Page 76 of The Study of Fire
Moon Man chuckled. “I admire your patience. She is not. Leif is in his room if you want to talk to him.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“I do not.”
He remembered Yelena’s comment about them having a falling out. “Why aren’t you her Story Weaver anymore?”
Moon Man’s humor faded and a deep sadness creased his face. “She has rejected my help. Gede is her Story Weaver now.”
“He can’t be. Gede tried to feed you both to the Fire Warper.”
Grief and a flash of pain sparked in his eyes. “Gede has betrayed my people. He is a warper not a Story Weaver. However, Yelena must reject Gede and reestablish our connection.”
Valek considered the night he and Leif saved Yelena. “You escaped the fire. Do you know how to counter the Fire Warper?”
“No. Gede pulled me from the fire. The Fire Warper has no need of the living in the fire world.”
“Fire world?”
“There are four facets of our world. The living world, the shadow world, the fire world, and the sky. When we die, our souls can either find peace in the sky or suffer in the fire world. They can also get lost in the shadow world.”
“Let’s focus on the Fire Warper. Who is he?”
“A soul trapped in the fire world. One who has grown strong enough to heed Gede’s call. And once called, he agreed to aid the Daviians for a price.”
“More souls?” Valek guessed.
“Yes. Gede and the other warpers have been feeding him souls.”
“By using the Kirakawa ritual?”
“Yes. The victims’ souls are being fed to the Fire Warper, except for the souls of those who had magical abilities when they were alive. Those souls are being used to empower the warpers.”
“Is there a way to stop the Fire Warper?”
“He grows stronger with each soul acquired. Stopping the rituals would keep him from returning to our world, but I fear it is impossible at present.”
“What happens if he returns to our world?”
“It will burn.”
Okay then. First thing on Valek’s to-do list: stop the Fire Warper. Which meant he’d have to stop the rituals. “Do you know where they’re currently performing the Kirakawa?”
“No. But I can guess that now that the warpers are in the Citadel, the magicians in the Keep will all become their next victims.”
A good guess. However, Valek wondered how the Daviians managed to gain so much power without anyone noticing. “Before they massacred your people, where did they find their victims?”
“I do not know. I can only speculate that they took those who would not be missed. Those without homes or families. As for magicians, they would have needed to capture those who are young and not under the guidance of another.”
Ice coated Valek’s skin. Porter’s ducklings. But the warpers no longer needed them now that they had an entire smorgasbord of magicians in the Keep. Right?
“How strong does the Fire Warper need to be in order to cross into our world?” Valek asked.
“Much stronger than a master magician. He has gained a great deal of power, but still requires a great deal more.”
That was probably what Gede had been waiting for. And now that they controlled the Citadel, they could feed the Fire Warper until he crossed over. Then what? Use him to destroy Ixia, was Valek’s guess. “If the world burns when he arrives, then why invite him?”
“Hubris. They believe they can control him.”
