Page 332 of Of Empires and Dust
“Anything and everything,” Eltoar said with a sigh.
He had kept his secret for centuries, not told a soul – not one. But the time for secrets had passed. Too much had been lost, and now the empire was crumbling, battered and broken, besieged on all sides. The eastern cities were ash, the elves held Catagan, the rebels had almost brought Berona to its knees, the South was aflame, and the Uraks tore everything apart. Even astride Helios, with the others at his wings, there was nothing he could do. Millions would die. Everything he had sacrificed, everything he had done, would be for nothing. The world he had given so much to create would be dust.
Eltoar slipped a key from his pocket and slid it into the lock set into the centre of the flaming egg. Aclicksounded. He grasped the lid with two hands and pulled it back.
A soft red glow emanated from the smooth gemstone that sat on a bed of purple silk. The stone was larger than a dragon egg, far larger than any gemstone in existence. The power of the Essence that radiated from it should not have been possible. The power to break open the world.
“How…” Lyina lifted her hand, the hairs on her arm all standing on end. She stared down at the gemstone, eyeing it as though it might spring forth and slit her throat. “I’ve never felt a power like that. What is it?”
“It’s what Fane wants,” Eltoar said, losing himself in the flickering glow of the enormous vessel. “The thing he hunts for – the Heart of Blood.”
Lyina pulled her gaze from the gemstone, her mouth open wide. “And I’m sure there’s a very good reason as to why you have it, Eltoar?”
Eltoar released a long sigh, and he felt Helios pull their minds together, their sorrow, loss, and grief blending. “The night it all happened. The night The Order fell… the night we tore it down. Fane held this gemstone atop the Sky Tower. The power he had was like nothing else. The skies opened. The world ignited.”
Voranur looked at him, mouth agape. “The Burnt Lands…”
Eltoar nodded.
Lyina staggered backwards as though struck in the gut. She shook her head. “No, no… Eltoar, tell me this is not what I think it is…” She steadied herself, horror in her eyes as she looked down at the glowing gemstone. “Tell me this is not the Essence of every soul that perished at Ilnaen. Tell me that the strength of all our brothers and sisters that we betrayed does not reside within this thing. Please.”
Eltoar stared at Lyina, wishing he could tell her what she wanted to hear. “I do not know…” He sucked in his cheeks,looking down at the pulsing light. “But I believe it is so. I cannot see how this much power could be harnessed any other way.”
Voranur looked from Lyina to the gemstone, to Eltoar. “How does it now reside in your hands, brother?”
“I took it.” In the depths of the gemstone, Eltoar saw the memories of that night. He watched as hundreds of arcs of lightning tore down from the warped sky, as the great wave of fire turned the city to ash and spread for hundreds of miles, wreaking death and destruction the likes of which he’d never known. That night, as he stood on the tower beside Fane, he’d feared he had made the greatest mistake that any soul had ever made. And now, as he stared down at the gemstone in that golden chest, this decision laid before him, he knew with every fibre of his being that he had.
“In the weeks following Ilnaen’s fall, while Fane’s mind was elsewhere, I made a choice. I took the vessel and hid it in the depths of the Sea of Stone. Fane had stood by me in everything. I trusted him. But no one soul could truly be trusted with that kind of power. I feared what he might do.”
“What could have been darker than what we already did?” Lyina stared down at the stone as she spoke, her gaze lost in its light. “It’s a strange thing when you look back at everything you’ve done and can’t tell if you slayed the monster that threatened everything you loved or if you simply became it.”
“We did what we needed to do,” Voranur hissed, folding his arms across his chest.
“Did we?”
“Yes. I know you think that I don’t feel the shame and darkness of what we did, but I do. I simply don’t allow it to consume me as you do. We can dwell on it, spend our lives pondering the choices we made, but we will never be the better for doing so. I regret many things, sister, but I do notregret choosing to fight for a better world… I just wish we had succeeded.”
Lyina nodded softly but did not speak.
“Why show us this now?” Voranur asked. “You’ve held it for four centuries and said nothing. But now we are deemed worthy of your trust?”
“He is considering returning it to Fane.” Lyina stared openly at Eltoar, and he heard Karakes roar in the distance. She held his gaze for a moment. “You are.”
“I’m not sure,” Eltoar said honestly. “That is why we are standing here. You are the last of my kin. You and Tivar, but she has made her choices. And Luka and Erdin haven’t been seen in a long time.”
Voranur spat on the ground at the mention of Tivar’s name, and a fire burst to life within Eltoar.
“Do that again and I will rip your tongue from your head.”
“She turned her back on us, Eltoar.”
“She is still Tivar.” Eltoar rounded on him. “She chose to stand by the first new Draleid in centuries. She chose to protect what could be the future of our entire race, a future you almost burned.”
“Me?” Voranur snapped. “I did what I was ordered to do, and it cost me almost everything.”
“Laël sanyin, myia’kar.”I am sorry, my brother.Eltoar let out a long, mournful sigh. “My emotions overcome me. That hatchling is the first in so long… I cannot help but think if I could talk to the Draleid…”
“Then what?” Voranur asked, none of his anger fading. “Aeson Virandr has had his ear for a year at least. I would wager the man would sooner slit our throats than listen to a word from your lips.”
