Page 98 of Shadows of Change

Torric, predictably, disagrees. "Like hell she doesn't. What's going on?"

"It's complicated," Kaia says, and her voice carries new weight. "And if I tell you... if you know..." She swallows hard. "It puts you all in more danger."

"We're already in danger," I point out, moving closer despite the way her shadows bristle. "Thorne made sure of that."

"This is different." She looks down at her hands, where shadow magic dances across her skin in patterns I've never seen before. "This is..." Her voice cracks.

Finn stands, his usual humor gone. "Whatever it is, we're not going anywhere. Right?" He glances at me, and for once we're in perfect agreement.

I watch Kaia wage some internal battle, her shadows reflecting her turmoil. Mouse sits unnaturally still, waiting. Finally, she takes a deep breath.

"What do you know," she asks quietly, "about the fall of the Valkyries?"

Her question hits like a lightning strike. My breath catches as the pieces start aligning, a puzzle I hadn't known I was solving until now. The weight in her voice is palpable, each word steeped in an ancient grief there’s no way I can comprehend. My own shadows stir restlessly, mirroring the sudden tension in my chest. I don't have answers, but something tells me this moment will change everything.

The words seem to draw all the air from the room. Even Torric goes still.

"The Valkyries?" Torric scoffs, but I catch the way his hand tightens on his sword hilt. "What do ancient myths have to do with—"

"They weren't myths." My voice comes out sharper than intended. The pieces are falling into place—her unique shadow magic, the Heart of Eternity, the way her shadows sometimes move like they have centuries of purpose behind them.

Kaia's eyes meet mine again, and this time I see it: the weight of ages, of a truth too vast to fully comprehend. "No," she says softly. "They weren't."

"But they vanished centuries ago," Aspen says, his analytical mind working through the implications. "The records say they were betrayed by someone named... Oh shit."

"Alekir," Kaia finishes, her shadows writhing at the name. Bob moves into what I now recognize as a defensive formation, while Patricia's note-taking becomes almost frantic. "He didn't just betray them. He destroyed them. Turned their own souls into Nightwraiths. And he did it because..." She falters.

"Because of you," I finish quietly. The room goes deadly quiet.

Finn drops back into his chair with uncharacteristic grace. "Okay, I'm going to need someone to explain why that's not as impossible as it sounds. Because unless you're secretly several centuries old—" He stops, looking at her. "Holy shit."

"The Heart of Eternity." I take a step closer, my movements slow, deliberate, as if approaching something fragile and sacred. My voice lowers, almost reverent, ignoring the way her shadows bristle like an instinctive barrier. "It's not just a necklace, is it? It's a key. A way to move through—"

"Time itself," Kaia whispers. "My mother used it to save me. To send me forward, beyond Alekir's reach. But the magic... it required a price."

The shadows around her feet press closer, their movements heavy with a weight I can’t fully grasp. I watch them ripple, deliberate and protective, and realize something is on the edge of revelation—but it’s not mine to claim. Kaia’s voice trembles as she finally speaks.

"The Valkyries who fell that night," she says, looking down at the small shadow army surrounding her. "They’re not just shadows. They’re my mother’s sisters-in-arms. Their souls bound themselves to me through the Heart of Eternity."

Mouse’s voice cuts through the silence, deliberate and steady. "And in doing so, they bound themselves to the only weapon Alekir could never corrupt. You." He meets each of us with that unyielding violet gaze. "Alekir sees her not just as a threat but as a key. The key to what he couldn’t finish centuries ago.”

Kaia glances at him, her expression unreadable but heavy with gratitude—or perhaps burden.

"I don’t know if I’ll ever feel worthy of their sacrifice," she continues, her voice breaking. "But knowing they’re here—that they chose to stay—it's my reminder that I have to be. For them."

Tears glisten in her eyes, but she blinks them away quickly, as if allowing herself to cry would shatter the fragile composure she’s clinging to. In that moment, my heart breaks for her and all she’s truly lost. Centuries of grief and guilt have been woven into the foundation of who she is, and yet, somehow, she’s still standing. Still fighting.

Her shadows tighten around her, and for the first time, I notice the subtle grace in their movements—the way they shift closer like an unspoken vow, bound by love and loyalty that transcends death. It isn’t just magic; it’s devotion. And Kaia, despite the weight of that devotion, carries it like a shield. Not for herself, but for us.

I can’t stop the surge of instinct that runs through me—a need to close the space between us, to say or do something to lift even a fraction of the weight she carries. I step forward, reaching out before I fully think it through.

"Don't." Kaia's voice cracks, sharp enough to halt me mid-step. She doesn’t look up, her hands clenched into fists against her lap. "Please. It's hard enough just..." Her breath shudders, and for a moment, it seems like she might break apart entirely. "I'mtelling you this because Mouse thinks you deserve to know. Because you're already involved, and it's too late to protect you. But the fewer details you have, the safer you'll be."

"Like hell," Finn says, standing again. "You don't get to drop 'actually I'm a time-traveling Valkyrie' on us and then hold back the good stuff."

A ghost of a smile touches Kaia's lips, but her eyes remain haunted. "Finn..."

"No, he's right." Torric pushes off from the wall he's been leaning against. "We're already marked for death by your psychotic professor. Might as well know why."

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