Nya took a step back, bumping into Carus, who was looking at her with a mix of wariness and pity. She shook her head, her field of vision closing in at the edges, fading and warping as her heart raced too fast.
Nya.
She couldn’t breathe.
Oh gods…
The storms, the earthquakes, even the deadened valley around them—it was because ofher.Morgen knew, had known all this time, and hadn’t told her.
“No,” she whispered.No, no, no.
She didn’t ever use her magic, hardly even knew what it looked like. Except that wasn’t true; she just never remembered. All the destruction she had once accused Morgen or even the principals themselves of was, in truth, a result of her reaching again and again for the void, threatening this world each time, all because she couldn’t resist its call.
Nya.
That voice wasn’t Morgen’s…was it?
She was vaguely aware of voices shouting around her, some of them saying her name. There was a blast of heat and light, but all she felt was an empty, bitter cold. It would probably be best if she left now… Yes. Save them, at least for a few moments, before she failed to hold out again, and the darkness consumed them all.
“Morgen! The air?—”
Someone grabbed her wrist as the air parted. An outstretched hand was trying to tear apart the threads of shimmering ether before the portal could complete, but it was too late. She dragged them along with her through it, and everything went dark.
Nya.
There was that voice again, calling for her in the emptiness. She was supposed to resist it, but she couldn’t remember why. It understood her loneliness when no one else could.
No one will see the truth of your soul without shying away, Nya. No one but me.
Cold tears froze on her cheeks. She smiled wide, a silent scream echoing around her as she welcomed its embrace.
When the void rose from the ashy earth in the center of the deadened valley and opened its eyes, it saw those wretched golden orbs staring back.
“Hello,” said the god with hair like the deepest shade of blood.
It smiled, sighing softly. “You do know you can’t win. Not anymore.”
The god shrugged, and the void was reminded of the king before him, the one who had been born nameless all those millennia ago. It had dreamed of a balance when it imagined him, without realizing that dreams, once real, would take on a life of their own. That king had not deserved the name he had been gifted, nor the power, and now, he was gone, collected once more. His soul had hardly satiated it.
This one, however, would be exquisite to collect. Things had lined up nicely; the girl who had become the void was a perfect mix of bloodlines for this task, and the god she would take Life from was powerful enough that his destruction would mean that of this world.
“What can I say?” the god said with a smirk that made the void remember that old dream. “I like a challenge.”
Chapter 21
Morgen
Death calls to all of us, even gods. The strength of that call is just greater for some.
—Lady Anabeth, Royal Scribe’s Apprentice, Royal Rider’s Training Camp
Morgen knewhe was probably going to die today. The power of the nameless being who had taken Nya’s mind wasn’t comprehensible, and the chance of reaching her now was small. Not even the principals themselves understood it, not anymore. He doubted many of them, other than Thanatos, even remembered the true nature of the void they had been born from.
Nya’s familiar brown eyes were gone, and not even the silver glow of ether permeated the depths of the onyx pools that now stared at him with such apathy.
They are coming, Morgen. You need to try and reach her,Varax urged.
He didn’t take his eyes off Nya, not even as he heard screams in the distance. There was no telling how far away they were; sound tended to echo in these mountains.Is it Sol?
