Out of Evenfall (BOOK 1)

Chapter 28

YUVEN

Morning came too slow for his liking. Daylight struggled to fight the bloody night. Birds fell silent into the trees, broken only by the distant howls of Derelicts. He propped himself in one of the broken rafters to keep watch, swinging his foot back and forth. Every change in the wind ruffled his head feathers through the cracks of the glass. Clicking open his moonwatch, he frowned down at the information. And the ticking. Moments into his life.

It comes too slow... I'm almost expecting the clouds to bleed. He counted along with the ticks as the light sent its flaming tendrils through the dark clouds. Yuven huffed and returned to the others through his magick. The Anima jumped with a short gasp when he came through the wall, though Fenrer and the older Storm Warden had no such satisfactory reaction. He ignored her to head for Fenrer, taking his medication. "Let us discuss our next plan," he said before anyone else could make the morning go ever slower. "We cannot stay here and note down every name. I checked the archives, and to their credit, they kept track of who was posted where." Yuven folded his arms and ignored the rust in the back of his throat. Forgotten and pushed away. He bit on his tongue, though avoided his fangs.

"If it concerns you that much, I still have a job to do," the old Warden spoke up.

"Wait." Adara, the Anima, stepped forward. "I'm still not following half the time. I just got ripped away from the only home I've known. I want some things explained before—"

Agitation drove his fangs into his tongue. "If you have not realised yet, Anima, we do not have the luxury of explanations." She bristled, but he pushed on, "We have to get you out of here. That is why we're here. All can wait until we've confirmed that the danger has passed."

Adara snapped on her heel to face him down, with fiery courage and without the fear and sympathy of many. When all who faced the Derelicts succumbed to despair, within the star, the light. "And what danger is that? Me? Am I the danger? As if I haven't had that hanging over my head in the form of a headsman's blade since the day I comprehended my own existence?" she snapped, and he glanced at Fenrer when he shuffled and the auric swirl denoted her overpowering aura he'd never see. "Or is it something else? Is it those beasts that you've said yourself you have ways of beating back? I didn't say explain everything to me right this instant, but tell me where you're taking me. Tell me what I'm walking into."

Tell me why they see me as a monster. Yuven scowled at her. "We are taking you to the Elder Convocation. In Azahama. Is that satisfactory?"

"Where is that?"

One question too many. One question to waste time. Garren, the old Warden, moved and caused the Anima to turn to him in confusion. It took long minutes into the morning for the other Warden to return with a large, folded map in his hands. "Here," he said, with far more patience than what he had within. "Look." He unfolded it for her and stretched it out. "Azahama is within the borders of Dyrin, but for the most part, it is a neutral city." He traced the lines of the part of the continent which split the northern lands from the south and parts of the west, sharing its borders with all. "You could say it is the capital of all magickae. It is the seat of the Elder Convocation, who make our laws."

Adara leaned down to the map to brush her thumb across the parchment. "This is our entire continent? Not the world?" Wide-eyed and awash with the fiery anger from before, she grabbed the map to stare into its etched lines.

"Satisfied?" he questioned. "We have no time."

"Not even close," she grunted in much the same fashion as her Guardian. "But good enough. Since you seem to be in such a rush." Adara pushed the map into Garren's hands. "What about distance? You mentioned teleporting? How is that done?"