“Yes.We became the Chamber.”Pause.“Not as it is known, the Chamber of Light and Dark.We are the Chamber of Shadow.We decided because it had to be done.”
The admission settled heavily.
“So these shadow elves took cover in you,” Elora continued, anger sharpening her tone.“You took advantage of their power, used it for your own gain, and when it failed, you bided your time and decided to try again?”
“The king stepped aside.He was weak.Our leader would have made a better king.And he will replace Triktapic.He will set us free once light and dark have been united.”
Cassie lifted her chin.“So not only are you delusional, you’re self-destructive as well.Noted.Because if you think you can unseat my Chosen, you’ve got to be batshit crazy.”
The presence turned its focus fully on her.
“How many would have said that a human filled with light would be able to tame a king turned dark and murderous?How is that not a form of delusion?And yet, you did.And in your joining, you created what we have not been able to.”
The pressure intensified, not painful, but insistent.Cassie’s breath stuttered as the awareness centered on her womb, on the steady, radiant presence there.
“A life produced by convergence, not conflict.Light and dark, not at war.Chosen.Accepted.”
Elora’s voice went deadly quiet.“You want her child.”Cassie hadn’t told Elora that she’d already figured that little tidbit out.She didn’t figure it would go over too well with her bff.
“We want what was denied us.Our own choice to exist.To be free.”
Cassie felt the lie coil inside the truth.
“You don’t simply want to exist,” she said softly.“You want to control.”
The clearing shuddered.
“We offer choice,”the voice insisted.“Allow us to have the child of your own free will.Let us finish what began here.Let the realm be spared another fracture.Shadow is the result of the two paired.We are exactly what is needed.Would you really deny this to the realm you rule?”
Elora laughed once, sharp and humorless.“That’s not a choice.That’s a threat pretending to give her an option.”
Cassie’s hand tightened over her stomach.Her child’s magic flared in response, not wild, not afraid.Defiant.
“No,” Cassie said.The word rang through the clearing, absolute.
“You would doom the realm?”
Cassie shook her head.“I would save it from you.Yes, shadow is a product of light and dark.But you seemed to have missed the fact that without light and dark you literally cannot exist.The absence of the two means there arenoshadows.”
The presence pressed harder, urgency bleeding through its control.
“We have forgotten how young you are, and how human.You do not understand.Our leader, darkness and light, born of a sacrifice, is enough to ensure our existence, even without either race.And he brings his own light.They are all we need.But, you, daughter of light, and Elora, daughter of dark, shall strengthen us, and your child will tip the balance.”
“How?”Cassie asked, afraid she already knew the answer.
“Triktapic will not survive the loss of his Chosen and his heir.For true stability in the realm, there must not be none with more power than the rest.He should not exist.He is unrest, chaos, and division.After all, he was divided within himself.The realm will be better off without him.We will rectify the mistake the Forest Lords made in his creation.”
“I was wrong.You’re not batshit crazy.You’re suicidal,” Cassie replied, voice unwavering.“Triktapic has already done what you could not.Hemade the choice to choose light over dark, and in doing so defeated the dark.He joined the realm.It will never be perfect because we’re not perfect.Darkness lives in each of us.We mustchoosethe light.And my child will never be a weapon used against us.”
Elora stepped forward, planting herself beside Cassie like a wall.“And you can’t take what’s already been claimed,” she added.“If you want to stay in your own lane, like the rest of us, then perhaps you can exist.But your idea ofbalanceis a load of crap.You’ve contradicted yourself multiple times.I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt that being trapped inside a Chamber for eons might make you a little dense.Perhaps with time you could actually learn truth, but understand that if you can’t get on board with the current establishment, Trik will not simply leave you trapped this time.He will eviscerate you, and my Chosen will be right there by his side.”
The clearing darkened.
“You can’t even see that you are like us.Shadow.A child born of light and dark,”the voice said to Elora.“You already belong to what was forgotten.You cannot escape what you are, and until you are joined with your own kind, you will always feel separate.”
Elora’s smile was sharp and unyielding.“No.I was born of a woman who chose to reach into the dark, and a male who reached back, allowing her to pull him into the light.He did not live in the grey of shadow.And like my father, I choose light.Every single day, I refuse the dark.I am nothing like you.And I never will be.I have those in my life who love me and would never let me live in shadow.”
Silence fell, thick, and strained.
