At the very top of the Radiant Palace, in the great domed throne room, the Radiant King sat.
Before him were all of his remaining subjects, those of whom had neither been killed nor captured in the battle at Grimoire.
There were no Royal Guards here. The Gold Knight at the King’s side had ascended from Royal Guard to true greatness, found worthy of standing at the King’s right hand. Nyx was captured. Ignis, Platina, and Titan were gone, their whereabouts unknown.
Some feared the unbelievable – that three of the greatest among them had been killed in battle.
Those who knelt before the throne were those who some might now consider the greatest of the Radiance beside the King and his Knight.
Neith and Void were among that number.
Defeated by that Greyson boy, but not so badly that we failed to rejoin our King.
Neith took great pride in having returned to the Radiant Palace alive with her brother, especially after seeing how few had returned from the battle. There were only three other Enforcers.
And…
“I have called in our wider reinforcements,” the King said. His voice was like honey, so sweet, so beautiful, so rare. It warmed Neith from head to toe, gave her strength, gave her courage, gave her resolve. “We are not as few nor as weak as some might believe. But you, my loyal, remaining Enforcers, already know of this. For you have done that great work, recruiting others to our glorious cause.”
It was the work that the Royal Guards had shunned, had scoffed at. Where was the pride in recruiting men to stand among gods? What need had the Radiance of mere mortals?
Yet the battle at Grimoire had made the answer to that question all too clear.
“You wonder what is next for us,” the King continued. “We expect the arrival of the Dreamer once more very soon.”
The Dreamer? That girl? Again?
I was the one to bring that girl and her friends to the King. And then she escaped right before my eyes.
And when she returned again, I was not here, was not able to do anything as she slipped our grasp once again, stealing away our precious captive.
She’s brazen enough to return to challenge our King once more?
“We have a… conflict of ideals,” the King said. “She does not fully understand our glorious purpose. But fear not. Leave the Dreamer to me. Your duty shall be to hold the line, to keep all others outside of the throne room. No one must disturb our confrontation. I must face the Dreamer alone, and she must face me alone. I have only one rule for all of you – do as little harm to her friends as possible. Fight them, keep them out, delay them. But do not kill them. Do not maim them if you can help it. Their safety is instrumental to winning over the Dreamer. Neith.”
His voice speaking her name sent a flutter through Neith’s heart. She bowed even lower than she already was. “My King,” she said.
“You will set the trap,” the King said. “Draw them in, then separate the Dreamer from her allies. Once that is done, lead the fight against them. I would trust no other to this task, for you have your great rule, the rule that guides you through so much, that has made you so righteous after so much bloodshed.”
My time…
My time has come?
Truly?
How many times did I doubt my rule? How many times did I come close to ending the lives of those I bested in combat? How many times did I come into conflict with my allies, especially those Royal Guards, when the King ordered the great battles?
And now…
Now he rewards me for remaining steadfast.
“I will not fail you, my King,” Neith said.
I will set the trap. I will force the Dreamer’s friends away from her.
I will lead the fight against them. And I will succeed, without ending a single life.
I will bring honor, the greatest honor, to my glorious King.
-----
In Grimoire, the winter snow kept on falling. Streets were shoveled and salted, and by the next day they needed to be shoveled and salted again.
A whole week of nonstop snow. It’s all I ever dreamed of as a kid. But now…
Lorelei stood on the top of a high tower, one of Grimoire’s old watch towers, overlooking Lunar Plaza. The time was 1:01 in the morning. Hollow Hour had just come to a close.
And there were so many Hollows. We thought their increase in numbers related to the activities of Blaise and his Shadows, but even after they’ve been defeated, the Hollows still come in outrageous numbers.
At least there are no more Pipers. We put a stop to that with Blaise and his forces.
What draws the Hollows here, then? It’s a question some have asked, but no one’s put in any real effort to finding the source.
Hollow Island…
Do they come from there? Is there a direct link between the island and Grimoire? But why? And why do the Hollows that come here look so different, and come in such weak forms, compared to their counterparts on Hollow Island?
She shook her head, snow scattering from her hood.
That’s not what’s important right now. I fear it will be more important than we imagined in due time, but for now…
For now, I need to find the monster waging this shadow war against my city.
Food was continuing to die out and spoil at an alarming rate. There was an undercurrent of fear in the city, but it had yet to spring into a full panic.
But it will. Unless we put a stop to it.
Dullan, bringing to mind the Grim Reaper.
Valgwyn, spreading the darkness, the vicious rot that it brings.
Sen, the peerless warrior.
Kaohlad…
Is this your power? You hid it so well, feeding on the life force of a girl, using her own powers as if they were yours, disguising who you really were.
But I understand, now.
And you still haven’t left Grimoire, have you?
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. There was a message from Will:
“You were right about the Energy. I found where it’s all going.”
A grim smile touched Lorelei’s lips.
Clever boy. I knew you could trace it.
“Gwen and I’ll be there right away. Where are we going?”
