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Indigo lifted her skirt, racing along the bank, running through brambles, her soles cut and screaming. She stumbled, a rock biting her knee when she fell.
Her D-chip. A gift from the Firebrands. She tapped her wrist, shadowflashing until she arrived at the events of AD 452. She studied each occurrence.
Nothing helpful.
She traced farther back in time to the creation of the Aeternal breeds. She had never traveled this distance downriver. Here, a thick mist shrouded slow-flowing water, the scent redolent with the smell of algae and stagnation. She collapsed to the grass, studying every event which floated into view.
Nothing.
What was she missing? She refused to believe the OneCreator’s words were idle. She must be smart enough to untangle the puzzle.
If not the Aeternals’ past and not the realms’ past, what? She conjured Oskar. He powered through the sky on massive wings, settling at her side. He dipped his head, waiting for her to scratch alongside his eagle’s beak.
While she pondered the OneCreator’s cryptic remark, she ran her nails along her gryphon’s scales while he purred. The reptilian skin was a nice touch on Oskar, not appearing on a typical gryphon, but she had given it to him because he deserved extra bling. “I’m stumped.”
Oskar’s eagle eyes widened. He jerked his head upstream, closer to the present.
“What past? Mine? Why?”
Her gryphon seemed to shrug, his behemoth shoulders rising. Falling.
She rode Oskar to the point of her birth.
Nothing.
Her gryphon lumbered upstream. Indigo followed. She saw her fifteenth birthday, a celebration she barely remembered. When Oskar plopped his massive body on the ground, she fell to the rocky bank beside him to study the event.
An old, feeble male walked from the tree line. Party-goers ceased chattering, lowered drinks or eats from their lips, and whispered. He was a legendary warlock, the Guardian of Time, the only Aeternal who could read the River Am.
Leaning on a crook, the mage wobbled toward her, the crowd splitting to provide an unobstructed path.
Indigo, a sickly pallor to her skin, small for her age and in poor health, turned from the celebration with family and friends to stare at the stranger.
Less than a foot away, he reached for her with wrinkled, gnarled hands. Without fear, she allowed him to touch her. Her mother Adriana drifted close, seeming to question the warlock but thinking better of it. The warlock gazed into Indigo’s eyes as if seeking answers. Warmth traveled from his fingers to her skin, into her very bones.
He spoke, his voice raspy, his words haunting. “I have found you, child. But you are in ill health, a malady even healers cannot cure. Such will never do for the task which lies ahead of you. I now understand why I have two gifts to share rather than one.”
Light leaked from his hands. Energy skittered along their connection, onto her shoulders, and across the back of her neck. When the current washed through Indigo, her eyes sparkled, her long dark hair whipped in the breeze. She trembled, her nerves firing, her flesh blushing from the heat of his touch, her heart dancing wildly.
His palm still on her, he said, “I contain the brio of life. I pass it to you so you may grow strong, healthy. Though I once hoped to enjoy my old age, free of responsibility, fate has other plans. My voyage to the Evermore will be sooner than expected. Still, I grant you this gift.”
His stroked a gnarled hand across her cheek. “I created the River Am, started it on its journey. Since you are meant to succeed me, I bestow it on you. From hence, use my gifts wisely. Be a great asset to your people, child. Prove I have chosen well.”
He hobbled into the forest, disappearing in the thick foliage.
The guests remained stunned, still not eating, not drinking, not talking. Adriana lifted heavy skirts, dashing to Indigo’s side. “What did the old Guardian of Time do, daughter? You glow. Your cheeks are flushed with health.”
She shrugged. “Dunno.” Indigo rubbed her skin, fascinated by the light which poured from it.
Though she had been a fragile child, oft abed with one illness or another, from that day forward, she flourished.
Not long after her birthday celebration, the River Am called to Indigo like a siren’s song. She read it, reporting significant findings to the lawgivers, the Temple of Justice, or other Aeternals. She did the job with flair, approaching the waters as she did all things. Her avocation led to a career and lucrative business. She became the finder of lost objects. Throughout it all, she never so much as sneezed.
Indigo threw an arm around Oskar. “I was a sickly kid, rarely allowed outside to play, forced to drink awful concoctions brewed by my mother. All changed when the ancient mage visited my party. I had forgotten.”
She solved the OneCreator’s puzzle.
I can pass the brio of life to another. I can bequeath it as my predecessor did.
