Page 67 of Return of the Darkness
Chapter Forty-Three
Soren
Pain thundered through Soren’s mind, battling between the flailing darkness in her skull and her soul's hands hammering against the metal bars, keeping her at bay. Screaming rang in her ears. Whenever Soren blinked, flashes of her younger self appeared, battling to push through the bars while darkness ate away at the vines twisting around the ruined castle in her head. Every time the darkness incinerated a vine, her head twitched; every time a flower grew in its place, her breathing calmed. Every time a young Soren screamed, her heart cracked.
It had taken Garridon only a moment. With his hands on either side of her head, he said a jumble of unrecognisable words and the darkness recoiled, as though it were ablaze. When she opened her eyes, he was gone, and she was left stumbling through the woods, trying to reach an open field to escape the suffocation she felt within the trees. Shadows from the treetops tricked her mind into thinking Garridon had failed. Branches scraping her arms felt like hands trying to claw her back. Things Caligh had said—memories of things he had Soren do—swam through her mind as she stumbled into the sun. It had all faded when she saw Sadira.Don’t take Sadira, take me.Seeing her sister triggered the memory to the forefront of her mind and calmed Soren, though only for a moment.
Now, the shadows were back, and she hated Sadira—hated her sister for picking the man Soren must kill. Soren did not recall her words to Sadira, but then she heard a name from her lips. Nyzaia.I see you.Having tethered herself to that memory, she repeated those three words in her mind during the entire walk to the Neutral City to stay focused.
Soren stared at the back of Nyzaia’s head now; still, her head twitched, and she clenched and unclenched her fists, listening to those around her.I see you.
“Why me?” asked Elisara.
“Your power, while different, stems from the same place as Caligh’s, which—”
Nyzaia interrupted Vala’s explanation. “Caligh’s power stems from Sitara?” A chill ran through the room when Vala ignored her, and Soren flinched at the mention of his name.
“—whichmeans you offer a balance to the curse. There must always be a balance, and thus a curse must always have a solution.” Vala trained her eyes on her descendant. “What better solution than that which is the same but different, challenging even Caligh’s power?”
“I don’t…”
Weak, they’re all weak. Soren twitched again yet bit her tongue, struggling to hold herself together. Farid sent her a warning look.
“All you need to do is channel your power into the ground; it should recognise your similarities,” Vala said.
“You don’t have to,” Vlad murmured from behind his queen. “We can find another way.”
“There is no other way,” said Keres bluntly.
“I—” Elisara’s hands trembled as she stood.Separate Elisara and Kazaar.Soren clenched her eyes shut but forced them open again, unable to face the image of herself screaming, wrapping vines around the iron bars, desperately trying to pull them free. Soren felt Farid’s stare, but she looked only at Garridon. She could have sworn a smirk marked his lips.
“Before Elisara attempts this,” Caellum began. Soren whipped her head in his direction and found him behind her sister. “We need to know more. How do we find Sonos, and if we reunite him with Sitara, can they endCaligh?”
“Finding Sonos will bring balance again, which will help you end Caligh,” said Garridon, watching Caellum, the man who wore a crown he did not deserve.My crown.
“You keep speaking about balance, but other than lost memories and the silence of other lands, I see no imbalance,” said Larelle.
“How can you know of other imbalances while trapped here?” Nerida asked, and Larelle narrowed her eyes.
“So, the imbalances are on the other lands then, like Thassena, Xyliar, Carvyre?”
Soren wanted to reach up and grasp her head at all this talking. “I assume Eresydon, Asynthos, and Q’Ohar are other kingdoms, too, all suffering from some imbalance?” Larelle continued, her words clipped. Nyzaia cocked her head, as though remembering something.
“If you leave this land, you will learn more and can search for Sonos,” said Keres.
“This is getting really repetitive,” said Nyzaia.
“Then shut up and do as you’re asked!” Keres snapped. Farid’s hands twitched near the pommel of his sword. “Do you think our lives have been easy? We have also been used and sacrificed for the greater good. I have lived for thousands of years. Yet one simple request to find one god is a ‘repetitive’ask? Perhaps we keep asking because it is the one thing that will save us, restore the balance, and allow us to finally rest. Then you’re all welcome to live your insignificant lives.” Keres stood, his eyes burning.
“Keres,” Garridon murmured, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “They do not know the weight of it all.”
“Don’t patronise us,” Nyzaia snapped. “We did not ask for this.”
“No, you did not,” Vala said, peering down at Elisara with saddened eyes as she wrapped both arms around herself and kept her eyes on the floor.
“I’ll do it,” Elisara whispered. No one dared object as the gods rose. Vala waved a hand to lift the stone table to the corner of the room, clearing the space. When she blinked, the rulers slid backin their chairs. Soren looked down at Nyzaia. She now sat directly beside her rather than in front.
“We would have just moved,” Nyzaia mumbled.I like Nyzaia, sang the voice in her mind, a young, light, and playful voice—a happy voice before Caligh had entered her mind and tainted it.
