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October 24 - October 27, 2025
She turned her back on him as he fell, fire already burning away his existence. Blood was splattered across her. Hers. The seraph’s. It was on her face, her clothing, in her hair. None of it was the blood she wanted.
Razik wasn’t dead, but he was greatly injured. Their bond wasn’t even a full bond, and yet it demanded payment for harming him. And she was all too happy to bestow it.
“You are involved with the dragon,” he sneered in realization. “You truly found every possible way to disgrace your lineage, didn’t you?” “There is no doubt in my mind that my lineage is about to smile as I burn you alive,” she replied, fire flaring at her fingertips.
“You won’t kill me.” She barked a laugh. “What in the realms makes you believe that?” “Because if you do, you will never learn how to lift that Curse Mark,” Varlis said, eyes dropping to the place where the Mark was etched into her skin beneath her tunic.
“I left you alive all these years because I did not have one single fuck to give about you.”
When the ashes were fluttering away in the wind, she turned to find glowing sapphire eyes pinned on her. He didn’t move other than to blink. She took a few moments to gather herself before she approached him, figuring out her next course of action.
A low rumble came from his throat at the same time she grabbed the bolt and tugged. The rumble became a roar, and she was grimacing around her own twinge of pain as her shoulder screamed at the movement. Razik’s head snapped up, his large snout coming close to her shoulder and inhaling sharply. Another growl came from him. “I’m in better shape than you,” she retorted, shoving his face away from her, briefly marveling at the feel of his scales beneath her fingers. He huffed again, his lip curling back and baring a row of large, pointed teeth.
But the roar that sounded made her chest tight. She didn’t know when she’d moved from his chest to his head, or when she’d dropped to her knees, but a large, diamond-shaped head was in her lap, his breathing hard and heavy as she saw blood pouring out of the wound. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she was murmuring. There were tears on her face. She slid her hands beneath this massive jaw, forcing him to lift his head so she could look into his eyes.
You …chose …the bond. His voice was strained and weak, bouncing around in her mind. “No,” she said, her voice breaking as she felt his heart stutter again. “I chose you, Raz. Please. Just shift. I can do the rest. Please.” Mai dragocen … “You drive me mad!” she cried. “You’re so godsdamn infuriating. You’ve ruined me!”
“I hate that you know I like chocolate cake and that the promise of books can get me to do anything. I hate that you sleep in my bed but won’t touch me because you’re just that godsdamn respectable. I hate that you make everything with me a competition because you know I won’t back down from you. I hate that you get two glasses and extra food, even when I tell you I don’t want any, because you know I’m lying before I do. I hate that you’re tidy and always picking up after me. I hate that you called me one of Scarlett’s Ladies-in-Wait, even though you knew damn well I wasn’t. You fuck with me
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She swiped the dagger from her boot, slicing the Mark on her arm and then his palm. His dragon fire took greedily, and she let out a small cry as it sank into the little magic she had left. He tried to pull his hand back, blinking his eyes open, but she held on.
This cave was stunning and warm and …a home. There were stone steps off to one side that wound up to what she had to assume was the entrance. It was one large space. A kitchen of sorts was towards a back corner with a dining set nearby. Sofas and chairs were off to the left with a glass fire pit in the center of them. At the back there was steam rising from something, and off to the left was a large bed. Bigger than his bed in the Aimonway Castle. It was low to the ground and piled with pillows and blankets. It was more of a nest. And treasure. There was gold and silver, gems and trinkets,
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“Why would she go get them to aid in a war against Deimas and ultimately Achaz? Why the spirit animals?” “I am going to need more to go on here, Scarlett. What are you figuring out?” “He thought they were myths,” she murmured, flipping the paper over to find the other side blank. “But they weren’t. They’ve been here the entire time. It fits. If I’m reading this right, and if what I found in the Elshira catacombs is true … It all fits.” “Love …” Sorin said, reaching out and tipping her chin up to get her attention. “They’re World Walkers, Sorin,”
“Are you saying that Amaré and Shirina once had another form?”
