“So basically, Ravaryn is going to be consumed by a great evil, and just as humanity is on the brink of total annihilation, The people of Aragarth will just miraculously appear after 500 years like some supreme beings from another world and solve all of our problems for us, If I’m not mistaken.” Cayden humoured in a half-sarcastic tone. 

The room fell silent as both the elder and I contemplated whether he was just joking around or actually being serious.

“Cayden dear,” the elder called out after finally turning to face us. Her face was stern, and her eyes were filled with an unnerving sense of satisfaction. “I believe we have some rather intriguing guests back at the village, if you would please go and greet them,” she ordered whilst gesturing towards the door. 

“Um… sure,” he replied. Cayden raised an eyebrow as he shot me a worryful glare before turning towards the oversized stone bridge behind us. 

A suspenseful silence filled the air as Cayden’s footsteps slowly faded into the labyrinth of tunnels leading out of the cavern until all that could be heard was the elder’s delicate hands that brushed over the neatly carved symbols. 

“So that is what you’re planning,” she chortled as her ears perked up in delight. 

The more I stood in her presence, the more my body screamed in warning, forcing me to step back several paces until I was almost at the edge of the bridge. Swallowing my fear with a deep breath, curiosity slowly crept up on me. 

“Who… Who are you,” I called out.

The elder slowly lifted her hand from the tablet as she began to snicker in amusement. She turned her head to the side only to glare at me with her one visible eye. However, the moment our eyes met a dense and ominous purple aura struck my body, freezing me in place. 

‘This feeling is it fear,' I pondered before remembering my father's towering figure. He was like a mountain whom I was never able to defeat, and every time we fought, my entire body was wrought with a constant sense of terror. But no matter how afraid I was of his strength, I was always able to continue fighting. so why is it that every inch of my body has become nothing more than an unmoving stone statue?

‘Not once in my entire life have, I felt so utterly powerless.’

“For a boy whose mind is poisoned with questions, I didn’t anticipate you asking something as trivial as “who am I,”” she bellowed before turning to face me.

Much to my disdain, the moment when both of her sinister eyes locked onto my face her aura was amplified tenfold, causing all the zoi in my body to vanish. It was as if my body went from that of a lifeless statue to a paralysed lump of skin and bone.

I fell to my knees, whilst desperately struggling to raise my head. “What have you done with the elder,” I squealed in terror.

“Why I am the elder of course, am I not what you thought.” she sneered whilst inspecting her frail shaky hands.

“Don't Fuck with me. her zoi is far different from this malevolent power of yours,” I called out in a desperate struggle to keep my eyes open.

“How perceptive you are. Especially for a mere infant as angry as yourself,” she returned as her smile only grew.

“You can call me...”

“Tide Weaver,” her voice echoed as an all-knowing grin reached across her face. 

All at once, the overwhelming pressure cast down upon my body was lifted and her eyes turned away from me. all the zoi that had been sucked into my body began flooding back like a tidal wave of profound strength.

I know full well that without the use of an ether crystal, my body will only be able to manage one clean attack before exhausting myself. But even still, I have to do something.

but even saying that it's not like I can just attack the elder. Even If someone has taken over her body.

I gritted my teeth in frustration before channelling zoi into my legs in preparation to lunge at the monster before me.

“Bahahaha,” she broke out. Her laughter echoed across the cavern as it slowly faded off into the distance until the cavern was silent once again. too silent, in fact.

before I could even comprehend what was happening, the elder’s body appeared to contort and merge with the shadows before vanishing altogether leaving only a flickering after image in her wake.

“Save your strength child,” her wicked voice whispered in my ear.

I spun around to face her out of a combination of reflex and shock. nonetheless, the second we made eye contact, my body was once again frozen and rendered completely defenceless.

Even if it wasn't for this weird ability of hers. The sheer bombshell of her somehow traversing over thirty feet in hardly a second would have rendered me motionless in the first place.

“You really should learn how to hold that tongue of yours,” she said whilst running her pointer finger down the side of my neck. Her touch was soft, and yet the mere aura that clad her finger was dense enough to draw blood from my throat as if she was making some sort of surgical incision. which made my eyes widen in pain and fear.

“Powerless and surprised, just like everyone else,” she chortled whilst raising her blood-soaked finger to her face.

I suppose I’ve spent far too much time reading books because my first assumption was that she would lick it. however, she instead waited and watched as her ominous and dense aura caused the blood to sizzle and pop until all the blood on her hand had more or less evaporated.

‘Powerless.’

I already know that ‘I'm not some named Dyneuma or a renowned Rift Hunter. But even so, I’m more than certainly stronger than the average warrior. so how is it that I can’t even sense the slightest bit of her strength? even against my father, I could at least comprehend the nature of his zoi.

‘Everett,’ my father’s raspy voice surfaced in my mind. ‘I’m sorry that I’ve always been so tough on you. however, one day you will have to protect this family with your own hands, and no matter how impossibly strong I am. there are still people in this world who even I cannot defeat.’

“Why...”

“Why am I remembering this now?”

‘Father... are you trying to tell me that this person is even stronger than you,’ I thought in utter disbelief.

“Oi, what are you spacing out for,” the elder’s no... the monster called out whilst waving a hand in front of my face, triggering me to snap back into reality.

