Page 224 of Fallen Nocturne

But I see his face and how much it matters to him. I see the hope in his eyes, fighting against something heavy. I’m six years old and almost seven. Someone is asking for my help.

“Sure, of course,” I say easily. “I’ll help.”

His smile is brighter this time.

“Thank you, little one,” he says, his shoulders loosening as though a great weight has lifted from them. “That means more than you know.”

He reaches out and places his hand on my forehead. It’s warm like sunlight.

“May you walk between worlds and speak with the lost,” he says, his voice echoing through the trees. “This is my gift. This is my burden. This is my hope. I bless you, Rhianelle Wiolant of Völundr.”

Light explodes behind my eyes, bright, brilliant, and blinding. I gasp and try to pull away, but I can’t. The light fills me. It floods into every part of my being. The sensation doesn’t hurt, but it’s overwhelming. Every part of me feels too bright, too full, as though my small body cannot possibly contain it all.

This is too much.

I blink.

The light is gone and so is the High Elf. It’s just me and the frog, sitting on the log.

“What—” I look around frantically. “Where did he go?”

I twist around, searching behind the log and between the trees, but there is no High Elf. It is as though he was never here at all.

The frog stretches its legs and starts hopping again.

“Wait!” I scramble off the log. “Wait, where are you going? Who was that? What just happened?”

The frog doesn’t answer. It just hops away from the log and deeper into the forest.

I chase after it. My fish is still in its belly and I want it back.

“Come back here!” I shout, stick raised. “I’m not done with you!”

The frog croaks and hops.

I run after it into the twisted trees, into the cursed shadows of Astefar.

A little elven girl marked by Casimir the Brave.

I didn’t understand it then, the full weight of his request.

Chapter 33 Svenn

Something changes.

Finnbheara jerks as though something has struck him. His hand tightens around Rhianelle’s and all the color drains from his face. His eyes widen, fixed on something far beyond the ravine.

I feel it too. Not in my body, but in that hidden place where magic gathers and power answers power.

Something vast gives way.

The force of it rolls through me like a dam bursting, releasing everything trapped behind it. It feels like thousands of prison doors swinging open at once.

Thousands of them. Tens of thousands.

The souls of beings that were trapped, sealed, and imprisoned are now released all at once. A flood of power makes the air shimmer.

Astefar.