The Four Stones

A few more days passed. The smell of herbs still lingered in the small room when Nino opened his eyes.

Light streamed through the gaps in the wooden window, drawing lines across the floor. For the first time in days, he could breathe without feeling his chest burn. He tried to sit up.

“Don’t even think about it.”

The voice came from the other side of the room.

Three was sitting near the window, one leg crossed over the other. Alicia was curled up asleep in a chair beside her. Nino ignored the warning and placed one hand on the bed. A sharp pain shot through his body.

He stopped. Three raised an eyebrow.

“Want to try that again?”

Nino pushed himself up again.

“How long?”

“Three days.”

He looked at Alicia.

“She stayed here?”

“Almost the entire time.”

Nino remained silent.

“The elders said you’re going to be fine,” Three continued. “But you still need to rest. Even if you don’t feel the effects while you’re awake, when you sleep, your body enters a deep state of recovery.”

He glanced at the bandages wrapped around his arm.

“What happened to me?”

Three’s smile disappeared. Before she could answer, the door opened.

An elderly woman entered carrying a small bowl. Her white hair was tied behind her head, and the bitter smell coming from the bowl gave away its contents before she even approached.

“Finally awake.”

She placed the bowl on the table. Nino stared at the dark liquid.

“Poison?”

“What’s left of it.”

Three stood.

“Five.”

Nino looked at her.

“...”

“I can’t prove she made it alone.” Three crossed her arms. “But I know very few people capable of preparing something like this.”

The elder scoffed.

“That girl always did enjoy making things complicated.”

Three looked at her.

“So you really do know her.”

“Knew her.” The woman began arranging a few herbs on the table. “Long before you started calling her Five.”

Nino listened closely.

“She spent some time here when she was younger. Learned quickly. Too quickly for her own good.” The elder shook her head. “Stubborn. Impatient. Thought tradition was just another word for wasting time.”

For a moment, something resembling a smile appeared on Three’s face.

“She hasn’t changed.”

“I figured.”

Nino looked back down at his hands.

“How did you know to bring me here?”

Three took a moment to answer.

“Because of her.”

“Five?”

She nodded.

“A few years ago, I overheard a conversation I wasn’t supposed to hear. Five was discussing what would happen if you ever became impossible to control. When I confronted her about it, she bragged about where she grew up and the knowledge she had. She even threatened to use poison on me if I told anyone what I’d heard.”

Nino raised an eyebrow.

“Impossible to control…”

“Yeah.”

Three walked over to the wall.

“She said Mezi needed a contingency. Something capable of stopping you if even the Shadows weren’t enough.”

The elder picked up the bowl again.

“And she found one. She took our knowledge of healing and turned it into something meant for death.”

Nino looked at the liquid.

“How?”

The woman approached the bed.

“The poison enters the same channels your Pulse flows through. When you produce energy, your own body helps spread it.”

“So using Pulse...”

“Was killing you faster.” The elder placed the bowl beside him. “The stronger the victim’s Pulse, the more aggressive the poison becomes.”

Three let out a short breath.

“In other words, you almost died precisely because you’re you.”

Nino looked down at his hands again. His entire life, strength had been the answer to everything. This time, it had nearly killed him.

“And you knew about this?” he asked.

“The poison? No.” Three hesitated. “I knew Five had prepared something. And I knew Veyra was the best place to look for answers if she was involved.”

Nino kept looking at Three. She noticed.

“What?”

“You knew other things.”

Three fell silent.

“About the King,” he added.

Her expression changed. The elder noticed and gathered the herbs.

“I’ll go see how the others are doing.”

She left the room and closed the door. For a few seconds, no one spoke. Then Three reached inside her coat. She pulled out a small journal.

The cover was worn. The edges were bent. A few loose sheets had been tucked between the pages long after the journal itself had been made. She handed it to Nino.

“I knew... only the fragments I managed to save.”

He opened it.

Dates. Names. Places. Short accounts written in a hurry. Some pages contained only a few sentences. Others were completely filled.

“What is this?”

“My memory.”

Nino looked up. Three sat down in front of him.

“I started writing when I realized some things didn’t make sense.”

She pointed to one of the pages.

“Conversations I swore I’d never had. Missions I remembered one way... while my own notes said something else.”

Nino turned another page.

