{"Magic was never a gift. It was a debt passed down through bone and fire."}
We walked in silence for a while, Elowen and I, through coral archways and tide-lit paths that shimmered like dreams. Only once we reached the outer hall, where no one could overhear us, not even the keenest spy fish or sea-scrying glyph, did she stop, plant her feet, and round on me.
"You promised," she hissed, jabbing a finger into my chest.
I raised both hands in mock surrender. "I didn't throw the first barb."
"No. You never do. You just drag the entire court into your slow-burn sabotage, light it up with wit and wound, and wait for someone else to douse the fire."
"El," I said gently, "he struck me."
"And you bled pride, as usual."
I winced. Not because she was wrong because she knew me too well. She exhaled sharply, brushing wind-swept strands of moonlight hair behind her ear. Her ink-stained fingers trembled slightly, as if still gripped by the weight of her choice to intervene.
"I could lose my post at the Aaeldoria for that," she muttered.
"You won't," I said. "He will not risk the fallout of silencing a scholar. Especially not you."
Her eyes flicked up to mine. "That's not the point."
"Then what is?"
"You're spiralling," she said flatly. "And now you are dragging him into it. I watched the two of you and knew what you did by the way you grinned. I can sense your powers Caelen."
That stopped me cold, and I looked away, toward the curve of the horizon through the seashell glass, where bioluminescent fish danced like stars long since drowned.
"I didn't plan that," I said, quieter now. "The connection. I barely touched the edge of his mind, and he felt it. Reached back."
Her voice softened. "Morkai Vaelan is not someone you trifle with, Caelen."
"I know."
"No, you think you know. You have read about him. Studied his rise and his ruin like it is some tragic myth etched into coral. But he is real. He is dangerous. And he has spent centuries turning his soul into a fortress."
I looked at her again. "And yet, I found a door."
Her mouth tightened. "And do you know how your powers can do that?"
I did not answer. Because the truth scared me, and not the possibility of what I would find, but that I wanted to find it. Elowen stepped closer, her voice lower now, gentler. "Whatever is happening, you did and want to do with the Abyss Sovereign, tread carefully. "
I swallowed. "Do you believe in fate?"
She smiled sadly. "I believe in you. And that is why I am terrified."
We stood in the hush together, waves crashing far below. Somewhere in the Sanctuary, music still played. But I was not listening to it anymore as I was listening to his presence and power. We'd reached the quieter halls of the Sanctuary, away from the prying eyes of the Fae court, and still, I couldn't escape the lingering hum in my mind, the brush of Morkai Vaelan's presence, the thread that connected us now, as if we'd shared a secret beneath the waves.
Elowen fell into step beside me, her expression unreadable, though her steps betrayed her uncertainty. She always felt things too deeply too deeply for her good.
"You're silent," she noted, her tone almost accusing. "And not in your usual way."
I shrugged, though my thoughts were anything but indifferent. "What do you want me to say? That I have never touched anyone's mind like that before?"
She raised an eyebrow. "You've never wanted to touch someone's mind like that before, either."
I grimaced at the truth of it. "You know how it is. Being half-Witch, half-Fae, it comes with certain complications."
She chuckled darkly. "Complications? That's an understatement."
"I mean it," I said, slowing my steps as we reached a set of tall, veiled doors. "Half of me pulls at the weave of magic with a witch's precision spells, curses, elemental forces. But the other half, the Fae side? It is all about the land, the essence, the pulse of nature and fate. My magic does not just bend the elements; it converses with them. It whispers with the wind, summons the roots of the trees, the fire beneath the earth, and the ocean's rage."
She watched me, her brow furrowed as if she were seeing me for the first time at that moment. "But it's not enough to just feel it, Caelen. You manipulate it. You twist the worlds together. You pull from two realms, one tethered to the earth, the other to the endless sky. You weave them, together and apart, all at once."
I nodded slowly, feeling the weight of it settle in my chest. "Exactly. I am a living intersection. A fusion. And sometimes, it's too much." I paused. "That's the curse, El. I am never just one thing. Always straddling both worlds, never truly belonging to either. The Witch-folk see me as a half-breed, too wild. The Fae view me with suspicion because of my magic's roots in the human world."
