They’ve fallen a long damn way since then.
That blast to the past took a great deal out of him, so he decided to take a break and jump into the text with Lambrit.
The rate at which those two can read is astonishing to watch.
No, Lambrit can’t read nearly as fast as Amick, but years of keeping his nose stuck in a book have created a sense of speed reading in him that vastly outmatches the rest of ours. Not to mention, I’m sure he doesn’t easily get distracted by every little thought.
I still can’t believe he did this.
I’m going to fuss at V for not being completely honest with me.
He sure as fuck didn’t specify that this is where Lambrit was going within the Athenaeum.
“Guys, I think I found something,” Havar says, breaking the peaceful ambient noise of pages turning. “I did. I definitely did.”
He lets out a soft, breathy laugh, but his smile slowly fades.
“What is it?” Yemi asks, instantly picking up on his shift in mood.
He shakes his head and picks up the book he was reading as Yemi, Nero, Lambrit, Amick, and Riven crowd around him. I stay seated, studying him as he brushes past them, pacing and continuing to read.
“No, that can’t be right,” he mutters.
“For fuck’s sake, Havar. What?” Sevryn barks from the door.
He slowly lowers the book.
“That contraption doesn’t just suppress their power. Each time they use it, a piece of it is fed to the Beginning Gods. They strapped them so they could siphon their power.”
“What?”
Everyone shouts.
Well, I don’t. My question comes out as nothing more than a painful breath.
“Let me see that,” Amick says, snatching the text from Havar’s hands.
“Out loud, Amick,” Riven growls.
Amick’s jaw tightens as his eyes scan the page. For a moment, it looks like he might refuse.
Then he exhales.
“They were not forged, nor conjured. The Valories, from their gates, rained stars down across the realm. Each crashed into the earth, planting a seed of connection that grew into powerful flesh. The Veilatara were born of the realm. For the realm.”
Amick swallows, and his grip tightens on the book as a knot tightens in my throat.
“Each was shaped with purpose. Some were guardians, drawn to protect, their bonds strengthening those who stood in defense of life. Others were keepers of growth. Their presence coaxed land to flourish, rivers to swell, and power to root deep within the soil. Their bonds were not given but chosen by the stars and souls themselves.”
Just like him, my brows furrow, but he doesn’t stop reading.
“When the passage between Elementra and the Valorian Veil closed, the flow of her divine current was severed. In their desperation, the Beginning Gods turned to the Veilatara, for they could absorb and redistribute what the realm no longer could.
“But where the Veilatara dispersed power, the gods had grown accustomed to its concentration.Thus, the constraints were conceived. Not as instruments of cruelty, but of control.”
A sharp silence falls over the room, and my breathing falls uneven as Amick scans the next few lines without speaking.
“They anchored the Veilatara to Godsden, forcing the current to gather rather than flow. And so long as the constraints remain, the flow will never return to balance. Through binding, their natural dispersal was suppressed, and each time aVeilatara channels its power beneath the restraint, it’s diverted in half. To the land of the gods and to those bound within the original agreement.”
