Page 34 of Shadows of Air and Earth (Remnant Archives)

O ur laughter died with the winds. Solemn and quiet, we hiked back through the treacherous grounds of the canyon, coming to a halt at its edge to peer out across the wide abyss where the city of Lacail still stood.

Perched perfectly on an island of stone it would be inaccessible for any fae unless they could fly and even then, they would be entering a tomb.

Another permanent mark upon my soul carved next to so many others.

Each one representing my failures and the bitter guilt superseding them.

I yearned to return Faerie to her former glory—a time that was not scarred by death and war.

A time when we lived as one with the lands, the beasts, the skies, and occasionally played when boredom took us to the human world.

But that dream was slipping away like the dust still falling from the sky, and yet each morning, when my eyes greeted a new day, I locked away my fear of failure to start my task again. The coming of daylight forever mocking—never bringing me the warmth and peace I so desperately ached for.

My eyes narrowed at the lone chickadee, flapping furiously away from the eerie city, the soft ring of the bell tower resonating its haunting summons across the great expanse.

Sadly, there was no saving the fae there. Although we had found triumph, innocent lives still paid the price.

“Xi?” My voice was strong…steady. My sadness and self-sabotaging thoughts forcibly locked away now, enclosed in a vault, deep within my heart, where no fae could ever find it.

“Yes, General?” Xi replied, her tone solemn while her eyes traced the profile of my face.

I dared not look at her, for if I did, she would see within the monster that was needed to make hard decisions—and my monster was not for the world to see.

For once unleashed…it would surely be the end of all fae.

“Bury it.” Emotionless, this was the price of playing in the shadows—of being born to darkness where death always resided.

The collar around Xi’s neck glowed brightly in my periphery, Riley’s voice breaking as he fed her the power she needed to eliminate this town forever from the plains. “Take what you need, my terrella,” he encouraged Xi, who sighed heavily.

Not tearing my eyes away, even while the earth shook and great sheets of stone crumbled from the cliff’s edge, I watched as Lacail split from its great pillared island.

Gently, Xi commanded the entirety of the city to float within the cobalt sky of Faerie.

The sun now setting low, the daylight moved onward to coalesce with the night as it always did—unfailingly so—except this time it seemed to slow, mourning for the fae that died here.

Together both sun and Lacail submitted to the darkness, though one would rise again, and the other would stay—respectfully buried deep within the grave of the canyon's abyss.

Above me, the soft sound of a downward stroke from a snowy owl, swooped up into the moonlight, as if it were tasked to carry the souls lost here to the promised gates of Sheol.

Full. We were full.

Having traveled through the night, bedraggled and tortured by Xi’s tales of the epic sweets that awaited us at the Pastry Plains, the three of us stumbled into the quaint bakery.

Half starved for pastries, still covered in carnage and grime, we gave one Sheol of a shock to the poor fae behind the counter and scared half the customers away.

When the owner, Bess, recovered, we were met with the ire of a mother hen. Pecking and shooing us off, she demanded we clean up before we even thought about tarnishing her good name, and her food with such utter disrespect ever again.

Driven by the mouthwatering smell of her baking and borderline fear of the baker herself, we sat refreshed and clean with three cups of steaming hot tea in front of us.

A tray, where two dozen custard tarts once sat, was now shoved to the side, not even a crumb to be found on its reflective silver platter.

Xi had been right, they were the best tarts I had ever tasted, and even full to the brim, I still craved more.

But my hunger receded when I nodded subtly to the shadows. It was time. “You have fulfilled your end of our bargain,” I began, the shadows oozing across the table between us, “and now it is time to fulfill mine.”

Xi and Riley glanced at one another warily before peering back down at the shadows dissipating from the worn, rough table, leaving behind the real Empedolces staff.

Gleaming in the sunlight pouring from the window, its sacred polished wood was like a sparkling jewel lying in the dirt.

Reverent and alluring, its power invoked full command of the room—and of the elementals within it.

Barely breathing, Riley and Xi leaned in towards one another, never taking their eyes off the staff.

