Page 88 of What Lies Beyond the Realms

“You are other than myself. It was not common even back then, but it did happen on rare occasions.” She takes a sip of tea, leaning back in her chair.

“How have I never seen or heard of you before?” Nyx asks, and I feel ridiculous for not thinking of that myself.

“I grew up with Euric, but we didn’t age the same. My Sorcerer blood was dominant, and I aged as a Sorceress would. I died long before you were born.” Athalda’s voice is hoarse.

“Wait. What?” I look from her to Nyx again, confused.

“Then how? How are you here now?” Nyx asks, holding me a little tighter.

“Your father brought me back. Your father brought me back from Zomea. That’s why even now you can probably sense something about me that feels off, but you can’t quite put your finger on it. That’s why my eyes are always black. I was in Zomea for many years. A soul does not come back to this world unchanged when they’ve been there for so long.”

“Why would my father bring you back? How is this even possible?”

“To serve a purpose.” Her black eyes focus on me.

“That’s right. In his journal, he says he was going to resurrect you to start planting fail-safes. What fail-safes?”

“We do not want to unlock Zomea—that’d lead to an inexorable set of events. We do not want a repeat of the War of the Realms. But opening a bridge with the key would allow you to travel to Zomea at will. It’d allow you to go to Zomea in a controlled way. Not in a dream where things are unpredictable and you’re only going there in your mind. A bridge would create a portal where one could travel back and forth physically. Euric brought me back to make sure I’d set things in motion for you to unlock the bridge when the time came if he failed.”

“But why would I want to go to Zomea? Why did my father do this? Why does he want a bridge to be opened?”

“A bridge would allow people to visit their loved ones. It’d be a safe way to pass into Zomea without destroying the realms. It’s something the Sorcerers all those years ago tried to do when they unlocked Zomea and Eguina was torn apart. They just didn’t do it correctly. Your father knew he was going to die an early death, and he wanted a way back to you, to his family.”

“How did he know he was going to die an early death?”

“Moirati is a Gholioth in Zomea your father grew close to. Gholioths are known to have precognition, and this is how Euric learned he’d die before his time. He became obsessed with finding ways to change the future, to cheat death. Then he learned of a prophecy, one that’d unlock a bridge to Zomea, allowing someone to ultimately cheat death by being able to travel freely from Zomea to the realms,” Athalda says, her voice hoarse. She bends to pour herself some more tea.

“I think I know the prophecy you speak of. I read it in my father’s journal.”

“He just had to make sure that a Sorcerer, before reaching the age of being able to wield magic, carried the blood of all realms within them. And with you he was already halfway there. You carry the blood of the Faery Realm and Sorcerer Realm within you. The leader of the Gholioths—Moirati, well Euric stole some of his blood when you were little and gave it to you, making you the key.”

“Wait, how would giving Lyra Gholioth blood make her the key?” Nyx says from beside me.

“Gholioths are the very essence of Zomea. They’re the oldest creatures to ever exist in Zomea. They have never been a part of this world, have never entered these realms. It connected Lyra to Zomea in a way midnight mind alone could not. It connects her even now on a cellular level.”

“Will Lyra be harmed if she doesn’t open the bridge? Euric’s notes say the key could destroy her. What did he mean?” Nyx asks.

“Like I said, Gholioths have never lived in the realms. They’ve never been of this world. He didn’t know it at the time, but by removing that piece of Zomea, he made it unstable. Zomea demands the blood of Moirati back, and as you come closer to nineteen if the ceremonies are not complete and the bridge is not unlocked the key will slowly destroy you. The Gholioth blood with eat away at your organs. The blood wants to be reunited with its owner, and it’ll kill you if you don’t unlock the bridge and return it.”

“Why now? Why before I turn nineteen? If I’ve had this blood inside me all these years, why didn’t it kill me a long time ago?” I rub my clammy palms across my pants, trying to wrap my mind around everything.

“I don’t know why the prophecy is what it is, but I’ll tell you when Euric stole that blood from Moirati he didn’t know what he was doing. From the moment that blood left Zomea, things have been slowly becoming unstable there. You have midnight mind…you must’ve seen the state it's in. Have you not?”

“The fires.”

“Yes. The forest is on fire, and that’s not the worst of it. It has taken years for it to get this bad, but Zomea has been suffering. If you do not unlock the bridge and return the blood to Zomea, the stability of its very existence could be threatened, not to mention what could happen to your life.”

Nyx moves next to me, wrapping an arm around me and holding me tighter to him.

“If Lyra goes through with this and unlocks the bridge, how will Moirati’s blood be returned to him without harming Lyra?”

“I don’t have all the answers. But I do know Euric would never harm his daughter, and I know he was able to take the blood from Moirati without him knowing. He must have a way to return it to him safely. He wouldn’t have brought me back to make sure the key doesn’t destroy Lyra just for her to unlock the bridge and die anyway. He’ll have a way. I’m sure of it.”

“What about my mother and Silas? Aidan said he was doing their biding at the ceremony. Did you put them up to it?”

“Yes, I did.”

“But how? My mother didn’t even act like she missed my father. She wouldn’t have wanted a bridge unlocked for him to come back, and she wouldn’t care if the key destroyed me.”