Olryme's Arc

Chapter 4 of 10

The mark on the mortal's chest glowed faintly, a small red coal under the skin. Olryme stared at it and counted what little time they had. Nyxi would come back. Not in a day. Not in an hour. Soon. Olryme turned from the dark arch and faced the mortal, who was still shaking, the starry bunny pressed to their ankle. "I cannot send you home," Olryme said. "So I will teach you here. Now." Olryme raised one hand and pulled stone from the air. Amethyst walls rose around them in tight, fast lines. Silver clouds knit into a roof. Gold ran down the seams like slow blood, hardening into trim. A grand academy stood where the cracked floor had been, made for one student. Olryme had built temples over ages. This one took a breath. Outside, past the new walls, the air thickened. A tall shape gathered above the edge of the island — a woman of grey skin and red hair, draped in a blood-red gown, golden eyes burning at nothing. Not Nyxi. A shadow Nyxi cast ahead of itself. A warning. The mortal saw it through the window and went still. "That is what is coming," Olryme said. "That is only the edge of it." Olryme placed the mortal at the center of the hall. They folded their presence smaller, smaller, until the room stopped humming. "Strike the air," they said. The mortal swung. Nothing happened. Olryme stepped closer. A small bat with metal wings and orange eyes slipped through the window and circled the mortal's head, singing a song only chaos could hear. The mark on the mortal's chest pulsed back. Olryme caught the bat in one hand and crushed it to smoke. "She is already listening," they said. "Again." They worked through the night that was not night. Olryme taught the mortal how to hold the bracelet's light, how to push back when something pulled. The starry bunny bared its purple fangs and stood guard at the door. The mortal fell. The mortal rose. Olryme did not let themselves enjoy how quickly the mortal learned, because wanting more was the harder problem, and they knew it. They only watched, and corrected, and waited. The wraith outside thinned and tore apart on the wind. The window went black. The mark on the mortal's chest split open with a soft hiss, and a thin red mist rose from it. Nyxi was here. Olryme stepped between the mortal and the door, and for the first time in eons, Olryme was the one in the room who was surprised — because the mortal stepped up beside them instead of behind.