The words Astophe used weren’t Meyarin, but they had the familiar lyrical cadence of the language Lady Mystique had spoken. Translated mentally thanks to her bond with Xiraxus, Alex understood them to mean ‘The Light of the Worlds’. But what Astophe was referring to, she had no idea.
“And of course,” the king continued, “you must also tell us how fares the young Freyan who had just used the eiden paths to travel here when last we saw you.”
Having been in the middle of taking another sip from her drink, Alex nearly sloshed the liquid all down her front, so startled was she by his enquiry.
‘Freyan’ was a word she needed no translation for.
Eiden in the unknown lyrical language meant ‘doorway’.
Connecting the dots, Alex suddenly realised what Soraya de lah Torra—The Light of the Worlds—referred to.
Astophe was talking about the Library.
How could I be so stupid? Alex berated herself, lowering her trembling hand until the goblet was resting back on the table. For seven days she’d been in the past, and not once had she considered seeking out the Library, not even after she’d mastered the use of the Valispath. While she couldn’t know for sure, it was entirely possible that if the Library was capable of transporting her from Freya to Medora—between two entirely different worlds—then perhaps it was also able to bend time and return her to the future.
In fact, until this moment, she had also never given any thought to other Freyans ever having visited Medora, although she vaguely recalled Bear and Jordan once telling her that she was the first to arrive in thousands of years. That meant at some stage before her, someone else had journeyed from her world to Medora. Wondering if perhaps this person Astophe had asked about was the predecessor her friends had been referring to, Alex turned her full attention back to the table.
“Soraya de lah Torra shows itself to be more magnificent every time I wander its halls,” Eanraka answered with a contented smile lighting his face that, with his dark hair and sharp features, made him look like an older version of Roka. The family resemblance was uncanny. “There can be no doubt that it truly is the Jewel of Medora, and I can see now why it was fought over for so long by other races of this world. Akarnae would not be what it is without the Great Library offered as its foundation.”
“And the Freyan?” Niida asked her father. “What of him?”
Eanraka let out a rumbling chuckle. “Enoch is his name, and what a story he has. It’s been surprisingly difficult for me to learn his dialect, and for him to learn the common tongue enough to comprehend little more than a basic understanding. But from what I gather, he claims that one day he was walking with a friend and then suddenly he was no more.”
“He was no more what?” Niida asked.
Eanraka spread out his hands. “Those are the only words he used.”
“That must have been when he travelled the eiden paths and found his way through to Medora,” Roka guessed, and his grandfather nodded.
“Indeed,” Eanraka confirmed. “And I must say, Enoch is a rather intriguing mortal. He’s already lived much longer than the lifespan of the humans who inhabit our world, and yet he is still considered young in Freya. He has an inquisitive mind and, rather than desiring to return to his world, he is content to remain here until the time comes for him to travel to what he calls ha adar haleah.”
Judging by the looks all around the table, Alex wasn’t the only one unable to understand the phrase.
“‘The Great Beyond’,” Eanraka translated for them all. “I believe, despite our language barriers, that he was referring to death.”
“Jeez. Morbid, much?” Alex muttered under her breath, forgetting that there were now at least five people around the table who understood the common tongue—Niida, Astophe, Roka, Aven and Eanraka. Given Roathus’s and Cykor’s twitching lips, she gathered that they too understood her softly spoken words.
Eanraka’s eyes were sparkling when he said, “He’s a pleasant sort of human, young Aeylia, morbid or not, and he seems content to enjoy his hours wandering the hallways of Soraya de lah Torra as his days move toward their final conclusion.”
“Otherworlders are so strange,” Aven spoke up for the first time all night. “Regardless of where they’re from.”
“Be that as it may, we’re hardly ones to judge, given our origins,” Roka said curtly, causing Alex’s ears to perk up, curious as to what he meant. But she would have to wait for Kyia to cover it in her lessons since it hardly seemed appropriate to ask while the council was in attendance.
As the conversation dwindled to less interesting topics and the table cleared of food, Alex thought over everything she had learned that night and wondered when she might sneak away to Akarnae. But as it happened, she needn’t have worried about devising a plan because when they all began to depart the dining hall, Eanraka sought her out directly.
“Aeylia, I thought perhaps given your background that you might be interested in joining me for a tour of my school?”
His words were perfectly clear in the common tongue, and at the risk of sounding too eager, she answered, “I’d love that! When can I come?”
“How does right now suit?” He tugged at the collar of his double-breasted vest as if he couldn’t wait to be away from the palace. “Unless you have other plans?”
“Not at all,” Alex said enthusiastically. Roka cleared his throat pointedly and she sent him a pleading look. He rolled his eyes and waved his hand, allowing her to skip whatever lesson he had planned for the night. She beamed back at him and he shook his head in amusement, walking out the door with the other Meyarins and leaving her with his grandfather.
“Shall we?” Eanraka said, gesturing for her to follow as they moved out of the warded dining hall. The moment they were in the corridor, he activated the Valispath and they took off, zooming out of the palace and away from Meya.
