Chapter One

Snap

“Who the hell do you think you’re giving orders to, huh?!”

“Clearly someone needs to give you aim.”

“We are Arianna’s to command—not yours!”

“If it were left up to my ayraziis, you would return to Dauthrmir without us.”

I propped my cheek against my fist and looked between Eyrian and Nalithor while they continued to argue. They had been arguing intermittently for hours and showed no sign of easing off. My other guards seemed comfortable with the near-constant bickering, giving me the impression that Eyrian and Nalithor often argued.

‘You look bored.’ Djialkan looked up from my lap and tilted his head. ‘Do you not plan to stop them?’

‘Well, Nalithor isn’t wrong.’ I glanced at the fae-dragon briefly and then back to the two men. “You two should save that energy for the journey ahead.”

Their tails twitched and both cut themselves off mid-sentence. After exchanging a glare, they both crossed their arms and turned to look at me. Nalithor had a smug smirk on his face, while Eyrian looked prepared to combust. I sighed.

“You don’t wish to stop for the night yet?” Kabos asked from my left, a small frown on his face. “We will reach our destination within a few hours—it would be best if you rest before we get there.”

“We’re too close for me to get any rest,” I replied, shifting to address the Sizoul. “I can sense the magics of the two forests and the crater already. It’s like the buzzing of an insect, just out of reach.”

“Even so, neither of you have had much rest since coming to Falrrsald.” Eyrian narrowed his eyes at me, but his expression didn’t intimidate me in the slightest.

“If we stop short of our destination I’m liable to wander off ahead once you’re all asleep,” I informed him with a poisonous smile. “Unless you’re prepared to take extreme measures to make me rest—and are prepared for what I’ll do to you for doing so—then, please, make my day.”

“I’d punish them before you even got the chance.” Nalithor’s deadly tone made both Akedos and Reulidru bristle. “Finish your dinners. We will continue to Sihix after everyone has eaten.”

Nalithor strode over and sat down beside me without another word. I watched him out of the corner of my eyes for a moment before reaching out and grabbing a bowl of food off the rock in front of me. The closer we got to the Sihix Forest, the more agitated Nalithor became. I couldn’t blame him—he likely sensed the same “wrongness” from the area that I did, but had the added frustration of his shard. He hadn’t said anything about it since leaving the caverns behind but I could tell it was still haunting him.

‘Stinky magic!’ Alala whined, shoving her nose under my thigh.

‘Yiltanys,’ Djialkan answered when I looked to him. ‘Alala is the child of Sihix’s Guardians—the scent of such strong light magics is distressing to her.’

‘Not just to her…’ I considered while stuffing a large spoonful of soup into my mouth. ‘It’s just so wrong, Djialkan, but I…I can’t go—’

‘Arianna?’ Nalithor nudged me with his elbow. ‘You’re shivering. What’s wrong?’

‘The Yiltanys Forest.’ I clenched my jaw and willed myself to stop shaking. ‘I think it’s been infected with seals and magic like what I found in Ceilail and Sihix. The magic from it doesn’t feel or smell right, even for light. Alala’s displeased too.’

‘None of us are Chrot’zi…’ Nalithor frowned and glanced toward the hills to our northwest. ‘Even as Balance I doubt the forest will let me in, and even if it would—I can’t search for the corruption. That is your forte.

“Eyrian.”

“What?” The Draekin bared his fangs at Nalithor briefly, but took on a more serious demeanor when he saw my nylziis’ expression.

“If Arianna or I attempt to make a break for Yiltanys, you have my permission to incapacitate us.” Nalithor’s tone left little room for questions. “You read my report about the Ceilail Forest, yes? Arianna believes Yiltanys is infected in the same way.

“If she is sensing such things from this distance, the corruption is likely wide-spread. None of us should venture near it, but especially not Lyur’zi.”

“Too bad crystal doesn’t burn well.” I sighed and set my empty bowl aside. “Nalithor is right. We need to make straight for Sihix and take precautions to prevent any of us going to Yiltanys.” I shifted to address Nalithor, “That said, I’m not sure how you expect any of us to incapacitate you if you decide to act. If you reach that point, it’s more than likely that I’ll already have dashed off ahead of you.”

“Let’s hope that, if it comes to such a matter, only one of you reaches that point.” Reulidru placed a hand on his hip and looked between us. “None of us wants to have to go to extremes to subdue either of you. At the very least, if only Arianna-jiss loses herself, then you can subdue her, Nalithor.”

“You make it sound easier than it is,” Nalithor remarked dryly.

“Rain is coming,” Azhar commented from his seat away from the rest of us. “We should hurry.”

“Rain?” Akedos whined. “My fur is gonna get all wet! Your Highness, save me—”

“You have a cloak for a reason.” I dodged the Sundreht when he reached for me, causing him to pout. “Is everyone done with their food? Yes? Good. Let’s go.”

