I hated walking in the sand. It slipped into my boots like it was trying to infiltrate my socks, and the uneven ground made every step a chore. But I kept walking on the sand I hated because—well, because—
My shadow found comfort in the woman who controlled the sea.
I found comfort in the woman who controlled the sea.
We reached a small, secluded beach framed by towering rocks and stopped. Giovanna sat, burying her hands and feet deep into the sand. As she settled, the ocean began to swell toward her, lazily lapping at the shore where she sat.
I didn’t fancy getting my clothes wet and sandy, it sounded like the absolute worst thing imaginable, but I wanted to be next to her. So I lowered myself to the ground, sitting beside Giovanna. I wondered what she had seen during her time away from Celentra. What she had lived through.
She looked over at me with a crooked smile on her face. ‘You want to know what happened?’
‘More than anything.’
“The first world I was ever transported to was a place full of yellow light,” she said, looking back out at the horizon. “It was like walking into the sun. The heat radiated around me and through the very ground.”
I followed her gaze to where the ocean met the sky, taking a deep breath as I waited for her to share more.
“While I was there, I met people who told me their realm was suffering from an eternal day. Night never came to their world.” Her voice quieted slightly.
“What did you do?” I asked, feeling through the bond that whatever came next still carried a shadow.
“I helped them recover an ancient artifact that would allow them to petition their Goddess of Night to return. At first, it didn’t work. The Goddess ignored us.” Giovanna paused, pulling her hands from the sand and pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around herself.
“Then, one day, I went out to petition her alone. I told her I wasn’t from her world, but that I came from a place stuck in a single breath. I told her that no world should be trapped like that—that life requires the passage of time, even when time takes too much.” She turned to me again, something like fierce determination etched into her features.
“She decided then that night was something her people needed, and she came back.”
“You saved that world,” I told her, aching to pull her closer.
The air between us hung heavy for a moment before she spoke again.
“Celentra is the world I want to save now,” she said, her certainty bordering on dangerous.
“How?” I asked.
“By solving the prophecy that broke it,” she said, as if it were the simplest task in the world.