I looked at my hands, turning them palm up as they trembled. I could feel it—this everi—pulsing throughout my body. I’d felt it my entire life, thinking it was normal, but not like I did at Nightfall. Now, the energy moved through me like it was trying to escape, and at times, vanishing rapidly, like I’d imagined it.
“What is it?” I asked, still staring at my hands, trying to wrap my mind around this presence within that I didn’t understand.
“That’s a rather complicated question,” Blake said. “But the short answer is energy that functions in an unseen energy field.”
I looked at the fire now crackling in a steady burn. While chaotic, I could feel each of the flames that flickered into existence. I could feel Blake’s presence as it faded away, the fire taking over in its place.
“It allows us to manipulate anything connected to that energy field,” Blake said. “I believe humans have called it magic for a long time. More recently, humans debate it in various intellectual settings. None have unlocked the ability, however, without genes that formed in another world.”
I studied every detail of his expression. The exotic high cheek-bone that accentuated the shadows across his face, therelaxed line of his lips, and the smooth skin of his brow. He was real by every definition I knew of. But how could he be saying what he was saying?
“Humans?” I whispered.
“Yes,” Blake said. “Humans do not possess the gene to awaken this energy.”
My voice cracked, and my throat was painfully dry. My mind was shutting down, unsure if this was a dream or a terrible joke.
Blake touched my hand, and his cooling energy gently flowed through me, allowing me to breathe and swallow again.
I stared at our joined hands.
“Are you saying that you’re not human?” I asked, scared to look at him.
His hand gently squeezed mine.
“I am saying that. And you are not either, Anna. You are a mage.”
I paced before the fire,time slipping away. At some point, Blake had fallen asleep on the bed.
My mind had begun to steel itself with logic, presenting the various options before me, weeding out the bad ones, before landing on three viable ones.
One, Blake was insane.
Two, I was dreaming.
Three, this was all fucking real.
I stopped, watching Blake as he lay there.
He looked human.
I bit my lip.
But then again, maybe he didn’t.
I thought of Roslyn, Caelan, Saryna, Melanie, and Malakai. All of them possessed certain qualities that made them stand apart, even from everyone here at Nightfall.
When his eyes fluttered open, he watched me, his eyes still dreaming. I didn’t wait for him to sit up.
“What makes the Aurkai different?” I asked.
“Different?” he mused, sleepily.
“How were you awakened?” I asked, nearing him.
I sat at the edge of the bed, watching his chest rise and fall, just like mine and everyone else’s.
“That is a story for another day,” Blake murmured, becoming more alert, but added, “The Aurkai are what we call mages in our world that are trained in the art of using everi. Not all mages are—in fact most are not, even if they can feel and respond to it unlike humans can.”
