Thirteen Rings

Chapter Fifteen

Corvina Valrvn regarded the body before her with a sorrowful look. "I'd hoped to meet him properly." She murmured to the raven on her shoulder as she closed Darius Nobleblade's eyes one final time. "After watching him for so long through the veil... He would have made an invaluable ally."

Rising to her full height, she watched the rift with interest as the magic flowed back into the world which it had once inhabited.

This world needs you once more. The bird spoke inside her mind as a cacophony of agreements resounded behind it as the rest of the flock agreed.

"You may be right." She sighed, examining her surroundings for the first time. "Where has the portal opened?"

In a city called Mariyard. Her raven replied. But you may know it as Arstheid.

"My home." She breathed.

"Darius?" A female voice breathed in surprise, taking a hesitant step out of a destroyed house.

"You knew him?"

"Yeah." Emerald eyes shone with grief as she beheld the corpse. "He killed my parents." Hanging her head, her shoulders began to tremble as grief took her. "I didn't want him dead though."

"There was nothing that could have been done, were you close to him?"

"Sort of. I just wish..." She trailed off as she began to sob. "I wish things would have been done differently, I wish my last words to him weren't what they were, but that doesn't take away from the fact that I hate him for what he did, but I still love him for what he became."

"The world is a harsh place." Corvina began. "But I'm sure he knew, at the end."

"Do you know where Lyria is? I could have sworn I heard her voice."

"I have no recollection of a person by this name, but two women and a man attempted to help him at the end."

"What happened to them?" She pleaded, looking to the dark haired woman with shining, tear stricken eyes.

"There were no survivors." Her response was hesitant as the words weighed heavy in her chest. "I'm sorry."

"Then all is lost." Sylvia cried, falling to her knees in the crimson pool of her adopted brother's blood as her will fled her.

Around them, creatures continued to flow into the world as the magic continued to infest every living creature that wasn't already infused with it. In the distance, the city bells sounded in alarm as the magical entities spread out from the wound in space.

"A fresh sun rises on a new age." Corvina breathed as light poured into the darkness of night. The time of the mundane was over, and the age of magic had begun anew.