If the Court ever allowed him to regain his power. They would have felt this clash and would be on their way. At least, someone would be.
Eithan hoped it wasn’t Suriel. He still owed her a debt, and he was feeling enough guilt as it was.
He blinded himself to the stares of hurt and shock on the faces around him, and he focused on the one-eyed spirit floating nearby.
“I couldn’t fit everything of…myself…inside a mortal vessel,” Eithan explained, without looking Lindon in the eye. “My Soulsmithing was one thing I left out, and I am now bound by the—an ancient pact. I am sorry, but I cannot repair Dross unless it would prevent further damage to the world. But with the labyrinth, you should be able to do it, if you act quickly.”
Lindon looked down to his own marble, his Abidan beacon. A fire from the Way now burned merrily at its heart once again.
“Who are you?” Lindon asked, and Eithan flinched. That was the question he’d always dreaded.
“My full name is Ozmanthus Tiberian Mereithan Arelius. Always hated it. Such a mouthful. My mother called me Eithan.” He looked from one face to another. “My power was restricted, but I was still…me. It was real, I promise! I—”
He cut off and looked down as Little Blue stared up at him.
Then she threw her arms around his shin.
His eyes filled with tears again. He hadn’t cried as Ozriel…maybe ever. His Presence could tell him for certain, once he recovered that from Abidan lockdown.
“Don’t know why you made such a secret about it,” Orthos grumbled. He tore up a bite of grass and began chewing. “We wouldn’t have known who you were anyway.”
[Give me your secrets!] Dross whispered. [Let me taste your power!]
Ziel looked Eithan up and down. “Can you tell me how to get to Sage?”
“I think you’re more likely to reach it on your own than anyone here,” Eithan said honestly. “Except Lindon, of course. That cloud has already drifted away.”
Then he looked to Lindon and Yerin.
Yerin’s left eye twitched. “Did you really…you…bleed and bury me, you let me think we were finally going to catch up to you.”
Eithan tried not to smile. It was a serious moment.
“It’s not too late,” Eithan said.
Lindon struggled with himself for a moment, then he stepped forward…and extended his Dreadgod arm.
“See you soon,” Lindon said.
Eithan clasped Lindon’s hand in his, and they shook. A handshake wasn’t a tradition from the Ashwind continent, but from Rosegold. Where Eithan had been born.
Something pulled at his gauntlet, and Eithan caught Lindon trying to Consume his power.
Lindon coughed and averted his eyes. “Apologies, it’s a…new arm.”
26
The sky was still starless above Lindon, and a ragged scar in the world ran from distant eternity all the way down to the ground, where Eithan had stopped a cosmic attack with the palm of his hand.
Lindon remembered Suriel reversing time and bringing the dead back to life. Could she have returned stars to the night sky?
Eithan saw him looking and his smile turned sad. “Someone will be along to fix that in just a moment.”
Yerin shifted uncomfortably, and Lindon saw questions writhing in her. She settled on a casual tone: “So we’ll see you on the other side, true?”
“It may…be a while,” Eithan said hesitantly. “I’m certain you will eventually! But for the Mad King to arrive here, in a world that should be protected, that means something has gone terribly wrong in my absence. I may find myself in quite a bit of trouble.”
The Mad King. Lindon stored that name away for future reference.
“You have to report to a superior even in the Abidan, do you?” Ziel asked.
Eithan tossed his long white hair. “Who do you suppose is superior to me? No, these are my peers who might imprison me for eternity. My peers!”
Before anyone could ask further questions, a subtle blue light slid over the scene. Lindon looked up to find sapphire energy spreading across the sky like a blooming sun.
“And it looks like you’ll get a chance to meet them now,” Eithan said. Some of the energy seemed to have gone out of him.
From the spreading blue light, seven figures descended. And as they did, Lindon felt everything change.
The world felt steadier around him, calmer. He found himself relaxing in their presence, like a child held in his mother’s arms. That trembling sense of chaos behind the world, and the otherworldly stillness that had come at Eithan’s transformation, both faded away for a sense of rightness like comforting music.