Page 37 of Tear of Destiny

I keep my opinions to myself. I imagine this supposed betrayal wasn’t an easy decision for the Tempes. But they couldn’t stand by and watch as the goddesses succumbed more and more to their evil ways, bringing devastation to humanity. The Tempes figured they only had one choice: the beings that they were originally pledged to protect had to be stopped.

I walk a few paces and touch the cold stone walls, wondering about all the things that may have happened here. There must have been so much misery in this place. Embittered fighting and death. I try to push those thoughts out of my head and focus on the here and now.

“This was the library?” I ask.

Noah nods. “Like I said, there’s nothing here now. Most of the books were destroyed in the conflict with the Tempes. Those that could be salvaged were moved to a small library in a safer location. If we want to get in there and take a look at the books… we’ll have to come up with a plan for how to do that.”

The hesitancy in his voice doesn’t escape me, and I realize thatit’s going to be a challenge.

“First, we should take a look around here and then figure out what to do next,” I suggest.

I doubt we’ll find anything in this hall. There are no murals or inscriptions or even symbols on these walls. But Noah and I examine everything closely anyway.

I stand in the center of the room so that I have a better overview of the walls. The occasional light still flies in through a window, circling and swooping elegantly around the library.

So I think nothing of it when I see a faint light out of the corner of my eye. But when I look at it directly, I catch my breath. I realize to my surprise that it’s not one of those lights. But I can’t be sure what it is. It’s hovering just above the floor a few yards away from me. It looks like a bright, translucent thread of light that starts in the center of the room and sways gently back and forth in the air. It takes some effort to keep it in focus because the more I follow its movement with my eye, the more transparent it becomes.

“You okay?” Noah asks as I slowly begin to move, following the thread. It winds out of the room. The closer I get to it, the more clearly I can see its light. It’s really unusual. Almost like a destiny thread, but no, it’s different, much thinner, and the light is nowhere near as golden and bright. And I’ve never seen a destiny thread that long.

“Tess?” Noah follows me.

“Can you see it too? That light?” I ask, although I already know the answer.

“You see a light?” he asks.

I tilt my head and try to describe it. “A kind of faint, thin thread of light. I don’t know what it is. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Noah says nothing, probably because he doesn’t want to break my concentration. He walks behind me at a distance, giving methe space to completely focus on the light.

We find ourselves in a small corridor, then I turn left and enter what must once have been an enormous room. But it’s sustained a lot of damage. Barely a single stone is left standing. I can see the remains of walls in a couple of places. It looks as if a violent hurricane tore through here. There’s rubble everywhere, some of it piled into mounds. As if in a trance, I climb up one of these hills of rubble without taking my eyes off the thread.

“Tess, what is it?” Noah asks.

He’s noticed that I’m now moving faster. I have a hunch: I’m nearly there.

And sure enough, there it is: a concentration of light on the ground. A glowing sphere sending out bright rays. I kneel beside it and examine the threads of light radiating out like thin arms. They wander across the floor, creeping through windows and walls and weaving their way along corridors, as if they too are searching for something. Or someone who can see them and unlock their secret.

“Do you see this glowing sphere? There are more threads leading off it, and they seem to lead into other rooms.” I turn to Noah, who’s straining to see something, but he shakes his head.

“No, I can’t see anything.”

Disappointed, I look back at the sphere of light, and at that moment, I notice something else. There’s something under it – a symbol set into the stone floor. I run my fingers over it and wipe away the dust, but I’m not sure what I’m looking at.

“A spindle,” says Noah as he bends down beside me. He sounds unsurprised.

“You recognize this symbol?”

He straightens up and gazes around him, turning a full circle. “Every Noctu knows it. This is the room where it all began. Where the leader of the Tempes openly opposed the goddesses of destiny, and this is the exact spot where Clotho died. Afterthat, a relentless battle broke out between the heretics and the Noctu. The other goddesses managed to escape, but help came too late for Clotho. She died right here. This symbol is a memorial to her.”

I look at the engraved spindle again and run my fingers over it. The light is still hovering above it. But I don’t understand. Again, I feel as if I’m on the brink of solving a puzzle, but the last step remains hidden from me.

“They say there are special places all over the Odyss imbued with the goddesses’ power. Places that meant something to them. Like this one.”

I take a deep breath as a thought occurs to me. “You mean this light I’m seeing here could have something to do with that?”

Noah looks at me and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, which has come loose from my ponytail. “Possibly. One thing is clear: it’s only visible to certain people.”

“What if it really is somehow linked to the goddesses?”

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