♦Kaya's PoV♦
The ground had just opened up and swallowed my little brother whole, and I was too taken aback to react.
"Mother, where did Kai go? What happened to him?"
She didn't answer. She stared at the grimoire until I waved a hand before her line of sight, a grin on her face. Something about her smile gave me the creeps, but when she turned to look me in the eye, I couldn't resist the shiver that shot through me. It was like looking into the window of an empty house.
"Meeting someone important." The answer left her lips, but her eyes stayed glued to the dark book. "The two of you are going to witness the world's rebirth. Magic itself is about to undergo a significant transformation. The ecosystem of magic is going to become a whirlwind."
She turned to look me in the eye, and I broke into a cold sweat.
"And the two of you will be at its center." She pointed a finger at me and then to the grimoire in her arms. "There's no doubt; you and your brother will bring chaos. A necessary one at that."
I didn't understand what she was saying at all.
Being a few years older than Kai meant I had more memories of our mother. But I had never seen that look in her eye, nor heard her speak in such a manner. She sounds obsessed, almost spastic, about this "rebirth of the world". But that wasn't the only issue I had with this situation.
I'm not sure how I knew, but I knew Kai was okay. He vanished in front of me, sucked into the ichor pool, but I could still feel him. I closed my eyes for a moment.
I feel his presence, like he's still here.
As if on cue, the ichor pool formed, again, on the ground in the space between Mother and me, and my brother rose from its depths. Good, I was right, he was safe. Except….
"Kai, where were you? Why are you kneeling? And are your lips puckered?"
He shot upright from his kneeling position, his head on a swivel, taking in his surroundings.
A thunderous boom echoes from the arena where the students are fighting. I tear my attention away from my brother only to see two students—Iris Rainlace and Finn Graves—unconscious. Aetos is sitting next to Finn, struggling to catch his breath, but Faye, as always, appears unbothered. No sweat, no heavy breathing.
Her ifrit had done the work for her.
"Dammit, Rosewood! The heat coming off your ifrit makes it so hard to breathe," Aetos says through gasps.
"Oh. Sorry." Faye Rosewood turns to her summoned creature and simply says, "We're done, now. Thanks." And then the ifrit disappears.
Damn, she's cool. I wish I could summon creatures and familiars. But never mind that for now.
"Kai, what happened? You touched that book and then—"
The sudden sound of metallic shattering.
The chains that once kept the grimoire's contents secret snapped and broken pieces of chain links scattered across the ground. The lock lands at my feet.
I look to the source of the sound to find the grimoire open, pages flipping at a rapid pace in front of my brother's face.
His left hand was suddenly engulfed in a dark flame, and the black book followed it. A thread-like line extended from the grimoire and connected with the palm of Kai's hand.
"Hot!" he yelped, sweat forming on his forehead.
"Kai?!" I didn't know what to do. He was in pain, but I was at a complete loss. I tried to take a step towards him, but it felt like I was being restrained as if there was some force keeping me from interfering.
"It's okay, I'm fine." He grinned madly at the palm of his hand. "Is this it, Dhuma? Is this a symbol of our contract?"
"Kai, what—" again, I'm cut off, but this time, by a voice I didn't recognize.
"Yep! That should be—hang on! Dhuma? What the hell is that?!" a woman's voice cries out.
My head spins on a swivel, but there's no one else there. Just Kai, Mother, and I. Hold on a second! Kai's talking to whoever this is!
"K-Kai? Whose voice is that?" I felt like I was asking a question I shouldn't have been allowed to ask.
He looked confused by my question. "You can hear Dhuma, too?"
"Who the hell is Dhu—?"
"Who the hell is Dhuma, you brat?! It's Dhumavati, twerp! Dhu-Ma-Va-Ti!"
"Relax, it's just a nickname," Kai laughs.
He was speaking to this woman, but she was nowhere to be seen. What's happening? And why the hell do I keep getting interrupted?
"Wait a moment. I believe your sister can hear me. Your wavelengths must be similar," the voice speculated. "One moment, I'll fix it. Though being able to communicate with both of you is exciting." Even though I couldn't see her, I knew whoever this voice belonged to was undoubtedly very beautiful.
"Whoa, really?" Kai turned to look at me for confirmation.
"I've gone crazy," I said matter-of-factly.
"Nah, you're good," Dhuma responds.
"..."
"..."
"...pft," Kai snorted. "Well, let's get this contract signed."
Kai held up his hand toward the black book, and the dark flame extinguished, as if on cue. The book hurtled itself toward Kai's open palm and collided with it, disappearing on impact.
Kai and I looked at his palm, inspecting the damage, but his hand remained unharmed. I expected his palm to be burned, but it was clean and unharmed. Relief washed over me for a moment, until a Magic circle, using a pattern I'd never seen before, carved itself into my brother's hand. It bled, but the skin quickly healed, and Kai wiped away the blood.
♢♢♢
Kai explained what happened after he disappeared into the ichor. Honestly, it all sounded very suspicious. Dhumavati? This woman was The Void? She's Magic itself? Who'd believe something so shady? After all, the church preached the teachings of many different gods and goddesses.
We may not be able to attend sermons, but I know all the names of the different gods the church speaks of. The Nobel Realm is littered with statues. However, Dhumavati is not one of them.
My mother's sudden reappearance, the disembodied voice, my brother's hand, and the grimoire going up in black flames—something just wasn't adding up.
Just when I was about to raise my concern to Kai and Mother, she started cackling like mad. Looking back, I believe this to be the moment things changed. No, actually, I think there were signs before now.
After all, Kai was the only person in the public eye who possessed Magic he was incapable of using. We just accepted that was how things were. But what else were we supposed to do? No one we asked could tell us anything about why he was born that way.
"K-Kaya, look," Kai called my attention away from Mother.
His palm was glowing, and in it, he held a flame darker than the one that engulfed the grimoire. A black so dark that black isn't an accurate descriptor.
At that moment, I wasn't sure what it was, but in time, I would come to learn. What my brother held in his hand was Magic in its purest form. Pure and unadulterated Void. Everything. Nothing. All at once.
Then, my mother stopped cackling so abruptly that my brother and I both turned our attention back to her. An awful feeling began to surface from the pit of my stomach. Was it instinct? I still don't know. I felt so uneasy, I thought I was going to be sick.
"It's time," she said ominously.
I wanted to ask what she meant, but words failed me. I could do nothing but stare at her blankly. But then I noticed something seemed off about Kai. Where I felt uneasy, he had an entirely different emotion on his face.
"Dhuma. Is what you just said true?
"Kai, what are you talking about?" I could feel sweat beading on my head, while the tension in the air got thicker.
"You can speak to her, too, right? Tell her, Dhuma." There was ice in Kai's tone. He sounded pissed.
"Apologies, girl. I should have noticed sooner."
"Noticed what sooner? Kai, what is she talking about?"
"..." He didn't answer. He just kept glaring at our mother, and she glared back, her lips split in an ugly grin.
"She may look like her, but…" Dhumavati hesitated.
"Uh?"
"That woman is not your mother."
Her words were heavy. Heavier than the day I realized I'd never see our parents again.
Just moments ago, I was ecstatic to see her. But now, all I feel is fear—fear that she'll leave us again.
No, that wasn't right.
After all, she was never there to begin with.