Page 5 of Duskbound (Esprithean Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER FOUR

The brush of grass caressed my legs and my eyes adjusted to the crimson rays of a setting sun. A path was clearly stomped out through the overgrown blades before me and the cry of children’s laughter had me moving towards the sound. I noticed them first, two young girls holding hands, looking to be five or six at most. They had dark hair braided down their backs and matching lace dresses. They ran ahead of a man and woman in fine clothing, fit for nobles. I was unable to see their faces but the similar midnight hair and clothing led me to believe they were a family. The woman looked tense as she leaned in, speaking in hushed tones to the man at her side. I noticed the stern shift of his shoulders in response.

“Wait for me!” one of the children cried. That was when I saw the wall of darkness. The two young girls were silhouetted by a mass of nothingness that seemed to leach in all the light around it, desaturating this entire corner of the realm. One girl stood in complete fascination, unmoving, while the other kept looking back towards her parents impatiently. Inky tendrils curled along the ground, moving closer to their small figures.

“It’s too early, they are too young!” the woman called out desperately when the man broke away from her and began to walk towards his daughters, taking the hands of both.

“Please can’t we wait?” Her pleading was lost on the wind and he never turned back to acknowledge her. “Mommy? Don’t cry, Mommy. I won’t go!” The restless of the two girls turned, making an attempt to run back towards her mother, pulling against her father’s grip.

Without pause, he scooped them into his arms and disappeared into the darkness.

The dream clung to me like a distant memory for days after that. I couldn’t make sense of it. It occupied my mind more than anything else during the times I was left alone in the tower. Vexa had returned every day, taking me back to the stables, letting me breathe in the fresh air until Aether deemed the excursion had met its end.

Vexa had attempted light conversation, keeping a closer eye on me as I walked the grounds of the small field on the edge of the city, probably trying to anticipate another sudden fainting spell. I assumed she thought my panic-stricken attack was due to the nature of our previous conversation, and I didn’t correct her. The longer I could go without more questions from her, while still getting to experience a fleeting moment of fresh air, the better.

I climbed from my place on the floor, near the window, anticipating her at any moment. Time was difficult to discern with the motionless and unchanging sky, but I had gotten better at deciphering how the passing of it felt, paying attention to the slight differences in behavior—the patterns of noises or minds that I saw in other levels of the tower.

I strode over to the chest at the end of my bed, opening it to find the leathers I’d worn the day before. I began undressing, and pulled the thick fabric across my skin before slipping into the boots she had provided. I glanced up, briefly seeing my reflection in the mirror behind the bed, and quickly looked away before my face came into focus.

But curiosity tugged at me. Slowly, I returned my eyes to the silver mirror, and let my gaze climb to the ends of my long hair, unruly and weightless as it had ever been, dancing around my head in a halo of white. I edged my view over to my face, body stiff with the urge to recoil as I finally settled on my eyes. But they looked normal. Well, not normal. But they looked as they always had, opalescent and beaming.

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 when things 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 Vordr 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 up onto 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 Kalfar can become 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 our own." 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.

"Once a Duskbound learns to forge them..." Her voice trailed off as her eyes met the ground, almost looking as if she was wrestling with something. "They can share their shadows with others."

A lump formed in my throat at her openness.

Esprithe, is that what they want with me?

Suddenly, the metal door swung open, and a tall, slender man with tawny, muted skin began his way toward the dark Vordr, clad in leathers similar to ours.

“Rethlyn,” Aether’s voice boomed, trailing close behind him on the gravel path. “What are you doing? This area is closed right now.” It was only then that the man—Rethlyn—halted, shooting his eyes across the lawn until they fell on me and went wide with horror. The shadows beneath his eyes were deep, tapering into sharp points that cut across his cheeks. A thin bar pierced the center of his nose. The Kalfar seemed to have a penchant for such jewelry, not just lining their pointed ears but also embellishing their features.

