Entry I: Daybreak, The Choosing of The Keeper
Recorded by Aisling, Keeper of Memories
Celestial Grove Prophecy
“For a thousand years of war
And a thousand years defending
Every thousand years this door
Marks a thousand years of mending
In ten-thousand years restore
What a thousand years was rending
And with a thousand years more
Find ten-thousand minds Ascending
So, walk the path, see through the mist
The Grove beyond stands sure
It waits for one, a catalyst
Whose heart and hands are pure
A soul unbent by hatred’s twist
Reveals the Grove’s own cure
Heir to the throne, the Alchemist
And a light that shall endure.”
The dawn bells rang out across the city, then came the voice.
“For a thousand years of war
And a thousand years defending”
Queen Federica’s voice echoed from the sound spires, soft and amplified, resonating with reverence.
“Every thousand years this door Marks a thousand years of mending”
Mothers paused, children straightened. Street vendors bowed slightly without looking up.
“In ten-thousand years restore
What a thousand years was rending”
I mouthed along. It felt wrong not to after years of repeating it in school.
“And with a thousand years more Find ten-thousand minds Ascending”
Her voice growing more passionate with the promise of the golden age to come.
“So, walk the path, see through the mist
The Grove beyond stands sure
The words, familiar yet uncomfortable, sat heavy on my tongue.
“It waits for one, a catalyst
Whose heart and hands are pure
A soul unbent by hatred’s twist
Reveals the Grove’s own cure
Heir to the throne, the Alchemist”
My lips tingled.
“And a light that shall endure.”
Silence.
The bell tolled again. The city exhaled.
Magic had inscribed those words into the stone door of the Celestial Grove. In Obsidian, we awoke to them, every morning. Our identity as a people: forged from heat and pressure into beauty and utility. Ten-thousand years have passed since the age of the Keepers began and The Thousand Year War ended. The search for the last Keeper has begun.
I slipped on the dress I’d bought just for today. My family crest hung from a chain around my neck. I clasped the crest, House Catenora, wishing my father was there to see me. I smoothed the fabric trying to tame my nervousness. Today, the ancient doors to the Celestial Grove would appear, and the last Keeper would be chosen. On my 16th birthday, Mother informed me that I could be chosen. There were millions of eligible and thousands who’d trained their entire lives hoping the magic of The Grove would notice them. I was not one of them. Being the daughter of a Duke was notice enough.
My best friend, Mira, sat waiting by the front gate upon my exit. Her Avani clan clothing shimmered with iridescence. I grabbed her hand as my guards shut the wrought iron gate behind me.
“We’re going to be late, again,” she huffed, pulling away.
“Well, let’s go,” I said, annoyed.
“I’m not moving until I get an apology,” she declared as she turned away from me. The street hushed, eyes everywhere on us. I rolled my eyes. Mira’s dramatics had a way of turning a crowd.
“Mira, forgive me, but THIS…” I said gesturing toward my outfit, “… is a once in a lifetime event. And so is the Grove opening ceremony.”
Mira didn’t move.
“Mira, please”. I stepped toward her.
Nothing.
“Mira, for Orthud’s sake. Let’s go!”
She flinched at the name.
“That is not an apology.” A spark of defiance shined in her eyes as they narrowed.
“Avani don’t deserve apologies,” an Obsidian passerby chided then spat having observed our conversation.
Mira went quiet, her shoulders stiff. I glared at the man and turned back to my friend.
“Mira, I’m sorry.” I couldn’t meet her eyes. “I know you hate being late. I disregarded that. It won’t happen again.”
She looked back at the man. “Thank you.” She said loudly enough to catch his attention. She held his gaze and patted me on the head.
“Good girl.” she cooed.
I went slack-jawed. His eyes widened with rage. She winked and took off at full sprint toward the city center. I bolted after her, smiling as the man cursed at us both.
Mira’s graceful sprint made me look like I’d only just learned how to run. This wasn’t the first time I’d chased her through the city.
I caught up to her in The Great Hall panting and fixing my hair. She tossed her curly locks a few times. They bounced back into place. Her rounded features and bronze skin faintly glowed in the sunlight after the exertion. I cursed as I slowed to catch my breath. My face was flushed and the hair I’d just finished pinning before leaving fell around my shoulders. I felt one of the obsidian glass pins drop. It hit the ground with a bell-like tone. It glinted with red aura, faintly in the sunlight as I bent to retrieve it.
The enchanted glass my mother gifted me, the same glass I’d failed to break a millennia ago with a hammer after a fight with my mother over something I can’t remember anymore, could hold aura but not my hair. Without a mirror, I stumbled blindly trying to style it again.
Mira reappeared. She’d doubled back to find me. We both knew the consequences of showing up a bit late were tolerable, but late and disheveled, was a line too far where my mother, Lady Tessa Catenora, was involved. Mira combed through my hair with her hands and shaped it so that it fell to the small of my back. She collected the pins for me.
“I’ll hold on to these for you.”
