KALEEN
KALEEN.
Kaleen.
Liiara!
I could Feel them. In every woven strand of my Seership. I could Feel their fright and their pain; their wounds and their anger. I could Feel the world breaking apart, piece by piece, in an anguish that wanted to fill every crevice of my being.
KAL!
We need you.
Me? But I...
"Liiara. Liiara."
I had discovered my Flaw, and now stood facing it, laid out as plain and bare as the blue blood that filled my veins.
I had to trust.
I had to take a step into the dark, and trust.
With the fate of a dying world on my shoulders, perhaps every thought, every decision I had ever made should have been completed with that goal in mine. And, unavoidably, that's true. But I was selfish, because I had held on to the people I loved for far too long. Held on to Jan for far too long; demanded that fate give him to me because I loved him. I wanted to spend the rest of my life at his side. Jan gave up Calladon for me.
But I couldn't give up the world for him, could I?
Feeling and listening as I moved through that Dark, in that lonely moment, I understood what Oran didn't. I could See what the Seer couldn't. Because it was my Choice—my final decision. A Choice that only I could make.
I had to set aside everything I wanted to keep and trust that it would still be okay in the end. To overcome my strongest, my heaviest of all my human flaws. To keep moving forward and go serenely to my death. Because destroying Coerce would require my life.
She was empty, after all, nothing but Dark Emotions, utter hopelessness. And I had the threads to fill her. I was her other half. I was the Light she was missing. She needed to be whole to be destroyed completely.
It was strange to reach the end of the journey. The end that was so much quieter than fairytales tended to depict. I felt far calmer than perhaps I had a right to. I didn't think anyone else had yet realized just what it was going to take to defeat Coerce, but I knew.
Perhaps I'd always known.
If history were to say one thing of me in that book that Elyus carries, written by his ridiculous purple quill, I wouldn't care if it mentioned nothing of my experiences in Calladon. Maybe the sad love story concerning Jan and I could be ignored as well. What I would want anyone and everyone to know was that I, at the ending of it all, took on the battle within myself.
And I won.
So, walking through that nothingness, I opened my eyes.
The Dark around me was immediately banished, burning away like the nothing it was because I blazed like a brand new sun where I stood. From my feet to my fingers to every strand of hair, lit up like a beacon. Callorah spread out before me, dying swiftly before my gaze, the very fabric of Humra threatening to unravel. Evil Emotions assaulted me the moment I arrived, but my Seership was my shield, and they couldn't touch me. I felt sick as I both sensed and saw Coerce's threads, tangled through the air, like gossamer strings of a spider's web, and the Pack members I had come to love destroying each other. Trapped in the center of her Hate.
And where was Jan?
A harsh gale suddenly slapped me in the face, feeling as if fingernails were scraping my skin. It was all I could do to brace myself against the onslaught and keep my footing. I would absolutely not kneel before her.
'He's mine!' Coerce hissed.
My mind scanned for his, panic filling me when I sensed him only faintly, like a pulse that slowed when it got too cold. Layers of Dark threads wrapped around his being stood between us like a solid wall. Again, Coerce blew her Fury my way, and I could Feel her all-consuming desire to destroy the Gift bearer, the one who had betrayed her. It was enormous, this Hatred. It had damaged the imperfect half of Kaleen's soul until, combined with the Dark. It had warped her into this monster that wanted nothing more than to destroy this world because—
All because—
I felt my eyes flare open, in disbelief.
'He betrayed me!' Coerce shrieked, her chorus of voices resembling a storm pushing through the jagged edges of towering cliffs. Rubble lifted into the air and smashed into pieces, like they had been crushed by a giant fist; the particles were thrown in every direction. The damage done when a soul can't find a way to understand the threads of Forgiveness and Trust, of Selflessness. 'I should have been YOU!'
Me. The Light. The healing half. The Liiara.
"You were," I whispered. "Once."
Shadows stood between me and my Conjoined. But of course, where there's a will, there's a way.
"Now let go of him."
My Seership blazed where it hung from me, splayed out from the wind, the unfinished edges trailing like sparks that were struggling to ignite. But I hadn't dedicated my life to it for nothing. I pried into Coerce's threads, pulling them back, reaching out to Connect to Jan.