“What does she do all day anyway?” Scarlett went on, her shadows drifting around her. “Guards the mirror gate,” Cethin answered. “Hmm,” was her only response. “If the realm is locked, what would she need to guard?” Rayner asked. “It is the main way into the realm,” Cethin said. “If someone is going to find a workaround, it would be there.”
“Serafina created the lock,” Saylah answered tightly.
“What is it?” Scarlett asked. “The power to unlock the mirror gate,” Saylah said.
“You and Cethin are the product of two bloodlines. Arius and Anahita. Because the Arius blood is more powerful, those are the gifts you inherited. Gifts of Arius and Serafina, myself and Temural. Those bloodlines are all essentially one. Temural’s and my gifts are an extension of those of Arius and Serafina. “Anahita is a Lesser god, but all the power of the gods comes from the Chaos. That is what makes us stronger than other magical bloodlines created. That is why we rule the realms. The more Chaos in one’s being, the stronger the god. That is why the Firsts are the most powerful. They came
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“Are my shadows Chaos?” Scarlett asked. “No, but Cethin’s darkness is. It is why he finds it wilder and harder to control,” she answered.
“You were born with some Chaos. All magical beings are. Because your father was Legacy, you also have some mortal blood. Mortal blood weakens the Chaos.”
“How would any Legacy maintain their power if mortal blood weakens Chaos?” “Chaos is the undercurrent of all power. It is Chaos that determines how powerful one’s gifts are.” Saylah answered. “Not Fate?” Scarlett drawled. Saylah stared at her in a way that had Sorin shifting closer. “Chaos and Fate are not the same, but they do create the balance.”
“But Cethin’s Chaos is more than he was born with because I gave him some of mine,” Saylah said, again having everyone go still with surprise. “He let beings in that should not have been. In order to save him, I needed to give him more.”
The Fae Queens were different. They were enabled to carry more than one element by Taika,” Saylah explained. “It is why you were born in the Witch Kingdoms. The High Witch is a descendant of Taika. She had the ability to transfer the Chaos from Eliné to you. In order to transfer gifts, Chaos must be given. It is the cost.
“You gave me some of your Chaos?” Scarlett asked in a hushed tone. “Yes,” Saylah replied. “More than Cethin has. It weakened me greatly. It prevented me from returning to Avonleya as quickly as I would have liked. The mirror gate was left unguarded too long. Those you know as the Maraan Lords found their way in during that time.”
“What you are thinking is correct. I had to give up more Chaos to transfer those gifts to you. It will not be as effective as it was for Scarlett. It is why you find it unnerving to wield such power at times, because it has not been a part of you from the beginning.”
“Is that how I am able to Travel?” Sorin asked. “No. That gift would have simply transferred to you during the process. All Fae have a trace of Chaos. It is how they can carry their elements. The more Chaos in a Fae, the stronger their gifts. The gods created them that way to balance their Legacy but to never be more than them,” Saylah said. “But Chaos is unpredictable. Some things are out of even the gods’ control, despite our best attempts.”
“The Fae will never be equal to a god, but if the right bloodlines were united, they could be stronger than a Legacy.
“Because the gods were not the only beings to emerge from the Chaos, and wars over powerful Fae are not the only reason blood has been shed.” “You speak of the World Walkers,”
“The Great War here is simply a battle in the Everlasting War, just as every other battle in the realms is. Arius, Serafina, and Achaz were meant to end the war, instead they re-birthed it.”
It was between the gods that you know and the World Walkers.”
I do know that when the gods emerged victorious, they gave some of the World Walkers the choice of death or serving one of the gods. The spirit animals you know chose the latter. They were the original Shapeshifters and became bound in their animal form.”
I know they followed a World Walker named Korra. She was one of their high rulers. It is her Chaos in that lock. It is her power that can unlock the realm. She gave that power in exchange for her people to be able to make the choice of binding themselves to a god or going to the After where Arius would cast judgment,”
“It responds to you because of the kind of Chaos you carry. Not only that with which you were born, but that of Eliné and what I gave to you. Chaos is drawn to its own power. It is why those born of it crave more. It is why the more one possesses, the more one desires it.”
