Page 47 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“Stronger than an average seraph?” Tessa asked, her head tilting at this information.
Tristyn nodded, relief crossing his face at her willingness to hear him out. “Yes. They are called Maraans, and they are stronger than a seraph in the way a Sargon descendant is stronger than a dragon shifter. Both the dragons and the seraphs emerged from the Chaos, but?—”
“Achaz and Arius made some stronger and more elite, playing like the gods they are,” Tessa sneered.
“Yes and no,” he answered, tipping his head from side to side as he debated what to say. Or maybe how to explain it. “Sargon and Arius were always close, from my understanding. When Arius deflected from Achaz in the Everlasting War, that was when the Guardians were created. Achaz answered with the Maraans, but that is not the point of this story. The point is, they let Xan and Aiyana weaken fighting the seraphs. I was using my power to keep you and Luka safe, and by the time Rordan and the Maraans appeared, we were all low in reserves. Before we could properly act, Elowyn cast an enchantment, but she did so at the same time that Xan struck down one of the Maraans. The enchantment collided with his power, and the effect caused the enchantment to hit people it wasn’t supposed to. While I suspect it was meant to make us forget who you were specifically, the power collision made the enchantment unbalanced. It did make us forget, but it also made other memories and knowledge murky and distorted.
“The next thing I remember was being in that passageway surrounded by the destruction of the fighting. We couldn’t remember what you looked like, and we didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t even remember the Maraans being there until recently, only the seraphs. Elowyn’s enchantment was to modify memories, but it hit her and Rordan too. None of us could remember who you were and what happened, but all of us knew you were here. None of us knew how to find you or where to begin looking.”
“So only Dex, Oralia, and Brecken knew where I was?” she asked, new fury simmering in her gut.
“I can’t say for sure, but that’s my guess,” he said, familiar pity filling his face now. Pity she didn’t want or need. “Because for over two decades I was searching, Valter was searching, andRordan was searching. It appears Rordan learned of you first, enacting a plan of his own that obviously didn’t go accordingly.”
Tessa had gone silent, letting all the new information settle in her soul. Repeating it and turning it over in her mind.
“I was trying, Tessa,” Tristyn said after several full minutes of silence. “Every moment was spent trying to find you. I became obsessed, leaving Cienna to deal with…everything else. Every second was spent working to recover lost knowledge and creating new spells in attempts to find you.”
“But you didn’t tell me when youdidfind me,” she argued, hands driving into her hair. “You didn’t tell me anything!”
“I hadn’t pieced it all together yet. How was I supposed to explain myself when I couldn’t give you the answers you were so desperately seeking?” he said. “By the time I could, Rordan already had his claws so deep in you, you wouldn’t have believed me anyway.”
“I want to be alone,” she said suddenly, turning away from him to face the fireplace once more.
“Tessa—”
“Leave, Tristyn,” she bit out.
It took another full minute before she heard him pick up his discarded jacket and leave the den. She had a feeling he wouldn’t go far. Or someone else would come relieve him of babysitting duty. She knew they were all watching her closely.
Dropping down, she sat in front of the glass pane and wrapped her arms around her bent knees. The flames danced with each other, always fighting. Pushing and pulling. Hating but needing each other all the same.
She’d been right.
That had been a dreadful story.
She didn’t know where she was.
Definitely Devram. That was where she’d wanted to go when she’d stepped through the mirror gate, but this wasn’t where the Pantheon had once stood. Then again, she’d destroyed that mirror gate before they’d left this world. This was obviously one of the other mirrors she hadn’t destroyed in her quest to decimate them all before the Fates could get here. She’d run out of time in the end anyway.
Rubbing her arms against the chill in the air, she turned in place, recognizing she was in a city of some sort. It was run down, but not in complete ruin like she would have expected if the Fates had come searching for her. Buildings still stood, the streets empty, and she started walking, the pavement freezing beneath her bare feet.
She walked for several minutes, turning up and down streets. There was nothing here she recognized, but that didn’t mean anything. She hadn’t seen much of the realm beyond the Arius and Achaz Kingdoms. She could be anywhere, but based on the cooler weather, she guessed the northern part of the world.
Entering what was clearly a residential district of the city, she was about to turn another corner when a voice had her stilling and slowly turning.
“Hello, clever tempest.”
Theon stood several feet away, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants and his hair stirring in the slight breeze. Hewatched her, and the smallest of smiles tilted on the corner of his mouth.
Her heart fell.
He was still here. That part of the future hadn’t changed despite actions she’d taken to alter things. Despite her trying to alter this outcome. It had driven her mad, and she’d still failed in the end.
He looked up as the first raindrop fell, the sky quickly turning from sunny to grey. Then he looked back at her. “Why so sad, little storm?”
“You are still a phantom,” she said with a frown, watching him drift closer.
That small smile tilted a little more. “Worried about me?”
