Shadows Over Kaighal

Chapter 2-1

2

Kamira’s lungs fought for the breath she couldn’t take. Energy filled her nostrils and mouth, soaked through every part of her body, keeping her alive and refusing life at the same time. The magic also poured into her mind, flushing out thoughts and filling her head with images. Colorful but eerie vegetation and unknown animals flowed before her eyes, and she watched a landscape no human had ever seen before, mesmerizing and alien. Energy condensed in that world’s clouds, filling the sky with purple and red, and winged creatures soared high above.

The crystal’s magical structure seemed fluid enough to allow movement within, but even the slightest tremble brought pain, so she tried to remain motionless. The thought of Veranesh caught within a similar crystal made her wonder how he could move so casually within its cold embrace. She’d rather not twitch a single muscle.

With no need for food nor sleep, she hung suspended in her own suffering with the images of what had to be the demon domain as her only distraction, but she never ceased channeling Veranesh’s magic, letting it enter the flow around her. The burn of the scars on her arms reminded her of her purpose.

She was Kamira. She was an arcanist. And she could endure the pain.

“You keep staring at her.” A woman’s voice traveled through the crystal, echoing within its eerily liquid structure. “It’s not going to change anything.”

“Maybe not.”

That voice… It took Kamira a moment to realize it sounded familiar.

“Come to bed, then. It’s the middle of the night,” the woman pleaded. “You did what you could for her, but it’s not your fault she served a demon.”

“I betrayed her.”

Ryell. That was his name. Kamira forced her eyes open, and the magic stung, but the vision itself remained clear, as if unhindered by her crystal cocoon.

Ryell stared at her. By his side stood a woman whose expression resembled that of Yoreus, cold and calculating, though the gentle jaw line made her face look more pleasant.

“Do you think your father will let you keep your toy now that all is done, mage?” Kamira’s voice echoed within the structure, and its flat tone resembled the way Veranesh spoke: with no air to breathe, she relied on magic to execute her intention to speak.

The woman pouted, and her hand brushed Ryell’s chest in an intimate gesture. “Spit all the bile you want. You’ve lost.”

Kamira allowed herself a laugh. Yoreus’s daughter must have been naïve to believe they were competing for a man’s attention. Or, perhaps, the archmage kept her in the dark about what the stakes really were. “What makes you think I’ve lost?”

“Pathetic,” the mage replied. “If you’re done with your lousy tricks, I’ll be retiring.” She climbed to her toes, and her arms closed around Ryell briefly as she left a kiss on his cheek. A subtle aura of magic surrounding her enveloped the Devanshari as well. “Don’t stay up too long. She’s not worth it.”

Ryell watched her leave and only then looked back at Kamira. “You played her, didn’t you? To make her leave.” He fidgeted. “But she’s going to tell Yoreus.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she replied. “Yoreus is convinced he won, and he’ll consider my state of awareness to be a minor inconvenience. He’ll only want to ensure no one talks to me and learns the truth.”

Ryell leaned forward. “About how he lied to you?”

“No, about how the archmages lie to everyone.”

He took a step back, his face shifting from curiosity to frustration. “You’re still full of hate toward them, aren’t you?” A grimace spoiled his otherwise handsome face. “Even if Yoreus lied to you, he did it to protect people and to prevent your death.”

Kamira sighed. “He didn’t do it for the people, let alone for me. He did it to protect himself and the power he has.”

“What do you mean?”

She caught a hint of doubt in his voice. Finally, Ryell was starting to listen and question. If only he had done so earlier… The energy waves flushed the bitter feelings from her thoughts. Within the crystal, no emotion survived long—only pain lasted.

“High magic is a lie. It always was,” she said. “They steal their power from the very demon their predecessors trapped in the old Towers. And if he gets out, they’ll lose it all.”

“That’s absurd!” Ryell raised his voice. “Who told you such lies? The demon? Veelk?” He watched her intently after each question. “Or maybe that Koshmarnyk?”

