The Sun's Awakening

Chapter Eighteen

Weariness clawed at an already-exhausted Eledorah. Being alone with a powerful satyroid in his prime, let alone one that she had a rocky history with, was not ideal. An air of tension settled in the room and all she could do was breathe to stay afloat. The flickering torches cast dancing shadows across the chamber, lending an ominous ambiance to their private meeting.

She squared her shoulders, steeling herself for the impending conversation. 

Oxin slumped onto his throne, and it groaned under the weight of not just his formidable frame, but the myriad of burdens he carried. His shoulders sagged, betraying the fatigue etched into his very bones. She stood before him, waiting for him to speak first. If she began with the wrong assumption of how much he knew, then she'd only be digging her own grave.

"Now that we are alone, at last, be honest with me. I am owed that much before the coming battle where many of my people will fall. The sun has vanished and I can't help this feeling that you played a larger role in it. Am I wrong?"

"You..." She swallowed back the anxiousness pooling in her gut. "You are not wrong. I am just as much a victim of this darkness as you are, maybe more so."

Do not say a word.

Ele ignored the voices and went on, "Those demons your father unleashed are–"

Just as she readied to reveal the secret even she refused to believe, the words got stuck in her throat. Quite literally. Once more she was rendered mute.

We told you not to say anything. Who do you think gave you this voice? Do not make us take it away.

"What about the demons?" Oxin's voice was low, ashamed of his father's past. 

Ele shook her head, frustration bubbling beneath her calm exterior. "I don't have all the answers, Oxin. I'm just trying to survive like everyone else."

"Survival is not enough." Oxin countered, his eyes ablaze. "Now tell me what you know. All you know."

Ele's jaw clenched. "I can only tell you what I am certain of. Roman made a deal with a mage to give me a voice. He felt like it was a barrier between us. I suppose the 'why' of it matters little when the price would be greater than he knew. The mage tricked him into making this deal, knowing that Roman was... weak and..."

Blinded by love. Foolish boy.

She did not need the voices to echo what she already knew. 

Swallowing back those daunting emotions –that trivial thing called love– she moved to make a call for peace. "This all goes back before our time when a prophecy was inscribed on the walls of the faenix temple. I do not know the extent of it and that is the truth. I'm sorry we were not honest with you when arriving. If we unite now as three species with one allegiance, to each other and against the forces of the council, then I know we can come out of this on the other side. On a day when the sun will rise again."

"Unity." He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Do you believe such a thing is possible after all the bloodshed?"

"We have to try." She insisted, her voice steady despite the storm swirling within her. 

His tone softer but no less resolute, he urged, "You speak of unity and peace, yet you hold back the truth. What else are you hiding, Ele?"

The words practically strangled her throat. "I... I'm not hiding anything, Oxin. I only know fragments. The mage, the deal, those demons, the sun... It's all part of something big. I just don't know what yet and that is the truth, I swear on my gods and ancestors."