Ryker spends the next minute typing it all up before projecting it on the board behind us.
The days are numbered before the skies fall to night when Myrkr rises.
When the souls collide and the land trembles, will the new dawn begin.
The crowns of the seven will turn to ash. The empire reborn after the life gift restored.
The fate of the two crowns will destiny unite.
Long-forgotten answers will be revealed, an awakening bestowed.
The birth of the firstborn will the veil be complete.
Light and dark was balance made, but one will fall, one remain.
We all sit in silence for a long minute, reading through it. The entire time, Ryker stays at my side, his fingers toying with mine below the console, as if he needs my touch as much as I need his.
“I’m going out on a limb here to say that skies falling to night has something to do with the shadows,” Tate muses, breaking the silence.
“Wow, great observation,” Ciara teases, pulling her braids over her shoulder. “Souls colliding, maybe your Bond?”
I look up at Ryker, but he’s shaking his head.
“I don’t know. Everything I know about the Lumos Bond has more to do with the gods pre-ordaining specific Bonds betweenpeople; that’s why there’s The Ceremony. You have to find the strongest one. The Bond has nothing to do with souls, but it could just be wording.” He shrugs, dropping a hip to lean against the console.
I nearly stumble as I’m tugged along until I’m standing so close my arm brushes his stomach with every breath.
“Well, it mentions the new dawn, and if the mist was calling you that,” Kellan says, “I’m going to assume that line has to do with you. If you’re the new dawn, maybe you’ll complete a mission or something?”
Shrugging, I look to Ryker. “The next line is pretty obvious. The kingdoms won’t exist if an empire is restored,” he says. My mind tries to make sense of all of it, but it feels like a dream I can't quite grasp, like looking at a broken image in a shattered mirror, all jagged and wrong.
“Einvald,” I mutter to myself. If the empire is restored, Einvald would be opened again. There would be ancient texts there that could help.
“Two crowns,” Tate exclaims, gesturing to the two of us. “So obvious. Destiny has united you both.” He grins, and it’s almost enough to make me chuckle. I love his enthusiasm. I know I’ll need to tell them soon that Ryker and I might be a thing. But that’s a conversation that needs to happen with the man whose arm is wrapped around my waist.
“The rest of it is still cryptic,” Ciara sighs with a frown.
“Back to the mist,” Ryker says, looking at me. “The old man in Seamark Shallows.” A full grin spreads across my face, making him chuckle. “What? I do know the actual name,” he teases.
I roll my eyes and look at our friends. Ciara is grinning, Tate looks amused, Trysten looks relieved, Aolyn has seen it all, Kamden doesn’t seem to notice, but Kellan—Kellan is furious. Honestly, he’s going to have to accept this sooner or later. I’m not ruling out the off-chance that Ryker and I aren’t destined, but I’m not going to pretend to hate Ryker either.
Ignoring Kellan’s glare, I say, “An old man approached me in thevillage on Kliax. He said, ‘Thebirth of the new dawn is coming, Light-bringer.’”
“So many titles,” Ryker teases, poking my side. “So special.”
The second poke sends me into a fit of giggles as he continues poking my sides below the corset.
“Anyway,” Kellan states sternly, sucking all the joy out of the room. “Great, you have all the titles about being the light or whatever. Will that be your Bonding magic?”
I stop laughing, feeling a little lightheaded as I try to compose myself. “I mean, maybe,” I respond a little breathlessly. “The mist said it wanted me to give it to them. If I don’t have my magic yet, then why would they say that? Maybe it’s something else?”
“It might not even be light,” Trysten says. “Light can be a whole lot of things.”
“Great, so we’re back to nothing,” Ciara says dramatically.
The room has a weird tension again as Ryker glances at me and then at the projection. “Raea, did you feel the energy on the planet before you went into the clearing?”
I nod, tilting my head. “It was stronger than here.” My memories of that pulsing power surface. “On Sgya, I felt like it consumed everything.”
