Page 256 of The Ascended
Maybe I'd follow him there.
My head spun with possibilities, and my mind wandered to darker futures. The wedding that would seal Xül's political alliance. Nyvora claiming him as her own. Would she move to Draknavor, turning this place into a daily reminder of what I couldn't have? Would Xül leave, abandoning his sanctuary on the edge of the world? Maybe they'd split their time between domains.
I couldn't imagine watching them together. Not for a long while. I couldn't have it shoved in my face decade after decade.
My chest seized as the concept took root. Time, and the passing of it. Eternity. I couldn't fathom what that meant. Would I feel heartbroken forever, or would time heal, as so many stories suggested? Or was it different once immortality sank its claws in, making every feeling bright and burning and terrible forever?
I'd seen Xül's library, filled with journals documenting centuries of existence. How many of those pages held heartbreak? How many recorded loves lost or loves never realized at all?
Hours passed before a portal tore open. I was on my feet immediately, Marx right behind me.
Xül and Aelix stepped through, and one look at their faces told me the news wasn't good.
"Well?" Marx asked when neither of them spoke.
"Vorinar never showed," Aelix said grimly. "His seat at the meeting was empty."
"That's concerning," I said.
"Indeed." Xül's voice was tight with control. "And unlike him."
"How did the others feel?" Marx asked.
"Confusion. Concern. Suspicion." Aelix ran a hand through his hair. "Some think he's behind the domain's collapse. Others worry something's happened to him."
Aelix moved to Marx's side. "We should go. You need rest before tomorrow."
Marx glanced between Xül and me, clearly reluctant to leave. "You sure?"
"Go," I said.
She hugged me quickly. "Don't die before you become immortal, okay? Would be terribly anticlimactic."
Despite everything, I smiled. "I'll do my best."
After they left, Xül sauntered off without a word. I followed him all the way to his study, biting back the wince as his desk came into view. Those memories were still too painful.
He was already moving about, pulling books down from his personal collection.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
He didn't look up.
I moved closer, reading the spines of the books he'd gathered. Divine Architecture. Realm Stability through the Ages. "You left so quickly earlier."
"The situation required haste."
"You're worried about more than just Vorinar."
Finally, he looked at me, and the mask cracked. "The domains don't just... break, Thais. Divine infrastructure has existed for millennia without failing."
"So, what could cause it?"
"That's what concerns me." He gestured at the texts. "Either something is fundamentally wrong with the domain itself, or?—"
"What?"
"Or something powerful enough to break a god's domain is among us."
