Chapter Nine

Mhavrych clenched his fists, letting the pain of his fingernails digging into the heel of his hand keep him focused on staying absolutely still. He had to tell himself that what he was watching had already happened. It was a fixed moment, something that had to happen. As horrible as it was and as much as Mhavrych wanted to run forward into the throng and prevent the spilling of blood that was about to unfold in front of him, he couldn't. He had been warned, severely and intensely, about the destruction he could cause if he changed moments that led into others. There were things he could alter, moments he could manipulate, and there were those that were permanently etched in time. If he was to change them, he could stop the progress of time and trigger a ripple effect that could instantly result in Ryan coming into power and the Universe collapsing.

He had to show restraint. He had to do what went so severely against everything he knew and was comfortable with and be willing to follow. He still didn't understand, but he had to trust where Kendra guided him and that what she told him was what needed to be done.

Mhavrych pushed his fingernails harder into his hands as the figures began to appear in the field ahead of him. He stayed hidden in the shadows, watching intently even though he didn't want to, looking for what he was supposed to learn from this. The first group of warriors eased their way from out of the woods and made their way to the building that was hunkering in the distance. He knew that this was the building where Eliana had been kept prisoner by the Klimnu and where they had discovered a battered, broken, brutalized woman who barely survived the rescue. The Denynso wanted to destroy it, to wipe any sign of it from the planet, but what they didn't realize was that this building was a critical element of all that they would soon discover.

It was a prison. Mhavrych knew when it had been built and why, but the warriors were still focused entirely on the brutality that they had witnessed because of it and because of the tiny woman who had come to their compound and found love with the healer who saved Eden and then saved her.

The night sky split with balls of fire that shot out of the hands of some of the warriors and burst into bigger, more intense flames once they got inside. Smoke filled the air as the flames erupted, catching fire from all the dust and debris within the ancient building that had long been abandoned until the Klimnu decided to claim it as their own and use it to imprison and torture the women. This was what had led the Denynso down such a tangled path of confusion. They thought that the evil on Uoria and the danger that faced their kind and those they loved sat in the lap of the Klimnu. They hadn't yet discovered the Valdicians and the role that they played. The cloud of smoke filled the air and Mhavrych watched painfully as glass from windows covered with weathered bars and cages shattered into the air. Each sheet of glass exploded with a loud crack, punctuating the sizzling sound of the fire around and in the building. Mhavrych was transfixed by the raw, savage beauty of the fire and the bitter thought of the destruction as a cleansing that he almost didn't notice the appearance of the first grotesque Klimnu.

Searing red eyes scanned the warriors and a sense of heaviness settled over the area. Mhavrych moved slightly closer, relying on the warrior's focus to keep them from noticing that he was there, and found himself a few yards from Ciyrs and Eliana. They stood close together, but the sound of the fire was so loud they had to nearly shout to one another to be heard. This allowed their voices to travel to him through the smoke-laced air.

“I love you, now go get with the others. I need you to be safe.”

Eliana wasn't moving. Mhavrych noticed that a change had come over her since she had been in the ship traveling here from Earth. Though she still seemed intense and was standing at a slight distance from the others, showing that she still wasn't entirely comfortable with people trying to engage with her. And yet somehow, she seemed softer, like her connection with Ciyrs had found something inside of her that needed to be both guarded and released, defended and exorcised.

“Go," Ciyrs insisted. "Ero and Ullie will take you to safety.”

Mhavrych's ears pricked at the name "Ullie". He tried to remember the significance of it or even when he heard it. Nothing was coming to mind, but he knew that name meant something. That warrior had crossed his path before now, but he couldn't remember.

“I—I don’t know if I can leave you," Eliana said.

She was suddenly gone from his side and the battlefield swarmed with Klimnu. The Denynso rushed forward, their inborn desire for war pumping through their blood, fueling them as they clashed with the pale, slimy creatures in the intense glow of the fire. Mhavrych watched as one of the Klimnu snuck up behind Ciyrs. It made a sound that made Mhavrych's skin crawl and dragged his claw down Ciyrs's cheek, immediately drawing blood.

