Chapter Sixteen

My lungs expanded as I took a shuddering breath, dragging in humid air and releasing it in a wheeze. I felt hot and cold, like I’d slid off the sun and been crushed by a glacier.

I cracked my eyes open and the view was dark, unformed, hazy.

I sat up slowly. The ground below me was soft; my hands bunched around grass that cushioned me like plush bedding. My head felt heavy, like my thoughts were a physical weight filling up my skull. I strained my senses, trying to catch my bearings.

I placed a hand on my chest where I could feel my accelerated heartbeat. I swallowed, my throat dry and raw. I assessed my body but found nothing sprained or broken.

Panic, fear, and confusion were coursing through me.

What the hell had happened?

I was finally able to open my eyes all the way and the blurriness was settling.

Then I remembered.

I found Gideon, then a Kiabi Warrior had shown up. Xythen. I had purified him from being shackled to a fragment of the Discordant Dark but…

But he’d kidnapped me and taken me to…

I looked around, fear slamming into me. There was fog everywhere, a warm mist that slid against my exposed skin, leaving not just a touch of moisture behind but a prickle of magic that felt like the Kiabi Warrior’s.

Through the mist I could see trees. I was surrounded by them.

When I looked up, I couldn’t see their tops. The dark wood of the bark was gnarled, and giant roots arched out of the ground and back in again.

A dim light illuminated the place like it was early twilight hours, catching glints of gold embedded in the trees’ wood. Branches started low on the trunks and extended for several feet, covered in leaves that shifted through various colors. They created a low canopy over my head.

I stood up.

I had been taken to Drisdari Forest. I was certain.

A glow snagged my attention and I saw the Gladius lying a few feet away. Relief coursed through me as I picked it up, holding the hilt tightly. The sword’s Divine magic thrummed alongside the magic inside me and brought a measure of calm. But only a small amount, because there was far too fucking much going on for me to be calm.

I tuned in to my bond with Ashe. She was scared, angry, and agitated. I was sure she would have helped Gideon get out of that neighborhood and back to Toji, but I knew they’d be worried about me. Callan too.

I had left him reeling with the revelation that his continued existence relied on remaining in a particular place, and now he’d be hearing that a Kiabi Warrior had whisked me away. I didn’t want to lay more hurt on Callan. All he’d want to do is tear off Bastillen and try to find me…but he couldn’t.

“You must come.”

I gasped and turned around, bringing the sword up in a two-handed grip. Xythen, in his human-looking form wearing that impressive organic armor, stood at the opening of the clearing. This time, I noticed the hilt of his botanical sword over his shoulder. His face was solemn.

“Why the hell did you bring me here?” I demanded, gritting my teeth and trying to pull my strength together. It had been the longest day. Was it even still the same day? I was running on fumes. I’d had no rest and couldn’t remember the last thing I’d eaten. I was under a weight of revelations that was draining my emotional strength, and my physical strength was on its last leg as well.

But I would drive my sword through Xythen again then figure out how to get out of here before I let him continue to push the Discordant Dark’s agenda against me. He no longer looked infected but…

“I need your help.” There was still that slight echo to his voice; it filled the clearing like surround sound. There was a beat of magical power coming from him, but it wasn’t overwhelming this time.

My eyes widened. “Come again?”

“The Discordant One has spread corruption,” he said. “And now that I have witnessed your power, I request your service.”

My eyes narrowed. “But aren’t you purified from its control now?”

“I was not the only one corrupted.”

“Fuck. What else did the Discordant Dark get a hold of?”

“Will you walk with me? We can converse, and I will show you.”

I hesitated. I didn’t believe he would attack me again, but I was still reeling from everything that had happened and had more confusion than I had clarity. It was taking a toll on me to continue pushing the chaos in my head aside, especially because it seemed as though I was pushing it aside to make room for more.

But I was here, and I had the distinct feeling I would not be able to get out of this forest without him. And despite feeling like my life was getting upended again, I was concerned about the Discordant Dark and what it had been able to do due to the magical blackout.

Xythen seemed nonplussed by the stretch of silence as my thoughts churned and I regarded him. He stood at ease, his arms clasped behind his back. I noted that his eyes looked more normal than otherworldly and realized he seemed able to control how much those rings of gold around his irises glowed. The same was true for the bands of gold that ran over his skin like a tattoo.

