Page 25 of Ecliptic

I hoped the Summit could help me find answers. If not, I feared I would aid Erovos in bringing about the destruction of us all.

Dried and dressed, I sat at the wood-woven vanity and picked at my nails.

“They await us at the Sacred Vale,” Rowen said, his comforting aura filling the powder room. His dark hair framed his face in perfect waves, and the hollows at his temples flexed as he took in my nervousness. “Are you ready?”

“No,” I moaned, burying my face in my hands.

Rowen exhaled and then approached me with deliberate steps that commanded my attention. He towered over me before he dropped to his knees, his eyes locking with mine.

He placed his hands on either side of the chair, his fingers so close to brushing against me that my thighs squirmed. It reminded me of the night at Prism when my drinks had mixed with the opiates in my blood, and I’d been drunkenly relegated to sitting on a stump in the middle of the forest.

He was careful not to touch me then, and he was careful not to touch me now. “I know it’s hard and frightening, but once we know what is happening, we can move forward. It’s as you said, the first step of the race is the most important. It’s what sets everything else in motion. This is that first step, Keira. Let’s take it together.”

I smirked up at him. “Look at you using running analogies. And here I thought you weren’t paying attention.”

“Only at first.” He grinned, his full, white smile on display.

“Well, when you put it like that,” I said, standing in a cobalt dress that flowed to the ground. The back was open, plunging all the way to my tailbone while braided straps draped across myshoulders. Even though the fabric was soft, it chafed against my overly sensitive skin.

Rowen’s eyes trailed down my body, caressing my skin with his gaze.

A low growl emanated from his chest. “The sooner we figure out how I can touch you, the better.”

11

We ventured toward the tucked-away path of the Sacred Vale, guided by the light of the stars and luminorbs. “I should warn you. It looks much different,” Rowen said as I followed him across the shimmering stones that once hovered on water. “Though the waterfalls are gone, we still walk upon sacred ground.”

I nodded, missing the sapphire pathway that was now a dried riverbed.

We entered the Sacred Vale, the stones transforming into a natural bridge that connected to the floating island. My heart sank. Rowen was right; where dozens of waterfalls had cascaded into misty chasms, there were now only silent, barren cliffs.

Though so much had changed, myself included, the ruins of the Alcreon Stone still hovered above us.

My first time here, I had a vision, or perhaps a memory, of the Alcreon Stone in all its former glory. It radiated in an ethereal light that seared my eyelids before returning to its shattered state.

At the Battle of the Breaking, when Nepta had freed theLight, she’d broken the stone into pieces. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was what happened to my body when Erovos altered me. Thankfully, the pain had spared me from truly witnessing the transformation.

“Hi,” I said to the Summit members gathered around the marble table. I was sure it sounded as strange as it felt, but what else was I supposed to say after disappearing for three months and finally returning with deadly panic attacks?

“You are ready to face your changes,” Nepta said, snapping me back to the Vale. The Elven-head sat in her chair of woven moonlight, surrounded by the members of the Summit.

“I am,” I said, brushing my hair aside, revealing one pointed and light-studded ear, and a unified gasp rose from the table.

“The Ancient Elves,” Driskell whispered in awe. The second-in-command’s long hair, adorned with twisted braids and crystals, swayed as he shook his head in disbelief. “She has the ears of our ancestors. I’ve only ever seen them rendered in scrolls.”

“It can’t be. The Ancient Elves disappeared long ago. There has been no sign of them for over a millennia,” Takoda said, glancing at Nepta.

“Who?” I asked, missing the reassuring hand that once held mine under the table. Even when Rowen was cursed from loving me, he’d found little ways to comfort me. Those brief, hidden touches had kept me going, but now we were deprived of even those small gestures, and I dug my fingertips into my knees.

“The Ancients were the first to nurture the newly budded world after the Elder Spirits sang life into existence,” Nepta began, her voice and eyes distant as she recounted the primordial melodies that brought Luneth to life. “In the new, wild world, the Ancient Elves gathered the teeming life and gave it purpose and direction. It was they who discovered that the earth could be sung and manipulated into other masteries.”

“What happened to them?” I asked, eager to learn more about the elves who first governed Luneth.

“They lived for an age in harmony with the natural world. Their hearts pure as they cultivated a deep connection with the land. However, as the time of man and tainted hearts grew, they retreated into the land and disappeared without a trace. But now that trace has returned,” Nepta said, her eyes latching onto something deep within me.

My heart pounded. “The spirits warned me that I would be reforged. I just never imagined how profoundly they would change me. Though I guess it makes sense. I wasn’t born with the Alcreon Light. It found me when I was eight years old during one of my projections to Luneth.” The Summit leaned in intently, and it felt nice to finally have some answers to share. “I helped save a starwing, and it led me to Erovos and Indrasyl. The Light knew I wasn’t from Luneth. I think it was desperate. But there is one thing I still don’t understand. You said the Battle of the Breaking happened two hundred moons ago. That’s sixteen years. That means I was seven when you shattered the stone. It doesn’t add up.”

“The Alcreon Light chose a benevolent host,” Nepta said, unsurprised. “The Light must have wandered the land for a year until it found you, keeping itself well-hidden until it felt safe. It was no hasty decision, my child. The Light saw something in you.”

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