Lillith Amethys's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The ground split open where the chimera had died. Lillith crawled to the edge and looked down. A pit dropped into the dark, and at its bottom lay the crystal heart. It was the size of a boulder, faceted and raw. Light spilled out of it in violent pulses. Each pulse cracked the stone around it. This was the buried heart Lillith had crossed a dead land to reach. Wake it, and magic returned to Thimblewhip. But the thing bled wild energy. It would burn any bare hand that touched it to ash. Sylara stopped at the pit's rim. She stared down at the pulsing heart, and for once her smooth face went still. "So the old texts were right. It's unstable." Her voice stayed cold, but her feet did not move. "Touch that and it kills you. I intend to have it. I do not intend to die for it." Lillith understood. Sylara had let the chimera drain them so she could seize the prize untouched. Now the prize would kill whoever reached first. Sylara wanted Lillith to be that hand. "After you," Sylara said, echoing her own words from the fight. Lillith pressed a palm to the broken ground. The crystal veins were burned to ash where the chimera had died, but deeper down, past that ruin, older veins still hummed. Lillith reached for them. The strain made purple eyes water. Slowly, Lillith drew a thin thread of crystal up through the dirt. It wound down the pit wall toward the heart like a root seeking water. The thread touched the heart's edge. Light screamed up its length. Lillith did not let go. Instead, Lillith spread the energy through the veins below, feeding the wild pulse into the whole sleeping web of crystal under Thimblewhip. The heart's beat slowed. The violent flashes softened to a steady glow. The stone stopped cracking. "You're grounding it," Sylara breathed. She dropped to a crouch, hungry now. "Move aside. It's tame. I'll take it." "It isn't tame," Lillith said. "It's mine to hold." Lillith yanked the last of the veins tight. Far off, a low sound rolled through the earth. Something ancient stirred. A skeletal dragonfly with crystal wings darted up from the pit and landed on Lillith's shoulder, its facets bright. Lillith's small companion had felt the heart wake too. The land itself was answering. Sylara lunged for the pit. Lillith slapped a hand down and threw up a spike of crystal between the rival and the heart. Sylara stumbled back, snarling. "You've only started something you can't finish," Sylara hissed. She was right. The heart pulsed steady now, safe to guard but not yet awake. Deep below, the stirring grew louder. Whatever slept down there was rising. Lillith held the calmed heart in one shaking hand and knew the true guardian had not yet shown itself.