The Storm Tower | Vol.4, The Eldenarian Artifacts ✓

31.

For the first time in forever, Makaela's head was quiet.

After binding her soul with Lumi's bright, otherworldly essence, she expected things to be a bit more...noisy. Lumi had existed for millions of years; surely, her head must've been filled to the brim with a hurricane of thoughts, memories, and whatever else gods held in their brains—if they even had them. But there was no noise. No inner turmoil.

She now had three separate entities living within her—herself, her Nightling, and now the goddess of light and prophecies. A perfect trichotomy of mortal, celestial, and demon. Light, dark, and everything in between. Someone else might've branded her a schizophrenic. She would've been inclined to agree. But nothing about her psyche was fractured. Quite the contrary. For the first time in her life, she finally felt herself. She finally felt whole.

A serene smile graced her lips.

What she'd just accomplished shouldn't have been possible. Aside from Thorian Tedorof—the prophesized Black Lotus—she was now the most powerful caster on the planet. Soon, it would be time to put her newly acquired power to the test.

The hidden room at the top of Lumi's tower returned to her just in time to see the ice barrier Ismael created explode. Shards of ice sprayed her in the face, cutting her skin and drawing blood. She pressed a finger to one of the tiny wounds. She felt no pain. The cuts closed before the blood could even hit her fingertips.

She rose to her feet.

"Well?" Karin gave her a look. "What happened?"

"I did it."

"Did what?"

Ismael smiled knowingly at her. "She saved Lumi."

"Yeah, but how?" Karin asked.

Makaela didn't have time to explain. The Illumio on her hand glowed brightly. Its twin—the Obscurio—was nearby. She ventured to the hole in the floor and peered through it. At the base of the library, she found him standing near the railing wrapped around the cylindrical chasm running through the gut of the tower.

Despite being separated by hundreds of feet, the pair locked eyes with silent intensity. They both knew what had happened. They both knew what needed to happen now.

She turned to her friends. "Find a way out of the tower."

Karin frowned. "What are you going to do?"

She didn't answer.

"Makaela, now is not the time to be a hero. We've got two artifacts on us. We can't allow the Order to get ahold of either one."

"That won't happen."

"Yeah, it won't as long as we don't split up—"

Makaela cut her golden eyes at the girl. "Listen to me, Karin. You all need to go. I will hold Thorian and the Shades off for as long as I can. I will find you. I promise."

Karin attempted to continue arguing, but Ismael intervened by placing a calming hand on the girl's shoulder. The heir of House Vaya's shoulders slumped in defeat; her cloudy eyes welled with frustrated tears.

Ismael then turned and nodded at Makaela. She did the same.

Han, who'd been silent thus far, examined her with the curiosity of a scholar gazing upon a new equation or theory for the first time. Finally, he asked her, "How does it feel?"

She didn't know how he knew what happened to her, but he did. Han always was intuitive like that. "It's hard to explain. But there's power in me now, tied to my very soul. I feel strangely at peace. I feel...free."