Page 63

What Remains

I woke in stages, consciousness returning like water seeping through cracks, filling the empty spaces where my strength had been.

First came awareness of my body, the stiffness in my limbs, the scratchy blanket against my skin, the dull throb behind my eyes.

Then sound filtered in slowly. Hushed voices, the crackle of a fire, and the soft rhythm of someone breathing made me realize I was still alive.

When I finally managed to open my eyes, the world was blurry, colors and shapes melding together like a painting left in the rain. I blinked slowly, willing my vision to clear.

“He’s awake!” The voice was familiar. It took me a moment to realize it was Mira’s, high with relief.

A figure leaned over me, gradually coming into focus. Dark hair, blue eyes wide with concern, wolf ears perked forward attentively. Sky… he was alive. The memory of his blood pooling on stone flashed through my mind, and I reached up with trembling fingers to trace the thick scar across his throat.

“You’re alive,” I whispered, my voice a dry rasp.

Sky caught my hand in his, pressing it against his cheek. “Thanks to you,” he murmured, his voice still rough around the edges. “Though I’m still not sure how you did it.”

I swallowed hard, remembering the forbidden magic that had flowed through me, the life I had stolen to restore his. Necromancy. Just knowing that kind of magic anywhere in Cindersea was a death sentence .

And I would do it again in a heartbeat.

“Where are we?” I asked instead, slowly pushing myself up on my elbows.

The space swam around me for a moment, a swirl of orange firelight and dark sky.

When I finally managed to blink it all away, I realized we were still outside, trees towering over us.

Above was a dark sky dotted with stars. And on the horizon was the ruddy moon, taking up far more space than seemed possible.

“We’re just beyond Ivros Hollow,” Rhia said, stepping into view. She looked haggard, dark circles under her eyes, but her stance was still strong, protective. “We’ve been here for three days waiting for you to wake up.”

Three days. I’d been unconscious for three days. My mouth went dry as another memory surfaced, the mountain collapsing, burying the temple of Ivros Hollow beneath tons of rock and earth. Burying Kai.

“Kai,” I said, the name catching in my throat. “Is he...?”

The silence that followed was answer enough. Sky’s grip on my hand tightened, and Mira turned away, her shoulders trembling slightly. Kuro, who I hadn’t noticed sitting by the far tree, stared resolutely toward the ruins, his jaw clenched.

“We couldn’t find him,” Rhia said finally, her voice steady despite the pain in her eyes. “The entire area is unstable. And there’s an entire mountain between us and his…” She was unable to finish her sentence.

His body . I knew that’s what she couldn’t say. Kai was buried under an entire mountain, the weight of it killing him as he sacrificed himself so we could live.

Then another thought entered my mind, followed by a cold surge of fear. “What about Captain Boromia?!” I asked, staring up at Sky’s scar. “Did he?—”

“No,” Sky replied, his mouth set into a thin line. “He didn’t come out.”

“But he could create portals,” I said softly, fear clutching my chest. “Do you think he might’ve escaped?”

“There’s no way,” Mira replied this time, her voice low. “Magic like that takes time, energy, and focus. Boromia was fighting Kai with all his strength when that place came down. He… He’s dead. He must be.”

Kuro scoffed. “Good.”

“I hope you’re right,” I whispered, unable to shake the image of that perfect smile, the gleam of his blade as it sliced across Sky’s throat. I shuddered, and Sky’s arm tightened around me.

“We should be safe now,” Rhia said, though her eyes constantly scanned the tree line, her body poised for trouble. “We’ve been taking shifts keeping watch, just in case. ”

My head throbbed dully as I tried to process everything. Kai was gone. The obsidian fragment, the Architect… whatever it was, buried beneath tons of rock and unreachable by all. And somehow, we were alive, against all odds.

But for how long?

“What happens now?” I asked, looking from face to face. “The RSB will be looking for us. They’ll know we were responsible for their captain’s disappearance.”

