The Chronicles of Faylon: Saahira | Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Sunshine did little to burn away the sensation of cold, dead skin between Saahira’s fingers. Dozens of scratches and indents joined the scabbing wound at the center of her palm, and it was impossible to push away the image of multiple severed fingers crawling through her hair and snaring in her clothes.

But she did her best to ignore it all and focus on falling into step with Nia.

Nia glanced to her side in the barest acknowledgment of Saahira’s presence. But her attention quickly shifted back to the ground, her eyes lingering a few steps away from where her feet fell. The thick eyeliner and rouge lip stain were gone from her face, likely rubbed away after she’d emptied the contents of her stomach.

The silence was thick and awkward. It hung between them as stiffly as the essence Saahira had pushed her energy against, and trying to break through it seemed just as complex.

They passed the necromancy crypt and were halfway to the building that housed the demonology classroom and the alchemy lab when Saahira stopped. She’d been so worried about Nia that she hadn’t realized they were heading in the wrong direction.

Nia’s steps slowed to a crawl as she moved just out of reach. She looked up at the sky, her back still turned to Saahira. “I will be absent from fate and arcana today.”

Saahira nodded, then chided herself quietly. Nia couldn’t hear her nodding. “Alright. Did you still want to study together after class?”

“No.”

Another stifling silence. “I’ll, um, see you back in our room, then?”

“Yes. Of course.” Nia lowered her head and straightened her shoulders. A few tendrils of her pink hair had escaped her tight braid, and Saahira held back her offer to fix them.

More silence. Saahira couldn’t find anything else to say. So instead, she turned away, leaving Nia alone and making her way back to fate and arcana.

Cyprus and Melony were waiting outside, which was a surprise. Saahira had thought Cyprus was angry with her. But this time, he was the one speaking to Melony with the charming smile that he wore most often. Somehow, that made her even more uneasy with him.

Melony was the first to notice Saahira’s approach. When Saahira stopped beside her, Melony wrinkled her nose and tilted forward to peer at Saahira’s face. “You look paler than usual.”

“Professor Lawrence gave us reanimated fingers.” Saahira shivered.

“Oh, yeah! We did that this morning!” Melony exclaimed, her features bursting with excitement. “Wasn’t that amazing? Like little worms with nails.” She wriggled her fingers to demonstrate.

Saahira swayed to the side, her dizziness returning. The choir’s mollifying effects had worn off, and the stinging in her hands rang in her ears. She imagined the woman the finger had been attached to, dying a dozen different gruesome deaths. All of them led to Lawrence and Ligach methodically cutting off each one of her fingers and tossing them into that box. Would that be her someday…? A clammy sweat broke out over her neck and back.

Cyprus caught Saahira’s shoulder to steady her and shook his head at the therianthrope. “It’s not an exciting experience for everyone, Melony.”

“But the way it fought back was just so intense—”

“I need to sit down,” Saahira said, interrupting Melony. Darkness crept into the corners of her vision, her stomach lurched into her throat, and their voices bled into a ringing sound.

She drew away from Cyprus’s touch and entered the classroom with trembling knees just as the first warning bell rang. Behind her, Cyprus whispered something to Melony with sharp punctuation, and Melony whined an incoherent reply.

Three seats were available at the table in the back. Saahira chose the second seat nearest the door while Cyprus and Melony took a seat on either side of her.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled the scents of luxia and frankincense deeply, holding them in her nostrils and lungs for as long as she could. She set her elbows on the table, rested her forehead against both hands, and let the familiar fragrances carry her home. They painted slow, broad strokes of a fond memory, overlapping the thoughts that plagued her. Mother humming over a mortar and pestle at the table. Isa sitting beside her, trying to match the pitch of her hum while she broke a bit of cookie dough apart into a thousand little pieces.

A gentle hand patted and stroked between Saahira’s shoulder blades, dispelling her memory and returning her to the classroom. Saahira blinked and looked to her right. Melony’s shoulder pressed against Saahira’s, and her left arm was wrapped around Saahira’s back.

“I-I thought this might help,”  Melony murmured, leaning away. “Sorry if I made it worse.”

“It does help.” Saahira smiled and breathed slowly through her mouth. “Thanks, Melony.”

