Exile (24 page)

“All elements have benefits and drawbacks,”
Llubla explained.
“Fire, for instance, allows for numerous spells, but causes the user to be far more at his emotion’s whims. For love, people flock to us easily, but we always will be forced to sacrifice ourselves in the end. It’s the burden we carry.”

“Sacrifice?” Corin asked, frowning. “What do you mean?”

“All of my children must do it,”
Llubla replied.
“I only choose a guardian when my fellow spirits get unruly.”

“So what does this have to do with me?”

“You are my child,”
he explained,
“and it will be your destiny.”

Corin stared, mouth hanging agape. “To sacrifice myself?” he asked. “What about Faye? She showed me this temple last night. Well, in my dream, but I woke up around here, so….”

Llubla laughed.
“I was wondering when she’d get impatient. Faye is my vessel.”

“Why couldn’t I cast spells?”

“You always had powers,”
Llubla replied.
“You could always draw people in and always make friends who could protect you. You’ve always been able to cast spells, but only verbally, I’m afraid to say. Those sorts of spells are very outdated, and I apologize for this, but my strength isn’t what it used to be, so I focused my energy on making sure you’d never get hurt.”

“You protected me….” Corin muttered, thinking back to his childhood. It was true. None of the children in his village had ever teased him, despite his unique appearance and mother’s occupation, and when he came here all the guardians had been instantly drawn to him, always ensuring he’d be out of harm’s way.

“
I did the best I could
,”Llubla confirmed.

“And what of Faye, now?” he asked. “You said she is your vessel…. Where does that leave me?”

“Faye is still around, though she’s almost at the end of her life,”
Llubla explained.

“She’s still around?” he asked.

“Yes,”
he replied,
“but she’ll be gone soon enough. When she’s dead you may take her place.”

“I’ll be replacing Faye?” he asked.

“Yes,”
Llubla replied.

“Why me?” he asked, flushing. “Why did you choose me?”

Llubla laughed.
“Because you are the child of Iason and Faye, their rightful son, at least. The only one who’d be able to take Faye’s place.”

“What?” Corin asked. “I thought guardians weren’t able to have children….”

“Their brothers and sisters can,”
Llubla replied.

“So what…. What am I supposed to do? To replace Faye, I mean—”

“I’ve already told you as much as you’re ready to know. I’ll be off now. You’ll know when to seek me out.”

“Wait!” Corin called, reaching for Llubla. “W-what happened to Adelle? Why, when she read your tale, did it hurt her so much?”

Llubla turned around.
“Those words were meant for you only. Faye wrote them for you. Adelle would’ve been able to read them had I not placed an enchantment.”

Corin reached his hands out again, but suddenly Llubla began dissolving, disappearing in a brighter flash than before, leaving Corin sitting on the floor, dazed from his encounter.

Chapter 26

C
ORIN
picked the staff up from beside him, looking at the piece of metal in amazement. So that must have been what Aless had seen when he had done the ritual, Corin figured, or at least something similar.

He wished Llubla had given him a little bit more information. Most of what the spirit did was merely confirm what Corin had already figured out, and the pieces that didn’t fall under that category were vague and confusing. Llubla had raised far more questions than answers, and Corin couldn’t truly figure out where he could go from here.

Corin turned around and walked toward the door. Aless had never complained about Serac being vague with his commands, why did Corin’s god have to be the difficult one, he wondered, frowning.

He opened the door to the general area. He didn’t think he’d be particularly helpful, even if he told Master Cyril and Master Selena every word Llubla said. Llubla was too confusing to understand.Though unless Corin managed to give them an explanation, he knew they would enter his temple. Corin didn’t want that to happen. He didn’t have enough to give them to stop them, and he could understand why they needed to…. He just didn’t want them in here. It was his place.

“Did you find anything?” Cyril asked, stepping toward the temple, almost getting a peek in before Corin slammed the door shut.

“Yes…. Well, no,” he explained. “I don’t know.”

“You can start by telling us what you found. You were in there for a long time,” Cyril replied.

Selena stepped forward, placing a hand on Corin’s shoulder. “Corin should know what happened. There is some bad news.”

“We can discuss this later—for now we need to—”

“Bad news?” Corin interrupted.

Cyril gave Selena a harsh look. “While you were in the temple, Aless’s restraints broke. Selena managed to trap him in the Water Temple, and he didn’t kill….”

“What?” Corin asked, frown immediately covering his face. “He… he can’t have.” Last night Aless had been so calm, so normal, so gentle, and… his restraints had snapped. He had become feral. He was trapped in that spirit forsaken
well
and—

“We can find out what’s happening,” Selena assured.

“It means more of the text is uncovered,” Cyril added. “We’ll be closer to the solution with it.”

“Unless it means nothing! Haven’t you thought of that?”

“Of course we have,” Cyril replied. “We couldn’t stop Aless’s restraints from breaking, though, and we may as well use this to our—”

“Aless is gone,” Corin whispered.

Selena pulled her hand away from Corin’s shoulder. Corin deserved to know, she felt, even if it would compromise Corin’s mental state. She couldn’t imagine how she would feel about Piers going feral without her knowledge. Corin deserved to know and he’d be far more upset if they deprived him of the information.