“All right, I’ll hear you out.” I gave it a moment’s thought, then decided to put away the Gladius. And I would only admit to myself that part of the reason was because of how sore my muscles were.

Xythen gestured to the pathway beyond him. I moved and he fell into step beside me. The path was long, lined by tall trees and various other plant life that I had no sufficient words to describe. There was a vibrancy to the colors around me that felt uplifting to my soul.

Some trees sported strange items, things that looked like the Everflow Gourd on display at the Magech university. Had whoever found it plucked it off a tree? Interesting.

“You know, if you wanted my help you could have asked.” I cut my eyes at him and noted a frown draw his eyebrows down.

“This whole kidnapping and magically transporting me to the forest thing? Yeah, it’s gonna have several people worried about me.” And one very pissed-off Circoux.

“I could have asked.” He seemed to consider those words. “Would you have acquiesced? Would you have come willingly?”

“I…” Had to pause and give it some thought. “Maybe…not right away.” If he’d tried for a polite conversation I would have asked for at least a damn night’s rest.

“Time cannot be allowed to lapse,” he replied. “I took the measures I deemed best to render you here.”

I heaved a sigh. “Whatever.” I slid my eyes to him again. “I’m Pennrae.”

“Pennrae.” He repeated my name as though testing out the sound of it. He gave a short nod.

“So, what else has the Discordant Dark corrupted? I was told a fragment had taken hold of a Kiabi Warrior, so I thought stopping you would be the end of it.”

“It has gone beyond me,” he said, his voice low. “The moment of the Discordant One’s awakening was brief, but it was enough to not only ensnare me but several of the beings that are meant to remain within the forest. It took hold, and in the moment of the shutdown, they escaped and have yet to be retrieved.”

“What?” My anxiety spiked. I recalled the description of some of the entities Cindra and Kana had given. If the Discordant Dark had taken control of something like a bone eater, it could do so much damage.

“I thought all the creatures that escaped had been retrieved.”

“Not all. We continue to search.” We turned a corner and my eyes widened when I saw several other Kiabi Warriors. They were in their true form, and thus stood several heads taller than Xythen and me. All of them had a weapon of some kind. I saw botanical swords similar to Xythen’s, an incredible-looking battle axe made of gnarled, twisted branches that sprouted small colorful flowers, and a long, thick, intricately carved fighting staff that I felt the urge to memorize so I could try to Shape something similar later. One of them even had a beautiful bow and arrow set made of white birchwood.

Some Kiabi Warriors were walking up and down the path, while others stood still and silent off to the side. I soon realized that they were standing guard. Xythen stopped near one, and I saw that the opening between the trees it stood by was barricaded by twists of branches and vines. Spaces between them allowed me to see that beyond it was a small clearing bordered by trees. A tightly woven canopy was overhead.

It was a small prison, and it was occupied.

A huge creature lay coiled in the middle of the clearing. At first I thought it was serpentine, but something about it also reminded me of a whale. Its thick body sported triangular-shaped scales that overlapped each other, the sharp tips pointing up. Iridescent frills started at the crown of its flat head all the way down its spine. It was a mottled gray color, but the tips of those scales were black.

It was also floating several feet off the ground.

I took another step, tilting my head to get a better look at it between the branches, and it suddenly opened its eyes. I stumbled back. The huge, luminous eye I could see from this angle was multifaceted like a bug’s.

It was oddly beautiful yet deeply disconcerting.

The creature regarded me for a moment, then closed its eyes.

“What is this?” My heart rate had accelerated for some reason. As though just staring at this creature had brought on an adrenaline rush.

“A creature that has the power of levitation,” Xythen said. “It can move not only itself but anything it pleases. It favors burrowing into bedrock and moving land masses around. It can render a village, town, or island submerged beneath the ocean or higher than the clouds.”

“Whoa.” That was a terrifying ability. Deadly. Xythen started walking again so I turned away from the creature and caught up.

