Never had I shown a unique talent with the magic. I was a true-blooded druid, both father and mother were from the Old Families, but that didn’t guarantee I was talented.
Until today, I hadn’t been. I had been mediocre at best.
Taking shorter strides, I looked around me. The magic had faded back when I wasn’t paying attention, but as soon as I looked for it, it lit up.
The strands and strings were bright and strong. I could see them dancing in the air, waiting. They waited for whoever would call them.
A couple I passed was surrounded by a thin mist, enveloped by light yellow magic. Another was surrounded by an intense red bubble. Another, an orange cloud. And still another, a bright blue fog.
The auras were a fact of life. I had never seen them quite this well or this easily, though.
The rousing of the mountain was meant to be a joy. The two worlds, that of the Vampires and ours, were meant to be reunited and the Lost God to return. We would have a King and Queen again. There would be revelry in the streets and dancing in the squares, fireworks in the sky, and dancing fountains on the lakes.
The joy and excitement bubbled up inside me. There was so much happiness due to the people of S’Kir, and I was going to deliver the news to the Temple Masters that it was time.
Finally, time for joy and celebration.
The smile lodged firmly on my face bolstered me, and the wonderful thoughts of such celebration put a bounce in my step like no other.
My walk almost became a skip—how undignified.
The people around me stared at me in my formal dress in the middle of the week, with no declared festivals or celebrations. I didn’t care. I was delivering marvelous news, and my heart would not sit still.
The residences of the temple were in a different area from the school and the temple proper. Behind the school, down a path that wound away from the temple entrance, were the residences’ thirteen buildings.
One massive center building hosted the common area, with kitchens, library, receiving and conference rooms, a gym, and a smaller temple. The other twelve buildings circled the main one, each the private home of the Temple Masters. Not evenly spread around in a circle, they bunched slightly to the back to allow a pathway through a massive old hedge and tree tunnel that lead to the main entrance of the big building.
The necklace I wore proclaimed me an acolyte, and no guards even tried to approach me as I marched up the walkway.
A building as old as time, bound to its eternal splendor by spells and magic weavings, it gleamed white, even in the deepening night. The moon was rising, and it cast an eerie shadow on the white bricks. I could see the magic used now, and watched a moment as it cleaned the façade nearby, scouring the bacteria that tried to ruin mortar.
Raising my hand, I knocked with tremendous force on the thick, unyielding doors placed by the Lost God. The knock barely made a sound on the wood, as though the door swallowed sound whole.
Still, the doors creaked and parted to swing open a few seconds later, allowing me to walk into the hall.
Swallowing my gasp, I screwed up the courage to enter. I had never been here before. Everything I had done with the temple had been in the school and in the Dedicants’ dorms.
This was a very different place.
The Lost God had lived here once.
With as much reverence—and silence from my shoes—as I could summon, I strode in with my head high.
Andsaw.
The massive rotunda streamed with magic, the threads tumbling from the heights above in magnificent waterfalls of color and light, flashing and dancing, laughing—welcoming. I could see beyond them as though they were a painted glass, the walls covered in murals and statues. The ceiling was a dome, concave step pyramids lining it, and an opening in the top center that would let the sun, or moon, shine down.
“What is the meaning of this?”
I whirled back to the one dramatically arched entrance opposite the main door and saw Master Dorian standing there, flanked by Master Hedregon and Mistress Lunella.
My courage tried to flee, but I pulled it back and stood up a little straighter. “Masters, Mistress. I am Acolyte Kimber Raven, a teacher in the temple school. I have to report a joyful and wonderful occurrence in the mountains.”
“This couldn’t wait until morning?” Dorian’s eyes rolled in his head. I suspected if he rolled them any harder, he might sprain them.
“Master, I know you do not regard me highly for my indecision on my path forward, but the mountain called me tonight. Its magic beckoned me to the caves below.”
“The magic speaks—”
