Olryme's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

The mortal stood shaking on the temple steps. Olryme lifted a hand to begin the first lesson. Then the floor beneath the island shuddered, and something old opened its eyes for the first time. A pull began deep in Olryme's chest. It was not pain. It was worse than pain. Something inside them was waking up, and it did not belong to them anymore. Olryme staggered. The starry bunny pressed against the mortal's leg, fangs bared at the empty air. Olryme had never been surprised like this. In all their ages, every stir of power had answered to them. This one did not. It clawed upward through their ribs and tore. Light spilled from the cracks in the temple stones. The mortal screamed and covered their eyes. A dark shape ripped free from Olryme's side and shot down through the cloud. Below, the ground split. A jagged mouth of stone opened in the earth, fanged and dripping. Beside it, a boulder rose from a poison lake, covered in watching eyes. Green flame hissed between them. Olryme dropped to one knee. Their hand pressed the cracked temple floor. Where the dark shape had passed through, a tall arch of moon stone formed on the island's edge, humming with a blue scar of light. Olryme stared at it. Part of them was gone. They did not know its name. "What was that?" the mortal whispered. Olryme looked at the mortal, then at the new arch, then at the burning land far below. For the first time in every age they had lived, Olryme answered honestly. "I do not know."