I strode past my guards with Djialkan perched on my shoulder. Even if X’shmir had been torn from Falrrsald, I knew this place. The scents. It was like the forest that surrounded the city itself. However, here, the trees were thinner and many had sustained damage from beasts or irt’chkali.

‘A dying forest…’ I glanced up at the night sky briefly before returning my attention to my path through the trees.

Silence. No birds, to animals, and no hint of beasts or other creatures. The fetid rains seemed to have missed this part of the region, yet it was just as silent here. We’d been unable to determine where all the wildlife in Falrrsald had fled to, and even here there was a distinct lack of insects.

‘The people, as well,’ Djialkan remarked while craning his neck to examine our surroundings. ‘It seems likely that the tribes have taken shelter within their tunnel systems, much like the N’lafmaran refugees did. However, that does not explain the disappearance of other creatures.’

‘It’s as if someone wants to strangle the life out of Falrrsald.’ Nalithor fell into step with me and glanced down briefly. The glint in his eyes and the subtle curve of his mouth betrayed his eagerness. ‘Hmmm? What’s so amusing, Arianna?’

‘You want to hunt.’ I shot him a sideways look and smiled. ‘What would our enemies gain from stripping Falrrsald of both aether and living creatures?’

“Arianna-jiss,” Eyrian spoke, before coughing as if to get my attention. “Care to share what you’re thinking?”

“Ah, sorry.” I looked over my shoulder at my guards—they all looked frustrated. “I was contemplating what there is to gain from stripping a region of life and of aether. Nalithor and I haven’t seen animals, people, or insects since before the rot-rain.”

“There’s also the N’lafmarans in the tunnels, and the fish in the Vulei River,” Nalithor reminded me in an amused tone before shifting his attention to Eyrian. “The tribes have likely gone to ground—how long it takes before they begin killing and eating each other is another matter.”

“And the animals likely aren’t—” I paused and then turned to stare at Nalithor. “Wait, eating each other?”

“They will do whatever is necessary to survive.” Nalithor nodded, his expression grim. “Even if it means lowering their numbers, they will kill and eat their weaker members if it will save their tribe.”

“Lucifer and Lysander encountered such behavior centuries ago,” Reulidru offered with a vague motion of his hand. “The tribes of Falrrsald used to wander into Devillian territory without much fear, back when the borderlands used to also follow a tribal lifestyle.

“There was a drought, and the tribes migrated into Devillian territory in search of food. However, they were so desperate that they began to eat each other. Some even hunted and killed Devillians as a source of food.”

“The borderlands… That would be Krae’lh and Ee’nir, wouldn’t it?” I pursed my lips, a little unnerved by the information.

“A small part of Ryrun as well,” Kabos answered. “The Imviir were hunted for their serpent-like appearance, while the Jrachra were hunted for their aetheric tattoos—the tribes believed they would inherit their power.”

“Was this when Lucifer chose to conquer the lands surrounding Dauthrmir and Draemir?” Djialkan inquired with a small frown.

‘That seems like a small time frame for Devillians to transition from a tribal life to what they have now.’ I glanced at the puzzled fae-dragon. ‘Would the Devillians banding together really explain what the empire has become in the past two centuries?’

‘You underestimate your people.’ Djialkan butted my jaw with his forehead, hard.

“You’ve got the right of it, scaly.” Akedos pointed his finger at Djialkan’s nose. “It led to the discovery of how the lesser races were treating their Astral and Umbral—”

“‘Lesser’ races?” I arched an eyebrow at the Sundreht.

“Yup.” Akedos crossed his arms over his chest and nodded in what he likely thought was a sage manner. “Humans and Elves are scared of darkness. Anyone that fears it is prey.”

“And that is why you don’t get half the assignments you want.” Reulidru pushed his glasses up his nose and snorted at Akedos. “Humans and Elves have ties to different elements than Devillians do. Their specialties are different entirely. A fear of darkness isn’t enough to make them inferior—”

“There they go…” Eyrian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “At any rate, it isn’t our concern if the tribes decide to devour each other. Our goal is over the ridge there.”

‘There’s the bloodthirsty vixen,’ Nalithor commented with a chuckle. He placed a hand on my shoulder and shot me a devious smile. ‘You should compose yourself, Arianna. It’s a strange place—one likely to provoke your instincts.

‘We can’t give into it.’

‘Strange doesn’t begin to cover it, and I can’t even see it yet.’ I crossed my arms beneath my bust and let my darkness prod at our immediate surroundings. ‘There’s more aether here, certainly, but there should be more with two Aledacian Forests so close.’