“You knew he was altering your memories.”

“I suspected it.”

She took a deep breath.

“Then I stopped writing only about what happened.”

Nino found different kinds of pages. There were thoughts, small memories, things that seemed unimportant.

“I started writing about myself.”

Three lowered her eyes toward the journal.

“Who I was. What I liked. What I hated. Who I trusted. Things I would never choose to do.”

She gave a small laugh.

“It sounds ridiculous when I say it out loud.”

“It doesn’t.”

Three took a deep breath.

“I was afraid I’d wake up one day and no longer know which thoughts were mine.”

Nino remained silent.

“I didn’t want to become a puppet.”

He turned another page. A small folded piece of paper slipped out of the journal and fell to the floor. Nino bent down before Three could reach it.

“Wait.”

He picked up the paper. Three immediately held out her hand.

“Give me that.”

Nino unfolded it.

“‘Today, Zero and I...’”

Three snatched the paper from his hand. She quickly folded it again.

“That’s not important.”

“But it was talking about—”

“It’s not important.”

She slipped the paper back between the pages and closed the journal. Nino kept staring at her.

“Why is your face red?”

“It’s not.”

“...”

“It’s the heat.” Three narrowed her eyes.

“But it’s—”

“Do you want to stay alive?” she interrupted. Her dark hair fell over her shoulder. “Then forget about the paper.”

Nino nodded with a faint, tired smile.

“All right.”

Three put the journal away. Silence lingered for a few seconds. This time, Nino was the one who broke it.

“Why did you stay?”

The embarrassment slowly faded from her expression.

“With the Shadows.”

Three looked away. It took her a moment to answer.

“Because I was a coward.”

“No.”

“I was.”

She rested her elbows on her knees.

“I knew something was wrong. I knew he was messing with us. I knew there were things I had done that I could barely even remember.” Her fingers curled. “But leave and do what?”

“...”

“Where would I go? I spent years serving Mezi. I killed for Mezi. Everyone outside those walls had a reason to hate me.” She let out a humorless laugh. “And even if I ran... how long would it take him to notice and send all of you after me?”

Nino lowered his eyes. Just remembering it bothered him too.

“So I stayed,” she finished.

A small voice came from beside them.

“But you left.”

They both looked over. Alicia was awake. Three smiled.

“You were listening?”

“A little.”

“Nosy.”

Alicia smiled. Three looked back at Nino.

“She’s right.” She paused. “I left.” Three looked directly at him. “Because you left first.”

Nino didn’t respond.

“I watched you abandon everything. The kingdom. The Shadows. Your title. Everything they told you that you were.” She leaned back in the chair. “You did in one day what I spent years trying to find the courage to do.”

“I just wanted to save Alicia.”

“I know.” Three smiled. “That’s exactly why.”

Nino kept looking at her.

“You didn’t have a plan. You didn’t know where you were going. You didn’t know who would come after you.” She shrugged. “And you went anyway.”

Three touched the pocket where she had put the journal.

“That was when I realized maybe I didn’t need to know where I was going.”

Her smile faded slightly.

“I just needed to know I didn’t want to stay there anymore.”

Alicia got up from the chair.

“And now you’re with us.”

“Unfortunately.”

“Hey!”

Three laughed.

“I know you like me. There’s no point pretending you don’t,” Alicia added.

Nino noticed something.

The girl was walking toward him without touching the wall. Without feeling around for obstacles with her feet. She moved around the chair. Then around a small table. She stopped directly in front of the bed. He frowned.

“Alicia.”

“Hmm?”

“How did you do that?”

She tilted her head.

“Do what?”

Three smiled.

“Show him.”

Alicia immediately broke into a smile.

“I learned something!” She took a few steps back. “Stay there.”

With each passing second, Nino looked more surprised. The girl took a deep breath. The room fell silent.

“Three is on my left.”

Three crossed her arms.

“Easy.”

Alicia pointed toward the door.

“There are two people in the hallway.”

Footsteps sounded on the other side a few seconds later. Nino looked at Three.

“Pulse?”

“I’ve been teaching her a few things over the last few days.”

“I can feel it!”

Alicia raised her hands excitedly.

“It’s like...” She searched for the words. “Like everyone makes a little sound.”

Three raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not how I’d explain it.”

