“Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will now begin boarding Flight 253 to Nytestarr in Verastarr.”
The announcement blared from the overhead speakers, shaking the darkened thoughts from my mind. I stood by the security checkpoint at Estaire International Airport, saying goodbye.
It was still a shock to me that I was returning—after twelve years away—to my childhood home.
Darkness clouded my mind as I thought about The Fall and how it still haunted our lives seven years later. The Fall of the Cordial shook The Vanaiyer Realm in a way I had never thought possible, toppling all that was good in the realm. The Nordak encased the realm in despair as they rained terror down on the four other regions of The Vanaiyer Realm. Reggeon fell first, with Avyon and Verastarr close behind. We were lucky, but not by much. The East Engles were across the Avyz Sea, which meant that the full force of the Nordak didn’t hit at once.
When it did, no one stood a chance.
The first to be hunted by the Nordaks were those with ancient ties to magic, and once they were harvested, the Seefers were released to feed on us mortals, drawing life out. I often wondered why the God would allow our land’s magic and power to be drained, our realm to be shredded to pieces by the clutches of darkened magic. Why would the God establish the realm, only to allow its inhabitants' lifelines to be swallowed back into The Void much too early? When the regions fell, the sky was overwhelmed with grayness—shadowing the realm in mist, hiding the vibrant colors that once floated by with hints of magic, and sucking the life out of the air.
Life was dimmed then, even as it went on.
I remembered the stories my parents whispered when I was younger about the ancient times. Times when the regions were at peace like river water. The God was pleased with the rulers of the regions, magic flowed naturally from the land, and power thrummed in our veins. When the hues of The Vanaiyer Realm were brighter and mystic waterfalls and star-showers filled the regions.
The Nordak disturbed that peace hundreds of years ago as they hunted and stole the magic of the regions, harvesting it in darkened channels, which led to what was whispered of as, The Vanquishing.
All that was known was that The Vanquishing was a war of the five regions, during which, a dark magic was cast and shattered the boundaries, releasing the Seefers, and forcing those with magic and power in their veins to hide.
I often wondered what truly occurred.
I wished we had more than tales passed down, yet most of the archives in Capital libraries had long been destroyed to keep us from learning of the magic that had flowed throughout our land.
After The Fall seven years ago, my family was fortunate enough to have found some form of normalcy.
Fresh out of university, I had secured a job as a journalist, working for Madelyn LeRoisé, the CEO of Destined Magazine. It was the leading magazine for all things travel and news, and working there had been my dream since I was in my first term of university, sitting in a lecture hall for an Intro to Journalism course. I couldn’t believe my luck when I got the phone call. Sure, it was a smaller section, covering news, but I said yes with no hesitation. My university roommate, Aerilyn, had gotten a call two months later with an offer for an intern position. We made it our goal to take Destined Magazine by storm, outranking each other and those around us whenever we could manage.
Three years later, I had risen in rank at the magazine. At twenty-four, I was the youngest journalist, with my own column, focusing on the latest travel trends and hotspots. Travel was still limited, as the Nordak controlled every aspect of our lives, including air travel and the approvals to visit other regions, which could take months to be granted.
Aerilyn had also excelled in her department and now held an artistic designer position—calling all the shots on photography for the magazine.
Three months into starting my own column, Madelyn LeRoisé, herself called me into her downtown Estaire office, one of three main offices in our land, to discuss a new story. She had received an invitation from the royal family of Verastarr inviting Destined Magazine to the royal coronation ceremony.
Madelyn had gone on and on in the office, talking about how just because she was the CEO of a leading magazine, did not mean she had all the time in the realm to travel for “just another story.” I was not currently attached to any stories of high importance, and the piece would fit nicely into my column; therefore, she decided I was the perfect candidate to travel to Verastarr for the coronation.
I was unsure why this royal coronation was more important than the one in Reggeon two months ago, or Avyon a year before that. Yet, I nodded excitedly at the prospect of travel and took the piece—happy she recognized my worth as a journalist.
It seemed that royal coronation ceremonies had graced the headlines of every newspaper for the past three years, and they didn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. The East Engles were bound to have a coronation a few years from now, once the riots settled down, but I was content to avoid the flock of citizens that would arrive on the sandy shores of Estaire, where our Capital was located.
Which is what led me to this moment, at the entrance to the security checkpoint, saying goodbye to my sister Kateya as I headed off to Verastarr for the next week and a half.
Kateya and I had always been close, but we had gotten closer after I headed off to university. No longer sharing a room and stealing each other’s clothes (and then denying it) seemed to have been a turning point for our relationship. While we weren’t always the best of friends, we frequently met up for dinner and drinks, sharing stories and laughing at the stupid things we had fought over growing up.