“Ooh, how I would love to kill a young Sprittan such as yourself,” she wailed. “But unfortunately, fate has convinced me otherwise. You see you're actually quite useful indeed.”

“What the hell are you talking about you can’t use me like I’m some loyal soldier,” I sneered in response.

“No, I most certainly cannot,” she replied in a pouting tone. Turning away, she began walking back towards the tablet stone with her hands clasped behind her back. “however, we are all bound to our fate, Sprittan, and with the right nudge, the Astral Tide shall take you right where I need you to go,” she emphasised.

“What the hell are you talking about,” I questioned.

“I’m saying that if one has the power to see what makes the tide turn. Then one has, in turn, gained the ability to alter it.”

“You mean to alter the future,” I muttered in disbelief.

“To guide it, would be more precise,” she mused whilst stroking her hand down across the stone surface once more. content consumed her face as if she had finally attained something that she had been searching for many years to obtain.

“As much as I would love to stay and chat with you Sprittan, I am rather busy you see. But there is one last thing I need before I take my leave.”

Raising her hand, the monster clenched her fist whilst winding back her arm in preparation. however, the moment her raging fist struck the stone slab, all the boundless zoi from within her seemingly vanished. making the monster’s punch strike with the strength of the frail old body she had overrun. Clasping her wrist, she began shrieking in pain before eventually falling to her knees.

The air around us began to glow with a soft blue hue that was only growing brighter, lighting up every nook and cranny within the cavern. Wisps of green and blue zoi were extracted from the surroundings before the many tassels and particles of pure energy rose to the cavern’s ceiling like an enchanted starry night reflecting off the Stoney plateau’s surface.

“Curse you, Emrys Vaegon I swear I will rid you from this world,” she bellowed.

hardly a fraction later, all the boundless zoi above the temple began to form the shape of a hand the size of a house, which lay suspended in the air above the elder. as if it was reaching down towards her.

Slowly but steadily, all of the sinister purple zoi that once flowed out of her like a tsunami was being sucked up. Rising directly into the behemoth palm above. Once all of her evil power had been uprooted, the bright green hand closed its fist, and all the purple aura was slowly eaten away until it had been completely dissolved. Almost as if it had been purged from this world.

I was stunned. At first, I thought there were too many questions cursing my mind. But now I simply wish I could go back to questions being the only thing wracking my brain.

“In the beginning, there was some weird prophecy, then a crazy person takes over the elder’s body and could have killed me at any moment but decided not to because of fate?” I questioned. “And now there is a gargantuan hand floating in the air made of nothing but pure condensed zoi. more zoi than I have ever controlled in my entire at that...”

“And to top it all off, there isn't even the slightest trace of someone nearby. Which means that either there is someone here who is extremely talented at hiding their presence, or someone is casting this spell from the other side of Ravaryn for all I know,” I rambled as I desperately tried to wrap my head around what was going on.

Climbing to my feet, I lifted my still gaping jaw before scratching the side of my head.

with the evil aura gone. the colossal hand slowly began to fade away as the zoi was slowly absorbed back into the air around me. As the wisps and tassels of flashing colours whizzed past my face I couldn’t help but be drawn to an odd congregation of particles in my peripheral.

turning my head I was met with a tall human silhouette made up of the dispersing energy. It was obviously a man but not detailed enough for me to make out his face. Other than his height the only characteristic I could make out was his long wavy hair reaching most of the way down his side.

After gaining my full attention, the man bent over into a deep bow before dispersing into the air.

“Ummm... cool,” I expressed whilst still scratching the side of my head. “I didn’t think I could be more confused, but that was definitely the Icing on the cake,” I muttered to myself.

Praying that my brain didn’t explode I began rushing towards the elder as dread and sorry seeped into my heart.

“Oi, elder are you ok,” I yelled whilst kneeling down beside her and placing her head on my lap. Naturally, I had intended to check her pulse but before I could even begin the action an ear-splitting crack echoed across the temple causing me to clasp my ears in pain.

Just when I thought my hearing had returned, the soul-splitting crack sounded again. It was like a gigantic axe was striking down against solid steel. As the second crack trailed off, pebbles and small grains of stone rolled to my feet.

I traced the direction of its origin, following it to the stone tablet only meters in front of us. The hunk of stone had split in several places as it slowly started to creak. like a door that had been slowly pushed open.

Finally, the hunk of stone split into an uncountable number of pieces that tumbled from its pedestal and rolled across the temple floor.

I stared blankly. My brain was already overloaded which only slowed my thought process. it wasn’t until a seemingly large ball of stone tumbled over the plateau’s ledge crashing into the rocky waters below that I finally awoke.

Nothing remained atop the pedestal where the inscriptions once stood except for a floating rod of iron. The ingot was no longer than my hand, although amongst its reflective surface were bright colourful streaks, that danced in the light, as though it was infused with zoi.

Before I could decide what to make of it, a small pink light shot out from the floating rod striking my forearm.

“AAAAAAAAAAAH,” I writhed in pain, gritting my teeth. as the stinging slowly subsided, I began to roll up my sleeve. the light had inscribed a scar-like rune symbol into my skin at the top of my forearm. interestingly enough, there was another runic scar right below my elbow that I had completely forgotten about leaving me even more curious.

“Honestly, I’m not even surprised anymore,” I said flatly. My eyes were void of both thought and emotion as I stared down at the still-searing scar that bubbled and dried.