Page 46 of Shadows of Light
The words were small and in a neat, no-nonsense manner. Lexi blinked a few times to clear her vision before focusing on the writing.
I don’t have much time for this. They are approaching, I can hear them below, and when they arrive, they will kill me. I’m too weakened, and there are far too many.
I cannot believe it has come to this: an arach hunted by other arach. Our great realm is in ruins, and death is rampaging through a realm once filled with life.
I could not have foreseen this, but Carleah did. Not many believed her when she issued her prophecy of a time when only one arach would live.
The realms were always ours for the taking; we are the most powerful immortals, and we have the dragons. No other immortal could ever take those things from us, and no other immortal did.
We took it from ourselves.
But I digress. I am writing about a time more than fifty thousand years ago when Carleah issued her dire warning.
Carleah was one of the most powerful ones of us all, even back then. She would never say such a thing unless it could come true, but many didn’t want to believe her.
We agreed to meet to discuss her warning, and it was there that Carleah declared we must do something to protect our future, and the only arach who will survive what is to come. Many thought she’d lost her mind, others agreed with her, and some were too frightened to believe her.
I was torn.
On the one hand, I knew how powerful Carleah was. On the other hand, I didn’t see how anyone could take down the arach. It is simply impossible; the dragons would never allow such a thing.
However, I didn’t see what harm it could do to protect a future that could never be. It appeased Carleah and those who believed her to take such action.
We agreed to continue discussions on what we could do to protect our future, but at first, no one had any ideas until the dark fae came to us.
They requested our aid in deciding their future rulers. Their last ones were chosen by birth and completely inept.
The dimwitted species had finally realized birthright didn’t always equal ruling rights. They wanted our help in creating trials for the future leaders to best.
We agreed to help, on the condition they pay us a lot of carisle and send warriors to join the Dragonian army. There was also a condition the dark fae didn’t know about, as Carleah saw this as a chance to ensure the safety of the final arach.
Not all arach knew about what we did as some still didn’t believe Carleah’s prophecy and wouldn’t approve. I was still uncertain but saw no harm in helping.
Carleah decided we would slip hidden magic into the trials. The dark fae are symbiotic with the shadows, and Carleah declared that one day, a dark fae would rise who could master the control of those shadows above all others of their species.
Our hidden magic won’t unleash into a dark fae until this special one enters the trials. It hasn’t happened yet, but knowing what I know now, I have no doubt it will happen.
Carleah revealed that the timeframe of this dark fae’s rise would coexist with the discovery of the last arach. With our magic infused into this dark fae, they will have dominion over the shadows in a way no other dark fae has before or ever will again. They will be powerful enough to keep the last arach alive.
Carleah has deemed this fae will be called the Shadow Reaver. A fae who can gather shadows from all corners of the realms and unleash them upon our enemies.
When asked what would happen if this Reaver turned against the arach, Carleah said we would word the spell to make it impossible. Our magic will bring the Reaver to life and keep it from turning against the arach.
The Reaver will be ours to control and destroy if it becomes necessary.
Lexi gulped at that sentence and tried not to give in to the panic clawing at her chest. It took her a minute to be calm enough to continue reading.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-EIGHT
It wasn’t long before the trials were in place and our hidden magic worked into them. If a dark fae manages to survive all the trials, in the end, they will enter a stretch of land where our unknown magic awaits them.
This magic is set to recognize and react to the amount of power that dark fae possesses. Only the most powerful to cross through there will trigger the spell.
When our magic is released, it will meld the shadows into the fae, making them one with the shadows in a way no other dark fae has ever experienced. It hasn’t happened yet, and I will not survive to see it come to fruition, but it will come.
I no longer doubt that.
At the time, I still wasn’t convinced Carleah was right, but I couldn’t help feeling uncertain about everything. What we put into those trials was the most powerful brand of magic I’ve ever encountered; we were all drained from it, and that has never happened to me or the others before.