“Oh, fuck. I didn’t realize—” he began before Aether slammed a hand down on his shoulder, pulling him back a few feet. “I forgot to remove the saddle from Raskr before the conference. I just came out to?—”

“Rethlyn, Esprithe sake, pull your head out of your ass. I had to take it off her just a few days ago,” Vexa cut in, irritation lacing her tone.

“Sorry, I was running late,” Rethlyn responded, pulling free from Aether’s grasp.

“He’s just asking to get trampled.” Vexa sighed.

“Make it quick,” Aether commanded, urging Rethlyn to continue.

“How’s it going with…” Rethlyn’s eyes cut towards me again, flaring up once they locked with mine. He chewed his lip.

“Later,” Aether hissed, grabbing his shoulder once more and ushering him down the path to the stables.

“Imbecile.” Vexa shook her head, letting out a breath that sounded half irritated, half amused.

“So that’s the one who kept me under on the journey here,” I spoke, then added, “Rethlyn.”

Vexa's gaze flicked toward me, her brow furrowing just slightly in concern.

“No one’s supposed to be here right now. Rethlyn knows that—if only he paid attention.” She blinked away a thought, almost dismissively.

I hesitated before asking, “Is his focus—affecting consciousness?”

A strained grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. I instantly regretted asking, but I needed to understand. To figure out how things worked here, what we were dealing with. The more information I gathered on the Umbra, the better.

“Focus,” she repeated, almost with a laugh. “Strange way to frame it. Like it's something to be manipulated or forged. Like it’s not inherent. Not born into our blood the moment we exist.”

I mulled over her words. I'd never questioned the name given to our powers—the way essence manifested within us, shaping the realm.

“What do you call them?” I asked, genuine curiosity slipping past my walls.

“Tethers,” she murmured softly, her gaze drifting toward the ashen landscape beyond the fortress. “Our gifts bind us to the land. To the essence that flows through it. ”

I sensed a shift in her—a quiet heaviness in the way she held herself. But I couldn’t quite place it.

Our two realms seemed more alike than different. Vexa was clearly the enemy, but she didn’t seem like a monster. She didn’t seem like the Wraiths I’d learned about at the Compound. I thought back to when they had been simply shadows wreaking havoc on the West—beings of darkness spilling from another world, hungry for power.

“Our tethers define us in every way. They are what make us Kalfar.” Vexa’s voice broke the silence, raw with emotion. “And it’s disappearing.”

I opened my mouth, but was unnerved to silence by her expression. Just as soon as I let my fear get the best of me, pretending to be focused on something on the lawn, Rethlyn’s voice broke through the tension.

“We’ll be at the keep for the rest of the night, lucky us ,” he said to Aether, their footsteps crunching against the broken ground. “Valkan and his men have overrun the place, insisting they need urgent Council.” He shook his head, irritated. “He wants to change the date—to do it sooner—” Rethlyn continued, but Aether muffled his words with a hush.

“Not here,” he scolded, and suddenly his gaze shot to me, melting into a liquid bronze as we locked eyes.

“Vexa. You’ve been summoned,” Aether called out, turning quickly on his heel, pulling Rethlyn in the opposite direction as their voices quieted, lowering into something indiscernible. I watched as Rethlyn pulled open a gate leading into the city street, waiting. Vexa let out a loud sigh before standing.

“Guess you’re stuck with Aether. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she groaned, and sauntered off towards the Umbra men. As the two disappeared beyond the wall, Aether appeared once more, trudging back towards me with a creased brow.

“Time’s up for the day,” he stated, reaching the edge of the bench and turning away from me.

I didn’t budge. Irritation churned in my gut. I could tell it had been only half the time I was allowed out on the lawn the day before. I dreaded the thought of going back to that room.

“Let’s go,” he repeated, staleness drenching his words as his posture shifted into something more controlled, something that seemed lethal.

