Page 11

There was no sign of the dark tendrils that had danced in them weeks before, when I first arrived in Umbrathia. I ran to the mirror, desperate for closer inspection as I confirmed it to be true.

The shadows were gone.

Confusion enveloped me. Could they have been wrong about what they saw? Perhaps I wasn’t a shadow wielder afterall. Perhaps even I had hallucinated them as well. What I expected to be relief was tinged with conflict, with panic, and I wasn’t quite sure why. I should be ecstatic that I had returned to normal. That I was as I had always been.

But something clawed at me.

Perhaps I was worried that if my usefulness to the Umbra was gone, my life would be short to follow. Perhaps it was more than that, but I didn’t let the thoughts get much further. I bit my lip as footsteps echoed from the other side of the door, and Vexa’s voice became clear, speaking in hushed tones to Aether.

“They’re here,” she hissed. I used my focus to zone in on their minds as Aether’s golden orb shot up, moving quickly toward the silver of Vexa’s.

“What do you mean?” he responded in a low growl. “Urken told them not to breach the city limits until we sent word.”

“He’s not happy about it either. But they’ve become more and more insistent. We can’t exactly enforce punishments. Not whenthings are so fragile.” I heard a sigh, muffled by the wall between us.

“They’ve become uncontrollable,” Aether spat.

“If you’d let me try my hand with her earlier, perhaps we wouldn't be in this current situation,” Vexa retorted. I crept closer, attempting to better hear their conversation when I saw the golden mind shift, taking a few steps back.

“We’ll discuss it later. In a more appropriate setting,” Aether said at full volume.

It wasn’t long before the lock slid open and Vexa appeared in the doorway. She seemed tired, less enthusiastic than our previous encounters.

“Well you seem quite eager today.” She half-smiled, leaning against the stone wall, noting my closeness to the door.

“It’s not like I have anything else to do.” I sighed, sinking onto my hip.

“Well, in that case, I won’t keep you waiting.” She motioned for me to follow as we made our descent down the tower’s chambers.

Two of the Vördr were on the lawn once we made it outside. The black one from the first day, wearing the saddle once again. The other was dark charcoal, with silver speckles up the legs. They were in the stables, chewing on discolored hay that covered the ground.

I took a seat on one of the benches, watching as they ate. Vexa sat down next to me, shooting a hopeful glance in my direction without focusing on me for too long. She leaned back, adjusting her leathers as an awkward sigh escaped her lips. I’d become accustomed to that over the last week–her not knowing what to say, not wanting to send me into another fit.

“The darkness, it’s gone. From my eyes,” I finally murmured, after a few awkward moments slipped past. She had to have noticed by now. The lack of contrast was obvious.

“It’s been gone for a while,” she responded, pulling her boot uponto the bench and gazing out at the expanse beyond the fortress walls.

“Why?”

"You haven't created any shadows to replace it. When you absorbed ours back in Sídhe, some of them stayed," she said simply, as if I would immediately understand the context.

"I don't understand how any of this works," I said quietly. I wanted to inquire more, but I didn't want to seem eager, didn't want to seem like I was interested in anything this realm had to offer.

"Duskbound can wield shadows naturally. They can create them," she said, finally attempting a look in my direction.

"If that’s true, then why can't I feel that within me?" I asked, the words slipping out before I could stop them.

A knowing smile touched her lips. "It's in there. You just don't know how to access it yet. There's a process..." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "Where it will become clear to you."

"And a vessel... what is that?" I asked, assuming she would probably change the subject once again. "All of this language is new to me."

She looked at me for a long time, chewing on her lip before shifting her body to face me, arm lounging on the backrest of the bench.

"Technically, any Kalfarcanbecome a vessel," she said as she removed her glove and began rolling up the sleeve of her top. Intricate designs covered her skin—abstract and vague like smoke.

"These are void burns," she said, pointing to the wisps of inky blackness that swirled across her hands. As if to demonstrate, she pulled shadows through her fingers like water, watching as they drifted through the air like black mist. They seemed to gravitate towards the markings on her arms, eventually seeping into the black shapes and disappearing completely. "They allow us to absorb the darkness, and use it. But we cannot create it on ourown." She said, turning her hand over, where inky tendrils pooled in her palm. "These did not originate in me. They were given."

I went silent, watching as the last wisps of darkness disappeared into her burns.