‘Careful.’ Nalithor placed an arm around me to steady me when my foot caught a root. ‘The magics are already pulling at you, aren’t they? You were moving with such grace just a moment ago, but now…’

I gritted my teeth and dug my claws into Nalithor’s arm. He wasn’t wrong. The corrupted magics from Yiltanys made my skin crawl. My lust for destruction sent a shiver through me. I heard Nalithor say something to our companions but I couldn’t make out what he said. My senses had already shifted to focus solely on the mixed magics emanating from beyond the hill.

Light, darkness, and corruption. I’d never sensed so much of that vile magic before. Not from the airborne portion of Sihix, and not from Ceilail. It was overwhelming. I had no idea how to tackle corruption of that magnitude. So much of it emanated from a place I couldn’t even step into.

‘Yiltanys…’ I clenched my jaw and pulled out of Nalithor’s grip so that I could stalk to the crest of the hill. I needed to see for myself what was so wrong with what was once X’shmir.

A wave of cold slid over me and made my skin prickle into goosebumps as I stared at the scene below me. For the moment, I forgot my bloodlust and the feel of the wrong magics. All I could do was try to make sense of what I saw.

For miles and miles, there was nothing but an impossibly deep “hole” in the earth. Broken shards of crystal rose from the walls of the crater, and the dim glow deeper in hinted at the existence of more. Some of the crystals were the size of trees—cousins to the crystals on X’shmir’s underside. I had seen similar ones many times over when flying on Djialkan to investigate.

However, it was what I saw in the distance that was both breathtaking and hair-raising. To the northeast were gargantuan trees of dark crystal, rising hundreds of feet into the air. Opposite of it, to our northwest, was Yiltanys. White and golden crystal shone from Yiltanys, but many of the trees had gone dim as with Sihix’s airborne half.

‘Half? More like a fifth…’ I glanced over to Sihix in thought, then back at Yiltanys.

Pieces of earth and boulders hovered in the air above the crater between the two forests. Flora from both forests coated the floating stones, indicating that pieces of both forests had been torn from Avrirsa’s surface and thrown into the sky. By the proximity of the boulders, I had to assume that the forests once met and mingled somewhere within X’shmiran lands.

Yet none of its inhabitants had ever mentioned Yiltanys to me.

“Oh? Not going to force us to restrain you?” Nalithor teased, coming to stand beside me. He faltered when I didn’t say anything, then narrowed his eyes at me. “What is it, Arianna?”

“I haven’t looked at the aether, yet.” I slid my eyes to the side to look at him and then returned my gaze to the valley below. “That said…the scale of this crater put things into perspective. X’shmir was quite literally ripped off the surface of Avrirsa…

“The amount of power that would take is staggering. My first thought would be that the crystal-rich soil could provide the power for such a feat—but the crystals are still so bright with power that it’s visible to the naked eye. They haven’t been used.”

“Some of the trees have dimmed since I was last here,” Nalithor murmured, rubbing his chin in thought. “I had hoped that the power of Sihix was being sent Below to its mainland portion, but it would seem that’s not the case. Both forests are being drained by something.”

“The chambers?” Azhar offered. “They already proved that draining aetheric power is part of their purpose. It would stand to reason that, if they can trap the forest’s persona, that they can also trap the forest’s power.”

‘There’s little reason behind that.’ I kept the thought to myself. ‘Trapping any piece of a true Elder shouldn’t be possible. They must have erred in some way. That, at least, is a reasonable assumption. If they’ve had to remake the universe several times over, then they too can make mistakes.

‘Perhaps someone found a loophole to exploit?’

‘Well?’ Nalithor nudged me and then lifted a hand to reveal a leash of darkness. He laughed when I shot him an agitated glare. ‘You are going to examine the aether before we continue forward, are you not?

‘I know how you can get, Arianna. Precautions seem necessary.’

‘He is right, you know.’ Djialkan hopped off my shoulder and onto Nalithor’s to join Alala. ‘Still, I doubt he is truly prepared. Do at least try to rein yourself in.’

Just for that, I decided I wouldn’t give any of them a forewarning before switching my vision.

The appearance of the aether slammed into my senses like a wall, stunning me into silence. I felt my control over my form slip completely as I stared at the shining magical energies. Dark, oily brown dripped off every surface of Yiltanys and soaked into the ground beneath it. The coagulated-looking power slid down the edges of the crater like a thick sludge and sizzled whenever it came into contact with the massive crystals that protruded from the soil.

Sticky strands of corruption stretched between the trees in both forests, but Yiltanys was far more gone than Sihix. The entirety of Yiltanys shone with a putrid brown light instead of the white and gold it should have. Angelic sigils and writing like what I’d seen in the dark chamber covered chains, talismans, and had even been engraved in the bark of some of the trees.

Something inside me snapped, and everything went dark.

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