Faster and faster they soared through the gold and silver forests before the trees transformed into the normal green and brown variety. She had travelled this path before with Zain, but it was no less remarkable thousands of years in the past than it had been that night in the future.
Before long, the Eternal Path began to slow down and Alex looked on with wide eyes at the familiar shape of the academy’s Tower building silhouetted against the night’s sky. As she stepped off the Path and onto the base of the medieval structure, she glanced around in awe. The grounds were the same, from the stunning Lake Fee mirroring the starry sky to Mount Paedris in the distance and the moonbeams bouncing off its snow-capped peak. But as for the buildings of the academy, those were definitely different to the future campus of Akarnae. Other than the Tower and two large structures that were in similar locations to the future dormitory and food court buildings, there was nothing else familiar. There were no Stable Complex, Arena or Clinic. Most notably, there was also no General Sector building, and without Gen-Sec, Alex wondered where most of the theory classes were held, let alone where the Medical Ward was situated.
Amazed by the similar but oh-so-different academy laid out before her, Alex trailed her eyes over the landscape before turning back to find Eanraka studying her closely.
“I daresay it looks much different to what you’re used to. Am I right, Alexandra Jennings?”
Alex gaped at him. She couldn’t even muster up a denial, so confident was his statement.
She must have looked as alarmed as she felt because he reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, smiling gently at her.
“It’s all right, Alexandra. I’m not going to tell anyone.”
“How—How—”
“I didn’t bring you here tonight to give you a tour of an academy you’re already familiar with,” Eanraka said, using his hand on her shoulder to guide her into the Tower building. “I brought you here because I was asked to do so.”
In a high-pitched, disbelieving voice, Alex squeaked out, “By who?”
Eanraka chuckled and led her towards a familiar downwa
rds staircase. “Who do you think?”
“The Library told you about me?” she asked, throwing her best and only guess out there. “You were sent to get me?”
Eanraka nodded as they descended the staircase together. “Collecting you was the only reason I travelled back to Meya tonight. I abhor those council meetings and the pretentious House representatives. They’re eternally stuck in their ways. My people might be advanced as a civilisation, but sometimes we can be anything but civil—especially to other races.”
He led the way across the Library’s grand foyer and towards the second downward staircase.
“I don’t know what happens in the future, Alexandra, and I won’t ask you to tell me. But what I will say is this: don’t forget why you’re here, because therein lies your strength.”
Waiting a beat for more information that didn’t end up coming, Alex hesitantly said, “By ‘here’ do you mean the past?”
Eanraka pulled her to a halt, his face stoic. “Medora, Alexandra. Don’t forget why you’re in Medora.”
“I…” Alex trailed off, uncertain. “I’m not sure I understand. I’m in Medora because the Library brought me here from my world.”
“That’s the ‘how’, not the ‘why’.”
Alex thought for a moment and finally admitted, “I’m not following.”
“You were Called, Alexandra,” Eanraka said, using a term she hadn’t heard for a while. “And you were Chosen.”
As if there was some kind of speaker system within the stone walls, Alex heard the whispered replay of a faded memory.
‘Many are Called, but few answer the Call. Fewer still respond to it and follow where it leads… And that’s why you’re not only Called, but also Chosen. Because you’ll continue to walk through the doors, no matter where they lead.’
“As I told you, Alexandra,” Eanraka said as the Library’s replayed words came to an end, “I don’t know what the future brings. What your future brings. But I do know you were Called to Medora—both past and future—for a reason.”
Another whispered memory sounded in her ear, as if confirming his words. ‘Because you are Chosen… And you are needed, for such a time as this.’
Alex was shaking her head, not sure if in fear, denial or confusion. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she said in a quiet voice.
“I didn’t bring you here to tell you what to do,” Eanraka replied just as quietly. “But if it helps, be encouraged in knowing you will never be required to face more than you are capable of handling.”
Regardless of the moment holding great solemnity, Alex couldn’t repress a quiet snort. “I’m sorry, but have you seen the mess that is my life?”
“What I see is you standing here before me,” he said. “Since you are still breathing, one could conclude that you have indeed been capable of handling every situation you’ve yet experienced in life.”
“You make a valid point,” Alex reluctantly acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean I’m handling things well.”
Eanraka’s mouth stretched into a smile. “That’s not the encouragement I offered you.”
Alex let out a huff of laughter. “Well played, you sneaky elf.”
Cocking his head to the side, Eanraka said, “I shall assume I’m better off not asking the meaning of that term, given the context in which it was used?”
“That’s probably wise,” Alex agreed, still grinning.
“Perhaps I’ll remember to hunt down Enoch sometime to ask him,” Eanraka mused.
At that, Alex’s laughter was much more genuine. “Good luck to you, since I doubt they had many pop culture references in Freya back in the… whatever year this is. There are probably dinosaurs roaming the earth, for all I know.”
“I guess I’ll have to leave it as a mystery then,” Eanraka said. He moved a step closer to Alex and placed both his hands on her shoulders, tilting his head down to meet her eyes. “It has been an honour to meet you Alexandra Jennings of Freya, but this is where I must leave you.”
