Keeper of the Lost Cities: Elysian

Chapter 2

Like all elves, Elysian was stunning- there was something about her slanted azure eyes and long, flowing silver hair that was unique and beautiful in its way. The tips of her ears were distinctly pointed, which confirmed Sophie's hunch that Elysian was Ancient- and also enhanced her looks. 

The sight was so beautiful and majestic that it felt... unreal. Sophie felt a prickle of unease. 

Elysian smoothed a strand of hair nervously and said, "I can tell you're different. You aren't like others, who want to harness my power for their selfish reasons. And you aren't doing it to control- you're doing it to support."

Her eyes flickered to Keefe. "You've been changed using stellarlune. And you're heading down a very dangerous path."

Keefe scoffed. "Yet another reminder of Mom of the Year planning to ruin my life and take over the world. I've had enough people tell me, thank you very much."

Elysian didn't blink at his sarcasm. "Your mother was the one who leaped away just now, right? She doesn't know what is at stake if she completes the last step of stellarlune. I made sure nobody could ever do that again."

She shivered and her voice shook when she said, "I was the one who experimented on myself."

Her voice shook when she continued, "I was always very ambitious. Even though I was such an immensely powerful Telepath- it was called differently back then- in my youth, I always yearned for more. My cravings for it eventually led me on a quest. However, I chose to do my studies in secret. I sought the help of a Flasher and a Shade to transform myself using the quintessence in ethertine and the shadowflux in magsidian. The process took a year, but I had patience. Through the transformation, I felt pain- but it was not pain. I embraced the change.

Sophie and Keefe glanced at each other, and both remembered that it was exactly how Lady Gisela had worded it. 

"After I recovered from it, I received extraordinary abilities- but I knew something was missing. I still needed something to reach my full potential. Otherwise, the power of stellarlune would fade, and so would my abilities. From scrutiny and studies of the natural forces of this world, I determined that I needed the esylune-"

"What's esylune?" Fitz interrupted. 

"It's the name I gave to the rare crystal I found within the special rocks in the quarry," Elysian explained. "I didn't know what they were at first, but I realized that the three Prime Sources created them. And it was exactly two Nightfalls ago when the light of the sixth unmapped star- I call it Equilibrial- hit the sun-baked rocks under the light of the moon, and I collected the esylune from the rocks using a tool I received from a dwarf friend a long, long time ago."

She withdrew an odd-looking tool from her cloak. It looked like a pickaxe but was forged from a strange crystal that glowed in the rainbow spectrum.

"Just to clarify, esylune is the seventh element?" Sophie asked. "Vespera mentioned something about it during our meeting with Trix."

Elysian shrugged. "I'm not sure- there could be many names for it. That's the thing about dealing with the unknown." 

"What happened after?" Marcella asked. 

"For the third step, I hurled one of the esylune crystals at my feet. It should have killed me instantly, but it didn't. It somehow merged with the stellarlune inside of me. And at that moment, light and darkness revolved around me. And they gave me a choice."

She paused. "The light told me that if I embraced the change, I would live. The darkness told me that if I resisted, I would die. And I chose the light."