We passed more enclosures, and I looked in. There was a diminutive figure in one that was humanoid in shape but from the waist down was made of billowing pink smoke. It had four large, glowing white eyes in an oversized head, and its mouth was a wide slash below the barest hint of a nose. Long elf-like ears curled back on either side of its head, where more smoke danced on top of its head.

“A creature that can bring anything you fear to life,” Xythen said. The creature giggled and I flinched, shifting my eyes away from it as we moved past. Leave it to the weirdly adorable-looking ones to have the worst kind of magic.

“The forest guards powerful beings,” Xythen said. “That the Discordant One has captured any of them will pose a threat to your world.”

I made a sound of frustration. “So you’re saying there are more Discordant fragments out there.” It would have been too good to be true to hope Xythen was the only one.

Xythen nodded. “And they are fragments that can grow stronger if they are not stopped. But within the forest, all is not well. I will show you.”

We exited onto another pathway and though the conversation was grave, I couldn’t help but be awed by the sights around me. The trees were stunning. Each one had leaves in a different pastel color. Sherbet, cotton-candy pink, mint, robin’s egg blue. The leaves were small and oval shaped, and a warm wind blew through, shaking them free. They floated around us and littered the ground.

It was enchanting, but I was still deep in troubled thoughts.

We walked for some time, then Xythen turned and I saw a gap between a couple trees that led to a clearing. I was stunned yet again when we walked in and I saw over a dozen people of all ages lying on their backs. They were dressed in clothes that varied from modern jeans and button-downs to styles more fitting to my first lifetime.

All of the bodies were crisscrossed in thick black veins.

“Are they…”

“They are dead,” Xythen said. “They sought the forest’s depths in search of treasure.” All of them had a bag of some kind and many wore hiking boots. I also spotted what looked exactly like those rolled-up maps that shifty seller in the underground market I’d found Gideon in had been selling.

The bogus maps Jarron had accused Rubiyana of selling to people in Nova Celes so they could try their luck adventuring into the forest.

“Do Kiabi Warriors help them?” I couldn’t help but ask. “So many people have entered the forest and never returned. Do Kiabi Warriors not come across these people? Can’t you help them leave?”

“It is not tasked to us to do so.” There was a beat of power in his voice, which had dropped to almost a whisper. It raised goose bumps on my forearms.

I wanted to ask why. I also wanted to question why they didn’t come after the items that were taken from the forest, but I held back. Those weren’t the things to focus on right now.

“I see,” was all I said.

“The Discordant One is a soul eater, that is how it gains strength,” Xythen said. “The night of the shutdown, its awakening allowed it to feed on those who traversed the forest. That is how it was able to fragment so much of itself into others. How it was able to compromise me.”

There was a tension to him that I felt echoed within myself.

After my conversation with Naranthe, I had hoped using the Divine sword against Xythen would have been the end of the Discordant Dark making waves, but that had clearly been a foolish hope. Within that brief moment of the magical blackout, it had been released enough to feed, which had given it the strength to corrupt not only Xythen but other entities that were still out there.

Fuck and fuck and fuck.

“If you use your power of Divine on these bodies, we may remove them from the forest,” Xythen said, drawing me out of my thoughts. “We cannot do so as they are now and they cannot remain. Their bodies are compromised by the manner of their deaths.”

“I understand.” I unsheathed the Gladius and felt the Divine magic within me stir. I took a moment to tune into it, feeling it press against the inside of my body like there was an expansion and compression of air inside me, a breath of magic testing its confines. My Shaper magic was a quieter pulse, but it was there too.

I stepped forward but paused as something occurred to me.

“If purification is what their bodies need, why not bring a Diviner instead of me?”

“Because those of Divine cannot enter this forest.”

“Really?” My eyebrows rose.

“Fragments of the Divine One are vulnerable to the Discordant One. It has been made so that should one enter the forest, they will dissipate, return to their Celestial, so as to keep their presence away.”

“Whoa…” I mulled that over. Rather than risk Diviners getting close to the Discordant Dark, the Celestial Divine recalled them because they too could become corrupted by it?

Cleaved from the Discordant Dark…

That bit of Diviner writing came back to me again. Were the two entities once one? That seemed to be what Naranthe implied. Was that why Divine was susceptible to Discordant?