Pain.
Complete, devastating pain slammed into me, so powerful, so solid, that I gasped, staggering where I stood. Only sheer will kept me on my feet.
'She... is ruthless...' Jan’s thought was faint. Underneath the attack of Dark threads, his Gift was gaining power, on the verge of consuming his essence, so close to no longer being bound to his blood.
'But we're stronger,' I countered, grasping hold of a thread of Love on my Seership, spiraling it his way through our Connection. Fortifying him.
'And I'm sick of her,' Jan snarled.
It looked as if a supernova had exploded from the center of the world when Jan ruptured the Black Emotions encasing him. Sound momentarily stopped existing, my frail mortal body nearly quitting under the aura he exuded. Coerce's threads reeled back, drawing into themselves, gleaming wickedly, shattering the light being thrown their way. Shapes began to form as they twisted and spun; she was creating Hordes from those threads.
On my wrist, the Sacra Band shone with such severity that had I not been shielded by my Seership, it would have melted my eyes.
My mind searched until I found Nate's mind-song. He was among the white stones of Callorah, and I reached out.
'Nate.'
NATE
‘I LOVE YOU.'
Nate stood in the vast entrance room, knowing only that Malin and Rya were nearby because he trusted them to stay with him. But no sooner had Kal's words entered his head than the key to Veils flared far in the distance, so bright that its light stretched across Callorah’s devastated landscape.
It revealed shadowy forms were solidifying, speeding their way as they raced across the floor from the corners of the hall, where the Dark was receding to get away from the light. Black beasts howled and crawled and scraped into existence, their only intent to find the source of light and to destroy it. The throne of Calladon cracked under claws that gouged it as monsters climbed over it; within moments it burst to pieces, scattering to dust. The gold and white fabric that had draped across its surface was shredded.
"This way, Nate!" Malin grasped hold of his arm to drag him back, tearing his eyes away from the madness. Rya leaped forward, her crays already singing as they flew. He stumbled as Malin shoved him towards the doors. "Go!"
"It's just like Jan said." Rya grunted as she grasped hold of one cray returning to her and sliced it across the neck of a beast. "She's turning Callorah into a fallen Sanctuary."
"Then I suppose it's time," Malin replied evenly, spinning his staff, his movements familiar and graceful from his years of experience.
"What are you waiting for?" Nate demanded, outlined from the glow permeating through the doorway. "Come on!"
"They'll catch you," Rya answered. Her crays outstretched like wings before she spun forward, sending them soaring.
"We can't let Coerce have Callorah," Malin added, sparing a moment to give a reassuring smile. "Go on." He gave a solemn salute. "May Hope grow eternal."
Opening his mouth, the human boy protested, "No! Please not yet—don't leave me alone—"
After giving Malin a quick, powerful kiss, Rya delivered one final kick towards a beast, sending it crashing into the opposite wall. Then she leaned down, blew out her breath towards the floor, directly in the center of the spiraling design she had created from her powder.
Like a wick that had been lit, the faint glowing that it had previously shed steadily grew brighter. The framework that had taken shape under her hands was revealed; symbols of the same language adorning the Sacra Band now unveiled themselves along the white stones.
Then, everything exploded.
Callorah seemed to growl, her foundations buckling from the impact, her walls shattering. Nate skittered back, thrown off his feet from the eruption. He tumbled midway down Callorah’s front steps as she buckled.
Collapsing right before Nate's horrified eyes.
White dust and fragments of white stone erupted into the air, contrasting sharply with the blackness of the sky, coating the human boy as he shielded himself. Streaks lined his face, the tears trailing through the grime on his skin.
Above everything else, he reminded himself.
Nate stood and ran.
KALEEN
IT WASN'T EASY, UNWEAVING MY SEERSHIP. THE STRANDS WERE JUST AS MUCH a part of me as every drop of blood that rushed through my body. But every thread I loosed to the sky tangled with Coerce's destructive web and began to burn like beads that had dripped off the suns, scorching away the frosted tendrils of Dark. The utter sightlessness of Long Night was forcibly peeling away; patches of light were breaking through to illuminate the world.