“Why would they let you stay around? You’re nothing but the useless healer.”

The words were barely audible, but Mhavrych could see the healer's face darken. He wasn't a warrior. He wasn't born to train and to fight, and yet he was there on the field with those who had been bred for this, who had been trained and cultivated from the time they were old enough to follow the instructions. In Mhavrych's eyes, that made him even more intimidating. He might have been born for something else within his clan, created for the purpose of healing those who were injured or ill, and was never given the skills of the warriors, but he was strong and courageous enough to walk into war and face down the brutality of the unknown.

In a movement so fast, it seemed that he barely even controlled it, Ciyrs reached forward and wrapped his hand around the neck of the Klimnu. In an instant, the creature let out a scream that cut into Mhavrych's core and burst into flame. The scent of burning flesh filled the air and the creature was rapidly reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash.

Mhavrych saw the startled look on the healer's face and knew that the death of the Klimnu had been something he hadn't expected, that had shocked him as much as it did Mhavrych. Ciyrs didn't have time to dwell on the newfound ability, however. There was more fighting erupting around him, getting more and more vicious as the moments passed and the ground was splashed with blood. It was as if the hotter the fire burned and the more destruction it caused, the harder and more intensely they fought, wanting it all to come to an end.

Suddenly Ciyrs noticed one of the creatures jump onto Creia's back and ran toward him, determined to rescue his king. He reached out and touched the creature, instantly causing the beast to erupt into flames. This Klimnu survived longer than the other, pulling itself away from the healer's touch and screaming as it ran around the battlefield as if trying to escape the pain that it was obviously suffering. It was only seconds later, though, it stopped, and its body disintegrated into ash that was picked up by the wind and carried away.

Mhavrych looked beyond the battle to the building, trying to understand all that had happened in that one place. He knew that the Klimnu had been a source of incredible hatred for the Denynso for some time and that the two species often fought, resulting in extensive bloodshed and loss of life. But the prison had been there for so long, forgotten, and totally unknown to the Denynso. And suddenly the Klimnu had decided to use it, to take over and fill it with their own prisoners as if emulating the prison that thrived on Penthos for years. The thought suddenly occurred to him that three of the women now living among the Denynso were nearly killed by the Klimnu, each overtaken by the creatures when they were vulnerable. Though Eden had never ended up in the prison, she could have. A disguised Klimnu, one with a unique and extraordinary ability, had made it so that she thought she was coming out of the house to talk with her mate.

Something about that stuck with Mhavrych. It held onto him, but he wasn't sure why. He continued to watch the vicious battle until the Klimnu retreated, then rushed away, not wanting to be seen.

Something else happened in that prison. They didn't imprison the women just because they wanted to. There was something else. Something more. Mhavrych knew that he had to delve deeper.

 

********

 

"Fifty-five days."

This was the hardest that Mhavrych had fought to control himself since he started manipulating the streams and moving through time as he needed to. He stood in the prison, knowing what was coming, knowing that in a matter of days the building where he was now would be engulfed in flames from the hands of the Denynso. For now, though, it was heavy with the scent of blood and death and reverberating with screams. The woman in the cell in front of him looked as though she had been emptied out of herself and her body tattered. She was a shell, bruised and streaked with blood, her eyes sunken, her hair matted. Everything inside Mhavrych said to rush the Klimnu that was standing there beside her and destroy him so that he could set this fragile woman free, but he couldn't. The days had to progress as they had. They had to unfold exactly the way that they had or the purpose of the prison within the puzzle that they were solving would never be uncovered.

There was another shattering scream and the woman looked around, obviously terrified. The Klimnu standing near her laughed.

"You hear our new guest," he said. "She is different than you. She is special."

"What do you mean?"

