Chapter Nine

It shouldn’t be possible.

My sister was dead. She’d been brutally murdered at the hands of Lord Choplim, along with my mother. I’d held her broken, bleeding body in my arms, in the middle of the street where Choplim had left them like they were garbage, and screamed my sorrow and rage until I’d had no voice left. I’d dug their graves with Ashe by my side.

Their deaths were the reason I’d endured almost three hundred years of sleep. I would do it all over again to avenge them.

I’d just gone to visit their graves and been told her remains were taken. My eyes widened again. All this time I’d thought it had been the Necromajin who’d targeted the magic-era graveyard. But it had really been the Temporals.

I took a step to the side and turned so I could see Kinari and the Temporal trio. I tightened the grip on my sword and Ashe was suddenly at my side again. There was no way she hadn’t felt the emotions that were swirling through me. She saw Kinari and I felt her shock thrum through me as she stepped closer, hunched down, and growled.

I could hardly look away from my sister, and I didn’t know what emotion to land on. I wanted to hug her, kiss her, cry on her, but I also wanted to run as far away from her as possible.

She looked the same as in my last memories of her.

Long-lashed brown eyes and a mane of black curls our mother had always joked was un-tamable, even by our father. She favored Ma, while I’d always been told I was an even mix of her and Da. She wore a plain dark purple sleeveless dress with a cream sash around her waist and a simple pair of flats. Her eyes were filled with tears, and her mouth remained slightly open as she stared at me.

I finally tore my eyes away from Kinari and fixed them on the Temporals. “What have you done.”

“You…are acquainted?” Marcai ventured, looking from Kinari to me.

“This is my sister, and she died three hundred years ago. So someone better start talking, or I will start swinging my sword.”

Ashe released a burst of fire to back up my threat.

“I suppose although this may be a tremendous shock, it is the best way to illustrate what we wanted to show you.” Marcai motioned to Kinari, who slowly walked over to him, though her eyes never left my face. Nor mine hers. I swallowed hard, my grip on the sword painfully tight. “We have found safety from the magic eaters within these time pockets, but even so our numbers dwindle as we succumb to old age or illnesses we cannot heal on our own.”

“We have no way of replenishing our numbers,” Chelara said. “Babies are born, yes, but none with magic with the nexus points closed. Soon, those without magic will outnumber those with magic.”

“So we decided if we could not look to the present or the future to save us, we would look to the past.” Sorjin crossed his arms over his chest and gave me a look as though daring me to challenge whatever he was about to say next. “We sought the bodies of magic users already passed and brought them back.”

If my jaw could have detached like in cartoons, it would have been on the floor. I looked from Sorjin to Kinari, then back. “You…brought my sister back from the dead?”

“And others,” Chelara said. Ashe started growling louder. She didn’t like what she was hearing either.

“How?”

“Chronspheres,” Marcai said. “We time jumped with a number of them. They absorbed the natural passage of time, so they were not filled with the time of others.”

Chronspheres were one of the main reasons Temporals were often considered dark magic practitioners. And had earned the nickname Time Thieves.

With a Chronsphere they could take your last hour, year, five years, ten years, or all your years. But you would only feel the effect once they used that time in one of their rituals.

If you were twenty-five and a Temporal took eight years from you, once used, you’d revert to being seventeen and would lose all memory of those eight years. One might say a reversal on an elderly person might be a kindness, or on someone who was in a bad place in life and needed a chance to forget their last horrific year and try again, but those weren’t the only ways Chronspheres were used.

If a Temporal took all your years, you died, but many said partial reversals, and the memory loss that came with them, were a fate worse than death.

Naturally filled Chronspheres meant they were left exposed to the sun and moon cycles, absorbing the passage of time as the days came and went. But it was a much slower way to fill them. A day was a day, a year was a year. Were the Chronspheres Marcai said they used really filled naturally? I wasn’t sure if I believed that.

“You had a Chronsphere with over three hundred years to bring my sister back? And more to bring others back who’d been dead just as long?” I didn’t try to mask the skepticism in my voice. Using Chronspheres for resurrections was big magic. They would have to use enough years to reverse my sister’s remains back to the last time she had been alive, then give her enough years to live off of, otherwise her death would catch up to her. That stacked up to be well over three hundred years, as I didn’t think they’d use three centuries to revive her, then give her two years so she could live only to the age of nineteen.

