“Yes,” Star agreed. “And no.”
“Star?”
Star glanced at the others, looking for help, affirmation perhaps that it was okay to reveal things that Yuri’s delicate mortal body couldn’t remember. It wouldn’t take much to stir the memories from the deep abyss of past lives shared, but would Yuri break again, or remain with them? No one offered to help, but neither did they look worried.
“It’s okay,” Theo said. He burrowed his way between Radu and Star to latch onto Yuri. “Star’s trying to think of how to say stuff. It’s a little heavy, and he’s still new to the mortal need to articulate what he feels.”
Lucian chuckled and said, “He’s not wrong.”
Yuri put his arm around Theo, and rested his palm on Star’s face. “Help me understand how to help you.”
“I don’t need help,” Star said. “I just don’t want you to be afraid or angry.”
“Okay. I can’t promise how anything makes me feel. Emotions are wild like that. But tell me what you mean by the shadows are gone, but not.”
“Some worlds were destroyed,” Star said. “From within. Wars, among other things, killed off all living things. And without the living, there is nothing to feed the shadows. The darkness moves to other places. Sometimes it pools and becomes sentient.”
“Like what created the worsening Fracture?” Yuri asked.
“Yes. But on a much smaller scale,” Star said. “Only a handful of worlds lost rather than hundreds closed.”
“And they are easily scattered now,” Radu added. “It doesn’t take a particular sword or anything special to crush a sentient shadow and send it back to the places of darkness. Most places have little magic and the shadows there can’t do much.”
That was the truth, but, “They are attracted to me,” Star said. “Because they fed on me forever perhaps, or because they seek toreturn to where they began…” Which was Yuri, before he’d split himself to wrangle the ultimate darkness into something usable.
“You mean us,” Yuri said. “They are attracted to us?” The alarm on his face was impossible to hide.
“Yes,” Star said, but gripped Yuri’s arm. “I won’t let them touch you.”
“Choices,” Radu muttered.
Star cursed.
“Can they hurt me?” Yuri asked. “Or you? Or any of us?”
“Not really,” Theo said.
“Yes, and no,” Star hedged.
Lucian’s sigh was audibly annoyed.
“You can scatter them or choose to catch and keep them,” Star said in a rush, needing to get out the words that felt like a betrayal and a confession all at once.
“Okay, what happens if I catch them?” Yuri asked.
“Your magic will return,” Radu said.
“But so will the hunger,” Lucian added.
Yuri’s gaze flipped between all of them and back to Star.
“It would take a long time to get as bad as it was,” Star said. “And you’d have more control now that the worlds are open. But the more you call back, the more worlds close, and the more shadows gather.”
“What would be the point of that? Gathering shadows, closing worlds?” Yuri asked. “Wouldn’t it cause another Fracture?”
“Power,” Theo said. “Right now, you’re human without magic. The shadows would give you magic, as it would restore some of what you are. Without them, you will age.”
“Only when you’re not in the realm between,” Star added. “You won’t age there.”