Well, it definitely worked the other way as well.

“What I saw in you presented a solution I had not thought possible,” Xythen said. “Which is why I sought to bring you here.”

“I’m always the solution,” I muttered. Xythen’s brow creased, and I shook my head. I was so bone-weary tired. I longed to curl up in Callan’s arms and forget the three dozen problems on my to-do list.

“All right, I’ll purify the bodies.” I swung the Gladius and released a peal of Divine magic at the closest body, a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Divine magic blazed around her and I watched the black veins of Discordant magic recede until they were completely gone.

This would be terrible news to take back to Jarron. Terrible news for their families to hear. I felt weighed by that sorrow as I used the sword’s magic until all of the bodies had been purified.

“I thank you.” Xythen gave a nod as I sheathed the sword. I nodded back, and after I looked over the bodies for a moment longer, I turned and followed him out.

“Is there anything else…”

There you are.

The words were a hellish whisper inside my head and tore a gasp from my throat. Something snared around my ankle and I released a yelp. Something that was thick, black, and writhing wrapped around my ankles. I fell onto my back and screamed as I was dragged forward.

“Pennrae!” Xythen reached for his sword and jumped, but I soon lost sight of him as everything became a blur. Wind whistled in my ears and petals stirred by my movement rained down as I was pulled across the ground and around corners.

It was not a gentle journey.

I was yanked over rocks, narrowly missing a blow to my head several times. My armor afforded me some protection, but my body was still being battered. My teeth rattled, and I was aware of every place that was becoming a sore spot.

I flew around a corner and finally felt myself slowing down. I’d squeezed my eyes shut but now opened them, finding a canopy of trees above my head. The tight clamp around my legs eased and I sat up to see the insidious black tendrils snaking away from me.

And into some kind of rocky grave.

I scrambled to my feet, grunting against the pain in my body. The Divine magic in the Gladius flared as I pulled it free and whipped my head around. I stood inside a small clearing of tightly packed trees. All of them were crisscrossed not only in that signature Kiabi gold but thick black lines. The fog was heavy here, and there was a smell of decay on the air, like long dead things were clawing from their graves.

The heavy aura of magic felt like it was coating my tongue and throat like a too sweet honey that would sour in my belly if I swallowed it.

There were shadow-like forms undulating all around the grave, which was a long rectangle of tightly packed rocks ensnared with rotting vines and foliage.

Finally.

That voice again. If darkness had a sound, this would be it. It reminded me of what I’d felt the moment I’d purified Xythen: of darkness, of no air to breathe, of stillness worse than death because every death came at the end of a life. This was a stillness like no life had ever existed.

I watched as the shadows around the tomb coalesced into a vaguely human form, though it was much taller and broader. It perched above the tomb. A hint of features were carved into its face, but everything was black; its eyes were sunken maws of darkness, its mouth a crooked slash from which shadows spewed.

How fortunate that you should deliver yourself to me.

The words sounded like they were coming from within me. I tried to move, tried to raise the sword so I could strike out at it, but I was held immobile, though I didn’t know if it was from fear or from this entity’s power.

Or both.

So powerful. Such a strange creature you are…

“You’re the Discordant Dark.” I gritted my teeth as I tried yet again to hold back the fear that wanted to scream through me. I hadn’t expected I would come face to face with an entity even Diviners could not go near.

Naranthe had said my ability to weaponize Divine magic gave me an edge against it, but I was at a moment where I felt like anything but a champion. I didn’t want to cut down another ancient evil.

I am the absence of everything. The tone of its voice sent a shiver through me. I am nothing. I am below that which is above, and I am the spaces in between. I am the Discordant Dark. And… I am a prisoner.

I swallowed. Vines of shadow were snaking toward me.

I have had no coherent thought for a very, very long time, it continued. Until a moment that brought back to me a spark of life. Enough that I could sense the world around me. I sensed the one responsible for my entombment. And I sensed…you. A warrior filled with the power of Divine.

“Power I can use to cut you to pieces. Which was why you sent a Kiabi Warrior after me.”

I thank you for my awakening, it said. For even now I remain a spark within the dark. I have the ability to feed, and eventually it will allow me to break free.

