Page 89 of Wraithwound

“What is your next question?” she asked, voice hollow.

“How did you manage to heal the wound? We’ve seen some that are resistant to most healing remedies,” Dauen said.

At least this one was easy.

“Crushed khardia seed, mixed with the pulp of vardint leaves,” Lena said, recalling the two components that made up the malodorous goop. “Consistent application after washing and dressing the wound yielded moderate results after about twenty-four hours with steady improvement after that.”

Dauen nodded and took down note of what Lena had shared.

Lena shifted her gaze to Taya who stood once more and headed towards the place on the table where the spun metal diary lay.

“Which one?” she asked Lena.

“The next one in the line, I think,” she said, hoping they had been hung in chronological order.

Taya unhooked the next crystal and projected it onto the wall. As soon as the image took form, her heart stopped dead in her chest. Lena inhaled sharply at the undeniable resemblance between Taya and a young Ada, who held the hand of a youthful looking Eduard beside her.

Her parents. Ada and Eduard were Taya’s parents. Were. Because Lena had killed them. Murdered them.

Taya brought a trembling hand up to her mouth, her movement sending a ripple through the projection.

“Hello Taya, we hope this finds you when you need it most,” Ada said, and then paused, taking a deep breath. “Your Father and I hoped it would never come to this, but I’ve had a vision, and unfortunately it has confirmed our deepest fears. You need to know that there will come a time when the Goddess disappears, imprisoned by a man who would stop at nothing to possess the magic and knowledge that she embodies as one of the EverGods. Believe it or not, I once called him a friend. He is powerful, cunning, and he can See. Remember that.

She resides in a prison of her own making. Above anything else, Taya, she must be freed. The answer lies in the Tower.”

“We love you more than the suns, Taya,” Eduard added.

Before the memory vanished, Lena caught a glimpse of a thin silver chain hanging around Eduard’s neck. Taya stood frozen in the center of the room until Riley reached for her hand.

“Perhaps it’s best if we take a break. Lena, I’ll send Jade for you once⁠—”

“She means the Tower of Two Worlds,” Taya said. “They used to tell me this story when I was a child. About a man who trapped a Goddess in a crystal bottle. Well, not the bottle, exactly, but inside the crystal itself. He’d been obsessed with finding the magical vessel, but for what, he wouldn't say. I guess we know that he found it. And what he used it for.”

“The vessel from the Maiden’s story?” Leonid asked softly.

Taya nodded. Lena had also heard this story. Her grandfather used to tell it to her when they were picking or mulling herbs together.

There once was a maiden who was lured away from her family by an offer of courtship. The young man was sweet and attentive to the maiden, taking the time to learn what she loved. One day, he invited her up to the peak to stargaze. She was thrilled, and having donned her finest dress, they set off toward the ledge.

You see, just north of here, on one of the lower peaks, a ledge was carved out of the mountain, and below there is a grand crater that was said to have been the place where the Goddess landed when she first arrived on Eteris. Over time, it filled with water and now exists as a lake.

Once they arrived, she learned the young man had set up a picnic with her favorite flowers and treats. But the young man had other plans, and he attempted to accost her. In the struggle, she fell from the jutting slab of rock they went to stargaze from and into the lake below.

The Goddess intervened for the first and only time, charging the water with her power to save the maiden, thereby creating the source for the healing waters. She trapped the man’s soul in a crystal bottle made from her essence. The Goddess gifted the maiden the bottle after she emerged from the water and cursed his family, forever changing the landscape of the place that is now referred to as the Drowning Woods.

Sometime later, the maiden went on to marry, thus creating the only magical bloodline on Eteris. The knowledge of the bottle was lost forever, but the healing waters remained.

It was reported that the maiden was the first Seer. As the familial line became mixed over time, they developed some other abilities albeit none as powerful as the original maiden’s.

That meant that Ada and Taya were both from the original maiden’s line.

And Lena had killed her. She had killed possibly one of the last Seers in the realm. Her friend and Taya’s mother.

“What does this all mean?” Cross asked. He’d been so silent that she almost forgot he was standing behind her.

“I think it means we’ve finally answered the question about where the Goddess has been. Where she went,” Taya answered.

“But where did she go?” asked Dauen.