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"To your home?"
"No," he says sadly, reaching out to dissolve the Illusion around us. "To that Zeph."
Crossing the distance between us, the sun shining high overhead now that we're back outside of Rainworth, I place my hand on his shoulder. "You're not the sum of your pieces, Zeph."
"Isn't that exactly what we are?"
"Yes, no, well," I groan, looking up at the sky for assistance. "What I mean to say is every piece of you that you give someone doesn't make you who you really are. Only you can determinethat. If you want to be that Zeph, you can be that Zeph."
"It doesn't feel that way."
"Regardless, you are in charge of your destiny. I may be your God, but you are not my servant, Zeph. You are free to live this life however you see fit. Shit, when I first saw you, I was prepared to ignore the draw entirely and just make you doyour own thing."
"Yet here we are," he says with a chuckle.
"Here we are." I turn back towards the town, motioning for him to follow me. "For what it's worth, I quite like this Zeph you are now. But you could stand to loosen up a bit."
"I'll take that under advisement, Shadowweaver."
Chapter 32
Viola
The worn journal on the table before me taunts me.
This fucking riddle is going to be the death of me.
"Alright, read it to me again," Zeph says, his back to me as he stares at a blank stone wall.
" 'To bring back what is lost, you must seek protection under the spirit of a warrior, and the light of the flame will reveal what is missing.'" I recite, barely even having to glance at the page before me. I've said it so many times now, read this journal so frequently that it is playing in my brain and seared on the back of my eyelids.
"Protection has to be Shield magic, and the light of a flame is Fire magic," Tulip says unhelpfully.
"Yeah, that much is clear," Mace says in a short, clipped tone. I shoot him a look, and he speaks again, this time with a bit more decorum. "My concern is how to implement those to bring Solarius back.
Morrow is pacing, Plume's head following him as he moves. He's been erratic this whole time, feeling guilty for not being able to decipher the riddle of his God. "Didn't Himureal call Solarius the warrior God?"
"Something like that," I say, sucking my teeth as I close the journal in front of me. I grab an apple from the bowl on the table and bite into it, the crunch of it loud in the small room.
Morrow continues as if he didn't hear me. "Because if that's the case, if Solarius is the warrior God, then the spirit of a warrior would have to be someone with his magic, right?"
"But humans didn't wield magic back then," Tulip says, snagging the apple from my hand and taking a bite herself. She speaks through a full mouth. "Most of the stuff Lola did for the Autumn ritual could've been figured out by someone without magic. But this seems very specific."
"Avidor said they knew their magic would go to humans," I say, rubbing my eyes. "I nearly forgot that. They had intended to take the magic from the humans when they were brought back."
"Okay, so then, realistically, you need a Summer to cast a shield on you," Morrow says, stopping his pacing and crossing the room to me. "And it can't be Zeph because he's gotta do whatever a high priest does and can't do both things."
"Hey!" Zeph says, rolling his eyes. "I could manage both."
"No, he's right," Mace interjects, looking at his brother. "It's better to have you focused on Viola just in case she needs something."
I push to my feet, clapping Morrow on the shoulder. "Looks like we're going to do the ritual together, friend."
"You've forgotten the other part," Plume says quietly. "The flame part."
"Damn,you're right," I say, squeezing the bridge of my nose.
Plume stands in front of me, a smile stretched across her round face. "I think I know what we need to do."