Will responded in the group chat:
“Beneath the Moon-Rose Stone.”
Beneath the…
But that’s where Duo’s house was.
Kaohlad went back there?
Well. I suppose that’s clever. Why would we search somewhere we’ve already seen, a place that’s been destroyed?
Lorelei started north, descending from the tower on a long slide made of ice which she dismissed behind her when she touched solid ground. She, like Will, wasn’t much for Enhancement Magic, so she simply set off at a light jog, conserving energy while still working to reach the Rose Mounds where the Moon-Rose Stone lay in good time.
Now and again, she checked her phone. Yet there was no response from Gwen.
Something’s been troubling her for a long time.
She won’t talk to me. She would when Chelsea was here, but it was more like she was talking to us both.
I thought we were growing close, but I guess…
Well, everything’s strange with Chelsea gone.
She sent a private text to Gwen:
“Whatever’s troubling you, you don’t have to face it alone.”
Pocketing her phone, she continued on her way.
Was that too forward? Too blunt? Some people close up when you go straight for the problem.
But…
I’m really no good at taking the roundabout route with that stuff. And I’m used to Chelsea, who needs a strong push now and then.
I still don’t know Gwen well enough at all, do I?
Too soon, the Rose Mounds came into sight. Gwen still hadn’t replied. Lorelei slowed as she came to the four rose-topped hills and stepped between two of them, into the center where the Moon-Rose Stone lay.
“The riddle’s different,” said Will, emerging from the shadows.
“Different?” Lorelei asked, staring at him in surprise.
As long as she could remember, the Moon-Rose Stone had displayed the same riddle, the riddle that had clued Chelsea in to where Duo’s house was.
But it had changed?
Will nodded, stepping over to the Stone, being careful not to step in the way of the moonlight that touched its face. Without that light, the Stone was just a black, featureless rock.
We’re lucky there’s a tiny break in the clouds.
Lorelei read the riddle, and from the very first line she was stunned. It really had changed, to something completely different:
The time has come
The light has gone
The moon shines on
And soon
The sun won’t rise
Now
The city starves
The panic starts
The fear sets in
And once
Once it’s here
It never leaves
Night comes
“ ‘Night comes’,” Lorelei said softly, staring at the final line. “It’s like the poem, the one that was left in the Library of Solitude. It must be talking about the Endless Night.”
“You’re probably right,” Will said. “Kaohlad’s a Son of Night.”
“And…” Lorelei started, but she hesitated.
I’ve been trying to ignore that.
But…
“The days are too short, aren’t they?” she asked softly. Will nodded.
The sun rises later and later, and sets earlier and earlier.
It’s not a normal winter. This is…
“Can we stop him?” Will asked. Lorelei looked at him in surprise. “All of you fought Valgwyn at the Library, right? And you couldn’t even touch him.”
“Chelsea did, at the very end,” Lorelei said. “But… you’re right. And yet… Alice was able to horribly injure him. Maybe he hasn’t fully recovered. In that shadow world Caleb went through with Addie, it seemed like Kaohlad was exiled from his father and brothers. He might not have the same strength as Valgwyn.”
“Where’s Gwen?” Will asked, looking around.
Lorelei frowned, pulling out her phone. Gwen hadn’t replied. “Something’s going on with her,” she said. “I don’t know what, and I don’t know how to get her to say.”
“We’ll need her,” Will said. He pressed two knuckles against his forehead. “I’m… no good with that stuff. So if you can’t help her, either…”
“We should try to find her,” Lorelei said. “Just sit down with her and be there to listen. She’s having trouble talking, but if she sees we’re willing to listen without saying anything, maybe… that’ll be enough.”
“I agree we should find her, at least,” Will said. “It could be that… something happened to her.”
Lorelei nodded.
I don’t think so, but it’s possible. She’s been withdrawing more and more lately, but this total silence…
Is she in danger?
She pocketed her phone and started off into the city, Will beside her. “Don’t split up,” she said. “I have a few ideas of where to look, but other than that, we’re mostly going blind.”
“Should we ask the other Hunters?” Will asked.
Lorelei thought about that for a moment before nodding. “If anyone finds her, they should just tell us and follow her until we get there,” she said. “Don’t freak her out if we can help it.”
Will was already typing the message before she finished speaking.
Gwen…
Please be okay.
-----
Gwen stared at the screen of her phone.
So she noticed.
The thought wasn’t from her, though.
It was from the other.
“Please,” Gwen said. “Leave me alone.”
Why would you request such a thing? Don’t you know who I am?
“You’re a monster,” Gwen said, but her voice was ragged and weak.
Dear girl. When’s the last time you had something to drink? Let alone eat… trying to starve me out? If you knew who I was, you’d know that won’t work.
“Just leave,” Gwen said. She pushed herself to her feet, leaning against the wall for support.
She was alone in Reiner Manor. Chelsea had left her a key and the pattern for removing the magical locks.
