12. Saoirse

Saoirse

" W itches?"

Xan's incredulous tone was accompanied by disbelief, her eyebrows now surely attached to the back of her head. "There are only Lightlace witches," she said, suspicion back in her gaze.

"For many centuries, that was the case," he agreed, his long dreads bobbing as he moved, polishing the last bite of his biscuit with a heavy swallow. The man had demolished every piece of food I'd seen him eat, like he didn't know where his next meal was going to come from. "It seems your leaders don't teach you proper history. What did you think we were?"

"Darkwings are an urban legend, an old tale they tell kids to keep them from venturing too far out of the walls," I offered. I knew the story well, down to my very bones. All of us did. "They say you dwell in the mines under Umbra, but if we venture too far, you will take all our magic and eat our flesh."

Vane's face contorted with disgust, which was reassuring, but Xan was the one who spoke next. "We never thought it was real. Overconfident teens and soldiers trying to rise through the ranks go out there all the time, stupid games to prove their bravery. They always come back empty-handed."

"That is because they do not know where to look," he said simply, offering no more intel to the whereabouts of where he lived, but I could tell our answer amused him. "We are witches, and have always been so."

"There are no witches with powers like yours," Xan argued, but said no more, leaving space for Vane to tell as much of his story as he was willing to. She watched him with hard eyes, and I could almost see the cogs in her mind turning as she tried to find a hole to poke in his story.

"Once, we were all the same. Lightlace through and through, thriving under Daer, when the gods still graced this land with their presence." He closed his eyes, sitting back down, a tattooed hand coming to rest over his wound. Not in pain, but in curiosity, his fingers lightly feathering over the skin, feeling the healed ridges and bumps of the irritated mark. "But not everyone was satisfied with that."

"There was a group of Lightlace who wanted more. It wasn't enough for them to be powerful, trained by Daer herself. They wanted to be Daer, wanted her magic, her kingdom. They tried to kill her."

"Kill a god?" I couldn't help myself, my shock palpable. What Lightlace could be so deluded that killing a god would be possible?

"They failed, of course. But Daer was all about how every life was precious, and taking lives was not something she supported. So she cursed them instead, taking what every Lightlace witch cherished the most, their magic. Seeing their corruption, the threat they posed to the world if she let them go back to their lives, stripping them of their light-based magic and cursing them to live in darkness.

"But Daer wasn't one to completely abandon her children, so she bestowed shadow magic upon them, wanting us to be able to protect ourselves if needed, but to never want to venture into Sol as our magic thrives on the night. She cursed us to Umbra, where our powers reign, but the sun is absent. And ever since then, Darkwings have been living in hiding. Only when Daer disappeared, when all the gods disappeared, did the Lightlace start hunting us."

"Umbra? You're not worried about telling us all this?" I asked.

"You wouldn't be able to find our city even if you tried."

"What I don't understand is why would our parents still be hunting Darkwings? All because of a centuries old slight by our ancestors, none of which are alive to this day?" It was a hard concept to grasp for me. Why waste all that time fighting a fight that was no longer yours? Perhaps our people could join together, create an alliance of sorts that would be mutually beneficial.

Vane let out a long exhale, swiping a hand down his face tiredly. "It was never because of that. When the gods disappeared, the Darkwings staged an attack. They saw an opportunity and they took it. An attempt to get their sun magic back, but it backfired. Have you ever heard of the Heartshard?"

At the muted shakes of our head, he continued. "It was a symbol of Daer, gifted to the Lightlace. Rumored to contain enough power for the wielder to become a god themselves, she entrusted it to them for safekeeping. Even though it held power, it was known that to wield it was to die because mortals weren't meant to harness that much power. And for hundreds of years that worked."

"Until the gods disappeared," I said, sensing where this was going, the dots connecting slowly in my brain, mapping out a much larger picture of the world I thought I had known.

"Exactly." A small, approving smile teased his lips as he glanced at me, his shadows shifting slightly against his skin. "When the Lightlace were suddenly left without their guide, the Darkwings attacked. They went straight for the Heartshard, but in the scuffle it was shattered, cracking in two. You'd think it'd become useless, but on the contrary, each half was still home to incredible energy. "

"Where are the shards now?" Xan asked, and I nodded along, needing to know.

"They were split. The Darkwings fled with one, and the Lightlace kept the other. We keep ours protected, and hidden. We can't harness any of its power, not without the second half."

"So, you came here to steal it? To reunite the shards, and gain the powers of a god?" Xan asked, crossing her arms over her chest, already bristling.

Vane sighed, giving a shake of his head. "Yes, but not for the reasons that you think." He looked at my sister, who tapped a foot impatiently, waiting for him to finish. "Our lands are dying. The curse upon the earth of my home is spreading. I don't know why, I don't know for how long, but it's happening, and reuniting the shards and using their power is the only thing I can think of that might stop it. And I could really use your help."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Xan asked, eyes narrowed. She was right. We didn't know him, and I'd literally seen him tear apart a person from the inside out. For all we knew, he could just want to use the shard for his own gain, become an all-powerful being and kill all the Lightlace.

"It is a little suspicious," I added, before he could answer her. "You just show up one day, spouting this grand story of shards and decaying lands, and yet we've never seen any evidence to prove that's true."

"I can show you."

"You're going to take us to your city?" I asked, not able to keep the edge of excitement from my voice. The chance to go outside the walls, to go out into the world and see a secret society was the most exciting thing that would have ever happened in my life. Alone, I would never, but I'd feel safe traveling with Xan and Vane at my side, given their deadly combination of powers.

"That won't be necessary. Like I said, the decay is spreading."