“Like I said, we time jumped with Chronspheres that already had many decades stored,” Marcai said. “And through our hubs above ground, we’ve continued to collect time. We have been working at this for a long time.”

“Kinari was buried next to my mother, another Talented. Why didn’t you take her too?”

“Ah…we attempted to,” Chelara said. “But we were found by the Jigori and had to escape.”

“I cannot believe what I am hearing.” I wanted to drop to the floor and not move for a good long while. But I stayed standing and kept the Gladius out and ready, drawing strength from its touch of Divine magic, and from Ashe’s presence at my side. “When did you bring my sister back? And how many did you revive? When did you start using the Chronspheres?”

“We began the revivals only a few months ago. So far, we’ve brought back twelve,” Sorjin said.

“Have you also been reviving anyone in the community who passes away?”

“Yes,” Sorjin said. “But doing so does not increase our numbers. The only way we could obtain more Talented was to revive them from the past.”

“Now, tell me this,” I said, trying to catch my bearings because there were still loose threads dangling. “What of the Fire Conjurer and Tamer? Were they revived?”

The trio exchanged looks again, then Marcai nodded. “Yes. The magic of some of the revived became unstable, and the end result was unfortunate. An incident with one of them caused one of our smaller time pockets to momentarily collapse, and the Talented you encountered in the above world were some of the ones who fled.”

“There should not be more,” Chelara added. “We did our own regrouping and brought back others.”

It seemed like they were being honest with me, but all of this didn’t quite sit right. It was a lot to process.

“You said you were working with someone who wanted to find us.” Sorjin’s arms were still crossed, and his menacing look hadn’t cracked. “Let me make it clear that we are not interested in anyone’s help, nor anyone else knowing about us.” He dropped his hands, which made the tip of his mace hit the ground hard.

“You went public, but you do know you put a target on your back, right? The Necromajin will hunt you down,” Chelara said.

“And we will not risk you leading them to us,” Sorjin added.

“I can take care of myself. And I had no plans to bring dark magic to your door. Before now I was counting on drawing the Necromajin’s attention, since I thought they were the one who’d taken Kinari’s remains. But now…” My eyes slid to her again and I felt intensely sad and happy at the same time. It was unlike me to feel this confused, uncomfortable, and chaotic.

Marcai stepped forward. “I hope to gain a measure of your trust and understanding, which is why we decided to be open with you. And what an unexpected gift that you would be reunited with your sister.” He smiled warmly. “Please, catch up. Some time spent will be helpful for you both.”

“You have our full hospitality,” Chelara said. “Stay as long as you wish. Process what you have learned. We will convene with you again.” She looked at Kinari. “Show her around and take her to one of the spas. It will be good for you both.”

They nodded at us and walked away, and then it was just me, Ashe, and Kinari. Ashe stopped growling and stood up straight. She pawed at the ground.

Kinari stood there, wringing her hands and seeming uncertain. She looked so young and vulnerable. I wanted nothing more than to fold her into my arms and tell her I’d protect her the way I couldn’t three hundred years ago. But I also knew it was unnatural for her to be standing here. No justification of Temporal magic and Chronspheres could change that.

“Hi…big sister,” Kinari finally said. “Hello Ashe, do you remember me?”

Ashe made a sound that meant of course. But she wouldn’t make a move until I did.

“Kinari,” I said, my voice cracking. “I never expected to find this place…to find you. I feel like my head is about to explode.”

“I had a similar feeling when I woke up and was told I’d been dead for a while but now I wasn’t. And that I had to live underground with strangers and that there was no family for me here,” Kinari said softly.

I closed my mouth and stared at her. I’d been consumed with how I felt, but it had to have been intense for Kinari to undergo something she never asked for. Sure, a second chance at life could be a good thing, especially after the brutal way her life had ended, but she’d been all alone here.

I sheathed the Gladius and in four strides I was in front of Kinari and pulling her into my arms. She squeaked at the pressure of my arms but brought hers up and around me.

I was overwhelmed with emotions. Never could I have imagined I would see my sister alive again. I would have torn the universe apart to give her and our mother another chance at life. And now she had one, but I couldn’t quite shake the uncomfortable feeling that all wasn’t as it seemed with the Temporals and their revival schemes.