Kuro pushed off from his tree, approaching the fire with his usual swagger, though it seemed forced. “Why would they? We didn’t kill Boromia. And everyone that came here with him is dead.”

“That’s true,” Sky nodded. “Unless he shared his insane plans with anyone, which I doubt considering he admitted to wanting to take over the kingdom, then he just sort of… disappeared .” He looked around at the others, resting on each in turn before settling on me.

“That might buy us some time. Not forever, but some.”

“Then what?” Rhia asked, the reality slowly sinking in. “If we have to leave Selas, where will we go?”

“I don’t know,” Sky replied. “But we can’t worry about that now. All we can do is take one step at a time.”

“First step is getting back to Selas,” Kuro said, his sword resting across his knees. He’d been sharpening it, I realized, the whetstone still clutched in his hand. “We need supplies, money. And we need to figure out what the RSB knows before we decide what to do next.”

My stomach clenched at the realization that all our money had been in Kai’s secret pouch. As far as I knew, he was still wearing it. “What if they’re waiting for us? What if they already know what happened?”

“Then we’ll deal with that when we get there,” Sky said, his voice firm despite the rasp that still lingered.

His fingers absently traced the scar on his throat, a habit he seemed to have developed in the days I’d been unconscious.

“But we can’t stay out here forever. We’re almost out of food, and…

well, there’s nothing more we can do here. ”

I nodded, though the thought of returning to Selas filled me with dread.

The memory of Jeremy’s death flashed before my eyes, his final expression of betrayal, the way his body had crumpled.

There was the moment Boromia slit Sky’s throat, his blood covering the temple floor as the life drained from him in seconds.

Then I saw Kai’s final goodbye, a sad smile on his face as he saved us all.

Why did everyone have to die? Why couldn’t I save them?

“We should leave at first light,” Rhia said, already packing what little gear we had scattered around the small camp. “The journey back will take at least two days, maybe three since Oliver’s still weak.”

“I can manage,” I insisted, trying to push myself up further. The world tilted dangerously, and Sky’s arm tightened around me, keeping me from toppling over.

“You don’t have to,” he murmured against my ear. “Let us help you for once.”

The tenderness in his voice nearly broke me. After everything, after watching him die and bringing him back through forbidden magic, he was still here, still caring for me. I leaned into him, drawing strength from his warmth.

“What about...” I hesitated, lowering my voice so only Sky could hear. “What about what I did? The necromancy?”

His blue eyes met mine, serious and intense.

“We don’t talk about that,” he whispered back.

“Ever. To anyone. Everyone that saw you do that spell is dead except for your friends. They won’t talk.

And we’ll never speak of it again.” He paused for a moment, the corner of his mouth turning up into a small smile. “But whatever it was, thank you.”

I nodded slightly, relief washing through me. The weight of the forbidden magic still pressed heavily on my conscience, but at least Sky understood. At least he didn’t hate me for what I’d done. In fact, it didn’t seem like any of them did.

“We should try to sleep,” Mira suggested, her blue hair catching the firelight as she settled onto her bedroll. “Tomorrow will be... difficult.”

No one argued. Rhia took first watch, positioning herself on a fallen log with a clear view of our surroundings. Kuro reluctantly sheathed his sword and stretched out near the fire, though I noticed his hand never strayed far from his weapon.

Sky helped me to the woods to relieve myself before we both laid back down.

He arranged the thin blanket over me before settling beside me.

His body curled protectively around mine, one arm draped across my waist. I could feel his breath against the back of my neck, the steady rise and fall of his chest against my back.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he whispered, so quietly that only I could hear. “When you collapsed after... after bringing me back. I thought the magic had killed you.”

I turned my head slightly, catching a glimpse of his profile in the firelight. “You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I murmured, attempting a smile that felt brittle on my face .

His arm tightened around me. “Don’t joke about it. I’ve never been so scared.”

