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“What’s going on?” Ella demanded. Ever since she’d touched that strange doorway, she kept seeing flashes of people and things that weren’t there, and if Luc and Griffin knew why, she wasn’t leaving this room until they told her. She put her hands on her hips. “Say something.”
Griffin pinched the bridge of his nose, “This is a nightmare.” He shook his head and gulped down some of his tea. “I knew doing this excavation was a bad idea. Why did I let you talk me into it?” He gave Ella a hard look.
Ella glanced between them, then glared at Luc. “One of you tell me what this means right now.” She needed to know what her strange discoveries meant for her future. If they planned on attacking her, she’d run. Where, she didn’t know yet, but she wouldn’t sit back and let them try to kill her.
Luc rubbed his temples. “I am a Valan knight, and you are an avatar.”
Her eyes widened. She’d never heard of a magic user being referred to as anything other than a rebel. “What is a Valan, and why were the two of you talking about killing me?”
“No one is going to kill you, Ella.” Luc got to his feet and reached for her shoulder, but she backed away.
“An avatar is a special kind of magic user,” Griffin explained. “Our ancestors—who lived long before the Senate was ever created—were an advanced race. Some even used magic like you and Luc do.” He motioned to the vacant chair in front of his desk. “Please sit down. No one is going to harm you.”
Ella shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Anyone with magic is put to death or imprisoned if they live within the border.” Her heart pounded at the prospect of being exposed. Growing up, only her parents had known. Her father had taught her how to hide the magic, and it had worked well for most of her life. As far as anyone knew, she was normal, and as long as she didn’t use her magic, she would be safe.
Until now.
Her mind went to her father’s disappearance ten years earlier. People had accused him of using magic, and he’d vanished one night. She’d never seen him again, and never found out what had happened to him. Part of her had wanted to come here in the hope of finding out—as if it knew where all the answers lay.
“The Valan are an ancient order of knights sworn to keep the peace in this land,” Master Griffin went on. “We go back to the time of the Arkadians. There were once many of us, but since the Senate came into power and ordered the ban on magic, numbers have dwindled drastically. Most Valan live beyond the border now, forced to live as outcasts, but Luc and I work together in secret.”
“Okay, what about me being put to death?”
“Ella, sit down,” Master Griffin ordered, using his authoritative teacher’s voice. “No one here is going to harm you, you have my word. We have much to discuss.”
She lowered herself into the chair, crossing her arms. “What was that doorway I found today?”
Luc leaned forward. “The gate is a dimensional doorway designed to allow people to travel instantaneously. Avatars used to control the gates, but all of them are sealed now.”
“What do avatars do?” Her words tumbled out as her mind raced. “Why would you want to kill them? Do they turn into those green skinned creatures?” She bit her lip at the thought. She’d rather die than turn into one of those blood-sucking things.
“That’s a long and complicated story,” Master Griffin answered with a sigh. “Most of what you have been taught about magic users by the Republic is a lie. They aren’t evil, there are good and bad people among them. Avatars come into the world when magic is dying out, as it is here.”
“Okay...”
“A thousand years ago, an avatar named Aurelia used magic to create a gate, but she wasn’t content to use it as a transportation device to different places within our world alone and enhanced the design so it could be used to travel to other worlds,” Luc explained. “The ancestors were enthralled by this new power and sought travel to different realms.”
Ella nodded. She’d heard tales of the ancestors travelling across realms, but most people had considered them fairy tales, and she had always agreed. Magic might be real enough, but travelling to different realms seemed beyond anything science or history had ever shown her.
“Aurelia and her Valan protector travelled to the dark realm, where they encountered a race of beings unheard of before, the Esrac. The ancestors were a peace-loving race and sought to be friends with the creatures,” Griffin continued. “When Aurelia befriended the Esrac Queen, Esme, she somehow tricked her into sharing the secrets of the gates and learnt to use them, too. They have their own form of magic, and the ability to learn how to use advanced technology quickly. They waged war on other realms, and y came to our world with no interest in peace.”
“Many of the ancestors were wiped out in the war with the Esrac, but Aurelia fought by her people’s side, and in one final battle tricked Esme to come within the city walls and managed to force the beasts into another realm from which they could never escape. She gave her life to do so.”
She thought back to the runes she’d seen carved around the door, and how they’d repelled her after she had opened the gate. “Why were they sealed?” Ella asked. “Why did the Esrac come here?”
“Esrac, feed on blood and are without a conscience,” Master Griffin answered. “Our land provided a much-needed feeding ground for them. The humans in their realm were dying out.”
“You are the only surviving avatar,” said Luc gently. “Your ancestors spent centuries making sure the Esrac never got loose again.”
Ella let the information was over her, unsure what to think or feel. “Why did I never know about this?” She gave Luc a pointed look. “Have you always had magic?”
He nodded. “Always.”
“No one told you because it’s forbidden for avatars to be trained to use their magic,” Griffin said. “Your father took a foolish risk by not binding yours.”
“How do you know about my father? Do you know what happened to him?”
Master Griffin’s expression darkened. “Your father is dead. You need to stop chasing ghosts.”
Ella knew him well enough to know when he was hiding something. She wouldn’t rest until she found out what had happened to him, but kept pressing for information. “Why are avatars put to death?”
