Children of Chaos

Chapter 29

Keptana's face pales when he sees my mother's necklace. "Where did you get that?"

"It was my mother's. I found it with her things when I lived with my grandmother," I say.

"And you know what that is?" Janab asks. He has the same fraught expression as Keptana, and my confidence falters a moment.

"I know now," I say.

"So what does that mean for what the Tybarans have planned?" Janab asks, turning back to Keptana. "Does the Chairman think they have one? Or maybe he's trying to prevent the Tybarans from finding and using Adrianna's?"

"Knowing my father, he might be trying to manipulate Adrianna to use hers."

"To what extent though?"

"Maybe to stop the Tybarans attack."

"Then why keep it a secret from the rest of the Noxians?"

I feel helpless at their speculations, unable to confirm or deny anything they say because of the mind block. The more they talk, the further they get from the truth, which is Gerna was trying to create something like this soul stone.

"Excuse me," Sofie's timid voice interrupts this time. "What exactly does Adrianna's necklace do?"

Janab and Keptana draw their attention back to me.

"It's known as a soul stone to some," Keptana says.

"And a nightmare and device of terror to others," Janab adds.

"It's a type of mineral that's found deep in the bedrock of every planet in the Realms, and it can hold every type of magic indefinitely, and is constantly fed more power the longer the wearer has it and interacts with it. When in the wrong hands, it can be an intensely dangerous tool, and it was previously thought that all of them had been destroyed or contained by the United Council after the Great War," Keptana explains.

"And why does Adrianna have it now?" Bekah asks. As she asks it, I feel her enter my head, not touching the mind block or sifting through memories, just watching, and listening.

"Unfortunately, it makes a lot of sense that Alara had a stone. She had an unstable childhood before she was adopted by Lorelana, and her family of origin was unknown. Alara was a brilliant student of magic but troubled, and if she had and regularly interacted with or used the soul stone, it explains a lot," Keptana says. "My question now is whether you ever used it, Adrianna?"

"I-" I stop as a pang shoots through my head as Bekah sifts through my memories, back to the day when I created the tornado in space. I hadn't intended to start it, but eventually I had used my mothers necklace to keep it going, and the necklace both fueled my anger and the magic controlling it. Its power had felt endless, and I feel a shadow of that endlessness as Bekah feels the memory too.

"She did use it," Bekah says, releasing me and the memory. "On the ship, right after we entered the Realms. She was using the necklace before I stopped her from destroying us all with her storm."

"Is that true?" Keptana asks.

"I- I wasn't going to destroy everyone," I get out, flustered by Bekah's interference.

"But you did use the necklace," Keptana says, and I nod. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I had no idea what it was at that point. And it showed me my mother in my dreams." I say.

"It makes sense now," Bekah says, crossing her arms. "When I stopped her, I took hold of her powers, but it all disappeared within moments, like she let it float away."