Page 60 of Fractured Souls
Nova’s gaze was more calculating than normal. She nodded before saying, “So, I understand Lorcan—obviously she’s extremely powerful—but I don’t really get my place. Why me?”
That was a really good fucking question. Nova was insanely powerful as well, but she was right—there had to be more to it than what I was seeing.
“There are two elements that will guarantee the safety of our planet.” Bayton motioned to two holographic figures that sort of looked similar to us, to be honest. “The music of the universe—its heartbeat—and the force that fuels it. Magic.”
Interesting.
“The lifeblood of Earth’s magic, its intense power, can stop them completely. If Earth’s core power is strong enough, then no matter what they do, no matter how hard they pull, they will get nothing from us. The ability to stop and destroy them is the dual part you two play.”
So what the hell was the problem? Because clearly we were lacking something, and it wasn’t Nova’s magic. I mean, seriously—her shit was overloaded right now.
Her thoughts were on the same track. “Well, that won’t be a big issue, right? There is a ton of magic on Earth, especially if it’s fueling all these other realms.”
Bayton sighed. “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Younger gods are draining magic, and the old gods plan to kill them and steal the power because resources are limited.”
So asshole gods were the problem? That about checked out. And the draining power like Mr. Black? Things were totally coming together now.
He continued, “If there was enough magic so that everyone felt secure in surviving what was to come, this wouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure we would have the stray selfish and greedy god, but overall it would be far less.”
I didn’t know the nature of gods, but the nature of humans was selfish and greedy, so I had a feeling that it would be more common than he thought even if we had plenty of magic to go around.
“So we need more magic,” Nova concluded before reciting what I realized was her part of the prophecy. “A forbidden child, whose origins are threefold, will save the desecrated and drained magic that the dark cosmic ones come for.”
I wouldn’t lie—it made me feel ten times better knowing that hers was so damn intense.
Bayton’s attention was still on Nova. “You are solely responsible for unlocking the magic that resides in the pulsing artery of Earth’s heart. You have to replace the magic that’s been drained from the Earth with new lifeblood. Because of misuse and greed, the Earth stopped providing, and you must reopen that connection.”
Yep, I was totally feeling better now. Actually, maybe I wasn’t. Now I sort of felt like we werebothfucked.
Nova’s voice was filled with tension. “Okay… Convince the Earth to start spitting out magic again. How do I do that?”
Good fucking question.
“You must find Earth’s heart—its center. The center of magic.”
So Bayton had no answers? Was that where we were going with this? Fuck, I hoped not.
I leaned forward. “You have more information than that, right? What the hell is she supposed to do with that?”
Nova sagged slightly in relief, and I felt a surge of pride that I had unintentionally done a ‘friendship thing’ without meaning to. If I could help her out, I totally would. Plus, it would sort of distract me from my bullshit.
“I don’t have more than that.” Bayton looked put out about the concept. “The Earth has a heart, a center of all magic, and you must find it. Release the blockage and convince it to beat again, to pour its lifeblood back into Earth’s veins.”
Nova sat back and tilted her head, annoyed. “And it stopped because of greed? I’m guessing people were taking too much magic or something? So should I just ask the Earth,Hey I know everyone has been a piece of shit and misusing magic, but could we pretty please have it back?I feel like that’s what you want me to do.”
A snort escaped at her sarcasm. I really liked Nova. She was fucking great.
“Essentially.”
I swear, the man had no sense of humor.
“Don’t suppose your library has the answer…” she said hopefully. I actually was curious about that as well. I had to assume it would be helpful to some extent if we were both brought here. Right?
“I’m unsure. There was no specific information the last time I searched, but this place is sentient. It adds information on its own.”
“Creepy,” I muttered. I knew Zander had mentioned it was sentient, but now that I was here, there was something a bit weird about a library amassing knowledge all on its own—just pulling from the universe around it. Cool, but a little creepy.
Maybe it was the jaded part of me, but anything that was sentient and could amass vast knowledge automatically went into the ‘untrustworthy’ bucket. Maybe I was paranoid though. I mean, I knew I was paranoid…
