“It sounds like you could get lost here,” I noted gazing down the darkest path.
“You could,” Magdalena replied. “So because of the magic we’ll be using we’ll stop here. I wouldn’t want you to drift away and be lost to time.”
I shook my head. “No, I would not like that either.”
Magdalena stepped toward the edge of the lake, where the golden threads dipped low enough to graze the water’s surface.
“Come forward and choose one thread.” She pointed toward the cluster beside her. “Not the brightest. Not the loudest. The quietest. Pick it and hold it.”
I swallowed hard, not certain how I was going to tell which was the quietest. I glanced at Arielle and she gave me a reassuring nod.
I stepped forward and made my way over to Magdalena.
The threads hummed as I approached, then they pulsed as if demanding my attention. I inspected them, trying to find the quietest, but it was near impossible.
“Focus Elariya. Focus.”
I focused and quieted my mind. Maybe I could hear it then.
I looked through the threads again and in realized something. There was one that shimmered thin and fragile, barely there.
It had to be that one.
I reached out slowly and took it.
It trembled in my grasp and I knew it was the one.
“Well done.” Magdalena grinned. “Now feel it. The thread you hold could be tied to of another’s soul. It could be the past, present or the unchosen outcome.”
I extended my fingers and let my magic brush against it. It flickered and I tried to drift away from me.
“Do not let it bend,” Magdalena warned gently. “Anchor it. Connect with the thread and align yourself.”
I drew in a breath and took my mind back to where we were days ago. I focused like I had then, tapping into the connection within me. Moments later I felt it and the thread steadied itself.
“Very good, Elariya,” Magdalena’s eyes sharpened. “Good. Now tap into it. Use the same connection you feel inside you and reveal the story it holds.”
We hadn’t done that before. And the command felt impossible. But that… what she was telling me to do was the key to anchoring myself to the threads of time.
I didn’t come here to fail or cower behind my nerves, so I was going to do it.
I thought for only a second before allowing my magic to glide along the thread. I felt the caress inside me. Another spark ignited a breath later and the cavern brightened.
It flashed like the uncertain flames of a candle in the wind then before us images flickered in the air, like echoes of memory.
There was a boy running through tall grass.
Laughter carried on wind.
Voices whispering through tall oak trees.
And a woman—a mage—with a beautiful gown. She walked toward the boy, but before she got to him the vision was gone and the thread I held faded in my hands.
The visions left the cavern and I wondered if I failed the task.
The astounded expressions on Magdalena and Arielle’s faces told me otherwise.
“Did I… do well?” I had to check.