At two years younger, Kateya was finishing up her fourth term at a university about a forty-five-minute drive south of me, and was my complete opposite. While I had spent my time focusing on journalism and completed multiple internships, while maintaining a small tight-knit group of friends, Kateya was on the executive board at her university and participated in various events daily, while still unsure of what she wanted to do after college.
Shifting my purse, I glanced over at my sister. “If I don’t go now, I’m going to miss my flight and will never hear the end of it at work,” I said with a slight laugh.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Go off and be the big-time journalist that you are,” my sister joked back. “I hope you know I tried a million different ways to fit myself inside your suitcase. I still can’t believe that you get to go back. It’s been so long since we were last in Verastarr. I miss it sometimes.”
“I’ve missed it too,” I responded softly. My fingers unconsciously reached for the necklace I had worn nearly every day since the night I left Verastarr—the necklace that had strangely become a part of me. “I sometimes wish we had never left. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here in Estaire, and I know we had to move back home at some point. But there was just something about it, wasn’t there?”
“Yes—I don’t know how to explain it, though. It just had a certain feel to it. I wonder if it will still feel the same now, after… you know, The Fall,” the whisper came out.
“It felt like home,” I answered. “But like, a peaceful, calming sense of home. The Fall took so much away, and we’ve lost too many souls to The Void. I wish we could just go back to before that time.”
Kateya nodded in agreement. “I wish I could come with you. I know I have final exams and my formal, but what I wouldn’t give to trade places with you right now and jet off to Verastarr and live on chocolate pastries, baguettes, and wine every day.”
Laughing, I thought about the delicious smell of baguettes and how good a warmed pastry would taste. A vibration in my pocket pulled me from the thoughts of baguettes, so I took my phone out of my back pocket to check my notifications.
I couldn’t help but laugh. Of course she had managed to work her way onto this trip as well. I mean, who would miss the opportunity to go to a royal coronation—definitely not Aerilyn. That girl would live and breathe gossip and luxury if given the chance.
Turning my attention back to Kateya, I responded with, “I can promise you I will eat more than enough pastries and baguettes for the both of us! But if I don’t make it through security, neither of us will be getting any pastries for a long time.”
“I know. Fly safe, okay? And maybe bring me back a baguette, if possible. I promise I will love you forever if you do!” Kateya grinned as she said her goodbye.
“Can’t promise anything on that baguette, there’s a good chance I will eat it before it makes its way back here, but I’ll see what I can do for you.” Grabbing my bags, I turned away, my hand nervously reaching for my necklace once again, as I did out of habit so often. There was practically no one in line at security, as was typically the case at EEI, since it was such a small airport. But just as I was about to enter the gated line, a hug tackled me from behind.
“Bye, Cass. I wish I was coming with you,” Kateya muttered, her eyes tearing up slightly.
“I’ll only be gone a little over a week, but I wish that you were coming with me, too, Kat.” My eyes teared up as I glanced at my little sister. Annoying as she might be, I realized that deep down, I truly wished that my sister was traveling back to Verastarr with me.
No sooner had I thought that than a burning sensation began at the base of my neck. “OW! What the hell?” I yelped, clawing at my necklace as a searing heat spread over my chest.
Kateya regarded me with a curious expression.
“My necklace! Feel it. It feels like it's burning up,” I heard myself saying as my hand was scalded in my attempt to take the necklace off.
Soon Kateya’s hand was next to mine, feeling the pendant that was somehow overheating. “Okay, that’s not normal. But don’t panic, just take it off. Where did you say you got it from again?”
“It’s not coming off,” I snapped, yanking roughly at the gold; the clasp felt as though it was locked around my neck.
“Okay, let’s both try pulling and just break the chain,” she said, as her hand wrapped around mine—over the pendant. “1… 2… 3… PULL.”
Neither of us felt the chain break, yet the pendant flew, before crashing to the floor, creating sparks of shimmering gold energy as it spun in a circle then settled. The sparks ricocheted off one another before gaining speed and swirling into the air, as though drawn in by an unseen energetic force field.
Then, they vanished.
Looking at Kateya, I noticed the confusion in her eyes, most likely a reflection of what was in mine, wondering if we had truly seen the gold shimmers or just imagined it.
The panic set in a few seconds later as a chill began twisting its way around my body, snaking up my limbs, until I was entangled by a powerful, freezing force, my senses heightening while my strength diminished—as though sucked from my limbs. An ominous mist of gold-flecked black encased my body until I could not tell where I ended and the mist began.
I heard a screech in the far distance and then a, “What the fuck!” coming from my sister. As if time had frozen, I stood in a trance-like state, unable to move, to breathe, to process a coherent thought. My eyes closed of their own accord as an arctic breeze chilled my bones, surrounded my body, and forced me into submission.
And then my vision went black.