Page 46 of To Scale the Emerald Mountain

As my mind empties to the atmosphere around me, I focus on the spools of golden thread in my belly. I unravel a fraction of the first, freeing just an inch. Pulling it taut, I give it a gentle, mental pluck. The sensation of magic rings through me like the tiniest tinkling of a small bell. I grasp on to the vibrations and let it lull me into a foggy darkness, riding the waves of tiny ripples until a scene in my mind starts to take shape.

Standing tall, I ignore the stabbing ache in my back brought from my physical exertion; disregard the dizziness and growing headache from the mental as my lightning fades from the sky.

A screen of icy white hair falls around my face, fluttering in the breeze. My tears scorch down my cheeks, the fat drops falling to the earth. The earth of my world—so lovingly named Ellhora in my honor—that I have now tainted with the act I’ve just committed. The landmass cuts a large chasm in its path through the sea, creaks and groans of reluctant earth screaming into the ether.

Nothing will ever be far enough.

Waves of tangy magic pulse from where my power of earth and sky split the land apart, something sticky spawning to drain life. Its darkness eats away at the crust of the ocean floor where the landmass holding my siblings and their magically gifted followers drifts away.

I can only hope this act will be the push they need.

Holding one hand aloft to expel my magic to force my siblings away, I raise the other in front of my face. Bloodstreaks against the oily black of my fingers. An onyx stain that grows, seeping to my wrists as my power dives deeper into forbidden depths.

A hysterical laugh claws its way out of my mouth while ichor and tears continue to flow.

So much blood on my hands; but that is what it took.

I have failed so completely. Grief for what could have been, what should have been, racks through me like fire hot pins sticking through each one of my pores, gouging down to my bones.

I’ll never recover from it.

Turmoil reigns in this blasphemous planet. This act in banishing my siblings is just another notch against my sacred lands; against the Fates; against the gift of this world.

But these measures have been a necessity. Placing the curse on the willowbane tree, locking the magic of the world into it to be controlled by myself was the right choice. The act prevented my people from being poisoned against me with its power when I arrived here.

But still, my siblings persisted.

The ground bucks at my feet, my heart squeezing in my chest, as I think of the towering white tree in the Territory of Gleisheon that I call home. Now a great bleached husk of what was once vibrant and colorful and dripping with life.

Killing the tree was a necessity as well.

Thundering clouds clash, rattling my chest, remnants of my magic staining the horizon.

Charged static lifts the hair on my arms.

A strange hiss resounds and the ground beneath my feet shifts, softening and sinking around me like a starving pitof quicksand. I scamper backwards and watch in horrified awe as a new shoreline forms. Dark brown compacted dirt crumbles and disintegrates rapidly into sand.

I run several yards away, just in time before the portion I was standing on slopes down, creating a sandbar that the sea waves crash over. There is no transition between the shore and the colossal drop of the underwater cliff from where the new continent moved away, leaving a gaping chasm in its wake.

A Great Trench.

The dirt continues to distort, spreading in both directions and moving inland when it stops at my feet. The strange hiss dies as quickly as it began. The silence reeks of death: putrid and sweet. The newly created sand’s color leeches away and turns the dark hue into a deep and haunting red.

My eyes widen and new tears spring as I swing my head from side to side.

The sand is like ground down blood-red rubies streaked with onyx, stretching as far as even my extraordinary eyes can see.

Bringing both hands to my chest, right above my heart, I let loose a strangled laugh.

The vision releases me with ease. The edges fade into themselves until only a small dot of ruby red is visible. I open my eyes, severing it completely.

A broad smile cracks across my face, and I laugh. Loud and booming and joyous. It turns out I havealready mastered this gift as well.

A warm trickle drips from my nose, and my hand wipes it away. I pull my fingers away and find a small amount of blood coating myfingers. Practically nothing compared to other times I can recall, other times recently.

Standing too quickly, a wave of dizziness causes me to lose my balance and sway to the side. A strong arm grabs me around the waist before I can fully fall and hit the ground. I let out an exaggerated groan of displeasure, but my body leans into him further.

“Of course, you’re here.” I turn to Locane and give him a glare.