I knew it better to follow his orders, to allow him to escort me back up into that tower, but I couldn’t force myself to move. Finally, he turned in my direction, but I didn’t dare look at him, keeping my eyes focused on the landscape beyond, noting the few Vordr gliding on the wind in the distance. But the irritation radiating off of him was palpable.

“I’ll drag you up there if I have to,” he said flatly, and I saw him cross his arms in my periphery.

“Just a few more moments,” I whispered, sucking in a breath, expecting the sudden jolt of being thrown over his shoulder again, as he had done before all those weeks ago.

To my complete shock, he merely let out a sigh and lowered himself onto the bench beside me, its wooden beams croaking under his weight.

We sat in silence, and I closed my eyes, trying to soak in the last few moments of faux freedom before being whisked back to my tower. I breathed in the air, tinged with the scent of wet mud and a fire burning somewhere in the distance.

After what seemed like an eternity, I let my lashes flutter open, still surprised by the silence that had slipped by undisturbed. I dared a peek in his direction, feeling myself cower as I took in his intimidating frame, noticing as wisps of his hair flew in the gentle breeze. His eyes were closed, breathing in the stillness as we sat together.

I thought back to that moment in the tower, my first inklings of consciousness after my capture. How the intensity of our encounter had left me in shambles, how something had sparked between us in the darkest and most confusing of ways. I wondered if he remembered. If he ever thought about that. What that was.

And suddenly, I was brave.

“How do you do it?” I asked, fixing my gaze on him. Every nerve inside me was begging for me to look away, to recoil, but I resisted. I stared. “How are you immune to my… tether?” I asked. That use of the word had his golden eyes shooting towards me, flying open. They rested on me for a moment, his leathered chest inclining as he breathed in deeply. I don’t know why I even asked. Why I expected him to answer.

“I don’t know,” he muttered in a low tone, and I waited for him to say something else, anything else, but he never did.

Slowly, he stood. “It’s time.”

And then something inside me snapped.

“I know you all captured me for a reason. It’s not because you cared about my safety and it’s not because you don’t leave Umbra behind.” I shot to my feet, backing away from him. “You want something from me. And I demand to know what it is!” My voice boomed through the lawn, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. He was going to drag me back to that Esprithe-forsaken tower either way.

“You want all of the answers, but you know as well as I that you won’t believe a word out of my mouth. I can’t convince you of anything. You’ll see for yourself soon enough,” he said, taking a measured step in my direction.

“Why would I believe you? What possible reason would I have to trust any of you in the slightest? You claim I’m a shadow wielder, you call me names like Duskbound, but none of you show me what that actually means,” I hissed, curling my arms out as if to show him I wouldn’t be taken against my will. Not again. Not back up to that obsidian prison cell .

Inky tendrils began to pulse from his eyes as he took in my defensive position, jaw clenched, his chin low.

“You want me to show you?” he growled.

I stood breathless, eyes locking onto his once more as I stood my ground. I couldn’t take it anymore. The temptation in his expression riled something in me, something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something dangerous, something dark.

“Yes.” My voice was barely a breath, unsure of what I was asking for, but I couldn’t back down now.

He moved so fast, too fast. Before I could react, he was on me, grabbing my face with crushing force, his eyes now darker than the abyss. A scream tried to tear itself from my throat, but I held it back, frozen by the weight of him. Darkness erupted from his every pore, obscuring my vision from all directions.

“You wanted to see. Now let me show you,” he muttered, his fingers sliding down to brush my chin, his grip unyielding. I thrashed, but he pulled me closer, his other arm encircling my waist, trapping me against him.

The shadows surged around me, crawling across my skin, burning, chilling, like some dark, familiar touch. My body tensed with the pressure of it, hairs standing on end as something in me began to break.