The second warning bell rang, and Saahira’s nerves finally calmed. Talia peered around the room from the front table, and Saahira avoided her gaze. Khaidus shouldered his way through the door with a scowl and took the open seat beside Melony. Kaylee appeared seconds later, spared a glower for Saahira, Cyprus, and Melony, then sat down at the third table. The rest of the students filled in just as the third bell rang, and Professor Béliveau took her place in front of her desk.

Béliveau’s attire was just as ornate as it had been in their first session. Sheer fabrics trimmed in gold adorned with thin coins that jingled when she walked. The silks cut above and below her abdomen, allowing the wings at her waist to completely unfurl.

“Welcome back, dear students. It is an honor to see you once again.” Béliveau smiled, opening her palms at her sides.

Her sweet voice and calm demeanor were a balm after necromancy. Saahira anchored herself on their warmth.

“I hope that fate has gifted you many Turns of Wisdom, Magic, and Prosperity since our last meeting.” The smaller pair of wings in Béliveau’s hair moved and attuned to her facial expressions, lifting when her eyes glittered, stretching when she smiled.

Khaidus clucked his tongue.

Béliveau continued as if she hadn’t heard him, though the left wing in her hair shook with a minuscule twitch. “As I mentioned previously, today we will discuss the sky.” A chalkboard on wheels that hadn’t attended their first class together blocked the painting at the head of the classroom. The professor moved toward it and lifted a piece of chalk from her desk. “While it is impossible to review every detail in one lesson—there are sorcerers who dedicate their lives to this study—we will cover what applies to you in the short term.

“Now, I am aware that what we review today may be knowledge that you already carry.” Béliveau’s gaze flicked to Khaidus, who smirked in response. “Still, I would ask that you have patience, as there are many different paths that brought us here. Because of the universe’s importance in both fate and arcana, we must all be on the same page. Khaidus? Do you have a question?”

“Yeah. Can we skip this lesson if we already know all of it?”

“No. However, I would very much appreciate your assistance in teaching the class,” Béliveau replied, her tone still light and airy.

Beside Saahira, Melony snickered. Khaidus hissed a breath through his teeth.

Béliveau drew a large circle in the center of the board with alternating short and long lines emanating from its curves. “What is the name of this entity, please, Khaidus?”

Khaidus crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, his expression akin to the men who played cards at The Laughing Bull. “The sun?”

“Correct. And his name?”

Khaidus worked his jaw. “The sun.”

Celeste raised her hand, and Béliveau nodded toward her.

“The sun’s name is Orun,” Celeste replied.

“Yes! Very good, Celeste.” The professor wrote ‘Orun’ above her circle in a lovely script. “You see, there are many different terms and names for our stars and planets, but each one has a true arcanic name. Much like the qalen’rua, master arcanists have the ability to read these names through the divination of powerful oracles.”

Nia had called Aṣálẹ’s seasons of sunlight Orun’s Golden Hours. Saahira made a note beneath her own drawing of the sun. Then, remembering Isa’s drawings at home, she added two dots for eyes and a smile inside the circle. Melony glanced over and, with a soft snort, did the same.

“In practices of fate and arcana, we invoke these names for assistance in adjusting our Turns. This is never to be done without intent or prior knowledge of the planets invoked—you will tempt fate into dangerous Turns.” Béliveau drew a vertical oval over the sun, this one broken up into smaller individual lines. At its peak, she added a new circle, this one much smaller than Orun. “Who would like to name this planet for me? Theodred, if you would be so kind?”

“Tyr’adun,” Theodred said, lowering his hand.

“Excellent work, Theodred.” Béliveau scribed the name above the small circle. “Tyr’adun, which moves in a perpendicular orbit around the sun, holds sway over the Magic Turn.”

“How?” Khaidus asked.

“Your hand, please.” The professor waited until Khaidus raised his hand, then nodded. “Once you’ve grown more familiar with the planets and their names, I will teach you how to chart them in Faylon’s sky and when in their orbits they are most helpful to us. We must first learn to walk before we can fly.”

“But how does Tyr’adun hold sway over Magic?” Khaidus pressed on. “Where does a planet receive its power?”

Béliveau, the most patient professor of them all, smiled. “That is scholarly thinking, Khaidus. Perhaps philosophy is in your future.”

Khaidus frowned and tucked his hand back into the crook of his elbow.

Saahira was careful not to cross over Orun’s face with her ink. Melony, however, dragged her quill straight through him, giving her sun a sinister black scar. Saahira hid a smile behind her hand.