Ashe came over and sniffed her thoroughly, then headbutted her shoulder and licked her cheek. She giggled and pulled away, smiling at both of us with tears in her eyes. There were tears in my eyes as well. On a normal day I’d rather gut someone than let them see me cry, but this moment was an exception. I had my little sister back.

I roamed my eyes all over her face, touching her curly hair, cupping her cheeks, bracing my hands on her slender shoulders. “I missed you more than I think it’s possible to explain. After you and Ma…” I paused. “Do you…remember how you died?”

“No,” she said, her brow furrowing. “My last memories are unclear. There were a lot of people around, and a rather sour-smelling man Ma kept trying to hide me from. But that’s all I remember. Will you tell me?”

“It’s better if you don’t know,” I said softly. It was her right to know, but I didn’t want to put the weight of Choplim’s brutality on her. And if I was being honest, I wasn’t sure I could recant that tale without the guilt I felt for not being able to save her and Ma crashing over me. I couldn’t look my sister in the eye and tell her she’d died because I couldn’t get to her in time.

Kinari looked pained, but didn’t press for answers. “I don’t understand, though, how are you here?”

I guessed Marcai hadn’t spread word of my televised story beyond Sorjin and Chelara. I spied an empty bench not too far away that faced a small pool of water. “Let’s sit and swap tales,” I said.

…

“Unbelievable,” Kinari said after I’d finished telling her about my journey to the twenty-first century and what my life had been like since. “You were punished for avenging us.”

“If the Auraxa Reiv hadn’t been aligned, I probably wouldn’t have been knocked out for that long, but I don’t regret it. I’d do it all over again.”

“The above world sounds so different from our time,” she said. “The Temporals bring us books and magazines, so I have learned a lot, but we aren’t allowed to venture outside. I don’t remember the last time I saw the sky.” She looked up at the shadows that stretched above us.

I could sense the weariness she carried, one I was sure was echoed by many people here. Part of the world, yet outside it. Capable of wielding magic but hunted. My heart ached.

As we chatted, I’d been amused by the antics taking place in the pool several feet away. A few children were playing with Lubocs, water constructs that resembled giant bubbles. A young Water Conjurer was standing off to the side, controlling them. The other children were being tossed around inside the transparent creatures, who bobbed up and down, giving them a good tumble. An air bubble around their heads ensured the game remained fun and not deadly. During the magic-era, Lubocs were used for deep sea fishing and exploration.

“I’ll take care of the Necromajin and get you out of here,” I said. “You can count on that.”

She smiled, stroking Ashe’s head, which lay in her lap. “I think you’ve grown even more than when I last saw you,” she said to her.

Kinari was the reason Ashe was with me.

When she’d been seven and I’d been thirteen, we’d explored the woods near our village while Ma had washed clothes in the lake. Kinari had found Ashe, who’d been a juvenile and no bigger than a German shepherd. She’d been badly injured after a fight with some other creature. Kinari had used her Tamer magic and made a poultice for Ashe’s wounds, and when our father had come home and seen us tending to an injured Circoux, he hadn’t batted an eye. Ashe became part of the family.

A few years later, when I’d left to start training, I’d intended to leave her behind to protect them, but Kinari had insisted she go with me and become my Familiar through a bonding ritual facilitated by a Tamer.

“I miss Ma,” Kinari said. “And Da. I wish…they’d brought them back too.”

“Yeah,” I said softly. What would it be like if they were sitting here with us?

The thought came with a bittersweet feeling.

I would love for my parents to be alive again…but was any of this natural? I couldn’t help but feel like the Temporals were playing with forces they shouldn’t be by bringing people back to life.

During the magic-era, any Temporal found practicing revivals had their magic purified by Diviners and was jailed for decades. I’d been thrown for a loop with everything I’d learned since coming here, but no matter the murky ethics, sitting next to Kinari felt good. She was the same little sister I’d teased, fought with, and fiercely protected.

“Do you want to see more now?” Kinari asked.

“Wanna give me the grand time-pocket tour? Sure.”

We stood up and started walking. The first place she took me to was the cave where most of the Tamers lived.

The ground was covered in thick grass, and like in the first cave, there were seating areas, ponds of various sizes, and many cave homes. And there were Wild creatures everywhere.

