Page 109 of Into the Abyss
I sensed his reluctance, but he set me on myfeet and kept his arm locked around my waist as he stepped away.Once I could see behind him to the world beyond, shock shivered upmy spine. A sense of unreality descended as I took in my new… no,not new…reawakenedsurroundings.
In the center of the crater, Absenthees hadshed its black coating to become a solid white, crystalized stone.Four pieces of white rock branched out from it and formed bridgesto the smaller monoliths. Those bridges had pierced the smallerstructures and made it so they no longer rotated aroundAbsenthees.
Unlike Absenthees, those smaller monolithshad each taken on a different hue. One was a pale orange, another arose pink, the third the color of lavender, and the fourth was thecolor of the sky on a cloudless day. Power crackled as it flowedbetween all the monoliths, and I realized this was the wayAbsenthees should have always been. The jinn’s abuse of itsabilities broke this connection between the structures, and when itbroke, the land died.
Now the reawakened land was thriving withlife once more. The rocks around us were multi-hued pastels. Theleaves on the trees lining the tops of the walls were mostlyorange, but a few had sprouted green leaves, and one large tree hadleaves that matched the colors of the smaller monoliths.
The tree’s multi-hued flowers were the sizeof my hand as they stretched toward a sky that reflected the colorof the rocks. Those numerous colors swirled throughout the sky, andlike Earth, a few puffy white clouds floated across it. The ruinsremained mostly piles of rubble, but the rest of the land wascoming alive again.
In Magnus’s arms, I’d finally found theplace where I belonged, but in this land, I’d found the place whereI fit.
“It’s magnificent,” I breathed as the otherjinn and Caim wandered around with their mouths open.
A melodious call broke the hush of the land.Another answered the first call and then another. From between oneof the cracks in the walls, a small yellow head emerged. Thecreature’s round, black eyes took in its surroundings before itcrept out from its hiding spot with more than a dozen of itsspecies following it.
Waddling like ducks, the creatures were thesize of a squirrel as they craned their heads back and forth ontheir short necks to inspect us and the land. Exceptionally cutewith their fluffy yellow feathers, orange beaks, and plump bodies,they emitted curiosity and excitement as they squawked, stompedtheir webbed feet, and bobbed their heads up and down.
When their yellow wings unfurled to revealthe multi-colored feathers underneath, I realized they were thesame creatures as some of the skeletons we’d come across. They musthave been in hiding, or perhaps hibernating since the Abyss becamea wasteland.
With another sweet song, the first onespread its wings and took to the sky with the others following it.From all around the Abyss, more filled the sky until their lovelysong echoed throughout the land.
I gasped when, from behind the multi-huedflowers on the large tree, small creatures crept forth and roseinto the air. Tinier than the birdlike animals, these creatureswere of such various colors that it was impossible to name themall.
“They’re butterflies!” I gasped as more ofthem rose from other areas of the Abyss. Or at least they weresimilar to Earth’s butterflies, but these were larger and possessedmore color variations.
“They are,” Magnus murmured.
“What else is going to come alive again inhere?” I wondered.
“I suspect many things.”
“And all of them will be wondrous.”
Magnus drew me closer against his side andnodded to where the others were starting to cluster near the baseof Absenthees. “We should join them.”
“Yes.”
“You did this,” he said as we walked over tothe monolith. “You brought life to this place again.”
“We all did this,” I replied. “And we areallgoing to protect it.” I focused on Rislen when westopped before her. “The fae didn’t fight for this land before, andthey lost it. For thousands of years, our loyalties kept the jinnbound to each other, but those who left here with the horsemen havechosen them overus. The horsemen slaughtered my parents;they will destroy Earth, the humans, and anything else in theirpath. They would destroy this place again, and so would the jinnwho left here with them.”
I waved my hand at the marvel the Abyss hadbecome as I pinned the non-Faulted jinn with a remorseless stare.“The Abyss willneveragain be used to hurt others. If youhave a problem with that, then leave now and don’t come back, orthere will be a battle. I willnotallow anyone to destroythis place again.”
“And neither will we,” Nalki said. “We wouldhave left with the others if that was the side we chose, but westayed because—” His voice trailed off as he looked at Absenthees.“—because this feelsright.”
“Yes,” the rest of them murmured.
I pondered if these jinn had a little morefae in them too. Not enough to be Faulted, but enough to feel thatthis was the true way of this land more than the others did.
“We will also fight for this place,” Nalkistated, and I realized he’d risen to take over Olgon’s role asleader of the remaining non-Faulted jinn.
“You might have to fight the other jinn,” Ipressed, knowing neither the Faulted or non-Faulted would be eagerto do such a thing. “Especially if they come back here with thehorsemen. I will destroy anyone who tries to ruin the Abyssagain.”
“We will protect this place.” Rislen’s gazedrifted to Absenthees before rising to the creatures soaringthrough the sky. “Itmustbe protected.”
All the others followed her gaze, and theirfaces shone with awe, but more than that, I sensed their growingprotective feelings toward the Abyss.
“We will protect it,” Nalki vowed.