I had shut my eyes to the horror before me to focus on the Feel of freeing the minds of those I cared about from Coerce's clutches. Connected to Jan, I was in every movement he made to fend off the shadows trying frenziedly to snatch me. His heartbeat was the one true, unchanging thing I could rely on.
The Grons stood facing the West, where Hordes engulfed the ground as they approached, shaping from the black in a destructive wave. The Magi, more healers than fighters, set their attention to grasping hold of the threads I was releasing to increase their healing ability and they attended to those I freed who were wounded.
One by one, like cutting the strings that tied down a bird trying to fly, I released every Nalii from Coerce's hands. Shrieking with her Rage, she amassed herself within her Dark, pummeling me with everything she could grasp. Which was quite a formidable amount of Dark Emotions. With my Seership threading out, leaving me increasingly bare, I had less of a shield to prevent her attacks. I felt like I was trying to breathe through a wet mist that clung to me, seeping into my bones, freezing, killing. My human body was failing me, and it was Jan’s heartbeat, tied to mine, that pulled my heart along.
On my wrist, the key to Veils did its best to thaw out the cold that steadily tryied to engulf me.
Hordes arrived through the deep crags and fissures Coerce created throughout the length of the world. The Pack members I freed fled towards where Jan remained a distance in front of me, guarding. The moment I snapped the last Dark thread binding a Nalii, the tension in my Conjoined's body fled so visibly from his relief that his shoulders sagged for a second. Only I would have noticed.
'Perhaps you know me too well.'
'There's no such thing.'
A few of the first members of the Pack who reached Jan threw their arms around him, as if trying to take a firm grasp of Hope to steady themselves. He had to have known from me, because he hadn't paid attention to himself, that he was glowing faintly. I knew from him that I was too. But it was as if I was only a spark, and to fully ignite...
The Pack, appallingly smaller in number, huddled before Jan, who glanced back to watch my approach. I scanned the area, knowing we had precious moments to gather ourselves, to brace for the final impact. And the thought struck me with its full weight for the first time.
We are near the end.
Terek appeared, gently making his way through the crowd, weary and covered in grime. He clasped his hand to Jan's forearm in greeting and said evenly, "Callorah has fallen."
Jan bowed his head for a long moment. Then he merely nodded. We had both felt the collapse of the white stone castle like a shock that had jarred our pulse.
"But we have not come this far to surrender now," Terek intoned, stepping back. He let his gaze sweep over the Pack. "You have brought us Hope." He could have been speaking to anyone.
I came to a halt by Jan’s side, looking from face to face to See what Emotions the Nalii held, happy with what I found. Jan entwined his fingers with mine.
Terek smiled gently, looking to his people. "And we will be Callorah. We will be Calladon." He turned his kind eyes to the side. "What say you, Crownless One?"
Jan lifted his head. "I have had my fill of sorrow. I have had enough of pain and grief and loss and endless efforts availing nothing. Let the lullabies you sing to your children be your battle cry. Let your friendship for each other be your shields. Let your Hope for a better tomorrow be your Light to dispel the Dark."
Jan faced the spiraling storm of Dark, standing immovably by my side. "Coerce―"
"―we defy you," I finished.
'Do you truly think you and your blue veins can deny me of anything?' she wanted to know, her mind an endless void of Anguish. Jagged bolts of frost, like twisted lightening, began to smash into the ground, sucking all light towards them. The Hordes were so close. So ready to tear us into nothing. The Pack and I spread apart, forming a circle, no beginning and no end, facing the death that surrounded us.
Now. The time was now.
Jan went rigid as the truth I had withheld from him, the truth that Oran had told me, flooded through my entire soul. The key to Veils was calling to me, and I opened my mind to it, letting the bond between it and me free.
“Kal!”
My brother’s shout startled me, pulling me from my concentration. Nate ran for me with every ounce of strength he possessed; behind him, the Horde bore down, frost shattering through the air.
'I may have blue human blood in my veins,' I told Coerce, running forward, holding out my hand towards Nate to draw him into safety. My entire body was flickering, an igniting flame, and the key to Veils dissolved into my wrist. 'But humans bleed Naliian red.'
Nate’s mind-song sang as he stretched his hand out for me in return—
And my face was sprayed with my brother's blood as the shadows that had chased him ripped through his heart.