I saw Bexscrimi, primate-like creatures with six eyes and teeth and tusks that would tear you apart in a heartbeat, tumbling with one another across a rock formation. Two-headed, serpentine Vicasiv coiled their thick bodies around the branches of trees, looking for fruit to eat, while a slow-moving Fosfuro lumbered up to a pond for a drink. Fosfuro looked like mutated crocodiles: scaly, with a double row of sharp teeth, eight stubby legs, and a tail that ended in a ball of spikes.

Many of these creatures were predatory, and in the wild, they’d tear each other apart, as well as anyone nearby. But the Tamers here had curbed them.

Kinari showed me several tunnels that led to smaller caves with more homes.

She then took us down one that ended in a wide-open space with a large pool of steaming, crystal-clear water. There were people soaking in the water, sitting on large, flat stones, and a Water Conjurer knelt over the edge and used his magic to create gentle waves and small whirlpools.

The air carried a lightly spiced scent like cinnamon and cedar, and the cave walls were studded with dimmer crystal lights that added to the ambiance.

“This puts every spa I’ve been to above ground to shame,” I whispered to Kinari. Machine-created waterjets couldn’t hold a candle to a Water Conjurer.

“Would you like to join?” one of the attendants asked.

I blinked, realizing saying yes was on the tip of my tongue. But I hadn’t come here for a spa day. Ashe nudged me with her head encouragingly, but I still hesitated. Would it really be right for me to soak in a heated pool and get a massage when there were so many more important things to take care of?

Kinari made the decision for me. “Some sisterly bonding? Like when we used to go with Ma?”

“All right,” I said, smiling at her. I had something I never thought I’d have again—the ability to spend time with my sister. What could be more important than that?

So Kinari and I stripped behind a bamboo screen, wrapped ourselves in towels, and stepped into the pool, which felt immeasurably good against my aching body.

Ashe lay down nearby. I’d left the sword near her instead of behind the screen with my clothes. I felt better if I could keep it within sight, and if anyone tried to touch it, Ashe would make them regret it.

While she guarded the sword, Ashe enjoyed the attention of a couple of the spa’s younger workers, who took great pleasure in giving her fur a thorough brushing, something I’d admittedly been lax on lately. She released a happy puff of smoke and closed her eyes.

Kinari and I chatted about our childhood and her life here these past few months.

“So…how much time did they give you?” I asked.

“Fifty years.”

“Fifty,” I repeated. Was it really fifty naturally reaped years? “Enough time to grow old and wrinkly. Hey, maybe this time you’ll be the one burying me.”

Kinari made a face. “You always had a streak of dark humor. I see nothing’s changed.”

I chuckled softly, and after a bit more time enjoying the Water Conjurer’s soothing currents, we got up for a massage. We lay face down on the plush massage beds and continued to talk. The masseuse started with a head-to-toe massage that felt like it was working every kink out of my joints and made my muscles feel buttery soft.

“Do you like it here?” I asked Kinari. “Have they been good to you?”

“Most everyone is kind. There are Shapers who make us clothes and home furnishings, there’s always food to eat, and some kind of work that needs to be done so we stay busy…”

“But?” I could hear some hesitation in her voice.

“I feel scared a lot. There are people everywhere but it’s still so lonely. I wonder if I’m meant to live the rest of my life like this.”

“You aren’t,” I said. “I’m here now.” A comforting tinge spread through me as my masseuse lined my spine with warm stones. It was so relaxing I was on the verge of falling asleep, and my mind felt calmer than it had in a while.

“I feel hopeful, but I also worry that I’ll end up like the others.”

I wondered if I could get the masseuse and those magic hands out of here along with Kinari. I released a sigh, my body feeling heavy and buoyant at the same time, like I was both anchored to the earth and drifting far above it.

“The other revived ones who went berserk?”

“Yes. We were brought back, but something isn’t right. I fear it’s only a matter of time until I’m next.” She sighed. “I miss growing things and taking care of creatures, but I haven’t been using my Tamer magic.”

“Why not?”

“Those of us who were revived and use our magic don’t last long. The leaders are planning to revive more, but right now there are only seven of us left and we believe we’re still alive because we don’t use our magic. I make myself useful in other ways. Ma taught me how to sew pretty well despite it not being my Talent, so I am usually with the Shapers. I just…I don’t want what happened to them to happen to me. I tried to talk to Marcai and the others about it, but they were dismissive. Maybe it’s a silly theory, but…”

“It’s not,” I said, as something finally clicked into place. I sat up, saying a hasty thanks to the masseuse and swinging my legs off the table. Kinari rose up as well. “I think I know why the others have been going berserk. We need to find Sorjin, Chelara, and Marcai.”

