Jakan seized my hand as the glass slipped from beneath my fingers, his grip unwavering, and I had no worry of losing him on the journey back. He also didn’t scream, which I took as a great sign that I hadn’t torn his soul into pieces.
When cool, damp air washed across my skin, I opened my eyes again and could have shouted in joy. Despite it being dark, I could see everything clearly. We were in the cave, standing across from the mortal glass.
Theotherside. The side of beauty and light and colour.
“I didn’t leave my body here,” I said, the thought hitting me suddenly. I started to pat along my arms and sides. I felt substantial, but maybe it was an illusion.
A deep male voice, so much more vibrant than it had been in the imprisonment realm, interrupted my panic. “The glass returned it to you when we returned to this world.”
Letting my arms fall, I turned to find Jakan at my side, grinning broadly. I almost gasped when I caught sight of him in full colour and vibrancy. He did have blond hair, just as I imagined the first time I saw him. Blond hair and the bluest eyes I’d ever seen. His skin was tanned like mine, and he had a few more sunspots across his nose than me, but I could see myself in him … more than I had expected. Once the colour and life had returned to his skin, the resemblance was almost striking. He was staring at me as hard as I had been at him.
“You’re beautiful,” he said softly. “You look so much like your mother. Like me.” His voice broke slightly, and he cleared his throat.
I was feeling choked up as well, but managed to stop myself from turning into another teary mess.
“I can’t believe we’re back,” I said softly. “What do we do now?”
Jakan pulled himself together so quickly, I wondered if maybe I’d imagined his heavier emotions before. “Do you have any stort of plan in place to start stripping Staviti of his power?”
I nodded, glad to be able to focus on the plan again. “Yes, we need to open the channels between the worlds. Staviti has been sucking the life from Minatsol and hoarding all the energy to himself somehow. The imbalance is throwing everything off.” I shivered a little as more cold air washed down the tunnel of the cave. “It’s snowing in Topia. For the first time ever.”
The defined planes of Jakan’s face hardened, his brow furrowing. “The glass must have returned us to this spot for a reason. Otherwise we would have gone back to where you left your body. It wants to show us something.”
I didn’t hesitate in turning to the glass. “Show me,” I said, placing my hand against it.
The warmth of energy swirled inside me, and I could already feel the strength of it returning. I stepped back as images flickered along the surface of the glass. One after another, over and over. It showed us the same ten images.
The first was the cave where the wraiths had been; I recognised the writing on the wall there. The next was a river, and it was familiar to me, but I didn’t realise why until Jakan spoke.
“That’s where we were born—Staviti and I. It’s the main source of power for this world. When your mother went into labour, I brought her here, to the same waters that my mother gave birth to me in.”
“The pantera told me that I received the water in a different way to Staviti,” I said slowly, my eyes lingering on the river.
Jakan smiled. “Well, technically I was feeding your mother water the entire pregnancy, because I wasn’t sure of the strength she would require to birth a half-god. So your first experience with the water was not at birth. It was long before that.”
Pulling my gaze from the glass, I blinked at him, processing that. “You were with mom all the way until I was born?”
He nodded. “Yes, it was the sun-cycle after your birth that Staviti came for me. I only just managed to hide you and Winnifred away before he attacked.”
He trailed off but we all knew what had happened then: Staviti had thrown him through the mortal glass, tearing my mother’s soul to pieces, and leaving me basically alone in the world. The glass flickered again, showing me the same series of images again. Another was of the river of my birth again, only this time it was still and stagnant, the waters no longer flowing. The fifth image was that of a mountain with a waterfall cascading over it, only to be stopped halfway down instead of flowing into the creek below. The next images were also all of water, in differing locations.
“I know what this is,” Jakan said suddenly. “The glass is showing you all the ways the sacred waters have been blocked from Minatsol. This is how we must return the balance.”
“I freed the wraiths from the cave though,” I said, unsure.
Jakan shook his head. “You freed the wraiths, but each of these images is focussing on the water. The water being stopped or redirected. That cave used to have water flowing through it … water that once upon a time flowed freely between the two worlds. When our parents named me their heir, it was my job to protect the sacred waters. Staviti was opposed to this from the start, but he had to follow my command.”
“Until he got rid of you,” I added.
His jaw clenched. “Yes, the moment he could, he tried to kill me, only to end up sending me to the imprisonment realm. I was the first one to ever land on the other side of the mortal glass.”
“How?” I asked. “There was no Crowe or any weapons back then?”
Jakan turned back to the glass. “We were here,” he said, “fighting in this cave. Staviti somehow pushed me through the glass. Before it was all scarred and broken, it was easier to step between the two places. I think I’m the only being to ever go across complete, with my body intact.”
“That’s why you were so strong.” I sought confirmation. “You entered the imprisonment realm differently, your soul still intact. You were able to feed from the glass while it was still whole. To build up the energy over time that you needed to return.”
“Correct. Eventually I had the strength to escape and meet your mother, only to be thrown back in again before I got a chance to truly know my family.”
