'You have freed me,' she sighed inside his head through their Connection, a tide of exhilaration flowing through him that didn't come from him. His heart was shrieking. She spoke to him even as she fell, her form claimed by the hungry shadows, carrying her away to the Abyss.
Her Sacra Band dropped to the ground, flaring with white fire, hosting the pure half of her soul.
Despair crushed his own heart, and he took his last breath as a pair of hands—swathed in gold from the light they emitted—caught him. His Darkened soul emptied into the Charm hanging from his neck. And an entirely different set of blue eyes met his crimson ones.
"It is done," Elyus whispered, and golden tears dropped from his noble face.
ALAJAN SCREAMED AS HE BUCKLED TO HIS KNEES BEFORE COERCE, SHUTTING his eyes, his hands pressed over his ears, refusing—refusing—
"We were fused, you and I, into the very Charm and Sacra Band that enslaved us. From our failure, the Gift was born." Coerce—Kaleen?—watched his torture mercilessly. "Whoever wore them was us; whoever bore them was us. You and I. It was as if the Guides had given you a new body. A rebirth. And the human Kaleen you came to love...that pitiful, doomed one. The soul inside the key was opened to her, overcoming her mind, and she became me, became who she had been before. And you, Avvirant, the soul you have become fused with through the Charm once promised the Guides behind my back to split me apart if I was ever to rejoin myself, Dark and Light reunited." Her eyes were now completely black, no iris or white surrounding it. No Light at all. Her words were black thunder. "Will you keep your word?"
"Liiara, you told me you wouldn't!" he shouted, his words full of anguish, an entirely different world of memories filling his head to the brim. He remembered... remembered it all... a past life that was now his because of the Charm. And the two of them, Coerce and he, merged into new, innocent souls when they accepted the Charm and the Seer's key.
Inheriting the past of those powerful tokens and the souls within them.
Coerce regarded him indifferently. "I also promised once that I wouldn't give up," she reminded him callously, her face blank. “I won't allow you to tear me apart again."