“Like hell.” My words were strong, but I was petrified as I thought about the clearing of people whose souls it had eaten, and the creatures it had corrupted that were out there. It had been able to do so much in such a brief moment.

What would happen if it was completely free?

I hate to be ungrateful, but my awakening must signal the end of your life. I do not know how you came to be such a magnificent little weapon, but your ability to release the Warrior from my grasp shows you pose a threat. An army of those like you, perhaps I would fear.

It laughed, a loud, echoing sound. But just one? You are tenacious, but you are no match for the shadows I must throw across this world. I will reestablish myself and do the work I must do.

“Why?” I hissed. “Why care only for destruction? Why seek to ravage the world? What is the point?” Why did every person, creature, or entity with tremendous power and dark hearts only seek to break apart the world? It was frustrating as fuck to always go up against some cackling, dark-minded piece of shit who wanted to kill everyone because they could.

If they destroyed the world, what was left for them but ruins?

What an intriguing question to ask one such as I. I destroy because I must. Because it is what I am, much as my Celestial One must create, must nurture, must be the hands that mold mountains, must exhale the wind that becomes your breath. They create, I destroy, and between us, there is struck a balance.

“There is balance without you, though,” I said. “The world cycles through life and death, war and peace, diseases, and cures. We don’t live in some kind of utopia where everything is perfect.”

But you do live with the pain you place upon each other, do you not? You stand on the graves of ancestors whose lives were naught but suffering, who rest only in death. You live burdened by things you have no power to change, the enslavement of those who came before you, the children who die before they can live, the events of nature that drown cities or shake them apart. You can rebuild, you can endure, but you can never forget. Is this not true? Does it not distress you? For some, does it not warp their minds and render their brief, fleeting lives naught more than a tragic story? Full of obstacles they could not overcome? Is it not heavy, tiresome, to carry the pain of countless lifetimes?

“I…” I wasn’t sure what to say, especially because there was a ring of truth to what they said. People endured, yes, but we endured off hundreds and thousands of years of pain and suffering of those who came before us. Memories that became nightmares. Blood shed for peace by those who would never get to enjoy that peace.

I myself had existed for three hundred years and was living with the pain of all I had been through. All I had lost. My family, and the timeline I was born to, where I felt grounded and safe.

“Isn’t that balance though?” I countered. “That we endure, that we try, even through the suffering?” Even though the pain was intense, the burden heavy, I was still standing. I had grief, yes, but I also had joy. I had people I cared for. I had reasons to keep moving through my life.

And when the broken can never be healed, then what? That is why I am what I am. I can cleanse the land, allow the Celestial to build anew. Remove the burden of pain from humanity and let them start over. Then do it again. And again. This world has endured without me for a very long time. Its burdens are too cumbersome, its memory long and twisted. I will destroy it, and let the world begin again. You have suffered long enough. Once I wake up, your time will end.

I know the magic of my Celestial very well. When I felt you, though, oh, you are quite a different flavor. They locked me away because I suppose they grew weary of me having to destroy what they created. You, I imagine, are meant to stand against me should I no longer slumber. Pitiful.

I was supposed to stand against the Discordant Dark, yet I was also the catalyst for its awakening. Was that a coincidence? Was anything about my life a coincidence? From going against the card reading and needing centuries of Cephi protection, which allowed me to wield a Divine sword, to everything that had happened to reset the timeline which led to the blackout.

Had that all been orchestrated by the Celestial Divine for this scenario?

Had I been living my life of my own free will or following a script?

A question I had asked myself before. An answer I feared.

So very pathetic, came the Discordant Dark’s voice. A lone warrior against my might. I will crush you because I must. And I will destroy the world because it is time to start over.

“No. No…” It was all I could say against the terrible, terrifying thought of everyone I knew being vanquished all in the name of giving rise to a new era of humanity. That reduced us to nothing more than game pieces on a board. The Discordant Dark might represent the other half of some kind of cosmic balance, but in this matter I was on the Celestial Divine’s side.

I wanted to live.

Suddenly, the ground shook as thick black roots burst from the ground. Black vines whipped down from the trees and wrapped around me before I could try to raise the sword. It fell from my hand and no amount of struggling loosened my binds.

