Page 196 of What Blooms from Death

“…Let’s leave them be for the moment,” I suggested. Looking to Captain Voss, I added, “Stay out here and keep watch, please.”

He agreed with a bow, gripping the pommel of his sword as he paced to a better vantage point.

I hesitated only long enough to send up an alert to my brother and the other search groups—the shadowy circle that we’d agreed upon; a signal that we’d found something worth everyone’s attention.

Pulse pounding in my ears, I gathered my courage and stepped into the room, Aleks following closely behind.

The energy that greeted us was nearly…indescribable. A hum that reverberated throughout my chest, a pressure that was almost unbearable, yet somehow invigorating. Like the very weight of existence, the fabric of life itself, was being woven together in this room. I shook from the mere effort of breathing it all in.

What had seemed like a large room from the outside now felt limitless—a small palace unto itself, with vaulted ceilings soaring dizzyingly high above us and walls draped in dark, velvety tapestries that made me think of an endless expanse of night sky. Competing scents of smoke and rose mingled in the air; a burning hint of decay tumbling with the richness of life—another reminder of the fragile balancing act that had led us to this point.

Across the middle of the vast space, a circular dais rose up, its face inlaid with scattered, precious stones and its edges etched with various runes, some of which glowed in the light streaming in from small cracks and gaps near the ceiling.

And at the center of this platform, the Aetherstone waited.

A relatively small pedestal held it above the dais. Surrounded by such vast opulence, it seemed oddly small. Unremarkable. But as I stepped toward it, the pressure in the room increased until I could hardly breathe, and I found myself fighting the urge to sink to my knees—to bow before it.

Aleks and I both took only a quick closer look before putting space between ourselves and that legendary object, studying the multitude of other interesting things around it instead.

“The openings seem very precisely carved,” Aleks said, after a moment, his eyes on the ceiling. “…To create specific patterns of light on these rune markings, maybe.”

I looked again at the light filtering in, and I realized he had a point; what had at first seemed like weathered cracks caused by time and neglect were actually purposeful, clean-edged openings of all different shapes and sizes.

Following the closest beam of light, I knelt before the rune it was illuminating and considered it more closely. Running my fingers over it, I could feel the pulse of some ancient magic on the cusp of awakening, I thought. Something I felt a deep connection to, even if I couldn’t fully explain it.

I stood and walked along the edge of the dais, studying the symbols, trying to imagine different patterns of light and shadows falling over them.

“I wonder where the light falls during Equinox…” I thought aloud. “According to most legends, the Stone is easiest to control on the dawn of that day. Maybe because of something these runes reveal in that specific lighting?”

“Maybe,” Aleks agreed. “But we’re still too early to see, aren’t we?”

He was right, yet my mind continued to stubbornly plot, turning over one unlikely plan after another until I settled on a possibility. “Perhaps we can simulate it?”

He gave me a curious look, but then caught on quickly, lifting his gaze to the openings above once more. “…Your shadows could block the light coming in.”

“And you could create only the light we need, casting it on specific runes.” His curiosity gave way to doubt, but I continued before he could interrupt: “We’re very close to the dawn of the day we need,” I pointed out. “Wouldn’t a glimpse of a future image that’s so close be easier for you to see?”

“…It’s worth a try, I guess,” he relented, making his way toward the platform’s edge, kneeling and running a hand over the same markings I had.

He closed his eyes and went almost perfectly still for a long moment—until the slightest twitch of his facial features suggested that he’d seen…something.Then he moved on to the next section without a word.

Several times, he did this, making his way around the entire circle before he finally turned back to me with more confidence shining in the golden depths of his eyes.

I didn’t speak, not wanting to break his concentration as he scanned the entire dais and all its symbols one last time, seemingly locking in whatever patterns he’d seen in his vision.

He tilted his face toward me and gave a single nod; an unspoken cue.

I reached toward the ceiling, fingers twisting and pulling thick tendrils of shadow into existence. With as much precision as I could manage, I sent my magic upward, fixing it over every hint of light I saw.

As I covered the last opening, we were plunged into a deep, all-consuming darkness. My heart skipped a few beats as I found myself reliving the horrible moments when we’d first touched down in this realm. But just as he’d done then, it wasn’t long before Aleksander calmly summoned his light.

He guided each spark of it methodically along the circle, putting it in its proper place, until he’d set a dozen of the etched runes aglow.

At first, nothing happened. But then a few adjustments, one rune dimmed, another illuminated…

The dais rumbled, and it seemed to twist—first one way, then the other—only to fall back into place so smoothly that I questioned whether or not it had actually moved at all.

Butsomethingwas happening beneath the shiny surface of it, of that I was sure; I could feel the energy of it shifting, raising chill bumps along my arms.

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