Page 59 of Starlit Bargains

“Yes,” he said simply. “I knew.”

“Knew what, exactly?” Kai asked, moving slightly closer to Eliar as if unconsciously offering support.

Eliar took a deep breath, preparing to share what he had kept hidden for so long. “The Nullifier is real,” he confirmed. “And my fall... my punishment... it was directly connected to it.”

“How?” Thorne demanded, the plants in his crown rustling with his agitation.

“Because I encountered it,” Eliar replied, the admission heavy on his tongue. “At the boundary I was tasked with guarding. It had been testing the veil for centuries, looking for weaknesses, but had never managed to breach it—until it found... help.”

“Help?” Silas repeated, eyes widening with understanding. “Someone on this side was helping it?”

Eliar nodded grimly. “A group of ancient mages seeking power beyond mortal understanding. They believed they could harness the Nullifier's essence, control it, use it to reshape reality according to their desires.” His voice grew hard with remembered fury. “They were fools.”

“What happened?” Kai asked softly.

“They created a tear in the veil,” Eliar said. “Small at first, barely perceptible. But the Nullifier sensed it immediately and began pouring its essence through, corrupting everything it touched. I was sent to investigate the disturbance, to repair the boundary.”

He fell silent for a moment, lost in memories of that fateful confrontation—the horror he had felt upon seeing the tear, the desperate battle against the mages who had created it, the creeping corruption that had begun spreading across the land.

“When I arrived, it was already too late for conventional methods,” he continued finally. “The tear was growing, the Nullifier's influence strengthening with each passing moment. I made a choice—the only choice I could see that would save this realm. I used my own essence to seal the breach, binding the tear with what amounted to a piece of my own cosmic substance.”

Understanding dawned in Thorne's eyes. “That's why you fell. Not just because you interfered, but because you sacrificed part of yourself.”

“The Celestial Council saw it as an abomination,” Eliar confirmed. “A Guardian willingly merging his essence with the very chaos he was meant to keep at bay. They couldn't undo what I had done—the binding was too integral to the stability of the veil—but they could punish me for it. So they cast me down, stripped me of most of my power, sentenced me to exile on the mortal plane.”

“And the corruption within you,” Kai said, realization crossing his features. “It's from the Nullifier, isn't it? From when you sealed the tear.”

Eliar nodded, surprised and touched by Kai's quick understanding. “Yes. The binding goes both ways—my essence keeps the Nullifier at bay, but its darkness has been slowly seeping into me over the centuries. It's why I've kept myself contained, isolated. Why I was so resistant to awakening my power. Because the more I access my true nature, the more the corruption spreads.”

“And now the Keepers' additional bindings are gone,” Silas observed, his scholar's mind piecing together the implications. “The corruption is spreading faster, and the tear you sealed centuries ago is weakening.”

“Yes,” Eliar confirmed, the gravity of their situation weighing heavily upon him. “The prophecy speaks of a choice—restoration or destruction. I've never been certain what that choice entailedexactly, but now I think I understand. Either I find a way to renew the binding without being consumed by the corruption, or...”

“Or the Nullifier breaks through and our world faces complete annihilation,” Thorne finished for him, his expression grim.

“Not the most appealing set of options,” Kai remarked, though his light tone couldn't quite mask the concern in his eyes. “How exactly does one renew a cosmic binding made from guardian essence?”

“I don't know,” Eliar admitted. “It wasn't exactly a standard procedure, even among my kind. I acted on instinct, on desperation.”

“But you're not alone this time,” Silas pointed out, tapping the ancient book thoughtfully. “Between Thornhaven's resources, Thorne's connection to the land, and...” he glanced at Kai, “whatever unique qualities the Catalyst brings to the equation, we may be able to find a solution.”

Eliar looked at the faces around him—Silas with his keen intelligence, Thorne with his ancient power and deeper understanding of the natural world, Briar with her unexpected insights and unwavering loyalty to Kai. And Kai himself, watching Eliar with that infuriating mix of understanding and stubborn loyalty that had characterized him from the beginning.

Kai wasn't going to walk away. Despite the danger, despite the cosmic stakes, despite Eliar's attempts to push him away—he remained steadfast, determined to see this through to the end, whatever that might be.

None of them were walking away, Eliar realized. Where he had once faced the Nullifier alone, now he had allies—perhaps even friends—willing to stand with him against the coming darkness.

“So,” Kai said, breaking the momentary silence, “cosmic horror from beyond the veil, world-ending prophecy, corruption that's slowly consuming you from the inside out.” He grinned, somehow making light of the dire situation without diminishing its gravity. “Just another day at Thornhaven, really.”

Despite everything—the weight of revelation, the looming threat, the complicated emotions swirling within him—Eliar found himself smiling. A small, careful thing, but genuine.

“Your capacity for understatement is remarkable,” he told Kai dryly.

“One of my many talents,” Kai agreed, his amber eyes warm with an affection he made no attempt to disguise.

Thorne cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. “We should begin researching immediately. If the binding is weakening, we don't have much time.”

“I'll search the eastern wing of the library,” Silas volunteered, already gathering the scattered papers on the table. “There are texts there on boundary magic that might provide insights.”

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