Chapter 40: Future

Shiori’s first diplomatic meeting was a disastrous success. One Skald elder mentioned the parentage of a Remoran leader. Both sides stood, ready to fight.

As tempers flared, they ignored her. She was no politician, but that was a bad sign.

Symphon caught her eyes. She hoped he’d intervene, but he shook his head and looked at her.

She was the Queen. It had to be her controlling this fledgling coalition.

She took a deep breath and Spoke. “Quiet.”

All sound vanished from the room, as if each man had a Reverse Mirror by his mouth.

“How many of you would rather fight for your clan’s honor instead of cooperating?”

All the men nodded. She released her silencing spell.

Symphon nodded at her encouragingly. He had warned her that these men respected only pure strength. They would test her to see if she was strong enough to be Queen, to defeat the dark things of Nyx.

“You each pick one representative to fight. If you want to waste your strength fighting each other, I can’t stop you. Not here or when you return. But to prevent damage to my home, I’ll send both fighters elsewhere.”

“Back to Nyx to fight?” a Remoran asked.

“No, I’ll send both to the Deeps.”

The men looked around in confusion. A Skald asked, “You’ll bring back the victor?”

“No, both can die there, for their clan’s honor,” Shiori said, picking up a cup of tea and sipping. “I can’t stop you from fighting. Waste your efforts in contention rather than fighting the dark things, if you wish. I only need useful, thoughtful allies.”

“Bickering will doom you and all humanity in Nyx. If you wish to die to the dark things, I’ll facilitate the process.”

Shiori took another sip.

“Who goes first?”

After that, the meeting was an extraordinary success.

Beneath it all, as the treaty was signed, she was terrified. She had noticed the Royal power had begun influencing her, perhaps when she Spoke a word to silence them.

It had been subtle, but she couldn’t have been so cold-blooded on her own.

That was a good thing, right? The Royal power was obviously dangerous, but she used it well. So why was she terrified of how easy and good it felt?

The men left, except for Symphon, who would stay until her magic lesson tomorrow.

Shiori and her parents sat down facing each other like either side of a negotiation.

Shiori’s father set down the other copy of The Last Word on the coffee table. “First,” her father started.

“First,” Shiori interrupted. “I love you. Mom. Dad. That won’t change.”

Her mother wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. Her father paused. “Thank you,” he said. “We didn’t know how you’d feel about us keeping your secret.”

“Why not start at the beginning?” Shiori asked.

Shiori’s father did most of the talking. He loved books, so as an adult he started a series of bookstores. His expertise was rare and expensive books, but popular books kept his stores open.

He found a book and read from it aloud. He spoke magic words and was transported to another world, Nyx.

He was an Earth adventurer. It had been exciting and terrible. He met a Princess and went on an adventure in a world that needed saving.

“Ayami Kawamura?” Shiori guessed.

Her father nodded. With a Spoken word he summoned a glowing figure in the air. It was Shiori’s mother, younger than what the book had shown her.

“I thought I loved her.” He looked sheepishly at his wife. “I thought I’d live in Nyx. I’m glad I didn’t. I wouldn’t trade anything for what I have now.”

“Dad, you’re a Speaker?” Shiori asked in surprise.

He laughed. “Princess Ayami gave me power, wrote books for me to read. She was a simple girl from a small fishing village with dreams of saving the world.”

He ended the image of Ayami. “But I lost my power making the last portals between this world and Nyx.”

Shiori understood. She had to make portals for Symphon and the others. Her power was infinite, but portal creation would quickly tax their powers unless they had special tools or made the portals at special times.

To travel to Felthal and save Shiori, Symphon had burnt a large portion of his reserve power to activate an artifact he had hidden near his Grimoire.

She still didn’t know how Motohara had traveled back to Earth. Probably some Praetor secret.

“She chose someone else,” her father continued. Neither of her parents looked at each other. Her father wasn’t in love with Ayami, and her mother harbored no real jealousy, but it was an awkward topic.

“I returned to Earth. I found more Nyxian books. First one, then more. I discovered Nyxians on Earth. Survivors. Explorers. Merchants. I also found a conspiracy against the Princess.”

Shiori thought about this for a moment. “It’s been bothering me since I got back. How did I find Ayami Kawamura’s books in this world?”

Her father nodded. “I think it was those kinds of people. We wanted you to be older and ready. Someone else put those books where you’d find them. Another conspiracy.”

Shiori shivered. What if the Praetors had found her first a year ago, before she found Kawamura’s first book? “What do they want with me?”

“I don’t know. Many of my recent trips weren’t for contracts or acquiring old book collections. I’ve been building contacts with people who know about Nyx. I won’t fail to protect you the way I failed Princess Ayami.”

Shiori frowned. “What happened?”

“I had just enough power to go to Nyx and back. This was maybe six months after you were left with us. The Royal power had turned her into a tyrant. She was almost addicted.”

Shiori swallowed hard. Would she become the same way? Every time she fought free of the Royal influence it hurt. It felt like leaving a warm bed early on a cold morning, or going to sleep without dinner.

She longed for the confidence that power it gave, which scared her.

“I was there,” her father said, eyes distant, “when she Spoke the Last Word and tried to remake Nyx’s foundations. She consumed the darkness, drawing it into her. But she couldn’t control it, and it consumed her.”

“It was awful. In her final moments, she knew what was happening, and the Royal power abandoned her. Darkness covered her, casting a terrible unlight. Everything exposed to her turned dark and corrupted.”

Shiori swallowed. It couldn’t be. She knew her mother was alive, but whenever she opened the connection it felt far away. The emotions through the connection felt alien. Shiori’s heart nearly stopped. Could it be?

“I barely escaped,” her father continued. “She stormed up from the Deep. Slowly a miasma of darkness and hunger spread from her. She had meant to harness it, but it used her to rampage through the Realms. It killed her.”

Shiori’s father saw tears streaming down her face.

It was too much. She had worried about the Royal power, but knowing it had ruined her mother made that fear expand until she was paralyzed. People had invaded Earth to find her for an unknown purpose.

Worst of all was her mother’s fate. Motohara had said the Silence came after the last Princess had failed and Nyx fell into darkness. Shiori had never imagined the fallen figure amidst the Silence was her own birth mother.

“Shiori?” he asked as she cried.

She didn’t move to wipe away the tears. It was too much. If she listened, she could hear jealous whispers urging her to change, to take power. How much was the Royal power changing her even if she resisted?

“Dad, Ayami Kawamura is still alive,” Shiori said carefully.

“No,” he said, pain and uncertainty in his voice, “I saw the darkness consume her.”

“Consumed,” Shiori said, “and alive. I fought her. I won. The people of Nyx call her the Silence. She keeps the Realms under a curse of darkness.”

Shiori’s mother gasped and looked at her husband. His shocked face betrayed worry for his old love, but more for his daughter.

“Shiori, stay away. Nyx destroyed your mother. That power is dangerous.”

Shiori steadied herself with a deep breath. It had been hard to be brave before becoming Queen. She had been a simple high school girl. Now, every time she tried to be strong or confident, she worried that the Royal power was corrupting her.

But she’d be true to herself. It was her only choice. “Thank you, dad. I understand now. But you need to know I’ll rescue my mother.”

He almost objected, but a look at her face made him shut his mouth.

“I am the Queen of Nyx. I’m going to rescue her and everyone else. I’m going to learn the Last Word and save the Realms of Nyx.”