"You could have been one or the other, Caelen," she said softly, her voice carrying the understanding she always had. "But you were born with both. And that's where the power lies, even if it's a double-edged sword."
I smiled bitterly. "Power... and the pain of it. You see, El, it is not just the spells I cast. It is the feeling that comes with them. I manipulate nature, yes. But nature, in return, manipulates me. That is why I have moments when I can see things. The threads of fate, the ripples before a storm... small glimpses of the future." I took a breath, looking down at my hands as if they might reveal the truth to me. "I don't always know how to control what I see, or what I feel. And lately, it is felt like the strands are pulling in a direction I cannot quite follow. Like I'm being forced into something."
Elowen's gaze softened, and for a moment, I could see the Fae scholar in her, focused, perceptive, but always careful with me, always gentle. "You've always had a burden that few could understand. The magic, the lineage, your connection to both sides of the divide. But Caelen, you don't have to shoulder it alone."
I met her eyes, my voice quieter now. "And yet, I always have. Haven't I?"
She did not answer, just reached out to squeeze my shoulder lightly, a quiet gesture that spoke volumes.
"I don't know what this is with Morkai," I continued, "but I'm not sure if it's just the magic... or something else entirely. I do not trust myself, El. I don't trust this... connection we have."
"Maybe you don't have to trust it," she said, her words quiet but strong. "Maybe you just have to let it happen. Trust the magic for once."
I shook my head, a soft laugh escaping me. "Easy for you to say. You are the one with the real power. You are the one who could walk into a Fae court and command respect. I'm... just a half-blood outcast, weaving spells in the shadows."
Her lips quirked, and she stepped closer, standing at my side with the grace of someone who had never felt torn between two worlds. "Power is nothing if you don't know how to wield it. You have spent years trying to hide, Caelen. Trying to lock away the truth of what you are. But no matter how you try, the magic will always find you. So why fight it?"
Her words were like the echo of a distant prophecy one I had never really believed, but somewhere deep inside, I could not help but wonder if she was right.
"Let it find me then," I muttered. "But if it does… I am going to need more than just the magic of nature. I'm going to need control."
Elowen smiled faintly, then placed a reassuring hand on my arm. "Then we'll find it together, Caelen. That's what friends are for."
I glanced up at her, a flicker of gratitude passing through me. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
"You'll never have to find out," she said, her voice steady and sure.
The cool night air outside the Sanctuary felt like a slap to my senses—fresh, sharp, and utterly alien after the suffocating weight of the court. The flickering lanterns and the murmur of waves beneath the cliffs were almost soothing, a reminder of the simplicity I used to crave.
Elowen walked beside me, her silvered hair catching the last remnants of the moonlight, casting a soft glow around her. We reached the edge of the Sanctuary grounds, the distant sound of the festival already fading into the backdrop of the ever-present rhythm of the ocean. I stopped, my hand instinctively curling around the hilt of the dagger at my side, a habit I had not quite been able to shake since childhood.
"You're quiet again," Elowen remarked, her voice soft, the way it always was when she knew I was hiding something. "What's on your mind this time?"
"You're leaving after this," I said, my voice quieter now, as if the weight of her departure had finally hit me. "Back to Aeldoria."
Her gaze softened, and I saw the quiet sadness in her eyes. "I have to. You know this. My duty to the Fae doesn't end here."
"I know." My voice caught for a second. "But I don't want you to go."
"I'll be back, Caelen," she said, her smile gentle, but her voice firm. "I always come back. And you will need me more than ever. We both will."
A pang of unease stirred in my chest, something deeper than I could articulate. The Fae lands, with their endless beauty and hidden dangers, were her world. The world I could not quite belong to, no matter how much I wished otherwise. I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I'll be fine, El. I always am."
Her smile deepened, though there was something unreadable in her expression now. "I'll take care of things in Aeldoria. You take care of Seroth." She leaned up, kissing my cheek lightly in a gesture that felt like both a blessing and a goodbye.
With that, Elowen turned toward the portal. "Goodbye, Caelen," she said softly, her voice carrying across the distance, and for the first time in a long while, the ache of separation felt heavy. "Until we meet again." And just like that, Elowen stepped into the magic, vanishing into the heart of the Fae realm, leaving me alone once again at the edge of the mortal world, and then I turned around and walked toward the human realm of Drevina, where I hid for most of my life.