I feel a shift, then. Interest, perhaps. Or curiosity. The maegis in my hands flows away, reshaping further away than its initial position. And no matter how much I try, it will not come to me again.
But it watches. I settle where I am, staring back into the cavern.
Please. I don’t know what to do.
No response.
And yet… both times my maegis has taken physical form, it was pitch-black shadow that poured from my palms. Perhaps my maegis is two sides of the same coin. Metaphysical, and physical. Light and dark.
“You can actually see it?” Something shifts in Merrick’s voice as it reaches me. “That’s interesting. It did not work that way for the others I have met.”
My eyes open at that, the maegis vanishing and replaced by a pair of blue eyes. “It didn’t?”
Merrick’s smile is familiar. It’s the smile of every tutor I have ever had. Of Erena, indulging my endless curiosity. “That does not make it wrong, Selene. Try again.”
It’s easier to find it again, now that I know where to look. I reach for the maegis with decisive hands, and it allows me to gather some of it up, wisps of bright light settling in my palms.
I need you.
It floats away at that, slipping between my fingers, but lingering. As though it waits.
I need you to show me what to do.
It feels sentient. In a way I did not expect. The words feel natural as I offer them. And I can feel my maegis hesitate. Hovering just out of reach.
Please.
That tendril creeps closer, toward my outstretched hand.
Show me, I whisper.Show me how you work.
It sinks into my outstretched hands, vanishing.
Merrick inhales sharply. My eyes open to the night sky and a salty breeze that strokes against my sweating skin.
My palms areglowing. Not the bright, overwhelming light that illuminated Callan’s cabin, but something softer. Something very much like the light within that cavern inside my mind.
When the shadows come, they contain themselves to the space between us. Not an eruption, but a trickle.
Warmth fills my chest. A single tendril snakes across my cheek, almost like a caress.
Merrick is still touching my hands. And the knowledge of what I need to do slips inside, as if it had been there all along. Waiting for me. A key in the lock of a door I had no idea was even there.
The shadows twist and change, and we both watch as the scene forms. A different scene to that of yesterday. My eyes flicker to Merrick, and back.
I know what this is.
Elation shifts to something else. Something darker, as the figures move and shift. And it turns to ice in my chest, at the sole, still figure left at the end.
“No!” I rip my hands away from his. The maegis vanishes, leaving panic behind as I try to catch my breath. “Gods, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
The reading of a fate is sacrosanct. To be done in private, and never without permission. The scene plays in my head, the horror in my chest growing at what I have accidentally revealed.
“I have seen it before,” Merrick says gently.
My head jerks up. Merrick is smiling, still staring at the space between us. “Do not concern yourself, Selene. It was done without intent, and I am not angry. I have known my fate for a long time.”
“But—”
