Page 11 of From the Myths of Kings

“One day, my father made a dire mistake. There are wild parts of the Under Kingdom, you see. Down in the untamed cave systems, where everything is dark and one must crawl blindly through gaps in the stone no bigger than your ribcage, it is easy to get lost and turned around, even for experienced stone-singers. Sometimes the earth opens its great maw and consumes anything in its belly, sealing up passages and blocking off chambers like a living tomb.”

Saoirse shuddered to imagine being trapped in total darkness with no sense of up or down, unable to tell what time of day or night it was. She imagined it would be numbingly silent down in those subterranean cave systems, so far below the surface no one could hear your cries for help.

Tezrus continued, “On that fateful day, my father caught the song of a particularly strong vein of diamonds echoing through rock. He and my mother chased its call down miles of tight passageways, many of which had never been explored before. They found themselves at the end of a cramped crawl space, but my father was convinced that a vast chamber of wealth was just on the other side. My mother began to chip away at the wall with her pickaxe and my father used his stone-singing ability to shift the rocks with his touch. It soon became evident that the wall was made of memordium stone, a type of living rock not even stone-singers can tame.”

“Memordium rock can only be opened with water,” Noora murmured. Saoirse had almost forgotten the quiet archer was there. Noora stared at Tezrus intently, her chin balanced on her hand as she leaned forward. “That was one of the obstacles in a former Tournament, wasn’t it?” she mused. “In one of Queen Raven’s trials, the tributes were tasked with escaping a sealed chamber made of memordium stone. If they couldn’t escape, they’d be burned alive. The Terradrin tributes were the first team to escape,” she recalled. “Maybe one of them was a stone-singer, and they recognized the rock.”

“Yes. It was the very same stone that my parents were faced with down in the cave. They had no water with them, so only my mother’s pickaxe was of use. She managed to break through the wall after a few hours. However, they hadn’t realized they were teetering on the edge of a huge drop-off. My mother fell through, tumbling down into the darkness headfirst.” At this detail, Tezrus’s stoic voice finally broke with emotion. “My father couldn’t tell how far she’d fallen. The vertical drop extended for miles, so far even my father’s keen eyesight couldn’t reach the end. She didn’t answer when he called for her.

“My father needed to get help. Even an experienced caver like himself knew it was too risky to descend into the darkness without a second person to anchor him above. If he ended up getting himself stuck, they’d both be entombed down there forever. And worse, Wyrms are known to lie in wait at the bottom of such trenches.”

Saoirse shuddered at the thought of the huge worm-like beasts native to Terradrin. The sightless parasitic creatures tunneled through the dark cave systems of the Under Kingdom and attacked those living on the outskirts of the city. A single person was no match for their snapping jaws and countless rows of spiked teeth.

“When I learned what happened to my mother, I was beside myself. I made a vow that I’d give my life to whatever higher beings existed if she survived. Just like many in Revelore, I didn’t believe in the Myths of Old nor the Titans who supposedly made our world. I respected the Order of Elders and their archaic rituals, but I didn’t give much merit to their fanatic servitude to the old ways. But I was so desperate to save my mother, I promised to give myself to the Order if she lived, for if she survived, only a divine miracle could be attributed to her rescue. I cast my prayers up to faceless, extinct gods, hoping that by some miracle they’d be heard, and my mother would return safely to me.”

“She was saved,” Aurelia guessed. “And you gave yourself to the Order just as you’d promised?”

Tezrus nodded, a self-deprecating smile curving his mouth. “I later learned that the Order of Elders didn’t answer my prayers or descend into the tunnels to help. The Order doesn’t care for life outside of their guild. They don’t give a wit about people dying. They only care about those who can advance their goals. They certainly didn’t bat an eye about a poor miner falling into a shaft of rock. A group of brave men and women went in and found my mother all on their own. But as a young lad, I believed that by some other-worldly phenomenon, my mother had been saved by whatever magic remained from the Titans, so I became a devotee.

“Not everyone who dedicates themselves to the Order is chosen to be an Elder, but I was determined to be selected, humble though I was. I had my work cut out for me. Scholars, former soldiers, and members hailing from elite Terradrin families all competed to be chosen for the coveted position, while I was the mere son of a miner. I studied ancient stone-singing folklore that spoke of secrets within the earth, left behind by the gods. I learned of magic and long-forgotten oaths. I learned every hallowed text and memorized every obscure legend of the Titans. I sacrificed my identity for their cause, silencing my stone-singing abilities and becoming nothing but a vessel for the Order to shape. My devotion paid off after about ten years of study.”

Tezrus paused for a moment, his eyes dim with haunted memories. There was likely more to his story, but those secrets were his own to harbor. He continued with a heavy voice, “When I was chosen to be one of Terradrin’s Elders, I finally learned the truth of the Tournament: that it was used to spill the blood of tributes as a sacrifice for the Titans.”

“Hel’s teeth,” Noora murmured under her breath. Only a handful of days ago, Noora herself had been a pawn in the Tournament. Her blood could’ve been spilled on the sands of that arena, sacrificed to the Titans.

“But I learned even more. A hundred years ago, a faction of Elders from the neighboring kingdom of Aurandel discovered a secret: the Titans had a surviving sibling. Her name was Selussa, and she had pulled herself out from the Underworld, strengthened by the faith of the Order.”

Saoirse went cold at the mere mention of the Sea Witch’s name. She could still feel those black eyes on her skin, fathomless and void as a starless night sky. She could still hear Selussa’s low voice in her ear, dripping with poison. The last words she’d spoken to Saoirse the morning of the final trial were seared into her memory, branded against her heart like a curse; who would ever believe anything from the mouth of a siren?