It sounded painful just for the words to come out of the woman's mouth. From where he stood in the dark shadows of the cell across from the woman, Mhavrych could see that her lips cracked when she spoke, and his skin shivered slightly. It was something so small, so seemingly inconsequential, and yet it somehow took the brutality of what she was going through to another level.

"The Denynso will come for her." The Klimnu said. "She belongs to one of them and he will ensure they find her, which means he will bring the warriors right to us."

Mhavrych knew that he was talking about Eliana. She was the one who was being tortured as she was used as bait. He had learned that the Denynso were able to communicate with their mates through their thoughts and the sickening realization rolled through him that the creatures were putting her through as much fear and agony as they could in an effort to reach out to Ciyrs. They wanted to lure him to her because they knew that if he came, the warriors would come along with him. The battle they were hungry for would be handed right to them. The fight hadn't been an accident or an unexpected ambush. It had been orchestrated.

The rest of the night was cold and horrific. Mhavrych stayed exactly where he was, shivering in the damp cold, his joints and muscles aching from sitting on the stone floor. He was trying to find a position that was even close to comfortable, but then he thought of the woman across the corridor form him. She didn't even know he was there. She had no concept that he was crouched on the floor, trying to keep himself warm, trying to ignore the smells and the sounds. He knew that he could have left, but in the same way, he knew he couldn't. He had the compulsion to be there for this woman. Even if she didn't know that he was there, he wanted to be there until she got out. He wished that she didn't have to feel so alone.

The next morning, the moment finally came. Barely more than bones from the nearly two months that she had spent in the prison, the woman was able to slip through the bars of her cell and get into the hallways to search for help. Mhavrych so desperately wanted to help her, but he knew this wasn't his place. Eliana had to find her. She had to rescue her.

Mhavrych waited until the woman got fully out of her cell and made it down the hallway before getting out of the cell where he had spent the night and starting down the hallway in the opposite direction. Something shimmered in the distance and he noticed a pink light move around the corner at the end of the corridor. He rushed to catch up to it and saw Kendra strolling casually down another hallway, moving deeper into the building.

"Kendra, why did I have to watch that?" he asked.

"Watch what?"

"Any of it," he said. "Why did I have to watch that battle or the girl trying to escape?"

"She did escape," Kendra said. "Her name is Leia. She is one of the women from Earth."

"I gathered that," Mhavrych said. "But I don't understand why I needed to see any of that."

"You'll understand soon enough," Kendra said. "Think about it."

"Tell me."

She shook her head.

"I can't," she said. "I can't tell you. You have to find out for yourself. You have to follow the trail."

"I thought that I was following you."

"I am the trail," she said. "Think about what you've seen. Think about what you saw happen in that battle and what you realized about the prison. Then think about a question that you asked me. You need to keep going. There's more that you need to see."

"I don't want to see any more. I hate having to just stand there and not be able to help. I have to watch these horrible things happen and there's nothing that I can do to change them."

"That's right," she said. "There is nothing that you can do to change them. Those moments have happened, and they secured themselves in time. They are anchors. The extent of the ripples would not be worth the satisfaction of dropping a pebble through the surface of the water. But you can prevent them from happening again. You can prevent the devastation that Ryan has planned. He doesn't even know what he could do, Mhavrych. He wants power and absolute control, but he is more volatile and unpredictable than even he knows. He doesn't understand that by seeking out power and wanting to claim and hold providence over the Universe, he is actually damning it. But that doesn't have to be. The future can continue and the world can be preserved. But in order to do that, you have to see the moments that will support that future. You need to understand the events that cradle the possibility of that future within them. You have to try to be strong, Mhavrych. You have to see beyond what you can't change, no matter how terrible it seems. When you witness a birth, you have to see the beauty of the new life, not the blood on the midwife's hands."

Mhavrych immediately thought of Dove and the privilege of seeing her in the earliest moments of her life. He remembered nothing but how sweet she looked and the impact of realizing that she was now a queen and the mother of a species. He had to carry on. He had to ensure that she had a future to rule in and a planet to rule on.

