Page 63 of Return of the Darkness (The Lost Kingdom Saga #3)
Elisara
E lisara had stared up at the colourless sky for hours, relishing the peace and quiet.
She was in a variation of Vala, it seemed.
After entering the mirror, she had opened her eyes to gaze across the mountains, where one of the few rivers in Vala flowed below.
At her right was Tisova in the distance.
If she turned and trekked through the snowy mountains, she would eventually reach the Neutral City.
That was likely where the other rulers would head, yet as Elisara was not far, she chose to relish the time alone, surrounded by nothing but silence.
She lay in the snow and stared at the sky.
The biting cold snow soothed her aching back, relieving the pain that was resurfacing as the effects of Vigor’s stalactite water faded.
Hours had passed while lying there. Even though the colour was drained from this world, she could still differentiate when the sun became the moon and the stars began to appear.
She supposed this was her natural habitat now as Sitara’s essence, staring at the darkness of the sky, surrounded by night.
While Sitara had not formed Elisara from her essence, she planted some of the goddess inside her.
Did that mean Elisara was a goddess of dusk too?
Or goddess of darkness? Elisara scoffed.
She did not feel like a goddess, even if a piece of one lay inside her arm.
With a sigh, she contemplated finally standing and walking to the city, but there was something so peaceful about the moon.
While she owed her life to the rulers, her friends, and was grateful for their company, she preferred the peace and quiet of being alone.
It was the only time she could think about Kazaar; even dreaming did not summon him when her mind was preoccupied with people she did not know and conversations with Sallos.
Was Sallos here somewhere? Or had his shadowed form prevented him from crossing through?
She could not feel her shadows, darkness, or the elements.
She knew they were there but could not draw on them.
For a minute, she felt relieved in its absence.
After all, it had summoned Caligh and started a war.
“I didn’t know,” a clipped voice said from Elisara’s right.
Elisara turned her head, unsure of whom to expect, though Vala was the last person she expected to see—the goddess of her realm.
Peering down at Elisara, Vala’s long white hair burned bright beneath the moonlight.
Elisara did not know what she referenced, nor did she care what the goddess had to say after her treatment of Elisara and Kazaar in the temple.
Lifting her head, Elisara watched the stars and hoped if she stared long enough, Vala would get the message and disappear.
You are his star. Some of her mother’s last words rang through her mind, words she now knew were first spoken by Sitara.
Though Elisara was no star. How could she to be the light in someone’s darkness when her own had been snuffed out?
The snow shifted beside her as Vala lay down and glanced briefly at her descendent.
Her grey gown was far more ornate than their last encounter.
A woven pattern of feathers and swirls in silver thread coated the skirts, and a white fur cloak hung over her shoulders.
Had the snow not been tinged yellow, the two would have blended well.
The goddess rested her hands on her stomach and looked up at the stars with Elisara.
“I used to love the night,” Vala said. Elisara refrained from sighing at the interrupted peace and quiet.
“I took after my mother in that way and many others—stubborn, strong, obsessive when I care, torn between being pragmatic and being free, as light as a feather. But from my father…” Vala’s voice changed, the pride in her voice fading to sadness.
Elisara realised it was not just Sitara who had lost her loved one; her children had lost their father.
Elisara swallowed at the all-too-familiar loss.
“From him, I get my hu mour.” Elisara scoffed, sparing a glance at Vala, who smiled.
“See, that was funny.” Elisara pursed her lips and turned back to the stars.
“Truthfully, I get my father’s sense of protection, ensuring what is mine remains safe.
” Vala paused. “I have failed you there.”
“I’m not really yours though, am I? So, it does not really matter,” Elisara said, referencing the unspoken knowledge of Sitara’s essence.
“You were my lineage before she put you on this path,” Vala murmured.
“I did not know.” Elisara finally relented, turning her head to look at the goddess with a raised eyebrow, the only acknowledgement she was listening.
“I did not know she put that thing inside you or her essence—that speck of dark stone encased in her power. I suspected Kazaar’s potential heritage, though there are a few options.
I also assumed the darkness I sensed around the pair of you came from that.
