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My skin turned to gooseflesh as The Eye seemed to awaken, roused by the offering Amon had given it. Its pupil dilated and shrank, before a beam of golden light erupted from the center, engulfing the sword. When the light blinked out and faded, Amon’s sword was gone.
“It’s done.” He let out a breath next to me, but his expression was strained.
“What happens now - “I began to say before the light reappeared, and with it, came a beautiful golden holographic display.
“Watch.” Amon breathed, as the light folded itself into the image of a raven. The golden representation of the bird took flight and flew in place, before the Eye generated another glowing holograph of an object. The object seemed to be a circular lens of some kind, framed with intricate carvings. The raven snatched the lens up in its left claw.
The next object that appeared before the raven looked like a flute. It was a simple, unassuming wooden instrument, with a smooth, polished finish. The raven circled it before using its remaining talon to collect it.
Burdened now with both the lens and The Flute, the raven was presented next with a projected image of a long skeleton key. The top of which was made up of three connecting rings. The bird scooped the key up in its beak before the light that was projecting the images flickered, and then finally faded. The Eye’s pupil shuddered, then expanded back to the size it had been when we had first arrived and Amon and I were left standing in silence.
“Well. The raven was a little on the nose.” Amon mused aloud, running a hand back through his silver hair. “We’ll have to get the team to research the lens, the flute and the key. I’m not familiar with them.”
“What do you think it means?” I asked, still thoroughly creeped out by the large eye lying beneath us.
“I think you are the raven, and you are meant to collect those three objects. We will need to use them to awaken The Origin.” He turned to me; the pain I knew he had felt in the moment of his sacrifice wiped from his face. His amused and aloof mask was firmly in place.
“Hope you’re ready for a few more day trips.” He smirked at me. I shrugged. It wasn’t like I had a choice. I looked back down the way we came and sighed. Just another three-hour hike back and it would be over.
Amon was watching me again and seemed to understand where my mind had gone.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you at least try to float down to the bottom of this summit, I will fly us the rest of the way and save you the three-hour hike.” I wanted to say no I didn’t feel like it, but I also didn’t feel much like repeating that three hour long walk either, so I nodded.
“Fine.” I glowered at him but closed my eyes and tried to focus. I felt him slide behind me. He spoke softly into my ear, and I shuddered slightly at the gentle brush of his breath against my neck.
“Put your focus on where your aura meets the air around you.” He breathed, and I did what he said. The border of my aura shone in my mind’s eye, like a golden thread. “Feel how it reacts to the matter around it. Not the air or the wind, but the actual matter that makes up reality. Can you feel it?”
I could, the moment I noticed it, it was hard to unfeel it. The very fabric of the universe shimmered around me, not only that, it reacted to me. It began to feel like an extension of my aura, my energy, and I knew if I asked, it would bend to my will.
“Now, ask it to lift you up.” His lips were so close, they brushed against my cheek. The moment my mind thought up I felt the atoms that filled the space around me come together to rally around my body, lifting me into the air. My feet left the ground as Amon’s lips curved into a smile against me.
“That’s it,” he purred into my ear, as he rose up with me, “Good, Raven. Now, open your eyes,” and I did. We were already several feet in the air. The second I looked down, I gasped, and lost my grasp on the matter holding me up.
I let out a shocked scream as I felt myself start to fall, but Amon wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against him, so that I wouldn’t plummet to the ground. Before I knew what was happening, he slid one arm under the back of my knees and cradled me against his chest. He looked down at me, smiling broadly.
“That was excellent.”
12
I held his gaze, slightly awed that I had been able to accomplish what he had asked so quickly. I remembered back at my house in Toronto, how Rycon and Conrad had tried to train me, how difficult it had been. I hadn’t been able to pick up anything that quickly.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” He asked as he began to drift through the air down the summit, still pressing me tightly against him.
“I’m thinking about how when I tried to use my powers at home how difficult it was for me. It seems to be a lot easier here.”
Amon nodded. “You were wearing that triquetra in a misguided effort to keep me away from you. It dampened and leeched your energy, I’m not surprised you had a hard time learning to do anything. It also makes sense that just in general, it would be easier for you to connect with your daemon here. That part of you belongs here, in The Dominion, with your own kin.”
I wasn’t sure that I agreed that I belonged here, but I didn’t bother pointing that out. We would have to agree to disagree on that.
“Why didn’t you take it off when I warned you about it?” He asked as we continued to fly back the way we had come.
“You mean when you appeared out of nowhere, told me I owed you a life debt, and then proceeded to slice my arm open in front of Rycon to make a point?” I asked dryly, and he had the decency to wince at my words.
“I shouldn’t have done that. I didn’t realize you were wearing the triquetra until after I had made the cut. If you had not been wearing it, the panther’s energy would have healed it almost instantly. I was angry and not thinking straight.” He paused, glancing down at me again before continuing.
“The fact that I didn’t notice you were wearing it until after I sliced your arm open is a testament to how useless that thing was. All it did was make it more difficult for me to find you when you needed me.”
I shrugged. “It was the only plan we had. I think that was really the point, to make it more difficult for daemons to find me.”
