“Jealous much?” A drake roared nearby, a big one. Perhaps it was Cinder, following her. Its call sent the mist careening. A blast of fire illumined in the distance, a shriek of something caught in its path. A firedrake claiming a meal. “And that one? Weak, you think?”
“O NOW YOU WANT TO TAUNT ME? I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS.”
The road shrunk as she reached the hub of the ruined city. Made of travertine and still somehow standing, it led to what was once a palace that reached toward the sky, so high, even broken and crumbling, it disappeared into the clouds above the Sea.
Cadrianna felt at ease in the vestiges of Illigan.
There was something calming about the empty city, the pall of death that hung over it. Almost as if the world had claimed the failings of the apex imperium and gave just punishment. It made her relish the opportunity for her own punishment against Lu Har and his coven for the death of her parents and brothers. For the capture of Brynn and repeated torture.
Even for Emre and his betrayal to allow it all to happen.
She stopped at the remains of the palace. Hands on hips. Contemplating.
“YOU’LL NEVER GET TO CHERISH ONE OF THESE PLACES, CAD.”
“Piss off. I don’t want to live here. I want to burn it further to the ground.”
“I KNOW.”
“Do you, though?” She clicked her tongue. “You can read my thoughts, my wants. See things only the darkest regions of my brain want to remain hidden. Yet, you’ve done nothing to help me achieve that.”
“YOU REALLY THINK THAT? I’M HURT.”
“You don’t hurt. You bring hurt. That’s all you want. Easy to say, you were a daemon before this.”
“TOOLS WE BE, CAD. WHAT WE WERE BOTH DESIGNED FOR. I WAS FLESH AND WING ONCE. BLOOD, BLACK AS IT MAY HAVE BEEN, FLOWED THROUGH MY VEINS JUST LIKE YOURS. I WAS WITH MY OWN WANTS. MY OWN DESIRES. I HAD A LIFE ONCE. BUT THE DIVINE TOOK THAT FROM ME. TOOK EVERYTHING.”
A tool. That’s all she was.
“NO, NOT ANYMORE. LEAVE THIS PLACE AND NEVER RETURN. YOU CAN LEAVE ME HERE AND THEY’D NEVER FIND YOU, SHOULD YOU WISH IT.”
“I can’t. Brynn is still bound. I can’t leave her.”
A deep sigh from the Strix and the heat within the sheath cooled. “CAD, I…”
“Forget it. I’m Lu Har’s pet, like Solanine said. Until I can find a way to free Brynn, I’m stuck with the lot I’ve been given. By the godsdamned Pentax. They cannot be trusted, Strix. The gods will use you until you are nothing.”
“CAD…”
“The Gutter King must die. For Brynn.” She couldn’t stop seeing Brynn’s pain. Cadrianna shook her head, trying to force it away. To steel her soul from the torment.
“YOU HEARD LU HAR, THIS GUTTER KING IS DANGEROUS. OTHERWISE, HE WOULDN’T HAVE SENT YOU. THE GUTTER KING IS THE ONE WHO GAVE YOUR FAMILY TO RUIN. SHOULD YOU BELIEVE HIM, OF COURSE.”
“He didn’t lie about Thestile.”
“YOU CERTAIN OF THAT? THINK, CAD, YOU SAID IT YOURSELF, SHE APPEARED READY TO DIE.”
“She was instrumental in the death of the Last Godsking, don’t you think that’s enough to be ready for the end?”
“LITTLE GIRL YOU ARE. YOUR FIRE BLINDS YOU TO THE TRUTH. BRYNN HOLDS YOU BACK FROM REALIZING THE TRUTHS IN FRONT OF YOU.”
“Sometimes I wonder just how humirish you think.”
“DON’T LIE, I’M THE SMARTEST DAEMON YOU KNOW.”
“You’re the only daemon I know.”
“LIKE I SAID.”
She closed off her mind from the Strix, not wanting to reopen every wound she carried with her like a boulder upon her back.
Another bridge of travertine crossed the road and Cadrianna followed it into an open courtyard of browned grass up to her breast. A woman came into view, stooped and old, hair greasy and white as bone. Her face was skeletal, cheekbones protruding through the stretched skin that was dry and chalky, almost dead looking. Empty eye sockets looked up.
“You’ve been expected, child,” the ancient skeleton of sinew and muscle said through parched lips. She smiled, but there were no teeth, only bleeding gums. “You seek the guidance of the Matron. Come, you have much to see and learn.”
The oracle turned and limped back the way she’d come, toward a basilica. Somehow the church still stood after five centuries of decay. Made of grey-white marble that interlocked without any mortar. Three arches along the façade, three additional recessed tiers of stonework above. There was a wooden door within each arch, the outer ones taller than the center portal. High above the largest arch was a metal and stone circle with four concentric circles within. A gleaming emerald in the center.
“Come, child.” The emaciated oracle put a whitewash-painted skeletal hand upon the door and whispered aetheric words. The door swung inward without a sound.
Once inside the basilica, Cadrianna withdrew her breather mask and unconsciously gaped.
If one had stumbled recklessly upon the ruins of Illigan, and then toward the basilica, they might have been surprised by the entire place. Surprised that it still stood after hundreds of years. But if said person had gone into the basilica, they might have fainted at the magnificence within.
Just through the doors was a marble fountain. Carved plant-life graced the outer face of the circular reservoir, each delicate branch covered in bronzed filigree. The water bubbled out of the branches into a basin beyond in a steady stream. In contradiction to the Sea of Mist and the ruins of Illigan, the water was as clear as could be. From deep in the earth it came, cleansed by Terris and Aquis. Though the mist angrily circled the pool.
Above, the ceiling rose more than one hundred feet, supported by columns and arches, where they met at the apex of the dome. Trusses crossed a roof covered in a mosaic of people watching another ascend: the First Godsking. Behind the First Godsking was a giant crystal made of every color and none. The Aether of Life, the crystal called Eminence. The great city—christened after its namesake crystal—was in the background, floating in the heavens.
Along each wall, glass of crystal in every color was melded into scenes depicting the world while Eminence reigned. Statues atop pedestals, great, strong-looking Godskings of the past. Murals on the bases showed the homelands of the esteemed holy ruler, a shading of the color of their lands. Blue for Aquis. Red for Ignis. Green of Terris. And Yellow for Aere.