 

********

 

Mhavrych walked up and down the tunnel several times, noting each time that he felt himself pushed through the loop that connected him from one spot to one a far distance away across the planet. He knew that feeling. It was completely familiar to him and had become something that he usually barely noticed. Now, though, it hit him strongly as he made his way along the narrow path. He barely fit in it, confirming what the Denynso warriors had suspected when they stopped outside the entrance and said that they wouldn't fit through. Mhavrych had waited until the group left after their first visit through the tunnel to go in and explore it himself. It startled him when he realized that he was traveling not just along a tunnel that led down into an underground area of the planet, but through the delicate unseen barrier between each place and time. He moved through it several times to ensure that was what he was experiencing. As he did, he realized there was something strange about it. This wasn't just him moving through like he naturally did. Instead, it felt harsher, like it had been forced.

Not knowing how to interpret that feeling or what it might mean, Mhavrych finally continued down the tunnel. When he reached the end, he saw what looked like a small world open in front of him. It was difficult to interpret at first, looking like a wide pond bordered on one side by formations of rocks and on the other by trees. The longer that he looked at it, however, the more details that Mhavrych began to notice and soon he realized that he was looking at not water stretched across the ground, but a reflection of the sky, and the trees that he saw were upside down, their leaf-covered branches stretching out across the expanse as their roots crept across the stone overhead. A realization struck Mhavrych.

This is what he had heard about from his parents when he was a child and they told him the story of preserving the wall. They had described this place to him and told him of the important event that had happened here.

It was only days later that Mhavrych, crouching in the darkness of a formation of boulders where no one had seen him, witnessed it unfold. Even if he had stood up in that moment, he didn't think that anyone would have noticed him. The space was filled with the sound of battle, the air thick and tense with the fury of the fighting that was happening just feet away but that Mhavrych couldn't participate in, even though he so desperately wished that he could. The Klimnu swarmed the cavern, the disgusting creatures lashing out against the mix of Denynso and humans who had come together to fight. Men and women had become warriors, putting all of themselves into the cause that was bearing down on them, even as Mhavrych knew that they were still standing just at the precipice of all that would soon crack open in front of them.

Suddenly Eliana, looking stronger and braver now after spending more time in the compound with her Denynso mate and discovering her abilities as a healer, surged forward into the fray. Mhavrych watched her run toward one of the Klimnu that was climbing up the side of a tree toward where Pyra was positioned. Without hesitation, she reached out and grabbed it by its neck. The grisly pale creature screamed, the sound reverberating through the space and piercing through the rest of the sounds of the fight. Just as the creatures had under Ciyrs's touch during the battle outside of the prison, the Klimnu burned and dissolved away into ash as Eliana touched it. The smell tinged the air and Mhavrych recoiled slightly, as disgusted by the image now as he was then. Another of the human women, the young one named Samira who had come to Uoria after Ero broke all tradition of the Denynso and left the compound so that he could travel to Earth and reclaim his mate Zuri, burst out of the tunnel. She had been hiding there throughout the battle, seeming too afraid to be a part of it.

Now, though, she seemed compelled to involve herself, to do her part to defend those she had come to love. Her mate, Ty, was there among the other Denynso warriors who were battling against the Klimnu. Mhavrych had been watching him, fascinated by his presence among the others. On first glance, he looked just like the other Denynso men. He had the towering, imposing height, and massive, chiseled body. His skin was the same vibrant shade of blue, his eyes the bright orange that indicated his eternal link and unbreakable connection to his mate. But there was something about him. Something just slightly different enough that it made him stand out against the rest of them. Mhavrych wondered if anyone else noticed when they first looked at him or if it was something that was obvious only because he already knew. When he looked into Ty's face he saw the hint of something that he had seen since he was a child, but only in pictures, only in the shared memories of his parents.

He saw the Valdicians.