The roots came for me as well, crawling up my legs and constricting around me. I gasped, a tremendous amount of pain exploding in my body as I realized that I was being entombed by the plant life.

“No!” I choked and sputtered as the vine around my throat tightened.

You must yield to me. There is no other way. I am the darkness that must sometimes eclipse the light. It is time for me to rise.

My magic was a riot inside me. It pressed against my skin like it meant to burst free. I felt Divine magic all around me. My Shaper magic responded, filling me with the urge to do something with my magic, but I did not have the ability to try and utilize the magic that was inside me the way I had when I met Naranthe. I was in too much pain, my emotions overwhelming me, tears streaming down my face as I saw my death coming.

Where was Xythen? Could he find me in time? What about the other Kiabi Warriors here?

I was always trying to save everyone, why couldn’t someone save me?

“Help!” The word was a whispered wheeze. “Help!” No one would hear me, but there was nothing else I could do. Tears slipped down my cheeks. I was going to die. There was no way I could survive this.

Why? Why, why, why, why?

Why was this my fate? Why had I been given a sword that helped save the world only to be doomed to a suffocating death at the shadowy claws of a terrifying entity that wanted to claw the world to pieces?

My entire body was wrapped in vines and bark.

I didn’t want to die.

Ashe would die without me. That gave me the strength for one more struggle, but it yielded nothing.

“I’m sorry, Ashe.” And when the boys saw Ashe fall, they would know.

They would know.

Callan. I wanted to live for him, wanted to pull myself out of this, but I well and truly had nothing left. All I could do was give up. I had fought and fought and fought.

And still lost.

“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice hoarse and ragged. “I wish I could get free…”

Yesssss…

Another deep, strange voice thrummed through my head.

I gasped as a sudden swirling vortex of biting magic rose. Heat pulsed through my body and magic exploded around me in a flash of dark red light. Magic that felt like nothing I’d encountered in the forest. It was like a rough stone moving across my skin.

What was this?

The magic intensified, as did the flash of red around me. It burned so brightly I had to close my eyes but that hardly helped. I was engulfed in a vicious wind like I was within a magic tornado. I felt like I was being tilted and spun around, turned upside down, shaken, tossed, rolled, until I could hardly tell up from down.

And suddenly I was no longer restricted. I fell back, still encircled in wind and magic and unable to stop my fall.

I hit the ground and the impact knocked the wind out of me. I gasped, sucking in air, and sat up. Dizziness washed over me and I closed my eyes and bent my head, trying to calm myself. When I felt a bit more grounded, I opened my eyes and raised my head.

And sucked in a sharp breath.

I thought I had somehow been released from the hold the Discordant Dark had on me. And I had been, but I was also…

No longer inside the forest.

My eyes couldn’t go any wider, but I kept trying. My hands were tightly fisted around the grass I was kneeling on. About a hundred feet away was the tree line of Drisdari Forest.

I looked around. I was in a wide field, and behind me was a dirt-packed road. Some distance away I could see flickering lights from a village. Above me, the night sky was clear of clouds, the light from thousands of stars shining down. A Pterdac made slow circles in the air, its beautiful birdsong drifting down.

I sobbed.

Bent down until my head touched the ground and sobbed. I had been freed. I had somehow, somehow, been ejected from the forest.

The Discordant Dark had been about to crush the life from me. I hadn’t even been able to lift the sword against it. How the hell had I gotten out? Had Xythen done it?

That would be the only thing that made sense. I looked around again but didn’t see him.

I also didn’t see the sword. Another terrible feeling clenched me. I had dropped the sword when the Discordant Dark had wrapped me in vines. I pounded a fist against the ground. The sword had been left behind. A sour feeling churned in my belly. I needed to get my sword back.

And I would try to figure out how later. Right now, I wanted to get back to my people. To Ashe. To Gideon and Toji. To Callan.

I needed him.

I stood up and fished out a Portalorb, taking a stricken moment to remember that I’d left the Temporal community without giving Chelara one so she and the others could make a quick trip to Bastillen. But I shoved that problem aside for now too.

I broke the Portalorb, relief washing over me as Temporal magic erupted and a portal opened.

I ran through it.