“Keep telling yourself that,” I muttered, but the banter felt good, familiar, grounding. For a brief second, it almost felt like we were back in the Hall of the Seven, trading insults, instead of standing in an ancient ghost city.
Naeris gasp pulled me back to where we were and reminded me that my back was exposed. The sound cut through me like a blade. I went completely still.Shit.I knew it was a mistake. I had never wanted her—or anyone—to see this. Not this living darkness that marked me as different. Aswrong.
“Thyros…” Her voice was soft, stunned. “What is this?”
Defensive rage surged through me. I snarled and spun toward her, fists clenched. “It’s nothing?—”
By turning, I exposed my back fully to the others.
Zapharos grabbed my shoulder, grip firm. “By the Starfire… isthiswhy you never went bare-chested around us? All these years?”
Dravok stepped closer, his very aura stilled in shock. “That’s… impressive. When did you get this?”
“I was born with it,” I snarled, fully defensive now, ready to fight if either of them pushed. The flaw on my back throbbed under their stares, the crimson threads inside it swirled faster, as if feeding on my shame.
“Hey. Hey.” Naeris stepped between us. Before I could stop her, she hooked her thumbs into her pants and shoved them down just enough to bare her left thigh.
There, perfectly aligned, was the same spot I had on my back. Her version was smaller, but it clearly depicted the Dark Abyss. A dark, elegant swirl of black and faint crimson, glowing softly with starmap threads.
Everyone’s eyes dropped to her thigh. A new emotion pushed through me: jealousy. It roared through me so fast and violently I nearly lunged. I wanted to rip the others' heads off for daring to look at her like that. Mine. She wasmine?—
Naeris didn’t seem to notice. She simply pointed at the matching mark on her skin. “This is nothing to be ashamed of. Look.”
Zapharos’ hand loosened on my shoulder. Dravok’s shadows calmed. Even I couldn’t look away from the dark mark on her thigh, unmistakably the same as mine. For the first time in my existence, the flaw on my back didn’t feel like a curse. It felt like destiny.
Zapharos noticed my hesitation. His voice softened, just enough. “It’s not a flaw, brother. It’s just part of the map. Like everything else in this cursed place.”
I let out a low, bitter sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “Easy for you to say. You don’t have the Abyss living on your back.”
Dravok shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing. He knew. All of them had always sensed that I carried a deeper darkness in me than they did.
Naeris pulled her pants back up and then her fingers tightened on my arm. The golden thread between us pulsed warm, steady, almost reassuring. I looked down at her and felt my chest crack wide open inside. She didn’t flinch. She didn’t look away as she steadily pulled me towards the wall. Zapharos and Dravok followed my example, and we pressed our bare backs and chests against the cold stone where the women directed us.
The moment our glowing starmaps touched the wall, the chamberanswered. Golden light exploded outward from our bodies, racing across the blank center like liquid fire. New constellations blazed into existence. Galaxies spun. And in the very heart it the Dark Abyss appeared—exactly where my flaw aligned—the darkness on my back flared andmergedwith the map. The empty space filled.
Ancient text began to write itself across the wall in flowing, luminous script, the same glyphs that had once covered the starmaps on our skin.
Dravok’s voice cracked, "Those are Nythor’s words. The prophecy he rambled in his madness back on that blood-soaked planet."
Then he began reading the text aloud for the ones who couldn't decipher it.
Ella’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widened with recognition. “That’s what Nythor was saying. Over and over…”
The words hung in the air like a judgment. My flaw—the black void on my back—was no longer hidden. It waspartof the map now, perfectly aligned with the Dark Abyss. The place the Harrowed One called home.
I felt exposed. Raw. The insecurities I had buried for centuries rose like bile in my throat. Naeris was still standing beside me. She hadn’t pulled away. Her fingers brushed the edge of my shoulder, just above the darkness, and the simple touch nearly undid me.
I swallowed hard and admitted the truth I had never spoken aloud to anyone.
“The Harrowed One talks to me through it,” I admitted quietly, in a rough voice. “Has for as long as I can remember. Whispers. Promises. Threats. I never told anyone.”
The chamber was silent except for the faint pulse of the now completed map. Naeris’ hand stayed on my shoulder. Warm. Steady. Unafraid. And for the first time in my existence, the darkness on my back didn’t feel like a curse. It felt like the missing piece.
The Shadow will wake…The Starmap will burn across three who were never meant to shine. One born of the Abyss will find his light in the daughter of the First Fracture. When the three maps align, the Veil will tear. What was erased will be remembered. What was broken will be made whole again. But beware — the Harrowed One laughs in the silence between stars. Only the bonded three can silence him… or feed him forever.
Ella’s hand flew to her mouth. “That’s what Nythor was saying. Over and over again in his ramblings."
Thyros spoke. “The Harrowed One talks to me through it,” He said quietly, in a rough voice. “Has for as long as I can remember. Whispers. Promises. Threats. I never told anyone.”