The reality was that this man was the descendant of the powerful, evil creatures that were the focus of his work, the purpose of all that he was doing. It wasn't a close link. Ty himself hadn't even known about his heritage until Creia had revealed it just recently. This man was the product of the mysterious and fabled link between the Valdicians and the Denynso that Lucian had mentioned. Few knew that when Aida and Fayat left Uoria, sent away by the Order in order to protect them, that Aida was carrying a child. This child was the very first of the hybrids that would inspire the future experiments of Ryan's ancestors, though they were never able to get their hands on him. The Order was still pure then. They hadn't yet fallen to the corruption. They hadn't yet been uncovered for their source of incredible power or their influence. They were still the most trusted and revered allies of Malan, Mhavrych's grandfather, Vyker's father. When the elder of the Order at that time saw Fayat and heard of his defection from the Valdician forces that had invaded and met the Eteri and the Denynso in battle, they knew the danger that he was in. They above all on Uoria knew the Valdicians and what they represented. Fayat didn't know about the Key. Mhavrych didn't know if any of them did. All they knew was the commands of their leader, Boaz, the direct line of Valdin. All they knew was their drive to claim the Universe for their control.

It was many years before the family of Fayat and Aida returned to Uoria to rejoin her clan. The generations that followed sank into the Denynso until they couldn't be differentiated, never showing any of the indications that anything flowed through their veins but the blood of the warriors. It wasn't until Ty's father was born that anything seemed different. Then Ty came, getting older and demonstrating a powerful gift that was unlike any of the warriors. His ability to move things with his mind was astonishing to those who knew nothing of his heritage, but to Creia it was the suggestion of a beginning. It was a reminder of all that had happened on the planet and everything the inhabitants had been through. Mhavrych knew, however, that even the King didn't know everything that had occurred so many generations before. Though he knew that the Denynso Kings were each individually a trusted ally of the Order in their time until Aida and Fayat left, Creia didn't know the origin of the group or why it was so important. He knew only that it was ancient and critically important. He couldn't approach them when he began to notice Ty's ability. The link between the species had been broken so long before and he had never intended to leave the compound.

Even if Creia had been able to go to the Order to tell them what he knew about Ty, however, Mhavrych doubted that he would have recognized the importance. As far as the Denynso King and nearly all others on Uoria knew, the Valdicians had left generations before and had not had any interaction with the planet since. They didn't know of how much they had actually done in the time that had passed since they first fought in the Badlands. To Creia and the rest of the Denynso, the most pressing danger that they were facing was the Klimnu. They believe that the grotesque creatures were their greatest threat and the enemy that could take over the planet if permitted. They had no way of knowing that it was the Valdicians that had orchestrated that threat. It was the Valdicians that had ensured the Klimnu would come into being and would continue the campaign of destruction and violence against the Denynso that the Valdicians had intended since so long ago.

It was knowing, that made it even harder for Mhavrych to watch as Samira ran toward her mate, only to have one of the Klimnu drop down from the tree to land in front of her, bringing a scream from her lips. The creature approached her, his eyes rolling as he clicked his claws together and ran his disgusting tongue across his lips. It reached for her and she screamed again. Instantly, Ty knew that she was in trouble.

"Samira!" he shouted.

"Ty," Samira screamed. "Get me."

Samira suddenly lifted into the air and Mhavrych knew that Ty had picked her up with his mind, utilizing the power that he had had since birth to rescue his mate. It was a strangely, bitterly ironic moment as she rose high above the Klimnu and was able to kick the creature directly in the face. The force of the impact sent the Klimnu tumbling backward so that he fell into the expanse of sky that stretched between the trees and the rocks. The skin-crawling sound that came from its mouth faded as it fell and disappeared, reminding Mhavrych of the mysterious depth of what had looked like water. He turned his attention back to Samira and watched as she got to Ty, who instructed her to take hold of a vine a few feet below where he clung to the tree. He pointed to a branch that would offer her a more stable resting place.

"Jump onto that branch. Keep holding onto the vine for stability, and just swing onto it. Stay there."