“Stop resisting,” his voice was rough, low. “You have to invite them in.” The words stirred something in me. I could feel it, the pull of it. It was too much, too overwhelming. But he was right. I stopped struggling, my breath shallow, as I inhaled the bitter smoke rising from his touch. It filled me, tore through me, and in an instant, my mind shattered.

I felt the shadows descend my inner walls, the barrier completely breached. And then they flooded me. There was no fighting back as they sent pulses of power through my blood, deep enough until they sank into my bones. I felt my body go limp in his arms, felt as the darkness took me over, how it spread through me like a drug.

I hated how it felt. Hated that it felt like some long lost piece of me had been nudged into place. Hated how it felt good.

And just when I thought the oblivion would suck me into its depths, leave me in a place of utter delicious night, they began to fray and snap like strings of ink thrashing in water.

Feeling only came back to my physical form once I felt the heaving chest of the man before me, my body pressed against him tightly. As realization hit me, and I remembered where I was, who the chest belonged to, I slammed my fists against it.

In an instant, he released me, and I shot out of range of his grasp, doubling over to catch my breath.

“Don’t ever touch me again!” I screamed, the words raw in my throat as I leaned against the bench for support.

His eyes shot to mine, confusion creasing his brow.

“You wanted to see. And now you have. I believe a thank you is the more appropriate response,” he said, readjusting his leathers.

“You showed me nothing,” I hissed, but I didn't even believe my words. The second the power slithered into me, I knew it was right. It had found a home in me. But still, I resisted. I didn’t want it to be true. It couldn’t be true.

“You can lie to me all day, but you can’t lie to yourself. Not truly. I watched you absorb our shadows, on that lawn across the rip, and just now, right in front of me. The longer you fight it, the more difficult it will become for you,” he said.

“I’ll never be what you want me to be. As long as I have a say in the matter,” I seethed, inching backwards, running a hand through my unkempt hair.

“You couldn’t fathom the weight of your decisions here.”

“This isn’t my home. None of this is my responsibility,” I hissed.

“You’re a Duskbound. Whether you like it or not. And you were right, we do need something from you. Something we can’t take against your will. Believe me, if we could, I would have found a way to do it already. Because I’m no gentleman. Because we’re running out of time. This realm is dying, and you’re the single fucking thing that has the ability to save it.”

He stepped towards me, darkness still sparking across the surface of his leathers, like they were bleeding smoke into the ether. Panic surged through me as he advanced in my direction once again. But something from above had his eyes shooting to the sky.

The sound of powerful wings beating tore through the lawn, sending bursts of wind through our hair, through the desolate grass and everything surrounding us, blowing out the remaining tendrils of his shadows. Aether retreated, creating a distance between us just as the frame of a silver Vordr slammed into the muddy earth in front of me, throwing chunks of dirt into the air. It lowered its head and sent threatening hisses of air through its nose, stomping the ground with a hoof, its full and utter attention on Aether.

Both icy and onyx designs danced along its fur, shifting in the muted light as its muscles tensed.

My heart skipped in my chest as its tail flicked dangerously close, the sheer size of it overwhelming. The air seemed to grow heavier as it stomped the ground with a force that shook the earth beneath us.

Aether stepped back again, and I thought I saw a flicker of amusement in his eyes, as if he half-enjoyed the occurrence. He clicked his tongue, the sound dripping with annoyance, before letting out a slow sigh.

“And if the shadows weren’t enough to convince you, perhaps this will.”

As I stood there, frozen, I felt its gaze shift toward me. Every muscle in my body screamed to run, but my legs wouldn’t obey. The creature’s massive form loomed, becoming uncomfortably still.

It was then that the Vordr turned on its hindquarters and faced me, stepping close enough—so close I was certain it could smell my fear. Breaths came in shallow gasps, heart hammering in my chest, as the creature’s gaze locked onto mine. It was impossible to look away.

Slowly, it bowed its head before me, its enormous form lowering to acknowledge me in some way I couldn’t begin to comprehend.

“Tryggar has just claimed you.”