She looked at him in bafflement. “What? But—”
“I was asked to collect you, nothing more,” he told her. “From here, you’re on your own.” He squeezed her shoulders once and let her go. “May the stars shine ever brightly upon you, and the light be your guide forevermore.”
With those strange blessing-like words, Eanraka offered a final smile and disappeared back up the stairs, leaving Alex on her own.
Giving herself a mental nudge, she followed the spiralling stairs downwards and, making sure she had a clear picture in her mind of where she wanted to go, she willed a doorway to open before her.
Stepping into the blackness beyond, Alex fell through the dark until she landed in a cavern divided by a river rushing between two fissures in the rock walls on either side of the large space.
Alex wasn’t sure why she’d chosen the cave as her destination; perhaps it was merely a sense of nostalgia and the desire to be comforted by its familiarity. This was the place where she’d first conversed with the Library, the place where she’d had to make a choice whether or not to stay in Medora or return to her world. It was symbolic, Alex felt.
“Excuse me, Library?” she called out, standing to her feet and moving closer to the river, watching the luminescence wax and wane as if the light itself was alive.
“I was wondering when you would come visit me, Alexandra,” the Library responded, “And when you didn’t, I thought perhaps a little motivation might be in order.”
“Thanks for that,” Alex said sheepishly. “I don’t know why I didn’t think to come here sooner.”
“I daresay you’ve had a lot on your mind.”
If that wasn’t an understatement, Alex didn’t know what was.
“Can I ask a question?”
“You can always ask me anything.”
Alex only just refrained from pulling a face as she clarified, “Let me rephrase. Can I ask a question that you’ll answer in a way I’ll understand?”
The Library chuckled, the sound soothing to Alex’s ears. “Why don’t you ask and we’ll see?”
Well, it wasn’t a ‘no’ at least.
“How do you know who I am?” she asked. “We technically haven’t met yet.”
“I knew you long before you were born, Alexandra.”
She waited for more, but when the Library said nothing else, she prompted, “That’s great and all, but again, technically I haven’t been born yet.”
“You would have a hard time standing here and speaking with me if that were true,” the Library said in a strangely wry tone.
Alex’s brow furrowed. “Did you just… Was that sarcasm?” When no response came, she added, “You’re a Library. Since when do you have a sense of humour?”
“Apparently since I decided to ask Eanraka to collect you tonight.”
Eyes widening, she cried out, “There! You just did it again! Who are you and what have you done with the Library I know?”
“I am what I was, just as I am what I will be,” the Library said. “I am the same yesterday, today and forever.”
Alex blinked and tried to get her head around that. “Right. Well speaking of, uh, forever, let’s get back to how you know me.”
“Let’s instead move on to why you’re here,” the Library returned.
“You know why I’m here, otherwise you wouldn’t have sent Eanraka after me,” Alex said. “But still, I need to know. Are you able to return me to my time?”
Heart thumping, Alex waited for an answer, the sounds of the rushing water filling her ears as she strained to hear the Library’s voice again.
Finally, it came, but not with the response she was after.
“I will answer you, Alexandra, but first I want to show you something. It’s the reason I called you here tonight.”
Interest piqued, Alex said, “You have my attention.”
She jumped in fright when the river suddenly quieted and three familiar boulders rose to the surface, offering a bridge
to a new doorway that appeared. It was open, but Alex couldn’t see where it went.
“Is it wishful thinking to hope that will lead back to where I’m from?” Alex asked, making her way over the boulders.
“It will lead you nowhere,” the Library said, “or perhaps somewhere. Only you can decide.”
“I really hate it when you speak in riddles,” Alex said with a sigh.
“Step through the doorway, Alexandra, and you will soon understand.”
With a promise like that, what am I waiting for? she thought, sucking in a deep breath and stepping forward. Here goes nothing.
Unlike every other time she’d walked through the Library’s doorways, this time she felt it as if it were a physical thing, like oil coating her skin, stumbling through a spider web, or wading through water—perhaps all three at once. When she came out the other side, she had to shake her head a few times before her vision cleared, and then she stumbled back a step at the sight before her.
She was in Tryllin, the capital city of Medora.
Or what was left of it.
Standing before her was the smouldering wreck of a once thriving metropolis. The centre of the city was nothing more than a smoking crater, with the majestic palace half destroyed and the rest collapsing in on itself. There was fire everywhere, with people running through the streets, screaming in pain, crying for help.
Alex just stood there, frozen in horror.
“What happened here?” she whispered to herself—or so she thought.
“This is the future, Alex.”
She woodenly turned her head to the owner of the voice as he stepped up beside her. He looked exactly the same as when she’d last seen him, his stunning blue eyes captivating her own as she mouthed his name in disbelief.
“Kaiden?”
“This is the future,” he repeated, “or it will be, if you fail.”
Twenty-One
“You’re not real,” Alex gasped out. “None of this is real, it can’t be.”
“It’s not real yet,” Kaiden told her. “But only you can stop it from happening.”
“How are you—What are you?” she demanded.