Page 141 of Rose and Shadows
“The way is clear now outside. The Incubus allowed me in. And being the gracious being that I am, I actually waited for access to be granted, rather than flooding the area with black magic to force it, knowing this is where I am currently needed.”
The way was clear, yes.
Nyx was out there alone inside the house. He had been immersed in dreamwalking with the Celestial children of Haven Initiative, holding them within it to prepare them emotionally and mentally to absorb the Celestial magic being used by Morien, Gregor, and their allies. An incredible feat, especially considering he had only been able to hold one Celestial being at a time within his dreamwalking before. Ketheron was infusing him with his power to lessen the strain, yes, but a great deal of the capacity being employed was due to Nyx’s growth also. With Ariana and Ketheron having determined the precise mechanics of the siphoning, they’d asked him to do this before anything got underway.
It was an excellent call. Although working with them for months now, day after day, I had seen great progress from them, they had still endured great trauma in the days of their entrapment on the Celestial. This needed to be done in a way that did not cause them any more harm.
I also knew that Lucian had headed to Ryker who was with Gabriel patching the Valley of the Dead. While being inside Solumira with the hefty wards in place, we hadn’t encountered any revenants who’d slipped from the crumbling death dwelling, the Guardian Movement and the Unity Council had received hundreds of reports from the supernatural populace of such a thing occurring. Just like had befallen Sylas before he’d been taken.
Vorzyr was with Cornelius preparing a contingency that would employ the former’s Primal Celestial Resonance ability if need be.
Ryker would be headed to them shortly too, I was sure, because Lucian was going to convey Cornelius’ risky strategy of using the two thousand hybrids that wished to fight as bait to draw out Morien and Gregor, and the remainingPuritasarmy.
Risky yet an inspired idea.
And important for those hybrid beings also. To reject remaining in the sanctuaries they’d been hidden away in and stand and fight against those who wished to wipe them from the face of the earth.
“If you’d flooded our home with black magic, you’d be the one spending hours cleansing it,” Kai called over his shoulder at Ambrose without breaking his stride to us.
“You certainly are a fierce, demanding one, youngling.”
“Oof,” Lazriel said with a chuckle. “He won’t like that. Watch it.”
Remnant nuzzled against Lazriel, then swept over, Ambrose falling into step beside him.
“Kai takes it as a compliment,” Kai said with a smirk as he reached us.
“Your age being referenced in awe by other powerful beings just serves to highlight how far ahead of things that you are?” I asked.
“You’ve got it.”
I chuckled.
It would normally be something that Sylas would be all over.
Yet, he continued only to pace and grunt at his sparking hands that he could not control at present.
As Remnant and Ambrose reached us, his attention went to the black magic virtuoso. “You didn’t stick around long enough for me to thank you—or ask how the hell you found me.”
“I attempted to do what I believe you’d determined the most sound strategy of tracking Morien was—lock onto the black magic ofminethat fuels him.”
“It didn’t work?”
“It has become too chaotic. He’s filled himself with power from other black magic users also, which has made it near impossible for me to latch onto just mine and use it as a tether to locate him. However, we are fortunate that I was tracking blackmagic users at the time—and many of them were inside that subterranean crypt of Corvin’s.”
“That’s why you didn’t answer my calls?”
“I received your message, so I understood that you wanted me not only to track Morien, but to also serve as the black magic barrier for the Celestial children when they begin drawing out the Celestial magic unnaturally imbued in Morien andPuritas. Given the severe limitations placed on knowledge of black magic usage, none of you are privy to the fact that I cannot simply draw magic from multiple corrupted sources directly into myself. Doing so would rupture my core. I need to construct a wall of sorts—a physical containment barrier—into which I pull all that unstable black magic. Only when it’s isolated, held there, and properly cured within that boundary can I safely absorb it. Constructing that barrier requires significant energy. Hence, I sought out additional black magic users—not to take intheircorrupted magic, but to siphon the poweraroundit. Their life force, their essence. Enough to fuel the construct. And in doing so, I also eliminated a few enemies for you—users not aligned withPuritas. Stragglers from Corvin’s network, before his death.”
Sylas scrubbed his hand over his face and muttered something about never being able to find Morien again, that he’d missed ‘his shot to take that motherfucker out’.
“You were severely compromised,” Ambrose reminded him. “It wasn’tyour shotto take him out. However, given that he fled when you broke free from the chair, it certainly served to strike very real fear into him. And when the likes of Morien experience fear and a threat to their perceived apex predator status, they respond recklessly.”
“Andthatis how we will gain access to him,” Remnant finished for Ambrose. “Not to mention, Cornelius’ strategy willduly assist—if not with Morien directly, most definitely with Gregor andPuritas.”
Sylas took their words in and released a weighty breath.
“All right?” Kai said, having been rather quiet during that exchange, just studying Sylas.