She followed his instructions without hesitation, closing her eyes and wrapping her hands tightly around the vine before she jumped. Mhavrych felt a pang of concern and then she hit the branch. Samira worked quickly to tangle a vine around her legs, using it to lash her to the branch so that she couldn't fall or be knocked off. The sound of the fighting and the nauseating smells of the battle were getting more intense, but the Denynso and those helping them seemed unaffected by it. Klimnu rose up into the air and were easily tossed away under the unseen force of Ty's mind. It didn't escape Mhavrych how odd it was that these Klimnu were totally oblivious to their own origins. By this point in their timeline, they had adopted their own stories of how their species had developed and why. They had their own understandings of why they had come to be. There was no knowledge that they had anything to do with the Valdicians and the hatred between the two species had already begun. Though only the most corrupt on Uoria knew, Ryan had long wanted one of the grisly but undeniably powerful creatures to include in his experiments and had chosen instead to create his own by capturing the Mikana man who had been fighting against the creation of the hybrid army for decades, Aegeus.

But Ty wasn't the only one of the Denynso warriors who used the unique features given to him by his unique heritage to fight. As Ty used his mind to lift the Klimnu and toss them out of the way, the youngest and smallest of the warriors, Ero, use incredible speed to run around the space, preventing himself from being caught or even from falling into the open sky by moving from surface to surface without pausing. This was a gift from a bloodline that he, too, had been unaware of until Creia told him about him at the same time that he told Ty of his Valdician heritage. That was another moment that Mhavrych had witnessed, watching as the faces of the young warriors changed as they registered what their King was telling them. Both thought that they were nothing more than Denynso. It had hit them hard to learn that they carried the blood other species. For Ty, the thought that he was much like the father he had lost when he was very young was a source of excitement and while he had been surprised and upset to learn about this unknown part of himself, there was also an element of relief knowing why he was so different. For Ero, though, the news would carry even more meaning.

When the young, beautiful warrior had learned that there was something more in him he was forced to face that he was part Mikana, which meant that running through him was the potential for the same horrible fate as these Klimnu. But they didn't know that yet. They didn't know of the Mikana or of their link to the Klimnu. For now, they knew nothing. For now, they were just Denynso warriors in the claws of battle, fighting to eliminate the species that had tortured them for so long.

"Jem, no!"

The tormented scream that came from Ty brought Mhavrych's attention away from the bloody scene of Pyra tearing one of the creatures apart with his bare hands, seeming to relish the feeling of the skin ripping and the bones coming apart. All those near Ty turned in the direction that he was looking and Mhavrych followed their gaze. There were few of the Klimnu left and the warriors would soon be victorious. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Mhavrych knew that meant he had come to the moment that he had dreaded. He was about to watch something indescribably horrific, something that would change the course of existence in ways that were purely unimaginable for all of them. He didn't want to see it. And yet it was a critical turning point that he had heard about his entire life and he felt strangely privileged to witness it even if not stepping in, not saving the Denynso clan the agony they would soon face made his chest ache.

He turned his eyes toward the warrior who stood on one of the branches, far out across the sky. Jem was locked in a vicious hand to hand clash with one of the few remaining Klimnu and two more had recognized his vulnerability and abandoned what they were doing, creeping toward him. It was clear that they knew they were beaten. There was no denying that the warriors and those who had stepped up beside them in battle had destroyed them and now the remaining creatures were focused only on their desire for as much devastation as they could manage. Each was driven for the satisfaction of taking a Denynso life. Jem was unafraid. He looked at each of the creatures fully and without hesitation. There was nothing in his stance that showed he was concerned or that he was going to try to escape from them. He punched one of the Klimnu with enough force to knock the thin, slimy being off balance, and the creature reached out to grab Jem by his shirt. Mhavrych looked over at Ty. Though he knew what was going to happen, the inevitable outcome, he still felt anxiety tightening in his chest and closing his throat. What was going to happen had to happen, but he still didn't want it to happen. Part of him was clamoring for one of the other warriors to run to Jem's aid or for Ty to be successful in his efforts to pick the other warrior up and pull him away from the danger.

