Page 18 of Ever Dark Academy, Vol. 7

Eyros let out a wild laugh. “Well, you could have announced yourself. Instead, you crept up and–”

“Are you going to die, Master?” Elgar cut him off because what was done was done.

“I… this is… you should not ask things like that of your Master!” Eyros sounded strangled.

Elgar turned to Wyvern and Mirryr. “Tell me.”

“Tell you what? There’s quite a bit we know that you don’t,” Mirryr chuckled uneasily.

“What he does not want me to know. About his Second Death. About what happens and why it happens,” Elgar said calmly even as his heart jolted in his chest.

Mirryr put his hands together and let out a breathy, uncomfortable laugh as he looked between Wyvern and Eyros as if he wasn’t going to be the one to let this particular cat out of the bag. Wyvern let out a long sigh. She turned towards Elgar.

“The future is good,” she said, “but how we get there is hard.”

Eyros let out an explosive breath. His back was to Elgar. His shoulders were hunched. He was shaking. Wyvern glanced at him with empathy, but she plowed forward.

“Clearly, some of us have already died, but we are reborn in the future and find our way back to Daemon.” Wyvern smiled as she put one hand to her chest. Then with a roll of her lips, she continued, “And some of us–like Eyros–will die in the future and then be reborn.”

“How does Master die?” Elgar was impressed how even his voice was even though he wanted to scream.

How could this happen? Was he not there? Did he fail Eyros? He must have. If his Master died…

“We don’t know the full details,” Wyvern said, but it sounded too noncommittal as if they were leaving out the parts that they most definitely did know. “But it happens in Solace.”

“That is where you wish to go? Not Nightvallen?” Elgar gestured to the gate.

“Seeyr is in Solace. A prisoner in the Spire,” Charlie said. “She’ll know how Fifi can use the gates to advance time.”

“The gate to Solace is glowing for me.” Wyvern was staring off into the distance where the gate to Solace was half-hidden in the trees. “It’s a sign. An invitation. I have to go.” Those words were not only said with such certainty but there was a thrum in the air to accompany them as if to give credence to that surety. Wyvern then shivered and seemed to come back to herself. “But as I was telling Eyros, he does not need to come with us. Just unlock the gate long enough for us to go through.”

“And I said no!” Eyros hissed.

He whirled around, his robes flying out behind him like a magnificent set of wings, as he glared at both Wyvern and Mirryr. But while he likely had intended this to come across as anger, it seemed to be filled more with fear.

“But if you don’t go with us, Eyros, then you can’t very well die on Solace’s plains,” Mirryr pointed out.

“And as I told you: something will happen to make me go!” Eyros’ fists were clenched. His jaw worked convulsively. “I won’t do it, Wyvern! Not even for you! Not even to make up for what I did!”

“You cannot outrun fate,” Wyvern said calmly. “I know. I tried often enough.”

“It’s not just me who is affected by this!” Eyros threw back at her. “And I can’t… I just can’t… I can’t.”

He turned and stalked off towards the sea.

“I’ll keep trying to work with this gate. If he doesn’t agree to open the Solace one…” Wyvern let out a soft sigh and shook her head. The beads in her hair click-clacked.

“How can you ask him to die?” Elgar clenched his fists.

It was not her, but Mirryr who answered, “Death is not the end. Not even an end. Elgar, if you knew that Eyros would be happier than he could ever be if he went through this thing, what would you give?”

“Happier–”

“The person he becomes is not only a better man, a better Immortal, but a far more joyous one,” Mirryr said.

“But he would have to die and be reborn and go through many trials–”

“Yes,” Wyvern sighed. “And he’s right. It’s not just him. Others pay a price too.”