“I’m going to need the one you stole back,” I said slowly.

A pair of hazel eyes and one grey snapped up to me. “Do you hear it too?” they both said in unison before turning to one another wide-eyed.

A small smile danced across my lips, still amused by how perfectly harmonious they always were with one another.

I shook my head. “I hear nothing, but then again, I’m not meant to.

” But I knew who was. Controlling the accelerated beating of my heart, I tucked my wavy, black hair away from my face, before leaning forward with commanding eyes, “Touch it.”

Xi’s hand shook, the first to respond, and then she paused to look towards Riley.

Smiling, he placed his hand on top of hers, his eyes glittered with love and devotion as he whispered encouragingly, “We are one, terrella, we always will be.” Guiding each other's hands down to the artifact they held their breaths.

The root flared to life the moment they touched it, colors of blue, grey, orange, and gold rippled across their bodies, glowing brighter and brighter until it consumed the room—fully immersed in the stunning color, vibrant with life and energy.

This…this was what it was like to behold the power of Faerie, but just as we began to bow in deference to its greatness, the power disappeared, snuffed from the room like a burning flame.

Gasping, Riley and Xi snapped their hands away from the staff, staring at one another with wonder and fear. Their chests heaved, both unable to speak.

Standing, my chair scraped softly against the wooden floor, I bowed my head low to the newly crowned Lady and Lord of the elemental fae. The true leaders of their people and now…a target for the wrath of the Queen of Faerie. “Well met, Lady and Lord of the Elemental Court.”

Xi licked at her exposed lips, her eye flickering up at me, then snapping back down to the staff, “I—no this has to be…”

“A mistake,” Riley choked, finishing her statement, nodding furiously.

“Yes, a mistake, there is no way we could be—” Xi’s voice broke off into a small cry.

Riley’s air wrapped around her, tucking her hair back from her face, and soothing the sudden trembling of her body.

The sharp bite of panic and doubt could practically be tasted and I wished I could say it was unwarranted.

That there was no chance in this goddess damn universe where I would ever let harm befall them, but fae could not lie.

“It is no mistake,” I said softly. “You asked me once how I knew it was you in the City of Light,” I gave her a sad encouraging smile, “I see aura’s Xi and both of yours flare like stars in the sky, a quality I have not seen from any other fae before.

I did not know what it meant then, but I do now.

It is the mark of the goddess, the mark of the true leader of the elemental court.

She has chosen you both. You sought the Empedolces for it to crown your next ruler.

To find the leader that would free your people from the harsh reality of the queen’s rule but you had it within yourselves all along.

It called to you, not the other way around.

” I sighed and shook my head at how fucking cruel fate could be.

“The way I see it, you now have two choices.” I held up my finger, “One, you announce your claim of the elemental court without the full power of your people behind you and likely fail. Or two, you wait, you gather your resources, you find your allies, you learn your enemies, and you infiltrate the system from the inside . You play a different game.”

Xi licked her lips and I could see the burning question in her eyes, one I had asked my own self many times over.

“Ask,” I said, my stomach twisting in knots.

Looking between us, Riley frowned but remained silent and Xi fidgeted in her seat, quietness holding the room before she summoned the courage to speak.

“What about Deirdre? You are the General to the Faerie Throne. Your vow is to her and yet you will help us? What about your… relationship ?”

I could not blame her for asking the same questions I have wondered myself, and as such she deserved an answer.

A real one . Spreading the shadows around the room, I caged us in our own cocoon of darkness to speak freely, for the first time in two hundred years.

“Be at ease, the shadows are to prevent anyone from overhearing the truth I am about to tell you.” I gave them both a small encouraging smile.

“When I joined the crown, it was because my mother and court had been ripped apart by bloodshed and loss. Something she had sheltered me from and as such, I was uninhibited by the ghosts of the past and was a dreamer of a new future. Deirdre was dangerous and her enormous power called mine, power that made us both outcasts of our own courts and we found solace in each other as a result. I did not anticipate falling in love with her, and if you asked me even now if I still love her, my answer would be yes.”

