Briar Glen was a vast, circular area surrounded with old, mossy, stone pillars that looked like they belonged in the ancient Greek city of Olympia. In the center, a woman stood atop a field of grass, her hands folded in front of her. She wore a long crimson robe and had her black hair fixed into a thick, single braid that draped over her shoulder and ended at her waist.
As Addison walked toward the woman, she sensed something familiar about her. It was like she knew her, even though she was sure they’d never met.
“Are you Sayuri?” Addison asked.
“I am.”
“I was told to meet you here.”
Sayuri held out a hand. Addison stared at it a moment and then took it. The moment they touched the familiarity Addison felt for the woman grew even more.
“I thought you were a sorcerer,” Addison said. “You’re a necromancer too, aren’t you? I can feel it.”
Sayuri released Addison’s hand and said, “You are right. I am both.”
“You’re younger than I thought you’d be.”
Sayuri nodded. “Here, we can be any age we choose, and I was rather fond of my twenties.”
“How long have you been in Gaia?”
“A few centuries now.”
“How did you come to be here?”
“I’ll answer your question with a story.”
The story that followed was one of sorrow and despair. Sayuri’s mother, Beatrix, was a necromancer. Before Sayuri was born, her mother lived a quiet life in the countryside. She lived alone, away from prying eyes and suspicious townsfolk. In the country, she had little use for magic.
One year, as Beatrix watched the crops she’d planted dwindle in the harsh frost of the season, she used her magic, casting a health-and-abundance spell over her land. Not long after, the seeds she planted began to flourish, providing her with the best garden she’d grown in years.
Some weeks later, there was a knock at the door of Beatrix’s cabin. She opened the door to find a child standing in front of her. He was crying and filthy from head to toe, as if he hadn’t bathed in weeks. When she asked him where he came from, he said he didn’t know. He’d been traveling, moving to a new town with his mother and father. Along the way he’d lost both parents after they were murdered by a group of savage men looking to steal their possessions.
The boy was an only child, and although there was much debate between the men about whether he should meet the same fate as his parents, the leader of the group spared his life. In his view, if the boy found a way to survive on his own, he deserved to live. The men looted what they could of his parents’ possessions and left him to fend for himself.
Once the boy had finished telling Beatrix his story, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a necklace with a dark gemstone attached to it, and handed it to her. He explained that in their haste, the men hadn’t thought to search the boy for possessions. Moments before the men had approached their carriage, his mother spotted them, and she’d slipped the necklace, her most precious possession, inside the boy’s pocket.
After many days without food or water, the boy had stumbled upon Beatrix’s cabin. His story warmed her heart, and she took him in. For the next few weeks, she bathed him, fed him, and cared for him as if he were her own.
One night Beatrix was awakened by a disturbing noise. She sat up in bed and noticed the boy standing next to her bed. She asked him what he needed, and he didn’t reply. She stepped out of bed and lit a lantern to see him better. When she held it out, the boy shifted, becoming a man.
At this point in the story, Addison jerked back, questioning Sayuri about the identity of her father. It came as no surprise when Sayuri admitted her father was Aamon. And the story he’d told Beatrix? All lies.
After revealing his true self, Aamon told Beatrix he’d been searching for a witch of great power all his life. He believed the combination of the two, necromancer and sorcerer, would produce a child capable of helping Aamon fulfill his ultimate dream. He raped Beatrix that night, and she became pregnant with Sayuri.
In the months that followed, Beatrix attempted to conjure up her power, to get away from Aamon, but as the months went by, she weakened. Aamon rarely left her side, but one day, not long before Sayuri was to be born, he was agitated more than usual. He told Beatrix there was something he needed to do before the birth of the baby. Before he left, he issued a warning. If Beatrix tried to use her power, or tried to leave, he’d know, and she would die.
Alone at last, Beatrix considered what had caused her power to weaken. Her thoughts were drawn back the day Aamon arrived on her doorstep in disguise. It was then she remembered something she hadn’t thought much about … the gemstone necklace she now wore around her neck. She removed it, opened the front door, and threw it as far as it would go.
The moment she released it, cramping in her abdomen caused her to double over. The baby was coming. In a desperate plea for help, she made one last attempt to summon her necromancer ancestors.
This time, they came.
Beatrix spoke to them about her inability to use magic in recent months and explained she’d been under the spell of a sorcerer named Aamon, a man who had raped her, leaving her with child. Her ancestors were familiar with Aamon. They believed the gemstone had been cursed, leading to the loss of her power as long as it remained in Beatrix’s presence.
Sayuri was born not long after, and the necromancers made haste, attempting to remove mother and child before Aamon’s return. But for Beatrix and Sayuri, it was not to be. Only one would make it out alive. The moment Beatrix stepped foot outside the house onto the land, the same land where the gemstone had been thrown, she caught fire. And though the spirits of her ancestors tried to put it out, they failed. They could not save her.
A tragic end to a tragic story.
“If you never knew your mother, how do you know what happened all those years ago?” Addison asked. “She died, didn’t she?”
“She did, but Gaia is a magical place, as you know. Many things are possible here.”
“Are you saying you’ve seen your mother? You’ve talked to her?”
“In a way. She comes to me in my dreams. She tells me stories of the life she had before she had me, a life long before she met Aamon.”
“When your necromancer ancestors took you, I’m assuming they brought you to Gaia.”
“They did. It’s not common, not the way things are done around here, but they knew if I remained on earth, Aamon would find me. When they approached Aryanna to request her permission, she told them there was no need. She’d had visions of me. She knew I was coming. I was to play an important role in bringing sorcerers and necromancers together again, to rule like they did in ancient times.”
“Has Aryanna ever talked to you about it, your role in things?”
“Aryanna told me it has something to do with you, and my future in this place.”
“And the gemstone … what became of it?”
Sayuri tipped her head to the side and smiled. “The gemstone is the reason I summoned you today.”