I assumed he was related to Caligh and had tainted you after you merged your powers.
” Vala paused, allowing Elisara a moment to reflect.
She wanted to ask about Kazaar’s heritage—his parents, grandparents, if he had found peace with his passing, and if she would meet him again one day, somewhere else.
“When I saw the mark of the celestial tie on your collarbone, I knew it was my mother's doing, though I had assumed wrong and knew far less than I thought.”
“Can you not ask her?” Elisara finally asked. Vala shook her head in the snow.
“My mother has been wandering the skies for centuries, trying to right the wrongs of Caligh and the others. I have not seen her in some time.”
“Others?” Elisara asked, and Vala gave a pitiful smile.
“There are many things you do not know, matters I cannot tell you, even here.”
“You are under the same curse, preventing Sitara and Osiris from telling me everything?”
“No. I was locked away here before that curse was put in place. I simply know the paths you may take. Telling you too much would alter them. That and my siblings insist we decide on everything collectively . ” Vala rolled her eyes.
“You do not get along?”
“After spending an eternity with people, through war and peace, destruction and creation, chaos and order, you find that relationships become strained .” Vala raised a hand, as if wishing to reach for Elisara before thinking better of it.
“It is why I was so angry when I thought you were tainted by a dark power. It is not the first time someone has taken my descendants and moulded them into something new. The Queen of Keres’s captain is a perfect example. ” Elisara raised her eyebrows.
“Farid was once your descendent?”
“No, but one of his many ancestors from centuries ago was. But Keres used Caligh’s knowledge to twist them into something new.” Elisara frowned. Wings of flaming feathers seemed a far reach from the descendent of someone who simply controlled air.
“Caligh is truly that old, then?” Elisara asked. Vala’s eyes darkened.
“Older than you think,” she murmured. The two women lay in silence, staring at the stars.
Elisara thought of all the questions she could ask the goddess, like how could they defeat Caligh?
What did he truly want from Elisara? What were the rulers’ roles in saving other lands?
She imagined Vala would respond with the same answer, which was no answer at all.
“How can you speak to me so freely here?”
With a look around them, Vala asked, “Do you know where we are?” Elisara shook her head. “We are on the Isle of Gods.” Elisara had never heard the term before but could quickly deduce it belonged to Vala and her siblings.
“This is your home?”
“This is my prison,” Vala said, her eyes glistening as she stood.
The goddess reached for the queen, who hesitantly accepted her hand, the rough and worn texture etched with thousands of stories.
Elisara straightened and winced at the pain in her back.
Muttering sounded from behind, but before she could turn to see who it was, Vala placed a hand on her shoulder and brushed the moon scar with her thumb.
“I let the loss of a love almost destroy me once,” she said, the glistening more prominent in her eyes as they grew vacant, as though recalling a memory.
“You are far more than your heartbreak, Elisara.” Vala smiled and stepped back, dragging her cloak in the snow as she walked.
“Oh,” she said, glancing back again. “Sorry for calling you a whore.” Elisara smiled and kicked the snow with her boot.
“I could be, for all you know,” Elisara said, and the goddess laughed.
“See, you have my humour too.”
“Eli!” Vlad called. Elisara whirled to find Vlad, Helena, and Vigor trekking the Zivoi mountain. Before answering, Elisara turned back to ask Vala how she survived it—the loss—but she was gone.
“What are you doing here?” Elisara asked, navigating the snow to reach them.
“Great question. We have no idea.” Vigor wrapped an arm around Elisara’s shoulder as she shivered in the night air. They still wore the same clothes as they did on the Unsanctioned Isle.
“We were about to board the ship, and then the next thing we know, the trees are no longer red but snow-capped,” Vlad said, assessing his queen to ensure she was okay. Elisara nodded to reassure him.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“We were trying to get as high as we could to see as far across the realm as possible, hoping to find you.” Vlad put an arm around her shoulder, and Elisara tried not to flinch at the touch as he steered her towards Vigor and Helena.
“Once we reached halfway, we saw Larelle in the distance. She’s heading towards the Neutral City. ”
“I suppose that should be our next stop, then.”