Ty was concentrating hard on his goal and he managed to lift Jem a few feet off the branch, but the Klimnu that had a grip on him tugged him back down. Pyra dropped the last of the Klimnu body he held and ran toward them but stopped with Jem held up one hand to stop his leader.

"Stop, Pyra. Don't come out here. You're what they want. Remember, they are trying to get to Creia. If they kill our leader, they weaken our defenses and they can get to the king. There's only one way to stop them, and that is to eliminate them."

Jem's voice was steady and determined. It expressed no fear and no questions. He knew exactly what he was saying, and he was willing to face what he seemed to know was going to happen. He fought against the control of Ty's mind, encouraging the Klimnu to pull him down even harder.

"Let me pick you up!" Ty screamed, desperate to save his friend from the horror that was waiting for him.

The pain in his voice was obvious, making what Mhavrych was watching even more difficult to stomach.

"No! Put me down," Jem shouted. "I'll be fine. These are the last of their kind here and there is something about me that they don't know."

One of the Klimnu gave a mirthless laugh at Jem's declaration and dragged his claws down the warrior's face, leaving a trail of blood against his skin.

"And what is that?" the creature asked, his voice almost lilting in its tone as he mocked Jem, clearly unimpressed.

Jem smiled and Mhavrych could see the calm, confident serenity on his face. There wasn't even a moment of hesitation in his mind. He had already given himself over to what he was going to do.

"I've always wanted to fly."

Jem reached out and wrapped his arms around the three creatures that had approached him. With a final glance up at his fellow warriors, he let himself fall backward from the branch and into the sky. Ty screamed and began to fight against the vines that were looped around his body, trying to get down to the branch. There was nothing that he could do, but Mhavrych knew that wasn't in his mind. All the warrior cared about was trying to get to Jem, trying to save him.

"Stop, Ty," Samira demanded, grabbing him and pulling him back toward her.

He looked at her with desperation etched on his face and Mhavrych could see her struggling to control her own emotions as she focused outside of herself and on her mate, wanting to comfort him even through her own pain.

"I let him die! He was right there."

She held him tighter. The tears sparkled in her eyes, but she forced herself to give the hint of a smile as she continued to stare at him.

"Stop. He did what he wanted to do. It's alright. He's among the stars now."

Mhavrych sank back further into the rock formation. Even though he had been out of sight during the fighting, he had been drawn out of his original place and now felt exposed, almost as though they could glance up and notice him at any moment. Now that the furor of the battle was over, they didn't have the chaos to distract them and he couldn't risk being seen, especially in the emotional turmoil of Jem's sudden disappearance. Mhavrych knew in their minds that when they watched him, they felt in their hearts that they had just witnessed his death. He knew that wasn't the case. He knew that Jem hadn't died but had arrived on the distant planet that thrust him into the world of his parents. To those who loved him, what Jem had just done was an end. To Mhavrych, it was a beginning. It was because of that sacrifice that the Universe had a chance to be saved.

Ahead of him, Mhavrych noticed movement and he sank back even further, pushing himself as far into the crevice as he could so that he felt the rocks pressing into his skin and could no longer see any of the warriors or the humans with them. He could hear them. The tears were audible in their voices and in the way they gasped for breath. But he sensed they were now moving out of the realm, needing to return to the Denynso compound above to at once share the news of their victory and their loss.

He watched as a woman came into view ahead of him. She glanced slightly to the side, as if for a moment she could see him, but she said nothing. There was a faint glow around her and Mhavrych was immediately reminded of the pink light that surrounded Kendra, but this woman didn't look like her. She had no wings and her hair hung thick and silver down her back. This was an Irisa woman, one of the kind that despite their peaceful nature had come to be known as the Silver Warriors. He thought of what Aegeus and Casimir had told him. He remembered that when Aegeus walked out onto the battlefield to face the corrupt members of the Order that he was flanked by Irisa men, two of the rare members of the species who engaged in warfare. It was because of them that he was able to leave the field under the disguise of a reflection of the landscape around him. The plan had been to meet with Casimir in the war room and return to the battlefield to decimate the corrupt members of the Order and the rest of the Klimnu. It had never happened.