She held my hand as we walked through the gigantic arcade of the Great Hall. I arched my neck looking at the aura infused obsidian glass reliefs of the entire history of the Obsidian empire. Mira kept her head down. Her pace quickened.
At the center of the arcade stood a statue of General Orthud Catenora, sword drawn, foot on a broken crown. He looked proud. Triumphant. I stopped. Mira continued a few steps. I lingered at the statue, smiling as I viewed my ancestor.
“Aisling.” Mira urged me toward the light of the amphitheater refusing to look back. He meant something wholly different to her.
Mira and I took our places in my family’s booth. I looked to my mother. She checked the time, flared her nostrils, paused, then looked me up and down.
“You don’t have to run if you leave on time, Aisling.”
I cursed under my breath and looked at Mira.
“How does she always know?!” She mouthed.
“You’ve managed to properly style your hair with aura I see.” My mother smiled gently.
A chill flew down my spine. The non-complement from my mother meant forgiveness and that she appreciated Mira’s styling job. I hadn’t realized she’d imbued it with aura. I didn’t think that was possible for the Avani.
Mira and I exchanged concerned looks. We’d discuss later.
Queen Federica’s voice silenced the crowd. This time, it wasn’t a recording. Her magically amplified voice felt intimate, as if she’d just whispered in everyone’s ears simultaneously.
“We’ve gathered here on the eve of Obsidian’s Jubilee to choose the final Keeper who will fulfill the prophecy the Celestial Grove gave us this day, ten-thousand years ago, when the Thousand-Year War ended. Today, we celebrate, for the Ascension is nigh. The new Keeper, selected today, will be our final representative to walk the Grove and work…” She paused, touching an extravagantly long fingernail to her lips.
Silence.
“…to mend and restore that which was lost in the Thousand-Year War.” We chanted in unison, save Mira.
Mira’s face was still, but her eyes lit with aura. Surprised and worried, I took her hand. Hot, seething energy surged through my hand. I couldn’t let go. I felt the depth, intensity, and complexity of Mira’s emotions wash over me like getting caught in a sudden heavy rain.
“Witch. Tyrannical, genocidal imp.” I heard Mira’s voice in my mind, her lips a thin unbroken line. Wrathful energy surged. I gasped and Mira broke her gaze at Queen Federica. My eyes had begun to well. The aura in Mira’s eyes faded as her face softened. Her grip tightened to match mine.
Silence.
As soon as her grip tensed around my own, it was all gone. I shivered as a void replaced Mira’s rage.
Queen Federica gave a single clap. The air cracked. Magic rippled through the hall.
“And now, let us honor the Keeper who will usher us into our golden age. Scouts have reported the name inscribed on the Grove’s great stone doors.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Our golden age Keeper is… Aisling Catenora”.
My mother’s jaw dropped. Mira released my hand and backed away. I froze, unable to move.
My heart pounded louder until it was the only thing I could hear. I could hardly catch my breath. Every eye on me, save Mira’s.
Silence.
Daybreak Part 2 – The Queen, The Keeper, and the Grove
Recorded by Aisling, Keeper of Memories
My eyes darted to my mother, her mouth still ajar with shock. I glanced at Mira, her head bowed, her face concealed in shadow. I looked back at the Queen. She smiled, winked, and then disappeared into blood red mist.
Her voice rang out from behind me this time. No whispers necessary. Her hands sat gently on my shoulders, such surprising softness from someone who’s aura permeated the air around us with power. Knees, hands, and faces collapsed to the floor in startled bows. The clatter woke me from my daze, and I moved to kneel, when Queen Federica clasped my hand in hers and raised it skyward.
“I present to you, your golden age Keeper, Aisling Catenora,” her voice amplified again. The crowd roared. Deafened, I looked toward my mother again.
Her head and back rose and fell in waves, silent rhythmic sobs, her face buried so that no one could see.
I snapped my eyes toward Mira. She remained in the corner of the booth. Her eyes boring into the back of Queen Federica’s head. The queen shivered and aura crackled around her. Aura lit Mira’s eyes in answer. Something wild churned beneath her unmoving frame. I looked at the crowd and my knees buckled slightly. Queen Federica took the opportunity to lower my hand and cheerily whisper,
“Oh, you poor thing, this must be positively overwhelming. Have you eaten yet? Let’s get breakfast!”
Red mist clouded my vision and the roar of the crowd faded. My vision cleared and I shook my head, dizzy, ears ringing.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” Federica chimed. “I’ve waited a lifetime to meet you, Aisling, and here you are. My, what a day. Won’t you come in?”
She didn’t wait for me to respond. She simply linked arms and started at a brisk pace into what I was now only beginning to take in.
The royal residence was fabled to be one of the most beautiful and deadly places in the world. What I observed was no fable. My jaw hung agape from the sheer beauty. Every wall held some kind of treasure: gold, jewels, magical artifacts, ancient tomes. All these priceless items just sat here on display in a perimeter maze so complex they said people had died trying to navigate it. Avani artisans had crafted the impenetrable castle after the war. The confusion of the journey snapped me out of my stupor.
