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“Canit be restored?” Zayn asked.

“The people here were beginning to doubt it,” said Bastian.“Generations went by before any Noctarisan child was born with a Vaeloran mark—until Nova was born here twenty-five years ago.”

“What took so long, I wonder?” Zayn mused.

“Most of the population of this world is currently in a frozen, undead state,” Aleksander pointed out. “So there haven’t been many opportunities for such a child to be born, have there?”

“That’s true. But…” Bastian hesitated, as if preparing to speak of something cursed and evil—something wicked that might gain a foothold just by hearing its name in the air. “There are many who believe Lorien Blackvale might have influenced this, too. That he’s still out there, still doing all he can to make certain Noctarisneverwakes again—thus vengefully ensuring that Calista and the world she came from suffer eternally for lying to him and rejecting him.”

“So he’s immortal, then?” I asked.

“In a sense,” my brother said. “The Vaelora were always granted longer lifespans, as were the ones who served them and their cause—the ones I believe you know as theAetherkin.”

“The Aetherkin…like Orin?”

“Yes. Like him,” Thalia said, her tone oddly strained all of a sudden.

“Lorien’s longevity is believed to have far surpassed any of them, however,” said Bastian, placing a hand on Thalia’s arm and giving it a little squeeze, “thanks to an ability he stole from Calista during the attempted murder. Luminor bled magic from her when it pierced her body; a corruption of the sacrifice the blade was meant to perform after the Turning. Her ability to possess other beings and objects ended up settling in Lorien, among other magical talents. And, coupled with his own magic, this allegedly makes him able to possess other people with a lasting hold.

“We believe he’s been jumping from one body to the next for centuries, avoiding death. And his servants continue as well, doing all they can to aid him in his quest to rise the Above higher while our Below is crushed further down.”

“His servants…the Keepers of Light, you mean?” I asked, recalling our conversation in the courtyard earlier.

He nodded. “They started as Aetherkin, meant only to aid the Vaelora as the ancient agreements decreed. But he’s somehow made them stronger over the years, and now…well, now it’s hard to say exactly how much power they truly hold.”

“If they’re in league with this immortal demon, as you claim, then they’ve done an exceptional job of hiding it,” said Zayn, skepticism lacing the words.

Aleksander looked more troubled by the possibility, but he said nothing.

No one else said anything for several moments, either. The swords continued to hum and spin, while Thalia and my brothercircled the platform below them, as if inspecting for damage. Zayn closed his eyes, leaning back against the bench. Aleksander watched the blades with a look of fierce consideration, scarcely blinking even as Luminor’s glow shifted over his hard features.

Phantom wiggled where he perched on my shoulder, pressing closer to my neck. His mouth full of tiny, needle-sharp teeth found my ear, affectionately nipping me out of the overwhelmed stupor I was falling into.

After some thought, I settled on a question among the countless number of them tumbling through my head, and I interrupted the silence: “Argoth…what became of him?”

To my surprise, it was Zayn who answered first, his eyes popping open as he said, “He lived. Married, too, and had at least one child.”

“Lorien didn’t kill him?”

“It was a worse punishment to live without Calista, I’d imagine,” Zayn said with a shrug.

“But how do you know he lived?”

“Because I’m his descendant,” Aleksander said quietly. “Though we didn’t speak of him often back home—for reasons that are becoming somewhat clearer, if all this messy history is true.”

I considered the words, the implications of it all. “So he married someone other than the one he loved…”

“Queen Elowen, if my memory serves,” said Zayn. “And their son was called Arius.” He flashed me one of his roguish grins. “Though I didn’t really payattention during most of my history lectures, so don’t quote me on any of that.”

“…An heir out of necessity, I guess,” I mused. “Because all of the stories that circulate through Eldris only speak of Calista and his great love forher. There are poems and songs written about that love, even, and the roads that were built into this world…weren’t they for her as well?”

“Yes,” Bastian confirmed. “He built them in an attempt to recover Calista’s body, and to do what he could to save her world—but his efforts were ultimately hindered by the politics of needing to marry and produce an heir for his kingdom, and said efforts eroded even further after his death. Over time, the true story of their love and the paths it created was twisted and rewritten by his enemies.”

“And eventually, the Keepers of Light started to refer to this world as Hell, and so Hell it became,” Thalia added. “It was easy enough to convince the dwellers of the Above that Noctaris was a place only of darkness and demise, given the powers of the Vaelora and the Aetherkin who hailed from here.”

“In reality, necromancy is no more evil than luxmancy—the Light magic—that the Above is known for,” said Bastian. “Both shades of magic have a capacity for great good and for great evil. They’re merelydifferentin order to balance the worlds. But the Light Keepers, and the one they serve, aren’t concerned with balance. They needed to demonize Noctaris and its magic in order to properly bury it, so that was what they did. The roads Argoth created became known as roads to death, and, eventually, all belief that the Below was anything but a place for lost souls faded into history, then into legend, and, finally, into a barely-believed myth.”

Dizzy with the weight of all this new knowledge, I wandered over and sat down beside Zayn. Phantom dropped into my lap, burrowing underneath my crossed arms so he could press his face against my chest. Zayn placed a hand on my knee, offering a comforting squeeze.