Mhavrych watched this Irisa woman for a few moments before he realized that it must be Loralia. She was alone in the realm, the last of her kind now. As he thought of this, Mhavrych noticed a hint of pink shimmer appear behind Loralia and then disappear. He crept through the rocks to follow it, knowing that it was Kendra. Once away from the chamber he found himself roaming through the silent, empty village that had once been the home of the Irisa. The feeling of them, the presence of the beautiful and talented species that had been wiped out so suddenly and so mysteriously, leaving behind only the one tiny woman who was now trying to understand why she had been left and how she was going to move forward on her own.

"Have you figured it out?"

Kendra walked out from one of the buildings and tilted her head at Mhavrych in the way that she so often did.

"That was someone's home," he said.

Kendra glanced over her shoulder at the building that she had emerged from and then nodded at him.

"I know," she said. "It's lovely inside."

"Because it's the way that it was left."

He felt protective of the emptied village, almost as though he needed to guard it as a shrine to those who had been lost. He didn't understand the compulsion. He had never had any strong personal link to the Irisa, and in his time as Protector, he had encountered countless abandoned homes, emptied villages, and decimated creatures. This place, though, felt somehow different.

"Have you figured it out yet?"

She had returned to her original question and Mhavrych narrowed his eyes at her.

"Another riddle."

"Not a riddle. Just a question."

She started to walk away from him and as he always did, Mhavrych fell into step behind her. In this moment it wasn't as much about going where she wanted him to as it was about not being caught by Loralia if she returned to the village. He didn't know how she would respond to seeing them there and the rippling changes that it could cause.

They walked until they reached another set of tunnels. He waited to feel the shift that would tell him that this section brought him through another of the unusual portals, but he never felt it. Instead, they walked directly out of the tunnels and into the lush woods that he recognized as the Eteri kingdom. Without him even realizing it, she had just told him something else. It was another piece, another detail that he would have to tuck away until it's meaning became more apparent.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Have I figured what out?"

"The village is empty," she said. "They're all gone."

"Yes," he said. "They were all killed in the Plague."

"Except for Loralia."

Mhavrych nodded, remembering what he had been told about the woman.

"Because of her father. Azrael. He's Eteri. That protected her."

"Doesn't it seem strange that the first time the Plague happened, the Irisa found sanctuary in the village?"

"Why is that strange?"

"They went below ground so that they could get away from what was making them so sick. And it worked. They stopped dying off and were strong and happy here. But the second time the Plague came, they were destroyed. It happened twice. The two times that Uoria was invaded."

Realization settled over Mhavrych.

"By the Valdicians."

Kendra nodded.

"Do you understand now?"

Mhavrych thought about what she had said, and a question formed in his mind.

"Why weren't they safe the second time?"

"Think, Mhavrych. Think about what you've seen. It's almost time. It's almost time for you to find me. Then you can come for me and for the stone."

Mhavrych felt a surge of emotion within him. Not fully understanding the compulsion, he took the few steps to close the space between Kendra and himself and wrapped his arm around her waist. His mouth met hers and he kissed her deeply. She returned the kiss, melting into him for a few moments before pushing away from him.

"What's wrong?" Mhavrych asked.

"You have to find me," she said. "It's all happening so quickly. You must go back to Aegeus and Casimir soon. There so much left to be done."

For the first time, there was something close to fear in her voice and Mhavrych knew that he had to keep going. His feelings for her had grown but she was still at a distance from him. He needed to follow through, discover the pieces, and ensure that it all came together before everything, including Kendra, was lost.