Her eyes opened wider, and she smiled gently. It brought a feeling of razors against her skin, but she relished the news. Ryell mentioning the adept’s name could mean only one thing. “Koshmarnyk returned? Did he save Lefna?”

Ryell didn’t reply. He fought to keep his face straight, but muscles played under his skin when his teeth gritted, revealing a reaction she was certain he wanted to hide. “He did,” he said in the end. “He said your bracelets saved him.”

“I appreciate you telling me,” she said with all honesty.

His expression shifted, turning into sadness. “I did betray you, didn’t I? Not because I led you here, but because I did it for the wrong reasons.” He paused as if considering. “That man, Koshmarnyk, told me so.”

It sounded as if he wanted her to deny it. “Do you think he was right?” Curiosity surged before being flushed away by waves of magic.

He hesitated. Biting his lip, he looked away. “I think that what happened in the Devanshari capital… What the queen did… I think it blinded me.” He let out a short, bitter laugh. “I wanted to save you from the evil I saw in everything demon-related, and I missed… all the other evil. And the good, too, I suppose.”

His words might not be an admission, but they seemed like a step in the right direction. At the same time, she couldn’t help her disappointment. In the past, Ryell seemed eager to listen to her, but in the end, at one of Yoreus’s lies or the flick of his daughter’s hand, he always shifted back to his blind hate. Stuck in the crystal, she neither had the means nor will to try to make him see the truth again. The prolonged conversation already enhanced her pain and made channeling magic difficult. Yet there was a way that perhaps would help him. “I need to rest, but before you go, I want you to chip off a piece of the crystal.”

“What for?” Suspicion flashed in his eyes.

“It will help you contain your hunger for magic. And if you ask Koshmarnyk to blend it with your skin, you’ll never need to depend on anyone to give you magic.” This was all she could offer him, but at least it would cut the thickest string that tied him to Yoreus and his daughter. If he still decided to side with them, it would be by choice, not out of addiction-driven desperation.

“It’s not a cure.”

“No, it’s not. But it would give you your free will back.” She didn’t hold back, and he squirmed. “Be warned, though: Gildya condemns blending stones with demon power with the human body. I’ll understand if you’d rather not do it.”

His eyes widened. “D-demon power?”

She held off a sigh. One word and he was back-pedaling into the embrace of his hate and fears, but venting her frustration wasn’t worth the pain. “There’s no other magic but the one that comes from demons.”

To her surprise, Ryell offered no argument. The expression on his face suggested his deeply ingrained prejudice fought with reason. Then he pulled out a dagger and worked the blade into the crystal, chipping off a piece. The missing part grew back in an instant, but Kamira paid no attention to it, focused on Ryell. The relief on his face when he closed the tiny shard in his fist reminded her of the short time when she was pact-less. The void, the desperation… In a way, she was as addicted to magic as he was.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“Find Koshmarnyk. Tell him I asked him to do the blending for you. And stay away from the Towers for a while. Take Yoreus’s daughter along if you must, but leave. It’s not going to be safe here.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t bluff, did you? When you said you didn’t lose.”

“No.”

A mixture of relief and guilt was in his smile. “I wish you could tell me of your plans, but I think it’s better I don’t know them. I’m still tangled in the web of commitments. But I hope whatever you’re about to do, it’ll free you from… your prison.”

Kamira didn’t waste her strength on telling him she hoped so as well. The conversation was becoming too much of a distraction. Her task was to channel energy, not to help Ryell find his way. “Go now. Yoreus will be here soon, and I do not wish to be awake for that.”

Her own voice sounded distant as the images of another world poured into her mind, blurring all that was beyond the crystal. Ryell’s response drowned in the magic wind whistling in her ears, and Kamira sighed, closing her eyes. The pain eased when her body froze, motionless, and though her scars burned, they brought no suffering anymore.

She let the energy flow into the world and toward the other circle. Before her mind drifted away, a shift in magic streams told her of a change.

The first crack appeared in the other crystal, hidden under the desert.