Page 69 of Ecliptic

Rowen nodded before turning his attention back to the crowd. “We need to establish a multi-faceted strategy. Some of us will need to search for allies to aid us in this war. Others need to fortify our position here, preparing defensive wards and barriers.”

“A reminder of the prophecy might do us all some good,” Driskell said, clearing his throat to recite what he’d likely spent years studying, working to decipher every word. “The lost light of Luneth shall return to its synodic beginning when the first six stars align with the stones of shattered ruin. Through blood, bone, and crystal, the marked son,or sun, depending on your translation, will breathe life anew unto the deadened lands of darkness.Keira is clearly The Marked. She bears the ears of the Ancients, and her body is covered in Alcreon Light tattoos.”

I wanted to wrap my arms around myself. I didn’t appreciate how much attention Driskell paid to my body, but I schooled my expression, just like Nepta.

“There’s more to the prophecy,” I said, not betraying a single emotion. “Shall the lost light fall unto those who feast, darkness will reign an unending beast. Worlds have fallen and so they shall remain as a Sylvan door opens to a universe unrestrained.”

Driskell’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “It . . . it could mean?—”

“Itmeans,” I cut in. “Erovos will return to the Sylvan Mother Tree to finish what he started. But who’s to say if that’s before or after he ravages the world with his astral demons.”

“I will return to monitor the crevice,” Alvar volunteered, and despite his recent brush with death, every scar on his body spoke to his bravery. “If he or any of his demons escape, I will know about it, and track wherever they head.”

Rowen nodded, his commanding tone never faltering. “Theywill try to overpower us with their numbers. We cannot let that happen. We must find allies.”

“Indeed,” Nepta said, her muted eyes landing on every soul. “This is not our fight alone. The Wyn may have been the protectors of the Alcreon Light, but now this fight affects us all.”

“It will take armies to defeat what I saw in that crevice. What about the Stonefist Giants?”

“They have retreated far into the mountains. If you ever did manage to find them, you would have another war on your hands,” Nepta replied, her mouth forming a thin line.

“What about the souls we freed from the Crystal Crypts?” Dyani asked, one white eyebrow shooting up. “This is their world, too, and a favor is owed.”

I hated the thought of putting all those who suffered beneath the rule of Aliphoura through more trauma, but we’d need every ally we could find.

“The people have scattered to the winds,” Alvar remarked with a wave of his hand.

“I knew many of the people trapped within the Crypts. Most of them were from Viltarran,” Rowen said as his eyes filled with longing. The pride he held for his destroyed citydom was palpable. “If we could find them, I know they would be willing to fight.”

Suddenly, a warm glow flashed in the darkest part of my memory, and I gasped. “Rayal, a woman who helped me while I was imprisoned in the Crypts, mentioned help amongst friends.” How could I have forgotten Rayal? She’d smuggled food into my cell, beaming like the sun in the dark prison I thought would be my grave. Even the memory of her smile warmed my skin.

“We know nothing of these people,” Driskell replied in a frustrated but weary exhale.

“There was a symbol on the necklace she wore,” I added,remembering Rayal’s fingers gliding along the smooth metal at her throat. “It was a curved line with two circles resembling suns.”

Nepta stiffened, her face turning to Driskell. “That symbol, it is the mark of the desert elves. If the woman you met bore that symbol, her people may be hidden but watching.”

“The desert elves,” Driskell whispered as if it were a sacred fable not to be mentioned above a murmur. “No one has seen or heard from them in decades. They have made themselves impossible to find.”

Alvar nodded. “They could be invaluable allies if found.”

“She told me a way to find them,” I replied, searching for the words she had spoken right before she left my cell. “If you should survive this and ever find yourself where sun casts upon sun and your shadow greets mine, know that you are amongst friends.”

“That’s about as helpful as a luminorb in the broad light of day,” Alvar muttered, looking around the table as if chuffed with his observation.

“It is something,” Takoda disagreed, as he appeared to wrack his brain with where such a convergence could lay.

“Sun casts upon sun,” I mused aloud. “A reflection?”

“Perhaps,” Nepta said thoughtfully.

“Another world?” Rowen offered.

“Also possible.”

“A prophecy of another son?” Alvar chimed in.

“We know not where to even start with such a puzzle,” Driskell said, throwing his arms up in exasperation, his long sleeves billowing around him. “I decipher stars, not riddles. But in the meantime, I will send correspondence to nearby villages and citydoms to aid us in battle.”

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