The shadows shimmered around the room, attempting to comfort the bitter regret and sadness I felt at admitting that truth out loud and at the way Xi and Ri stiffened at my confession.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled a shadow from the floor up into my hand, cradling it like a dark wisp sent to comfort me on the twisted path I chose.

“But that love between us, it is a dying flame, one that dims with each passing day and each time another fae hangs on the walls of the city.” Closing my fist, I met their attentive stares, concern for themselves or for me I was unable to distinguish.

Tilting my chin high, my voice was firm and true.

“Know this. When I made my vows, my oaths to the crown, it was to the Faerie throne and her lands—not to a queen . I have done this alone within the presence of enemies and foes, playing the games of heathens and monsters, masked behind beauty and splendor, and I have done it all for these lands—the fae within them.”

The shadows snapped promptly back from the walls at my beckoning and licked up my brands to deliver what I requested of them.

Curling my hand around the items, I leaned upon the table, the roughened, worn surface abrasive upon my skin.

Hair falling around me in a dark curtain, I slid my hand across the surface, the sound of soft tinkling and scraping echoed in the tension-filled room—then silence.

Exhaling softly, I uncurled my fingers and lifted my hand, watching as they both bowed in unison to look upon what I had revealed.

Glittering in the soft morning sun alongside the staff, two delicate silver pins lay.

Manipulated and strenuously molded from silver of the Argentine caves, they resembled the smokey tendrils of the shadows that were always a part of me.

Made from a dream, they were a symbol of trust and friendship, of loyalty and unbreakable bonds, of the vengeful beast and the resilient beauty that lived in the shadows.

“The choice is yours,” I said softly before turning away, swallowing hard. The acidic burn of the unknown rising in my throat while I took the last few steps to the door.

They would need time—time to weigh the consequences of a decision that would alter the course of their very future, likely putting their lives at even more risk. It was for the best that I walked away now.

Grasping the knob of the door, my eyes falling on the leather cord tied on my wrist, I swallowed hard again. I could fucking do this. I could walk away. I was used to being alone and I could still find another way to restore Faerie without them. I just needed to—

The door ripped from my grasp with a forceful wind and my booted feet spun back around, to the inner sanctum of the room.

Blinking, I found Xi and Riley standing before me, and I stilled when my gaze fell upon the silver shadow pins anchored on their shirts, flickering in the sun-filled room.

The Empedolces staff was left discarded and forgotten on the table behind them.

In unison, they knelt on one knee, bowing their heads, speaking as one. “We pledge ourselves to you, Remnant Dark, in both this life and the next, as our general, our leader, and our friend. We vow to always remain by your side, together, in whatever way the universe will have us.”

Riley’s hazel eyes peered up at my shocked expression, his wavy green hair flopping over his brow, and he smiled. “You need not be alone anymore Rem.”

Xi’s uncovered face, also looked up, her eyes bright and focused. “We are a mici animae . Friends of the soul and we are better for it.”

A wide foolish smile spread across my face and I fell to my knees, leaning into them, our foreheads touching as we laughed nervously.

“I accept your vow but you need not kneel to me. We are equals,” I choked out, “and I also vow to always uphold the trust you have given me as both your leader and your friend.”

“We accept,” Riley grinned, pulling away to ruffle my hair playfully. “So what’s next oh great war general of Faerie?”

Xi groaned, shaking her head, leaning back on her heels. “What’s next is another hot bath and a week’s worth of sleep at the very least.”

I snickered, “You might need to hold that wonderful plan for another day.” Eyes sparkling, I held up the note that had been burning a hole in the shadows ever since they returned from the City of Night. “This is what’s next.”

Tugging her hair across her face, Xi cursed. “Goddess help us. There’s that tone again. You heard it, right Ri?”

He nodded, rubbing his hands together, the air swirling around them eagerly and his eyes gleamed. “Oh, you bet I did. It means another round of troll bowl, here we come!”

Laughing freely, I felt the strands of fate begin to unravel but this time I would not face it alone, and for that—I would be patient.