“When Selussa rose from the Underworld and came to the Order of Elders a century ago, the final, long-sought piece of the puzzle fell into place. For years, the Order had searched for answers, attempting a plethora of heinous rituals to bring the Titans back. Not until Selussa appeared with her dark magic did they finally have true hope their gods could be restored to power. Together with the Sea Witch, they devised a plan to resurrect the Titans.”

“Selussa told them how to find the Relics,” Saoirse breathed. Tezrus nodded in confirmation, a grave shadow flickering in his eyes.

“Thousands of years ago, four brave leaders of Revelore came together to defeat their makers. There was the legendary warrior-Queen Basilia of Elorshin. From Aurandel came a young king by the name of Aris. Hailing from Tellusun, a huntress named Vasia joined their cause, wielding her bow and arrows. And finally, emerging from the underground kingdom of Terradrin, Raj the Stone King entered their alliance. They became known as the Four Kinsmen. Together, alongside their mortal armies, they waged war against the Titans. Using four enchanted objects, the Four Kinsmen created a powerful spell that bound the spirits of the Titans within the Stone Circle. It is said their colossal bodies were then sealed under Mt. Thalia itself, rendered as empty shells that became fossilized with the rock.

“Selussa told the Order of Elders how they could collect the Relics and use them to reverse the spell in just the same way it had been cast. They were easy enough to identify: a dagger from Aurandel, a dark pearl from Elorshin, a ruby arrow from Tellusun, and a shard of moonstone from Terradrin. The challenge would be obtaining these elusive objects, which were housed in the halls of kings or completely lost for centuries. Selussa decided to go after the Relic of Elorshin first, a dark pearl said to have been the petrified heart of Charybdis, the Titan of the Sea. Many believe the Mer Queen Basilia’s daughter, Cira, ripped the Titan’s heart out herself, and the Sea Titan was the first to fall in their great war. Selussa knew the Relic was in the possession of the royal family. The perfect opportunity for infiltration arose in the form of star-crossed lovers: Princess Yrsa of Aurandel and King Lorsan of Elorshin.”

Saoirse closed her eyes, knowing what came next. They were now perilously close to their present timeline, Saoirse herself only a few generations away from Lorsan.

“Selussa knew Princess Yrsa was preparing to marry the Mer King in the marriage of the century. It was to be a historic union, one which solidified the great peace between the nations of Revelore. Yrsa was so devoted to Lorsan that she was willing to trade her wings for the ability to live under the sea with him.”

“Selussa killed Yrsa,” Saoirse finished for him, remembering the tragedy. “She shape-shifted and took Yrsa’s place, marrying Lorsan in disguise as the Auran princess. She nearly obtained the dark pearl, but Lorsan discovered her deception and confronted Selussa. Selussa then killed the Mer King and the War of the Age began. When my great-grandfather Isandros discovered Princess Yrsa had killed his brother, he banished her to the Fretum, sealed away by an enchantment of his own blood. He never knew Selussa’s true identity.”

“Yes, that certainly posed a major setback to the Order’s plans. They couldn’t do anything but bide their time while their champion was imprisoned in the most secure cage in Revelore, waiting for the day when she would finally be released, and their scheming could proceed. I learned of Selussa when I became an Elder. At first, I couldn’t believe it. When I learned this creature was behind the great divide between Aurandel and Elorshin, behind the brutal war that took the lives of so many, my faith began to waver. There was something profoundly wrong about the Order knowing the truth yet letting the conflict proceed anyway, allowing people to believe that mortal deception was the reason for Revelore’s descent into war. Little by little, I saw the corruption of the guild I’d served for two decades.

“My faith in the Order collapsed when I discovered that both of my parents had passed away during the war. They’d died several years prior, but all attempts to notify me had been blocked by the Order. I couldn’t serve such a group anymore. But I’d be silenced if I tried to speak up. It was me against the words of four separate, yet unified, factions across the continent. I held too much knowledge and wielded truths too dangerous for them to let go of me without a fight.”

“So you fled to the Soundless Oasis,” Saoirse stated. “And you’ve lived here ever since.”

“You knew that tributes were being slaughtered this whole time,” Aurelia cut in. Her voice was heated. “Why didn’t you try and stop it? Why didn’t you speak up? You are the only one who’s managed to escape the Order alive. You could’ve stopped the Tournament from continuing.”

Tension hung heavy in the air for a moment. Shame flickered across Tezrus’s face, and Saoirse noticed he now looked as old as his age, the fine lines of his face appearing deeper in the light.

“Because I am a coward,” Tezrus admitted. “I have been hiding in the desert for twenty years because I didn’t think anyone could ever come between the Order and their malignant goal. What you’re doing now is braver than anything I’ve ever claimed to do.” He looked at each of them, his eyes swimming with pain and shame. “I believe you’re going to stop Selussa once and for all. I wasn’t strong enough to challenge the institution of the Tournament or expose the Order’s deception…but you are.”

Saoirse felt the gravity of their situation. She rested on the edge of a precipice, about to cross a point of no return. If they failed, Revelore would be doomed. “So tell us how to win. Tell us what can be done to defeat Selussa before it is too late.”

“First, protect the remaining Relics. Do not let the Sea Witch possess them all. You know what will happen if she does. You will need the last two Relics to forge your own binding enchantment if you want to succeed in countering Selussa.”

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