Page 206 of The Gods Order

“He is,” Verlet says as he strides over to us. “He has completely exhausted his power, though. He is empty.”

“Empty?” I ask. “What do you mean?”

“I mean it as what I said. His power is drained. As of right now, he lies there as weak as an ungodly being.”

“Vullie!” Riven bellows. “Get me a fucking vial. Three. Five. Bring me the gods damned batch.”

Vulius doesn’t argue as he runs over to us and practically throws his waist pack on the ground beside Creed. Riven doesn’t waste a heartbeat prying Creed’s jaw open and pouring the liquid down his throat.

Nothing.

He doesn’t even stir.

“Another,” Amick orders.

“Just one more,” Vullie says, then flinches as all our gazes snap to him. “We don’t know the side effects of using more than two at a time. It could do more harm than good right now. Just two, then rest. You can administer more in a little while.”

“We need to get him home,” Kyzen says.

My attention turns to Verlet and Seismet as they stand over us quietly. Too fucking quietly.

“What happened?” I ask, and they turn their attention to me. “Did I do something wrong? Are you mad at me? Where did the creatures go? Please, just explain.”

“You did nothing wrong, Thayla. You…” Seismet trails off as he lowers himself to the ground in front of me. “You have done what has never been done before. You created two new Vedarya.”

I nod.

“Yeah, I know that. I could feel it in my soul that’s what”—I swallow hard—“V wanted me to do, but after that. Everyone was frantic and yelling at me like I fucked it all up.”

“You didn’t,” he says softly, then sighs. “In our creation, as in the creation of revered creatures, there is a process. Once our bodies form, we are to look at the stars and receive our Valories blessing. That blessing consists of our purpose, our knowledge, our power. The Valories didn’t create the two of them, though.”

A shuddering gasp spills through my lips.

“Did I rob them of their Valories blessing?”

“No, you didn’t. They still received one and their power. That was that beam of light, but they didn’t…”

“Didn’t what? What happened?” I press.

He holds my gaze for so long, I fear he isn’t going to answer me.

“They didn’t receive any knowledge,” he says, turning his head to Verlet.

“What you just witnessed us do is the passing of knowledge. The Veilatara welcome a youngling into the realm by sharing all that we’ve learned over many lifetimes. It is called communal knowledge. It is a process many creatures, across many realms, partake in. The two new Vedarya you just created will be wise. We made sure of that,” Verlet says.

Oh gods.

Thank goodness.

Well…thank the Veilatara.

My eyes drift shut as I fight back the new tears that want to fall from my eyes.

“What part did Creed play in this?” Amick asks.

I force my lids to open when neither Veilatara offers an answer.

“Seismet,” I beg.