“But that’s how it is.”

Nino looked at Alicia.

“Can you feel me?”

She went quiet. Then she turned directly toward him.

“You’re easy.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re huge.”

Three laughed.

“His Pulse, Alicia.”

“That’s what I said.”

Three burst out laughing even harder at the little girl’s innocence. The door opened. The same elder entered.

“Still trying to teach that girl?”

“It’s working,” Three replied.

The woman studied Alicia.

“That’s exactly the problem.”

Three’s smile disappeared.

“What do you mean?”

The elder placed a small bundle she was carrying on the table.

“Pulse shouldn’t come this naturally to someone who only just started.”

Alicia remained quiet.

“She can’t control it properly,” Three said.

“Not yet.”

The elder approached the girl.

“But she listens.”

Alicia raised her face.

“Listen to what?”

The woman smiled.

“The world.”

Three frowned.

“Does that mean something?”

The elder remained silent for a few seconds.

“Maybe.”

She walked over to a small bookshelf at the back of the room and pulled out an old book. The cover nearly fell apart in her hands.

“When I was a child, I heard stories about people who could sense Noctrium long before they learned to control Pulse.”

Three looked at the book.

“Stories?”

“Legends.”

She placed the volume on the table.

“From a time before Mezi. Before Solvar. Before even the Four Nations existed.”

Nino looked up.

The elder opened the book. An ancient map covered two pages. There were no borders.

Only four marks scattered across the continent.

“They say Noctrium wasn’t originally spread throughout the world the way it is today.” Her finger touched one of the marks. “There were four great sources.” She moved her finger to the second. Then the third. And the fourth. “Places where it flowed from the earth itself in quantities impossible to measure.”

Three moved closer.

“Four...”

“Some believe the first civilizations formed around them. Centuries passed, borders changed, kings rose, wars were fought...” The elder ran her fingers across the map. “And the Four Nations emerged.”

Nino went still.

“What was inside those sources?”

The woman looked at him.

“According to the stories?” She turned a page. There was a drawing of a stone formation surrounded by kneeling figures. “At the center of each one was a stone.”

Alicia moved closer to the table.

“A stone?”

“That’s how the ancients described them.”

Three continued studying the drawing.

“What did they do?”

The elder partially closed the book.

“Depending on which story you choose to believe... miracles.”

No one spoke.

“They say anyone capable of reaching them could ask for something no human being could ever obtain on their own.”

Three gave a small laugh.

“And I’m guessing there’s some horrible part.”

“There always is.”

The elder stared at the drawing.

“Nothing was granted freely.”

Nino stopped breathing for a moment. A memory flashed through his mind — a child, a cave, blood, two bodies, and the King’s voice. Three noticed immediately.

“Nino?”

He looked at the map.

“I’ve seen one.”

Silence.

The elder slowly raised her eyes.

“What?”

“Not me.”

Nino touched one of the marks.

“The King.”

Three froze.

“He told me.” Nino took a deep breath. “When he was a child, he found a stone.”

The elder didn’t take her eyes off him.

“And he asked for something?”

“Control.”

Three looked at Nino.

“Control...”

“Over people. Their wills. Their memories. What they see.”

Three’s fingers unconsciously touched the pocket where she kept the journal.

“And the price?” the elder asked.

Nino remained silent for a few seconds.

“His parents.”

No one spoke.

Alicia clutched the fabric of her dress between her fingers. The elder slowly looked back at the map.

“Then...” Her voice had lost all its calm. “The stories were true.”

Three moved even closer. There were four marks, four sources, and four stones, and one of them had already been found.

“If there were four...” she murmured.

Nino understood before she could finish.

“There are still three.”

Three kept staring at the map. Then her eyes stopped on one of the regions. Her expression changed.

“Solvar...”

Nino looked at her.

“What?”

Three slowly raised her head.

“What if the war was never just about territory?”

The room fell silent. Nino looked back at the four marks drawn on the map. One had already given the King the power to control men. And somewhere in that world, three more could still be waiting.

“He knows,” Nino said.

Three looked at him.

“Knows what?”

His eyes remained fixed on the map.

“That there are more Primordial Stones.”

A heavy silence filled the room. Then Nino finished:

“And you’re right. I’m pretty sure Solvar has something to do with that.”