The Heir Of Ice And Dusk

Where I start to doubt everything I've done before

"You look terrible," Nia told me in the morning.

I didn't want to reply. I wanted to talk about something else --- something very important.

"When I was here before, what did I do? Was I being called the Folly even back then? What did Edgar do? Did we met?"

She took a deep breath. "I should have known you'd want to know. It's not really easy to explain, I guess, because you were here for less than a day. It was a mistake in the fabric in the universe, and that was the reason your friend was here, too. But you didn't even meet him. Only when we gathered the whole village to help you space-shift back, you caught a glimpse of his face."

"Then..." I was puzzled. "Why am I so important to you?"

"That is the difficult part to explain. You were a Summer, we did not have one for some time. You told us a summer was coming, and you gave us hope that you'd be back. We admire the Summers here, the crazy and the fools."

"But," she added hastily. "You've got to consider it could have been a different you. From another world."

"And how old was I?"

"Eight. You both were eight years old."

"It wasn't us. It wasn't me and him," I said.

"When you traveled alone to a world you knew nothing about, you must have known this could happen --- hearing about a different version of yourself. It would be tragic if you did indeed met the different you, though."

"Where are the humans?" I asked. "Is this all... part of the Aether realm?"

"Did I tell you that story about the King who wanted to harm the rebellious civilians? I might have withold that he killed all the humans, first. You see, they wanted to burn us at the stake! This world you see no longer has humans in it."

"But if there are no hybrids in this world," I muttered. "And the Edgar and Ryan she met were hybrids, just where did they come from?"

She didn't reply, and when Edgar came back, I told him the whole story.

"This is so confusing," he pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers, to avoid a headache. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

"In my dream?" I nodded. "It is just as I feared. To be able to break the curse you have to feed its bloodlust," I said. "Absorb most of Set's power. Things like that."

"That's only if you're cursed, though," Edgar said. 

We stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Well, Jake is most likely being cursed. If only Jake could give himself up to that power, you wouldn't have to..."

My voice cracked. I found there were no words to explain what I meant.

"But if Jake did that," I finally added. "He would die. That's the only way. And who are we to say who should die and who shouldn't? I don't want to be the one who decides who or what we should sacrifice."

I thought about the story of the Ancient Families. How Godiva had sacrificed herself, and the way Godric's sanity was sacrificed instead. Nia hadn't told me, but since it wasn't a blessing, I imagined being the first person to see the future in dreams drove you crazy.

"I'm also very confused right now," I added. "My uncle... yes, he was a bad person. But all this time, he's never wanted the mirror for himself! He wanted it to amplify his powers to break the curse."

Edgar put a hand on my shoulder. He seemed to have understood that there was one thing that was bothering me more than the rest.

"How do we know if what we're doing is wrong or right?" I finally asked. "During my last quest, we were sure we were doing the right thing! But we didn't. It's my fault if the curse is still around."