Gwen was wishing she hadn’t. If she’d continued to stay in Frost Manor with Lorelei’s parents, then…
“I wouldn’t be alone.”
You’re never alone, Gwen. You have me.
“I don’t want you.”
Don’t say such things. After all…
“That’s you you’re talking about.”
Gwen looked up in shock as the voice, that horrible voice, was no longer just in her mind.
It was in the world, and Gwen found herself staring at her.
The other.
The other tilted her head to the side, her golden eyes glittering, and smiled. “You’re finally starting to understand,” she said. “Though you really should stop thinking of me in such terms. I’m no ‘other,’ Gwen. Can’t you see?” She spun in a circle, arms outstretched, her black dress twirling around her legs. “Like looking into a mirror, isn’t it? Better than a mirror, even.”
“You’re not me,” Gwen said.
“But it goes both ways, dear girl,” the other said, eyeing Gwen with those unsettling eyes, those eyes that so perfectly matched Gwen’s own. “I’m you. You’re me. I can’t live without you. And you can’t live without me. We’re inseparable, don’t you see?” She sighed in pleasure. “I’m so glad you went into that shadow world with Chelsea. Before then, I was locked away, so silent, so afraid, with nowhere to go, nothing to do. You’d let me out before, but then you pushed me down, you forgot about me. To be let loose once again, it’s… so wonderful. I’ve missed you.” She laughed. “Such a silly phrase, once you realize who we are, isn’t it?”
“Let you out before?” Gwen asked, staring.
“Don’t you remember?” the other asked. She stepped to a window, pulled back the curtains, gazed out at the snowy streets of Grimoire. “It was in this city, too. It was different back then, of course. What was that… five hundred Human years? Six hundred? Or was it three hundred? Ah, Earth time is awfully confusing, isn’t it?” She leaned on the window sill, eyeing Gwen with a smirk. “You came here for vengeance after Sunset Square was ruined. After watching your mother die, and your father —”
“Don’t talk about that!” Gwen cried hoarsely.
“Sorry,” the other said, and she sounded shockingly sincere. “I know. It was awful. But it led you here. Led you to discover wondrous powers, led you to let me loose. You know how much stronger you are with me free. How could you forget?” She reached out her hand and before Gwen could recoil, the other’s hand took hold of hers.
What…
Gwen found herself breathless as a thrill ran through her whole being. A rush, a rush of sensation that she couldn’t place, couldn’t describe, but it felt utterly overwhelming, utterly…
Amazing.
“What are you…?” she managed to ask.
“Wonderful, isn’t it?” the other asked. “When we’re together, this is how it feels. This is you, Gwen. This is what it feels like to embrace who you are instead of running from it, pretending to be someone else. This is what it feels like to be in harmony with your soul.”
But this…
This isn’t…
Gwen pulled back, somehow wrenching her hand free. The other was surprisingly gentle. “I heard the Light,” Gwen said, gasping for breath. “In that place. He told me the right way to go. To let —”
“— it go?” the other finished. “But look at you. You’ve tried, but you can’t. How could you? You can’t let go of yourself. Look at Chelsea. She was still pursued by her ‘other’ when you two were running around investigating Grimoire. She couldn’t let it go either, because of course she couldn’t. You understand, now. What you heard wasn’t the truth. It was what you wanted to hear.” The other stepped forward, and Gwen was cornered against the wall, her living reflection uncomfortably close to her. She could feel her breath on her skin. “Gwen, dear Gwen, you know what’s right. You’re in the perfect city for what you want.”
“There’s no one left,” Gwen said, shaking her head. Every word, every breath, was an effort. “That was so long ago, there’s no one left who knows who the Radiant King was, who could have played a part in him gaining his power and influence and going to destroy my home.”
“There is one,” the other said, her voice like silk. “Blaise Mathers. Remember? He called the King by a name – ‘Leon,’ wasn’t it? You wondered what that was about, too. He must have known him, or know something about him. There are still truths to uncover here, Gwen. Perhaps even the secret to the King’s power. Justice is still within your grasp.”
Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but could only manage the faintest of gasps as the other leaned in, so that her forehead touched Gwen’s. The other spoke in a soft, warm whisper. “Come with me, Gwen. Let’s go, together. To find the truth. To put right the evils done to our parents.”
Gwen and the other stood there, still as statues, for a long time. As if time had stopped, and there was nothing else, until…
When time resumed, Gwen was the one who reached out. Gwen was the one who took the other’s hand.
Gwen was the one who smiled at her living reflection. And her living reflection smiled back.
“First, you should have something to drink,” the other said. “And to eat, I think. You need your strength for what’s to come.”
Gwen nodded, and they swiftly went about eating and drinking. And then…
It was time.
Together, Gwen and the other stepped out of Reiner Manor into the snowy streets of Grimoire.
“The city’s so beautiful, isn’t it?” the other asked.
“It is,” Gwen replied, smiling.
Hand-in-hand, Gwen and the other started walking. Towards The Gate. Towards the Cove. Towards the truth.
Towards Blaise Mathers.