The raw emotion in his voice silenced any further attempt at levity. Instead, I placed my hand over his, threading our fingers together. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “For scaring you.”

“Just don’t do it again,” he replied, pressing his forehead against my shoulder. “I can’t lose you too.”

The unspoken name hung between us. Kai. Our leader. Our friend. Gone.

“Sky?”

“Yeah?”

“Do… Do you think what I did was wrong?” I asked quietly, my voice shaking nervously.

He was quiet for a long moment, his tail tapping against my leg as he thought. “No,” he said at last. “The others told me what happened, that you had to kill those three men to save me.”

My body tensed as the memory flooded through me.

“But they were going to kill us. They had already tried,” he continued. “We do what we have to in order to survive. That’s the way things are in Cindersea. And sometimes…” He paused again. “Sometimes the monsters in the world are human shaped.”

I felt Sky’s hand gently squeeze mine, his warmth anchoring me against the tide of guilt threatening to pull me under.

“But necromancy is forbidden,” I whispered, the word itself feeling dangerous on my tongue. “If anyone finds out...”

“No one will,” Sky murmured against my ear, his voice fierce with conviction.

“And I don’t care what any law says. You saved my life.

You’re a champion of the Twilight, remember?

You’re the balance between dark and light.

That means you’ll have to use spells from the darker shades of gray sometimes. ”

A log cracked in the fire, sending sparks spiraling into the night sky. Somewhere in the darkness, an owl called, the sound lonely and haunting against the backdrop of rustling leaves.

“I just… I keep seeing it,” I admitted, my voice barely audible. “Their faces as the spell took them. They just... crumbled away.”

Sky’s tail curled around my leg, another point of contact between us. “Don’t,” he said firmly. “Don’t torture yourself with it. They would have killed all of us without hesitation.”

“I know,” I sighed, letting my eyes drift closed. “But I never thought I could do something like that. It scares me, what I might be capable of. ”

“It should,” he said bluntly. “Power like that... it’s dangerous. But you used it to save, not destroy. I think that’s what matters most.”

I turned in his arms to face him, needing to see his eyes. In the flickering firelight, his blue gaze was steady, unwavering. The scar across his throat stood out starkly against his skin, always drawing my eye. It was a permanent reminder of how close I’d come to losing him.

“How did you know?” I asked softly. “When Boromia had you, how did you know I would find a way?”

Sky’s mouth quirked into a half-smile. “I didn’t,” he admitted. “I just knew you wouldn’t give up. That’s who you are, Oliver. You never give up on the people you care about.”

My throat tightened with emotion. I reached up to trace the scar again, feeling the raised tissue beneath my fingertips. “Does it hurt?”

“Sometimes,” he said, catching my hand and pressing a kiss to my palm. “It’s strange, remembering what it felt like. Dying, I mean.”

A chill ran through me. “What... what did it feel like?”

Sky was quiet for a long moment, his ears flattening slightly. “Cold,” he finally said. “Then nothing. Then... your voice, pulling me back.” He shook his head. “I don’t like thinking about it.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Don’t be,” he replied fiercely. “I’m alive because of you. That’s all that matters.”

We fell silent then, the weight of everything that had happened settling over us like a heavy blanket. The loss of Kai, the uncertainty of what waited for us in Selas, the forbidden magic I’d wielded… it all pressed down, making even breathing feel like an effort.

“Everything’s going to change, isn’t it?” I asked, burying my face against his neck as tears began to stream down my face silently. “Nothing will ever be the same…”

Sky held me tight, his chin resting atop my head. “It already has,” he said softly, his own voice cracking.

The sobs overtook me then, and I cried against Sky, my tears soaking into his cloak.

I cried for all our losses that were and could have been.

I cried for the loss of our brave leader who had always been like an older brother to me.

And I cried because, despite his sacrifice, I would never be able to give him something as simple as a proper burial.

Why did everything in Cindersea have to be so… hard ?