ShadowSong [Book 1 & 2: Complete] [NaNoWriMo16/17]

Chapter 61 - The Shadows See All

Cryo arrived at the Manifested scene in central Sylrael before Banshee, despite the fact that she'd been transformed before him.

She arrived not long after, and within two minutes of her arrival, the Manifested was cleansed in a whirl of shadow and smoke. Cryo stood by as Banshee pulled the ex-Manifested individual to their feet and bounced their clear fragment in the palm of her hand.

"We all good?" said Banshee to the cleansed individual.

"Ye--yes," said the girl. "I'm so sorry."

"No problem, none at all," said Banshee.

She glanced to Cryo. He expected her to hold out her hand and give him that ridiculous grin that could always lift his spirits, but instead, she just jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "You good? Let's go, back to the temple, I need to tell you something but I need to check on Wyvern, like, now. He wasn't doing great when I left."

Cryo ignored the ache of disappointment. "Wyvern?"

"Explain later, Starlight Hall now!"

Not a minute later, they'd both crossed the distance from central Sylrael and stood back at the Starlight Hall. Banshee immediately ran up the stairs.

"Wyvern?" she called. "Wyvern, you still here?"

Cryo followed her up the stairs. "Is there a reason you're searching for Wyvern?"

"Well, yeah," said Banshee with a frown. "Harpy's husband showed up, and Wyvern sorta had a bit of a breakdown and I was talking to him but then the Manifested showed up and he just closed off, but I was hoping he'd still be here when I got back."

"Harpy's husband?"

"Yeah," said Banshee. "Turns out that with these Starsong amulets? When we complete the task, they activate, and we can actually give them to someone and share our secret with them without going Dark, but there's a bunch of rules attached. You have to form the bond with both people touching it and eye contact, and you can only give it to a civilian--so if I were to give mine to you now, it wouldn't work, but if I found you in your civilian identity, it would." She huffed, blowing a piece of hair off her visor. "Can you believe it? Starsong gives us a loophole, then makes it nearly impossible for us to actually make sure we give it to each other."

"And is this how you knew it was truly Harpy's husband? He was in possession of her Starsong amulet?"

"Really?" said Banshee, raising an eyebrow. "I tell you this, and that's your first reaction to it?"

Cryo continued to look at her. "Is there a problem with that?"

"...No, I guess not," said Banshee after a moment. "I just thought... I don't know. Nevermind. It doesn't particularly concern us anyway until our amulets activate, which apparently ours haven't."

"How can you be sure?"

Banshee fished around in her pocket for something, pulling out a Starsong amulet. Cryo assumed at first it was her own before noticing hers still secured just under her throat in her garments. The difference between the two was significant. The one in her hand had a luminous quality about it, while the one at her throat simply appeared to be another carved piece of starstone.

"This is Wyvern's," said Banshee, holding out the one in her hand. "He... never gave it to anyone. I think he was holding onto it for Harpy. Learning that she hadn't done the same for him was a hard truth to swallow for him."

"I can imagine so," said Cryo. "I can't imagine that any Luminary would take the news well that their partner had effectively given up on them. I couldn't even begin to fathom why I'd give mine to anyone but you."