“Next, of course, is the planet we should all be familiar with.” The chalk drew a new, smooth oval horizontally across Orun. Béliveau placed a circle twice as large as Tyr’adun on the outer right end of the oval. “This, of course, is Faylon.”

As Saahira copied Faylon’s circle into her own notes, a new weight pressed down on her mind and chest. This is where I’m sitting. Right here. She made the tiniest speck of ink her quill would allow on the brilight paper right in the center of Faylon. For all of her life, whenever she looked up at the sun, she was grateful for its warmth, could utilize it for time, and could make a good guess on how the crops in Almaryn would fare that season. Never before had she tried to place the sun on a map, nor had she considered the existence of worlds outside of Faylon.

But drawing it on paper, seeing just how small her planet was beside Orun, trying to puzzle out where she was sitting at that exact moment in the vastness of the universe… She struggled to name the feeling.

“And, as we all know, Faylon has two moons,” Béliveau continued as if Saahira wasn’t drowning in the sky. “Azure, which is attuned to Wisdom, and Vermillion, which is attuned to Wrath. It is said that peace treaties signed beneath the full Azure moon are fated to last a hundred generations, while nearly every war has begun blanketed in the sanguine glow of a full Vermillion moon.”

Saahira clung to the familiar names of the moons as she drew them beside her Faylon circle. Isa used to call the Vermillion moon the “Apple Moon” and the Azure moon “Papa’s Eye,” since their father had blue eyes. Mother had never bothered to correct her, but thinking about wars waged beneath the “Apple Moon” made Saahira wish that she had.

Béliveau pointed at the two moons with her chalk piece. “There are multiple potential eclipses, waxes, and wanes which can affect the Wisdom and Wrath Turns that we will go over together. For now, the one to remember is the black moon.

“When the Azure and Vermillion moons are entirely darkened from our view, it creates a black moon. That is when Death Turns become approachable,” Béliveau said. The gentle smile on her face tugged into a grim line. “Please allow me to remind you of your immediate expulsion should you attempt to adjust a Death Turn without my guidance.”

Most of the class nodded, Saahira included. Kaylee did not.

“Good. Let us continue.” Béliveau returned her attention to the board. This time, the large oval she drew looped around into smaller circles on the inside. Like a decorative lace on the hem of a dress. “Love and Prosperity move as a pair, pushed and pulled by one another in a kind of dance. Who can name them for us? Talia?”

“Taleth is Prosperity and Nahviah is Love,” Talia announced with her usual air of confidence.

“Well done, Talia. That is exactly right. You see, when Taleth is in his loop,”—Béliveau traced the small oval with her chalk—“Nahviah flies over him, then moves into her own loop. This continues all the way around Orun. One cannot exist without the other. It’s quite beautiful.”

Would that make the people on them dizzy? Saahira thought idly. Then a new realization struck her, and she raised her hand.

“Yes, Saahira?” Béliveau called.

“Are there people on these planets?”

Béliveau gave her the same knowing smile that she’d given Khaidus. “Another question for bright young philosophers and scholars to answer, I fear.”

Saahira nodded and lowered her arm. It was more than enough to know that there was so much more moving outside of Faylon’s reach and control. She tucked the thought of people on these other planets into the dark recesses of her mind.

“Are there any more questions before we continue?” Béliveau asked kindly.

Some shook their heads while the professor was met with silence.

“Very well. That brings us to our final planet.” The professor drew a circle twice the size of Faylon on the outermost ring of her chart. “Who will call his name? Cyprus?”

“Bizere. He’s attuned to Faith,” Cyprus answered. Kaylee and Talia shot him dark looks over their shoulders.

“Thank you, Cyprus. Very good.” Unlike the other planets on the chalkboard, Béliveau drew two horizontal ovals around this one and then colored them in. “Bizere is quite large and has multiple rings, making him easier to point out through a telescope. His rings represent a number of things—power, extensions of beliefs, eternity. Multiple religious festivals and rituals around the world occur on Bizere’s appearance and disappearance as well as the shifting of his rings.” She carefully dabbed away a smudge of chalk that had escaped its ring confines and smiled at the class.

“Now, while that concludes the planets, there are two remaining aspects of our universe which hold sway over the Turns.” Béliveau drew a star directly above Faylon, then poked at its center. “This is often called the guiding star, the star of the sea, or the day star. Do you know his name?”

To Saahira’s surprise, no one raised their hands. Melony drew a giant star above Faylon and gave it another smiling face like her sun.

