Page 178 of Ash and Feather

We stood silently for a long moment. The shining ash and dark feathers continued to swirl around the room, continuously reminding me of where I stood, and who I stood with.

I wondered over and over again at the absurdity of it all—how I had gone from setting rebellious fires in mortal temples to here in the highest of heavens, standing before one of the most powerful beings in our known world, asking for his help and guidance.

Malaphar tilted his face toward me and said, “I do, indeed, have something to give you.”

I should have been wary, a small voice in the back of my head reminded me—yet I felt nothing except a buzzing, purposeful exhilaration.

“It is a kind of magic that the majority of elves could never comprehend on their own. Nor humans, for that matter.” He returned his attention to the shelf before him, reaching for the small, unassuming object he’d been staring at earlier.

It was a dagger.

A wave of his hand brought more feathers toward him, swirled them around the sheath, making the patterns on it glow with a silvery light for several seconds before the weapon moved of its own accord, slipping free of its casing and floating for a moment before gently rocking back down to the shelf.

It was a beautiful dagger, shining and black, with subtle etchings in the blade that matched the ones upon its sheath.

“This dagger is calledAntaeum,” Malaphar said, picking it up and offering it to me.

I took it with trembling hands.

It was nearly weightless and bitingly cold to the touch.

“It is a gift. A carrier of restorative, protective power created by all three of the Moraki. We perfected it some time ago; we only needed somebody willing to wield it. To plant it in the heart of the elves’ rebellion. I’ve had my eye on you as a potentialvessel for some time. The other two were less convinced. But you’ve proven them wrong. They didn’t expect you to survive the trials set forth by the Marr, to begin with. And when you managed ascension, they expected you to become a slave to the divine magic you’d been granted, to turn your back entirely on the elven race you rose above.”

It would have been easier to do that. Countless times, I’d wished I could turn a blind eye to everything I’d once known. But I never could manage it.

A weakness, I’d always thought—my need to remember every side.

Yet the upper-god before me clearly thought otherwise.

He replied as though I’d spoken out loud. “To see all sides of things is a rare gift.”

I clutched the dagger more tightly. My Fire magic rumbled in response to the questions piling up in my mind, but it didn’t rise to the surface; the dagger’s power seemed to be placating it.

“If I wield this…if I plant it, as you said…what happens next?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Will I remain as I am now?”

“Not as a middle-goddess, no. But a divine being, nonetheless.The Arbiter of Realms, I will call you. Born of earth, forged in divine fire, tempered by your own knowledge and experiences, by the blood you’ve spilled, and by the things you’ve carried—the anger, the hope, the trials, the failures, the triumphs. All of it.”

All of it.

All the mistakes I thought I’d made….even those had helped bring me to this moment, shaping me into the unique being capable of this task before me.

Now I simply had to see things through to the end.

Easier said than done, I was sure.

“You would not have been able to pick up Antaeum without being ready to do so,” said the God of the Shade, his quiet,authoritative voice rumbling through my mind, drowning out some of my lingering doubts. “I would not have been willing to give you its power until I was certain you were the balance point our world needed.”

I turned the dagger over and around in my hands, trying to get used to the feel of it.

Determinedto get used to it.

“Now: There is a specific task you must complete in order to fully awaken the power of Antaeum. Consider it your final trial before yourtrueascension can take place.”

I’d expected no less.

I stared at my reflection in the shining black blade as I calmly said, “Whatever trial awaits, I am not afraid of it.”

“Good.”

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