I found them on the cliffs.
The rain had stopped sometime after the ritual ended but the sky was still gray. The wind smelled like wet ash and broken bark. From up there, you could see everything. What used to be an elven city now reduced to splintered wood, uprooted foundations and wide, ugly scars carved through the forest.
Veneri stood a few steps behind Elyonari. I hovered beside him, invisible as usual, with my feet dangling over open air like this was some casual sightseeing trip and not the aftermath of mass extinction.
Elyonari was at the very edge of the cliff. She wasn't crying. She wasn't shaking. She just stood there, staring at the wreckage. I reached out to Veneri through telepathy.
"She's not going to be the same after this."
He didn't look at me. His eyes stayed on her back.
"I know."
That's when Elyonari turned her head slightly. I was still invisible so her gaze was onto Veneri instead. She probably felt him watching her too closely.
"Don't give me that pitiful look, Darling."
Veneri acted like he'd been caught doing something wrong.
"I'm not."
"You are. And I hate it."
"Are you… okay?"
She let out a soft breath that was almost a laugh.
"The cracking? That's normal when I perform rituals like that."
"Normal?"
She turned her back to him and lifted the sleeves of her black priestess attire. Then she pulled the fabric down just enough to expose her shoulders and back.
Her shoulders and back were marked with actual cracks that ran across her shoulders and down her spine like she had been shattered and pieced back together with a sloppy Restoration spell like they had split her open and only barely sealed.
"I usually hide them with Nature Energy."
A faint shimmer of green pulsed over her skin and the cracks blurred slightly, like they were being swallowed by light.
"I've done nine mass funerals in my life, counting this one. The more souls I send to Mintherenia, the higher the toll on my body and soul. The intensity of the cracks increases each time. This one…"
She pointed at her back. "This one reached my back. That's new."
Veneri stepped forward instinctively. His hands were already glowing faintly as he activated Body Reconstruction. She didn't stop him. His fingers hovered just above her skin. Soul Energy flowed from him onto the cracks but nothing changed. The cracks remained.
He tried again, pushing deeper. Still, nothing changed.
"They're permanent. Not even you can heal them. It doesn't only happen with funerals. Any large-scale ritual does it. But funerals… those are the worst. I always open a direct channel to Mintherenia. That kind of connection extracts a price."
"Is that why High Priestesses have short lifespans?"
"Yes. Every ritual consumes a fragment of their lifespan. By the time they die, their bodies are covered in cracks. It's visible proof of how much they gave."
"But you're immortal."
She pulled her sleeves back up.
"Yes. My lifespan isn't consumed. That's why I'm the Last High Priestess. It still hurts but it won't kill me."
Veneri's hands fell to his sides. He looked… helpless. Which, for him, was rare.
"Why hide them?"
Elyonari stared at the horizon for a long moment before answering.
"I don't like seeing them."
"..."
"Every time I look at them, I'm reminded that I'm nothing more than a tool. I'm something the Elves use so they can continue living their lives peacefully."
"That's not what you are," Veneri said immediately.
She gave him a sideways look. "You sure about that?"
He didn't answer. She adjusted her sleeves fully, covering every inch of fractured skin.
"I have many reasons for disliking the position of High Priestess. This is one of them. Sooner or later, the cracks will reach my face. I don't want that."
"You're worried about that?"
"Of course I am. I like being beautiful. I am the most beautiful Elf of the Third Generation of Deities. And currently. I'm also the strongest Elf."
I almost rolled my eyes but she wasn't wrong.
"That's part of why I didn't return to Mintheris after we reunited. If I did more rituals, I would get more cracks."
Nature Energy flowed over her shoulders again, completely masking the cracks now. Her skin looked flawless. If we hadn't seen it, we would have never known. She noticed Veneri's expression and sighed.
"I'm used to this."
He didn't look convinced.
"You often accuse me of keeping secrets but you're the one hiding far more. I watched you suffer through that ritual. I felt it. I had no idea you carried scars like this. You hid them perfectly."
She turned fully to face him now.
"We all hold secrets. And if you had known about them before we became your beloveds… you might not have loved us back."
"That's not true—"
She stepped closer and placed two fingers against his lips, silencing him.
"It is. None of us had easy lives. It's not about trust. It's fear."
"Fear of what?"
"That you would treat us differently."
He went still.
"Look at you right now. You're more concerned than usual. Your expressions are more visible. Your protectiveness is showing. Not that it's bad, but I've seen expressions in your face today I've never seen before."
He didn't deny it.
"Even if you accept who we are, it changes your perception. It changes how you approach us. And that, in turn, changes how we respond to you."
She took a small step back, giving him space.
"So we agreed, all of us, that we'll reveal the past piece by piece so you can adjust without subconsciously shifting the way you see us. I'm doing that now."
Elyonari let go of him just enough to look him straight in the eye.
"I'm really okay. Does it hurt? Yes. Physically, obviously. Emotionally… I just sent three hundred and twenty thousand of my people to Mintherenia. I'd be a monster if I didn't feel that. But I can't think about it. If I drown in it, everyone else will too. And you were right about maintaining my image."
He said nothing to that.
"If I had broken down in front of them and let the cracks show, the Elves would have felt more despair. They needed to see their High Priestess stand, even if I was splitting apart inside."
I glanced at Veneri. He could fight and against annihilation itself time and time again but watching someone he loved accept pain as duty was something he couldn't solve.
Elyonari noticed. She sighed, stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm glad you care. You have no idea how happy that makes me."
His arms came around her almost instantly.
"I do need you to understand something though. You don't have to carry this for me."
"I'm your beloved. That's part of it."
"Even when I become a full Deity, I'll still perform this role. I promised the Last High Priestess after all. She entrusted Mintherenia's conduit to me. I won't abandon that just because it hurts."
He tightened his hold slightly, then nodded once. He wasn't agreeing because he liked it. He did it because he respected her choice. After a moment, she pulled back and she was back to her usual self again.
"Tomorrow, we're going to find Celadille."
That snapped his attention immediately.
"You can locate her?"
"All Elves are connected to the World Tree. It's a living network woven through our Nature Energy. As High Priestess, I have... administrative access, you could say. I can trace her energy through Mintherenia. It won't be precise at first but it'll narrow the radius."
"And we're going alone?"
"Just the two of us. Veylonar will oversee the migration. The forest is too damaged. We can't stay here. The Elders agree too. We'll move the survivors gradually and find a path out of Ledatic Siliportem to avoid further Krepsuna assaults. Staying stationary makes us targets."
"And," she added lightly, "I'm the only one who hasn't had an adventure with you."
She started counting on her fingers.
"Narisva had hers in the Submerged Islands. Adelasta had hers in the Obsidian Runic Spire. You've practically lived with Phaenora across the Erna Isles. And you spent an entire month with Asenane on your honeymoon."
"You're keeping track?"
"Of course I am. So it's my turn."
"You're happy about this, huh?"
"I really am," she replied without hesitation. "I get to go on an adventure with you."
There was something almost youthful in the way she said it. To me, it felt like beneath the High Priestess title and her responsibilities, there was still an Elf who wanted to explore the world with someone she loved.
He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"I'm glad you're feeling better."
"I told you. I'm okay."
She might be fine but it's going to stick to her brain for a while. You don't just send three hundred thousand souls into a Supreme Entity and walk away. You don't crack from the inside out and just turn back to normal.
Experiences change people. They leave marks, visible or not.
Elyonari would smile and go on that adventure tomorrow like it was the most natural thing in the world. But somewhere deep inside her, something had changed.
And whether she admitted it or not, she would never be exactly the same again.