Béliveau’s smile widened. “This is Astier, and he guides our Purpose.” She rested her hands in her lap and stretched out the wings at her hips. “Purpose may feel out of reach, but it is always in view. Thanks to Astier, Purpose is a Turn that is always available to us whenever we are lost.”

Saahira copied the information down in her notes. To her, it was just one more shimmering star in the sky. She’d never had need for a “guiding star” before. Almaryn was far too small to get lost in, and she could map its outskirts without a second thought.

Now, however, Béliveau named exactly what she was feeling. Lost. It was one thing to not fit in at school, but the world was so much bigger than her. The universe was so much bigger than her.

“The second star we observe is one that only appears every ten years or so. Kylella, the star of Fertility.” Another chalk star manifested to the right of Faylon. Instead of a closed loop like the others, Béliveau drew an arc over the sun, through Kylella, and then wrapped it back around in a half-oval. “When Kylella does bless us with her presence, hundreds of Faylon’s families welcome new children, and farmers celebrate bountiful harvests. She takes her time in her appearances, always returning when we need her most.”

Béliveau turned back to the class and relaxed her wings at her sides. “Some of you look overwhelmed, which is to be expected. Finding one’s place in our universe is daunting, but fate will always guide you. And if ever you can’t decide what to do or where to go,”—she tapped the end of the chalk against Astier—“simply urge a Turn of Purpose.”

Melony sketched a handful of trees in the corner of her paper while Saahira watched. She wished she had something else to focus on instead, like Melony did with her run. Something to look forward to instead of failed glintspheres, severed fingers, and an untouchable universe.

“Lastly, in our beautiful sky, are constellations,” Béliveau said. “They’re representative of our world’s deities, and, while culturally important, do not affect the Turns. However, they are incredibly helpful in identifying the locations of planets in each season. We will review them over the course of the year. For now, I invite you to choose one of the entities we reviewed that you were not previously familiar with to read about in your textbooks. Please write a one-page essay on your findings and have it on my desk in our next meeting.” Béliveau looked at the clock and nodded. “I will leave the remaining class time for you to begin.”

Saahira looked over her map. She wasn’t familiar with any of them. Cyprus quietly flipped to a page with a picture of Taleth, and Melony opened up to the moons.

“Ekkel would be proud,” Melony murmured.

Saahira smiled. I guess I’ll do Tyr’adun. Flipping through her textbook, she found the first mention of the Magic-tied planet and pulled a fresh sheet of brilight paper free.

‘Tyr-adun.

‘Unique to all other heavenly bodies in Orun’s grace, Tyr’adun traverses in a polar circumbinary path around our universe’s sun, an ethereal defiance of all other planets. Just as magic itself has confounded and perplexed its most learned scholars, Tyr’adun’s steadfast, unusual journey manifests as a metaphorical parody of its arcanical inheritance. It would only stand to reason that this obstreperous planet holds power over Turns of Magic.

‘This incredible path that Tyr’adun carves in our skies allows for it to be invoked at the positions of rising horizon, zenith, falling horizon, and nadir at certain times of the year. Even if seasonal, that all four invocations can be called upon for a Turn of Magic is exceptional; each position adjusting different aspects of a mortal’s relationship to magic itself.’

The words were difficult and copying them down was slow-going. It felt like she’d barely written her third note when the bell rang.

“Please enjoy your days of rest, and may fate be kind to you!” Béliveau called as they packed their things.

When they left fate and arcana, the dizziness Saahira felt had nothing to do with severed fingers and everything to do with how tiny and insignificant she felt. The textbook’s author surmised that Tyr’adun’s orbit had somehow been adjusted by a force even bigger and more powerful than the planet. It could have been struck or tugged far away. What if that happened to Faylon? Could we stop it?

“You’re starting to get real pale again, Saahira,” Melony said, gently tapping Saahira’s back. “Are you okay?”

Saahira looked up. Feathery clouds dotting the infinite blue looked back. The sun shone, just as it had before she’d stepped inside fate and arcana, and the students who passed them still discussed the same things.

“It’s just a lot to take in,” Saahira admitted.

“It is,” Cyprus agreed. “I remember first learning about the other planets when I was younger. I had a difficult time wrapping my mind around them.”

Saahira nodded. “There’s so much outside of my control that can alter my fate.”

“Mm. Try to look at it this way. There are far more opportunities for control to learn at the sanctum than if you had never come,” Cyprus said.