“We can mourn for our fallen friends later, Corin,” he scolded. “For now we need to try to solve this as soon as possible.”

“Aless is
gone
,” he repeated.

Cyril gave Selena a dark look. Selena stepped forward. “Corin,” she began, lowering her voice to almost a whisper, “I know Aless means a lot to you… and I don’t mind, Corin, so long as you help me get my lover back too.”

“So… I’ll read over the sheet, then?” he suggested.

“Thank you,” Cyril replied, escorting the younger man into the main temple.

“
T
HERE
isn’t very much more revealed,” Corin explained, blowing the ashes off the text, “I’m a little bit disappointed… I can barely read it.”

He had already revealed to them all he could regarding his experience in the temple, but none of it was truly helpful. The name Faye wasn’t well known, and although they now knew that Llubla was the former spirit of love, the rest of Llubla’s messages didn’t make sense.

Selena leaned over, trying to get a glimpse of what had been added. “What does it say?”

“There isn’t really a way to say it in Common,” Corin said.

“Ancient, perhaps?” Cyril suggested, running a finger over the newly uncovered patch.

“I don’t speak Ancient, but I doubt I could say it in anything besides Centrallian,” he answered. “Besides, half of it is still covered.”

“So what do you think it says?” Cyril asked.

“It’s part of a song,” Corin replied. “I recognize it, somewhat…. From what I can see, it’s about the spirits.”

Cyril nodded. “Is it a song of worship?”

“I can’t tell,” Corin answered. “I’m sorry, but it’s incomplete.”

Cyril sighed, standing up and pacing around the room, looking between Corin and Selena. “There’s only one way to get the entire text uncovered.”

Selena sighed. “Yeah….”

“And my restraints are only days away from breaking at most,” he mused, turning toward the door. “Is Zephyr’s temple still free, Selena?”

“Yes,” she answered, tilting her head toward Cyril.

“I want you to trap me in there,” Cyril stated.

“When your restraints break?” Selena asked.

“No, right now,” he answered.

“You can’t be serious!” Selena declared, standing up. “I could take Alvah! Cyril, let me switch with you, I can’t help with—”

“Selena,” Cyril interrupted, “I wouldn’t last with Zephyr inside me. I’d go feral despite it.”

“They’ll break eventually though, can’t we wait?” Selena countered, crossing her arms.

“We cannot,” Cyril stated.

“Master Cyril?” Corin asked.

“Restraints can be broken with intense enough emotions,” Cyril answered, “and if mine break, the text will be in its complete form.”

“But—”

“They’ll break anyway soon enough,” Cyril interrupted, “and I’d rather not kill half the monastery when mine do.”

“I can stop you,” Selena countered. “We need your he—”

“Alvah is stronger than the others, Selena,” Cyril argued, “and he has a better chance of escaping an improper vessel.”

“I don’t like this,” Selena replied. “How do you know we can even break them? I’m not just going to throw you down a well.”

“I have a plan for that, Selena,” he explained. “When we’re in the temple, before you send me down there, I want you to try to force Zephyr inside me.”

Selena asked,“Will that break them?”

“Yes,” Cyril answered, “the added stress of trying to house two spirits should cause them to break off. If not, it’s only a matter of time.”

“So it’s really all happening…. All the restraints will be gone,” Corin said.

“It’s the only way we can proceed. Selena, if you would?” he asked, holding his arm out to the younger guardian.

Selena walked forward, taking Cyril’s arm. “I….”

“No,” Cyril replied, “this is an order. Corin, please continue reading the text. If anything comes to mind, tell Selena.”

Corin stared at the duo leaving the room. Cyril would be gone, then, he pondered, staring down at the sheet. The entire day had exhausted him. Meeting Faye in a dream, meeting Llubla in his worship, and seeing the confusing words of the text was exhausting.

Corin leaned onto the table, tears welling in his eyes. Aless was gone…. He hadn’t even had a chance to say good-bye and the older man was
gone.
There was no way to know if they’d ever be able to create new restraints.

What Llubla had said about the sacrifice love had to make confused him too. He had no idea what the spirit meant, but something about it unnerved him. And Faye…. How had the girl survived so long? He had never seen someone like her in the monastery before.

An hour later, Selena returned to the meeting room, a solemn look on her face. She was covered with dirt and numerous wounds, as unnerving as that was to Corin.

“He’s gone,” she whispered, sitting down beside Corin.

Chapter 27

T
HE
two stared at the paper, watching as ashes welled to the surface of it, finally uncovering the remaining pieces of the document. Corin slowly leaned over, blowing away the dust and staring down at the text.

“What does it say?” Selena asked, voice low.

Corin muttered the words under his breath. “It’s a song about the spirits, same as before. It describes each of them and their duties in Nier, but the final part is about Llubla. It talks about how Llubla’s duty is to protect Nier from the others. The last line doesn’t have an equivalent in Common, but they’re words of closure.”

“So… do you know what it means…?” she asked.

“No,” Corin replied. “I’m sorry, Master Selena—”

“Just….” Selena interrupted, “just call me Selena. I don’t think calling me ‘Master’ is important anymore. Besides, you’re doing more to help than me.”

“I’m so sorry….”

“The song… you really have no idea what it means?” She asked.

“Llubla said it was the duty of his guardian to sacrifice for their love,” Corin said.