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. “I’ll take you back to them.”

We quickly got dressed and I strapped the sword back on.

Ashe rose up and stretched, then shook and settled her newly brushed fur and gave her attendants an appreciative lick.

We then followed Kinari back to the main cavern. I spotted Chelara first, having caught sight of her vibrant red hair.

“I have a theory about the revived,” I said.

She indicated for us to follow, and led us to one of the larger caves.

Inside, it looked to be not a home, but an office.

There was a long, wide table, a creature skin rug on the smooth floor, and a seating area with a cushioned couch. Bookcases and shelves lined the walls. Sorjin and Marcai were here, sitting behind the table.

“Kinari doesn’t have a Mortalstone,” I said, not wasting time. I pointed to each of theirs and pulled out mine. “Mortalstones are an important step in maintaining magic stability, or did you forget that?”

Marcai’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened and closed. Sorjin stiffened, and Chelara’s expression was similar to Marcai’s.

“Kinari said she hasn’t been using her magic and she’s noticed that those who don’t last longer than those who do. You’ve created ticking time bombs, a couple of whom killed and hurt a lot of people.” I had no doubt it was distressing for Kinari not to use her magic. Using our magic was as natural as breathing. That was why purification punishments weren’t handed out lightly. Taking someone’s magic away was anguish. I couldn’t imagine not being able to Shape.

“My mother and Kinari were buried in purified grounds, but I’d taken their Mortalstones to a Diviner because I didn’t want to risk them falling into a Necromajin’s hands,” I said. “Were there Mortalstones with the remains of anyone you revived?”

“No.” Chelara’s voice was barely a whisper. “How could we have not realized what was missing…”

“We’ve been foolish,” Marcai said, rubbing his hand over his face. He looked like he’d aged ten years as this knowledge settled on him. His brow furrowed. “Unforgivably foolish. We’ve been so invested in not letting our community perish, not letting magic truly die, that we…”

“Performed risky resurrection magic without being thoroughly knowledgeable on what was entailed to do it properly.” I blew out a breath. Then I remembered something and turned back to Marcai, Chelara, and Sorjin. “I might be able to get you Mortalstones,” I said, thinking of the ones I saw at Varian’s museum. “But a Diviner is needed to do the soul tie.”

“And they are long gone,” Chelara said.

Maybe not all of them. I thought of the card box I’d found in Gideon’s shop. I needed to talk to that street fair vendor.

“I have a lead. If not on a Diviner, then on someone who might be able to provide some insight. But I can’t guarantee anything at this point, only that I will try.”

“Your help would be greatly appreciated,” Marcai said.

I turned to Kinari, who looked hopeful. “I’ll do anything to keep my sister safe, and I want to help the others you revived as well. I need to get back above ground so I can get to work.”

“Of course,” Marcai said. “I will lead you out.”

I said goodbye to Chelara and Sorjin, then Ashe and I followed Marcai back to the first time pocket I’d come through. Kinari came along as well, and I gave her a tight hug.

“Don’t use your magic,” I said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I really wish you could come with me but…”

“It’s safest here, I understand.” Her eyes brimmed with tears and my throat grew tight. We deserved more than a few hours to be reunited, but I couldn’t help her if I stayed here. I’d fix the Mortalstone problem, then we’d have all the time in the world.

“How can I get back in without purifying the time warp?” I asked Marcai.

“Throw dirt at it,” he replied. “We will feel the disturbance and one of us will come out.”

“Got it.” I hugged Kinari again, and she received her share of licks and headbutts from Ashe, then Marcai took us back to the time warp, collapsed it, and we walked past.

When we emerged from the cave, I blinked, not expecting it to be dark.

We’d spent the entire day there? It had felt like a few hours. Then again, the Temporal’s community existed within time pockets that didn’t follow linear time, so it made sense that more time had passed than I’d thought.

I hopped onto Ashe’s back. My Jeep was still in the city, but we were closer to home, so I’d get it tomorrow. Ashe took off through the brush and back onto the public paths, then she swiftly ran us home while I hoped that I could make good on my word to Kinari and the Temporals.

The Mortalstones I was sure of. The Diviner…well, I needed a miracle there.