“Exactly. Now you can shout the planet’s names and make them listen to you,” Melony chimed in. “Besides, my dad always says that if things aren’t going your way, just bite down harder until they do.”

Saahira giggled. Melony had a way of chasing the darker thoughts from her mind, and the constant rasp in her throat made whatever she said a little funnier. “I will try that.”

Melony looked at Cyprus. “Am I allowed to talk about the universe?”

Cyprus chuckled. “That’s up to Saahira.”

“I don’t see why not?” Saahira raised her eyebrows.

“Because the king told me not to talk about necromancy.” Melony scratched behind her ear. “And since this made you turn all pale, too—”

“You can talk about the universe. Really,” Saahira said. She caught Cyprus’s uncomfortable smile from the corner of her eye.

“Good. Because it’s awesome! It’s so big!” Melony exclaimed, using her hands for emphasis. “The Vermillion moon always feels so good when I run beneath it. I feel powerful, like I could run all night. It’s loud and intense, it’s addicting! And then Azure moon is so calm. Like everything’s in a blue haze and then I wake up from a trance.” She furrowed her brow. “Wait, does that mean I like Turns of Wrath?”

The mood lightened as they walked to the dining hall and listened to Melony’s newfound facts on the moons. Once Cyprus opened the door, the sound of dozens of conversations greeted them, layered beneath the savory scents of fresh rolls and spiced meats.

“By the way, is Nia alright?” Cyprus asked as they sat down beside Saahira. Melony sat across from her. “She wasn’t in class.”

“Nia…got sick,” Saahira said. It was a half-truth, but the fear of bringing up necromancy around Melony again made her hesitate. That was still a topic she didn’t want to hear about.

“After hexlations?” Cyprus raised a brow, and then understanding lit his features. Moving his hand under the table outside of Melony’s vision, he curled a finger and tipped his head in a question.

Saahira nodded and tapped his finger. “Yes. I think she went back to our room to rest.”

“I hope she feels better. It’s our first days off this year! That would be so awful to miss.” Melony accepted her tray and tore into the strips of thick meat on the plate with her bare hands.

Saahira poked at her lunch and wondered how her roommate was doing. She hoped that Nia’s offer was still available—living more of her firsts seemed like a grand idea after the weight of her classes.

And there was another thing still bothering her…

“Cyprus,” Saahira began before she could talk herself out of it, “is there something wrong with Leon?”

Cyprus stiffened and set his fork down carefully beside his plate. “Leon’s a fae.”

Once again, it was like she was the last one to know. “How did you know?”

“That part doesn’t matter,” Cyprus said.

“What’s wrong with fae?” Melony asked. She was watching the exchange with saucers for eyes.

“They’re impossible to trust for many reasons.” Cyprus crossed his arms over his chest. “One, all fae inherently harness the ability to manipulate your emotions. Two, they can see beyond the Wall.”

“I don’t see a problem with the second part. I hear a choir of demons,” Saahira replied defensively.

“They see everything beyond the Wall, Saahira. They’re known for summoning celestials with such a high rate of success that philosophers have theorized an ancient pact between them.” Cyprus gripped Saahira’s gaze in his.

“Have the fae not confirmed that theory themselves?” Saahira asked.

“There’s your third reason. They’re incredibly secretive,” Cyprus said. “Do you know the fastest way to kill a demon?”

They hadn’t covered it in demonology, but Saahira had a guess. “Celestials?”

“Yes. That makes fae the perfect race of demon hunters.”

“Demons can’t cross the Wall without a summoner,” Saahira countered.

“It’s not just the demons they kill, Saahira.”

Saahira blinked. Bounty hunters weren’t common in Almaryn, but she had met a few at The Laughing Bull. This was the first time that she realized that their targets might be sorcerers. “Leon must have other reasons to be at the sanctum, though. Otherwise, why would they have let him in?”

Cyprus shook his head and took a drink of his water. He hadn’t tried the bubbly cider at all that week. “That, I haven’t been able to figure out.”

“Do you think he’s a spy?” Melony hissed, both hands flat on the table, panting like she was out of breath. Her eyes bulged out of her head.

“It’s impossible to say.” Cyprus sketched a symbol into the fog of his glass with one fingertip. He sighed and tipped his gaze to Saahira. “Have care around him. Please?”

Saahira nodded and took a drink, letting the cheery bubbles pop on her tongue before she swallowed.

Leon didn’t manipulate my emotions…did he?