“It’s an age-old rule passed down by the ancestors,” Griffin said. “An avatar hasn’t been born in over half a century but the laws of the Valanl state no avatar shall be allowed to live. The ancestors feared the Esrac would enter our lands again, and they must stay imprisoned.”
“So, what happens to me now?” Her head spun, and her eyes darted between them, still half expecting one of them to attack her. She had magic. Magic she wasn’t supposed to have, but she would use it to protect herself and stay alive. Even if that meant using it against people she once thought of as friends.
“Luckily, only one Esrac came through today, but it could have been much worse,” said Luc, turning his attention to the older man. “The gate has been sealed once again. Master Griffin, we can’t kill Ella. She is a valuable member of this team, and we may need her if more Esrac come through.”
Griffin nodded. “I propose that once we know the threat is over we should neutralise her powers by binding them.”
“What?” Ella shot up from her chair. Magic had always been a part of her, even if she hadn’t always used it. She couldn’t let them take her magic away from her. It was the only thing she had to protect herself. “You can’t do that!”
“Your curiosity today could have cost thousands of lives,” Griffin snapped. “I forbade you to excavate that area!”
“I won’t let you take my magic away.” She glanced at Luc, pleading with him to back her up. Despite their recent breakup, she hoped he still felt something for her.
“Maybe we could teach her...” Luc suggested.
“Rules are rules,” Griffin said. “She’s too dangerous to go walking around unchecked.”
“Train me, then! Like you said, you may need me if more of those things come through. My father always said there’s a reason for everything. Maybe I’m meant to help you stop the Esrac once and for all.”
Griffin gave her a hard look. “You could be the doom of us all. I say we should strip your powers away and—”
“I’ll teach her to control it,” Luc blurted. “Please, Master Griffin, we have to at least try it before taking such extreme measures.”
Ella glanced at him, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to speak up for her, and thought he would insist on taking her magic away.
“Fine, but I warn you,” Griffin said, shaking a warning finger at Ella, “You must not even think of those gates.”
She huffed a laugh. “Believe me, I don’t want to go near a gate ever again.”
Once she and Luc were outside Griffin’s office, Ella let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding and battled her emotional confusion. Was she relieved? Ashamed? Could she also be guilty, perhaps, or a mixture of all those things?
“Can he take my magic away?” she asked. Master Griffin seemed a stranger to her now.
Luc shook his head and took her arm.
“We can’t talk here,” he hissed, leading her away. “Sara or Eric could overhear us.”
She shut the door behind them once they reached her chamber.
“I want answers, Luc.” She stepped toward him. “You’ve always known you had magic too?”
Luc ran a hand through his hair and nodded. “Yes, and like you, I never told anyone.”
“How long did you know my father before you met me?” she asked. “Do you know what happened to him? Is he still alive?”
“A few years. He started training me as one of the Valan when I was seven. I don’t know what happened to him, and no, I don’t think he still alive. Like Griffin said, you should stop chasing ghosts.”
Ella glared at him. “I know when you’re hiding something from me, I broke up with you because I got sick of all your secrets. You can’t keep them from me anymore. Not after everything that happened today.”
He sighed. “I don’t know what happened to him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me he trained you?”
“Like Griffin said, we once walked between the worlds. Nowadays, we live in secret and lead normal lives. I never told you about my abilities or being a knight because I watched my family be killed by the Senate’s guards for theirs. Keeping it hidden became second nature.”
“I get that part, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me. I thought we were...” She sighed. “Never mind.”
“Now you know why I kept secrets. Ella—”
“This doesn’t change anything between us,” she insisted. She didn’t want to get back together with him just because they had something in common now. He still kept things from her. “I still don’t understand why my father never told me about any of this.”
“Maybe he knew you’d find out on your own, or that I’d be here for you.”
She laughed.
“How could he have known that? He’s been gone over ten years.” She had so many other questions she wanted to ask, but didn’t know where to begin. “What abilities do you have?”
“As well as being able to sense an open gate, I can do this.”
Blue light shot from his hand as he spoke.
“It’s an illusion. I can also move things with my mind, to an extent.”
Ella held up her palm, calling the coloured fire. This time, it appeared purple. “This isn’t an illusion.”
“No, it’s called starfire. It’s a very powerful ability that will help against the Esrac,” Luc told her. “It may not be strong enough to kill them, but it’ll slow them down.”
Ella snuffed the fire out. “What are we going to do about the Esrac?” she asked.
“Like Griffin said, they almost wiped our ancestors out.
“How did they even defeat them?”
“I remember they sealed the gates and somehow forced the Esrac through by trapping their queen,” Luc said. “I only know bits and pieces myself, a lot of our ancestors’ knowledge was lost over the centuries, especially when the Senate came into power.”
“Wait, there were bodies in the chamber where I found that doorway–I mean, gate. I could examine them, and—”
“I doubt Griffin would like that.”
“Why not?” she frowned. “We’re here to explore, aren’t we?”
“It’s safer if you stay away from the gate room all together.”
“Are avatars ruled by Griffin?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Not exactly.”
“Good, then I’m going back and getting to work on what I do best.” Despite the day’s events, she still had a job to do. It was studying the ways of the ancestors, and she would do just that. “If it makes you feel better, you can come with me. I swear I won’t go near that gate again.”
