But it didn’t last. Some of theGeistbegan to believe we were superior. We had our magic, after all, and our immortality. Even some of the humans had already begun to worship us as gods and so some of my people began to believe they were. Those who deified themselves started to look down upon those of us who chose to live among the humans, as one with them, especially those who bred with them. And so, a conflict began to brew and spun into a civil war. Deimos’ father,Nektarios, was our leader before. He brought us through the portal from our home world, settled us among the humans, and encouraged us to immerse ourselves in their culture. Deimos hated it, railed against the immersion for centuries, until he amassed enough of our people who agreed with him. They began a civil war with the opening act of killingNektarios. WeGeistwarredamongstourselves for two hundred years. Countless humans died in the struggle, used as soldiers by both sides. Eventually, the allure of superiority was too great. Deimos won and set himself up as Lord of theGeist. He createdPavos, walled it off with magic, kept the humans out as anything other than slaves, and shunned those who chose to live among them.
But even that victory wasn’t enough for him. He began to claim theGeiststill living among the humans were a risk to our magic, that they were corrupting it by debasing it with human savages. He claimed the half human, halfGeist offspring were some unholy mixture of the two, the embodiment of such a corruption. He began to send out men to kill theGeistliving among the humans, those he deemed a traitor to their race. Even his most loyal supporters balked at that. But he didn’t stop. He assassinated every last one of our kind whodwelledamong the humans. Then he turned to their bastard offspring. That was when we stepped in, those of us who'd been horrified at thekilling of our own. We were far too late but won ourselves a small victory. We stopped him from killing the halfGeistoutright. Instead, we met with their leaders and established a place where they could thrive on their own but walled away from us forever.”
“Sanctuary,” I breathed, stunned, and was even more surprised to findKleionodding.
“Sanctuary,” he repeated. “We built a city for theVerdunn, what the humans called thehalf-breeds, and we banished them to it, making them believe it was a paradise we’d created just for them. We set up the Trials to convince them there was still a way to join us and a whole system to ensure they had food, water, and whatever necessities they needed and comforts we could afford to keep them pleased. Eventually, enough generations of your people passed on to have forgotten the truth of how you got there in the first place.”
“So I…my people…my ancestors were once halfGeist?”
Kleio nodded.
“Someone within your family line,” he admitted. “Someone important, likely, if you descend from one of the High Houses.”
I blinked, too stunned to respond. ButKleiowasn’t done.
“Centuries later, the Culling was established. I…spoke up against it and was punished for my disobedience. But Deimos was still convinced the existence of theVerdunnthreatened the purity of magic itself. He was obsessed with the idea that the same corruption that sent us fleeing our home world might worm it’s way into this one if we weren’t careful, if we didn’t keep the blood, the magic, pure, if we allowed the darkness to develop once again. So he ordered the Culling, that anyone whose blood was tested and found to contain trace amounts of corrupted magic, would be Culled from Sanctuary so as not to infect a whole new generation. I argued that we'd promised not to interfere with Sanctuary when we’d created it, that we still had a binding treaty with theVerdunn, whether their newestgenerations were aware of it or not. But my voice was one against many.”
He turned to me and his eyes met mine with a fervency that seemed to plead with me to understand something vital. I wasn’t certain what it was.
“TheZver…” I started, unsure how the beasts fit into the equation.
“Humans aren’t stupid, Dante. They figured out quickly enough what it was we feared. They saw the writing on the wall when Deimos dared to execute his own for the simple crime of beingamongstthem. They knew we feared the corruption of magic and so, before we killed the last of our kind living among them, before we sent theVerdunnoff to their fate, they used what little access to our magic they had to create a being made entirely of that corruption. TheZver are made of the Darkness. That’s why Deimos fears them as he does. That’s why we should all fear them. Any amount of the Darkness, any amount of corruption, threatens to bring the Evil upon us once more and, if that is the case, we all shall perish;Geistand humans both.”
So many questions were rushing through my mind but one came to the forefront.
“He punished you,” I spoke slowly, in disbelief, “for questioning him?”
“Thirty lashings. He didn’t imprison me yet. That came later. I was lucky, I suppose. Deimos usually kills those who doubt his authority. But I had friends even he didn’t want to anger. At least, I did.”
Something like sorrow came over his features at that.
“But you were imprisoned,” I said, pushing into a realm of his past he’d clearly been avoiding. “For what?”
He looked up at me, eyes narrowing.
“I won’t tell you that story,” he replied. “Not yet. Maybe not ever.”
The breath went out of me at the intensity of his tone. I’d never heard Kleio truly angry before. Something told me it would be even more intimidating than Valin’s fury.
“But he let you out,” I said. “Because of me?”
“I was the only one who had any experience in dealing with Victors,” he told me, a sad smile on his lips, and I could see the irony held some dark amusement for him. “When Sanctuary was first created, I was placed in charge of it. Deimos didn’t have the time or desire to ‘babysit a bunch ofhalf-breeds’ as he put it. I was interested in your people as a matter of scientific curiosity. You looked like humans, acted like humans, held the shorter lifespans of humans, and seemed to contain very little magic, if any at all. I wondered what, if anything, you’d gained from our people, what hereditary traits you’d acquired from theGeist. I spent centuries studying your people, including the Victors who made it through the Trials. I established the Office ofVerdunnAdministration and trained others in my work, though Deimos always kept a close eye on anyGeistwho seemed too fascinated by the half-humans. So when another Victor dropped back into our midst and my former apprentices had long scattered to the wind due to Deimos’ own paranoia, he had no choice but to release me from prison so I might study you myself. I’m the only one capable of discovering whether or not you harbor the Darkness, whether or not you’re corrupted.”
Every muscle in my body tensed. We’d reached the heart of the matter.Kleiowas watching me closely as if prepared for me to run, prepared to chase me down and drag me back if necessary. He’d been pulled from his cell to determine if I contained the only thing the Lord of theGeistfeared, the thing he’d devoted his whole immortal life to destroying. I had no doubt he could destroy me just as easily should I have it.
“And?” I asked, carefully.
“You do not have it,” he said simply.
I exhaled in relief but those eyes remained firmly on me, willing me to understand something important, some final piece of that puzzle that hadn’t yet clicked into place. I gazed at him, recalling the entirety of our conversation, the revelations so extreme they made my head spin. But then I understood with horrifying clarity.
“The Ninth Trial,” I whispered.
Kleionodded, encouraging me to go on.
“The cloud of shadow I saw, the one that blasted apart the snow, that saved us. That was the Darkness. That was the corruption, wasn’t it?”
Kleionodded again but said no more.