“It would restore what I have given, as well as allow us to leave the realm,” Saylah answered tightly.
“I may carry more Chaos than you, but it will seek you.” “It’s why Alaric wants me so badly, isn’t it?” Scarlett asked, rotating the lock in her hand. “Yes.” “Does he know what this is? What it can do?” Scarlett pressed. “Yes,” Saylah said again. “Achaz would have told him. He sent Moranna here to find a way to release the Chaos to be used for his own gain.”
“Does Alaric know what I can do with it?” “The same thing I can do. Unlock the realm,” Saylah said, eyes sliding to her daughter. Scarlett shrugged. “That might be all you can do with it.”
“The beings that emerged from the Chaos all have different gifts, just as the various beings and bloodlines created do. The gods can Travel within one realm, but they cannot move among the worlds. That was a gift of the World Walkers. The gods did not wish to lose such magic when the World Walkers were conquered. Some of their Chaos was harnessed and used to create the mirror gates to allow the gods to travel among the realms,”
Some mirror gates are used for communication. Some are used for crossing the stars,”
“I would say calling it second is generous, considering the real reason she desires this lock.” “Everything I have done is for the two of you and to save this realm,” Saylah hissed, Cethin and Scarlett both turning to look at her. Scarlett had been wrong. The silver pooling in her eyes? That was the most mortal thing she had seen from the goddess.
The only way to save the realm is to leave it, Scarlett. You know this. His attention will follow wherever we go. He will leave this world in peace as long as we no longer inhabit it.”
Because the moment Saylah had told them whose Chaos the lock contained? It had been the last piece of their puzzle. “Did you know that the being who created a world has the power to truly lock it? That their essence is so entwined with the world itself, they can keep out all others if they wish?” Scarlett asked. “The only exceptions are those of equal or greater power.”
“Korra has so many secrets,” she said with a manic grin. “Are you saying the World Walkers created Halaya?” Kailia asked, speaking for the first time. “Not just any World Walker. This one,” Scarlett said, gesturing to the lock. “The same essence contained in this lock. The funny thing is, Moranna was so close to figuring it all out. She knew the World Walkers were connected. Had pages and pages of notes on them. But she could never create a being powerful enough to get the lock to respond.”
the high rulers of the World Walkers would be the equivalent of a god or goddess. They would be as powerful as a First,”
If she had the time, she would marvel at it. At seeing a goddess cry for her.
So she placed her bloody palm atop the glyphs swirling with her power and his power. The power of a Fae Queen and a Witch. The power of a goddess and a World Walker. And Chaos erupted.
So many worlds. So much power. So much Chaos.
She knew what taking the power of a World Walker would cost her. She knew it was no longer solely Fae Courts she was responsible for now. No longer just her world. But all worlds. The only High Queen of the World Walkers. The only World Walker left outside those bound to an animal form. A World Walker with the gifts of the gods and the Fae. A threat to not only Achaz, but Arius. Serafina. Anala, Falein, and Celeste. All the Firsts. All the gods. A Goddess Queen to stand between them and her world. So she welcomed the Chaos.
Scarlett carried Chaos from multiple different magical bloodlines. That alone made the lock seek her out more than others.
The power she could not only wield but create—just like she created shadowfire and a new Mark to take her to Shira Forest. It was something written in the pages Sorin had grabbed from the cliffs that made them come up with the idea of showing the Chaos all the power it could have to shape and break and create. But the lock would also be drawn to her because the Chaos within recognized its own. Because while Scarlett had Chaos from Fae and Witches and a god, she also had Chaos from a World Walker.
Shirina had been the daughter of a powerful high ruler. Whether or not that had been Korra, they couldn’t know for sure, but still the panther was powerful. How she had transferred the Chaos, they did not know, but Sorin ventured to guess it had connected to Chaos that Scarlett already possessed.
