Page 132 of Firstborn of the Sun
Alawani froze, and then – to L’?r?’s surprise – he threw a blast at Milúà, flinging her away from them. He faced L’?r?, still as a statue, as though he was trying and failing to understand the words that had shaken his world. She wanted nothing more than to run into his arms and hug him. This wasn’t how she wanted him to find out. She wanted to tell him when all this was over, when they were safe and alone and could mourn their losses together, but she’d ruined it all. The fragile thread they’d hung on to since their oath snapped; the pillar in her mind cracked in half and slipped into the sinking sand. To her horror, she realized that the gods hadn’t been the ones to force him out of her life – she’d done that all by herself.
A royal decree was passed.
Anyone who took to bed a person with agbára different from theirs would meet their end on the executioner’s block.
For a while, it worked, but as fate would have it, that was the least of their problems.
The discovery that those with agbára òtútù could take the energy of another, freezing out their core and stripping them of their agbára, was a reality the Aláàfin and Holy Order simply could not accept.
40
Ìlú-Òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
Of all the stories Baba-Ìtàn told the children under the tree, the story of Queen Aníwúrà – whose agbára filled not just her hands or arms but her entire body – was the most unbelievable of them all. And L’?r? had always expected that he exaggerated for the sake of the children, who got excited at the prospect of one day being like the great queen.
So L’?r? was stunned at the human flame approaching her. Tofa no longer looked like the person she’d met just a few moments ago. His body glowed like the sun, every inch overcome with agbára oru. It was spectacular and terrifying, lighting up the whipping sand until the storm haloed him in gold. A blaze of fire ignited around him, leaving a trail in his path. Nothing or no one could stand next to him. His brown skin was no longer visible, completely transformed by a yellow light so bright that L’?r? had to avert her eyes. He was still a few yards from them, but the heat that filled the air around them made her feel like the sun had left the sky and was standing before her.How was that possible?She looked at Alawani, who was wide-eyed with shock. They weren’t getting out of this fight alive. That much was sure.
Tofa formed an orb in his hands, his energy radiating through its unstable form. He threw it at them. Alawani jumped in front of L’?r? and redirected it, his stolen guard’s uniform rippling in the wind. He sent the orb spinning a few feet away, where it exploded. Tofa looked at him and smiled as if accepting the challenge.
L’?r? noticed Milúà out of the corner of her eye but the maiden kept her distance from Tofa, trying not to get burnt alive in the crown heir’s flaming fury. Soon, the storm blocked her from sight and L’?r? felt her heart race in her chest. She was glad for the cover the storm provided but Milúà had proven that she could always find them. Somehow.
‘Get back, L’?r?!’ Alawani shouted at her above the noise, sweat pouring from his forehead, dripping into his eyes.
‘No, I can help. I can –’
‘Get back,’ he said in such a distant tone that it was clear he wasn’t just trying to keep her safe. ‘Your agbára!’ he shouted, pointing at her hands.
She glanced down, noticed how white light continued to glow from her palms. Holding back her powers felt like rubbing scotch bonnet on a raw wound. It burned like the sun.
‘We only need to disarm him,’ Alawani said. ‘Whatever trouble we’re in will pale compared to what will happen to us if you kill the crown heir!’
So this was about her powers, after all. L’?r? stepped back, her body stiffening at the harshness of his voice, but she respected his wishes … for now. She found a sheltered spot far enough for Alawani and Tofa to have the floor all to themselves. She combed the storm for Milúà, spotting forms and shapes shifting in and out of view as the sand whipped around the graveyard – but she couldn’t be sure of who or what she was seeing.
Tofa was laser-focused on Alawani, accepting the prince’s challenge as Alawani’s agbára lit up his skin.
‘Don’t do this, Tofa, I don’t want to hurt you,’ Alawani said.
Tofa scoffed, ‘If you couldn’t beat me when we were boys, what makes you think you can now?’
‘I’m begging you. If our friendship ever meant anything to you, let us go.’
‘We were brothers once, Alawani,’ Tofa said, his eyes lighting up with agbára. ‘Now you’re just in my way.’
L’?r? stepped aside as the ground beneath Tofa blackened under his feet. He sent another energy blast at Alawani – the prince dodged it, sliding across the sand and picking up his sword, filled with his agbára. The winds made it hard for Tofa to aim and Alawani took advantage of that, dodging and redirecting – perhaps hoping to tire the heir rather than overpowering him. After all, his blade wasn’t going to do much against the god-like figure he fought against, L’?r? thought.
Try as she might, her agbára refused to dull, its white light glowing stubbornly from her hands. She couldn’t fight Tofa without agbára, but Alawani was right; without control over her powers, she was scared of what she might be capable of. Command’s face, cold and dead, flashed in her mind.
Tofa sped up his attacks, barely giving Alawani chance to breathe between blasts. When he ducked, the next one met him on the ground, and when he jumped, he came falling with rock debris in the aftermath of Tofa’s attacks. L’?r? had seen this trick before, but energy balls generally took a while to form, and even then, not all were skilled or powerful enough to create them. But as she watched the fight, Tofa seemed to create his in the blink of an eye, and as much as Alawani tried distracting him, it was just a waiting game, and Tofa was clearly in control. Taunting. Soon, he would be tired of playing with his prey and launch an actual attack.
L’?r? flinched as Alawani redirected less and less, catching more than he missed and being tossed to the ground, into walls, against burning rocks. The sky grew darker, and the thunder rumbled nearer; lightning tore a silver line across the sky and L’?r? felt panic flood her mind. This was it, this was how they’d die.
Tofa suddenly stopped shooting. L’?r? knew instantly that it was a bad sign. He looked at his hands, and she could see the slightest shimmer grow in his palms. She saw the air boil and knew something terrible was brewing. Alawani raised an arm, trying to create a shield with his agbára, but the simmering glow sparked out of existence. He was too weak.
Her heart stopped. The world slowed. Even the howling wind went silent, and she watched in slow motion as Tofa’s energy boiled the air and the sands, turning them from grains into shards of glass. A sea of glass raged around him just as the winds did and L’?r? felt her agbára fight for survival with her. Whatever part of her wanted to keep it down, the guilt of Command’s death, the fear of the unknown, the panic of losing herself to this curse – all of that was nothing in the face of certain death.
She tapped into the heat in the sandstorm around her. The hot desert sands filled her core and when she breathed out, she exhaled white mist. Summoning her agbára didn’t feel like ice freezing her insides. A fiery heat burned within her, and her arms flooded with silver light.
