AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Excitedly opening the book, he flips through some pages. “When Zetipher told us of the new power he sensed several days ago, I knew I had only read about a man possessing this ability once before.”
Yorenzo stares at me expectantly, but I remain silent.
When I don’t confirm or deny my identity, he asks, “Was it you? Are you that man?”
“I’m not as informed about history as you are,” I say carefully. “So I couldn’t say for sure.”
And it’s true. Maybe there was another person like me during all the years I was away. While I’ve been told I’m the only Gatekeeper to have ever lived, it’s possible someone else had the same power, but unlike me, were smart enough to keep it hidden.
Turning the book around and holding it out to me, Yorenzo presents the page with a life-like sketch. On the brittle paper, stained from years of aging, there I am. My hair was longer then. My shiny dark locks are wild from being tossed in the wind, and a large swirl is behind me. My eyes are devoid of any compassion, and the artist accurately captured my sneer of general displeasure.
Hannah sways forward to study the drawing, and awe comes through the bond as she looks upon the younger version of myself.
The next page is a simple log of names and roles. No fanfare. No drawings. Nothing special. But memories come back to me as I read the familiar list. I knew these men once. Men from Vaeront’s society. Just like Envy’s group, we had a historian among us who’d documented certain events and kept records of our people.
I had assumed this book would’ve been destroyed long ago, but someone saved it with the hopes of giving information to future generations.
Staggering realization hits me.
These moronic bastards are modeling their group after the one I belonged to. The dark fae.
“This book is a warning, not an instruction manual,” I announce to the room. “If you follow in Vaeront’s footsteps, you’ll find nothing but doom and despair.”
“Doom and despair?” Yorenzo parrots with disbelief. “How can you say that when such a miracle has occurred?”
“And what miracle is that?”
“For one, you’re here. When Vaeront’s kingdom was banished, many speculated that you were able to escape the punishment. Some said you saved Vaeront. That you took him with you to another time and started a new society. And here you are.” He points at me while a joyful laugh bursts from him. “Proof that you’re able to travel through time. I’d call that a miracle, indeed.”
“Of course, if you’re hiding Vaeront,” Envy adds, “he’ll have to be eliminated. That is, unless he’s willing to bow down to me and acknowledge that I am his king. Do you have a problem with that? I don’t care about your opinion, but I’d like to know where your loyalty lies. It would behoove you to swear your fealty to me.”
When his eyes briefly flick to Hannah, the threat is subtle and clear at the same time.
Using mates against each other is the surest way to get someone to do your bidding, and that’s one of the reasons it’s highly illegal. Harming or killing someone’s mate is punishable by death, but men like Envy don’t care about the law.
He thinks heisthe law.
The fact that he’s worried about Vaeront running free tells me he doesn’t know as much as he thinks he does.
He’s relying on theories and rumors. Impossibly optimistic ones, at that.
“You have it wrong,” I tell them. “I didn’t avoid the imprisonment, and neither did Vaeront. He and I spent countless centuries in the universe where we were sent, and Vaeront is still there as we speak. All of us were wiped from this world, just as was intended. We were a stain to be erased. My story is a cautionary tale for you all. Give up this way of life, or the consequences will be catastrophic.”
Envy leans forward. “If that’s all true, then how did you get out?”
There’s no way to dodge the truth. If I don’t give them exactly what they want, they’ll hurt me, and they’d probably go for Hannah first.
Just the thought of her being tortured is enough to convince me to tell them everything.
So I do.
I spill every detail of the dark fae banishment, beginning with the terror of living in the Lost Land, ending with Merina’s arrival five-hundred thousand years later. I speak of her assistance, the corralling of the Valonite, and how the haze in our minds eventually cleared.
At that part, Yorenzo interrupts me as he sifts through another one of his books. “Ellister, how did they send you there?”
“An Extractor tapped into my power and a coven of witches bound the Valonite with an enchantment spell. I don’t remember the event much. The Extractor completely drained me, and I lost consciousness before it was done. I imagine it was very difficult for them to achieve the feat of opening a vortex big enough to transport the hundreds of us, plus tons of the gem, but somehow, they managed.”
“Yes, yes,” Yorenzo mutters absentmindedly, turning more pages. “Saint Onassis.”