“Queen Federica,” I managed to cough, my mouth dry from being open too long.
“Yes, child,” she hummed.
“What just happened?”
“You, Aisling Catenora, were chosen by the Celestial Grove to be our golden age Keeper. I read your name, the crowd cheered, you flopped around looking like a gasping fish, and now, breakfast.”
“I… I can’t be.”
“But child, you are. You are who I declared you to be.” Levity leaving her voice for a moment.
The hair on my neck bristled at her tone.
“There’s no going back now. The life you once knew is over.” Her intonation brightened again. “Aisling, you’re the most famous person in Obsidian history!”
When she said it, if felt like my name no longer belonged to me. I felt bile well as my body rejected the idea.
She snapped her fingers, “Just like that, you’ve become immortal.”
“What!?”
“Only in name, darling.” She paused. “Of course, once you enter the Grove, YOU actually will be.”
“Wait, immortal? What do you mean?”
“What do you mean what do I mean? You won’t die. That’s what immortal means.”
“I can’t die?”
“Oh, I didn’t say you were invulnerable. I said you won’t die, as in you won’t grow old. You’ll have youth forever, but you certainly can die. Good distinction though.” Her eyes flickered in amusement. Her words felt covered in mist, concealing information in charming precision.
Another turn and the hallway opened into a banquet hall. The ceiling glittered with aura infused, obsidian chandeliers. You could have told me it was the night sky, and I would have believed you. A large table stood in the center of the room adorned with foods I’d never seen before. The colors seemed impossible. Steam rippled from the food. My mouth was no longer dry.
“What would you like dear? Take your pick.”
Queen Federica grabbed a plate and started stabbing at the food. She took a bit from each platter. She alternated, onto her plate, into her mouth, as she moved down the table.
“Before it gets cold, dear,” her mouth full of food.
I reached for the first thing that looked familiar. Pancakes. Plate in hand, Queen Federica sat at the head of the table. A single clap and the food shimmered and disappeared, the table now small and intimate. Queen Federica gestured for me to sit. An unnerving feeling doused my nerves in water. It felt impossible to discern reality, everything in this castle bent to Federica’s will. I took my seat, my focus annealed.
“You have good taste, Aisling. So many pretty things to eat and you went for the normal looking thing. Well, do I have a surprise for you.” She pulled out a steaming pitcher full of syrup.
“This syrup is one of the few artifacts that has ever come out of the grove. The Keeper before you brought it out with him. Oh!” She started at the last sentence, then burst into a feline grin. “I really should learn when to stop talking.” She said giggling.
“He came out?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We don’t know. No Keeper has ever returned.”
“Does this mean I’ll come back?”
“What part of ‘We don’t know, no Keeper has ever returned’ did you not understand?” she lowered the pitcher to the table and sparks of aura whirled through the steam escaping the lid.
“I’m sorry, I- “
“Eat child, maybe after food you’ll be able to keep up a bit better.”
Queen Federica’s eyes glittered as she lifted the pitcher and poured the syrup. Flecks of aura skittered as the syrup spread to the edges of the plate. My hair stood on end. She sat the pitcher down, placed her head in her hands, and stared at me with anticipation. I stared back.
“Well, don’t leave me in suspense,” she smiled.
I picked up the fork and hastily cut a piece from the formidably sized pancake. I warily observed Queen Federica, a barely visible mist coiled around her as I chewed. The pancake melted, a perfectly balanced sweet and faintly sour flavor. Then a sizzling wave of cinnamon bathed my tongue. A thrill rippled through me.
Suddenly I was pulling at my father’s cuffs begging him to buy another bag of cinnamon candy from the street vendor months before he died. Tears welled up and I swallowed. The taste of brown sugar lingered, a warm hug. I felt his arms around me. Smelled his clothes. His laugh, quirky and unforgettable resonated in my mind. I smiled for the first time since leaving the house. I opened my eyes, I’d returned to the dining hall, but seeing my father had lit a fire in my chest. I dropped my fork and clutched at that warmth not wanting to forget it again. Where grief had iced over pieces of my soul, hugging my father had melted it away in an instant. Queen Federica, sat back in her chair, a smug smile across her lips. I wrung my hands, jaw clenched, but I couldn’t stop the tears.
“They really do taste like those cinnamon candies from the New Year’s festival, don’t they? You had such a kind father to buy them for you too! Oh, and that laugh!” Her eyes glowed red with aura.
“How did you-?” I said, blinking.
The Queen simply talked over me. “I invited you here for more than breakfast, Aisling.”
A chill went up my spine.
“I would like to ask a favor of you,” she cut her eyes at me, “I’d like you to take me into the Grove with you.”
“I thought that only the Keeper could enter the grove.”
A hungry look came over the Queen despite having just eaten.
“So, we thought, until the last Keeper staggered from the Grove, muttering, ‘I must find the heir… bring her in…’ It shook us. No sooner had the doors closed behind the Keeper, your name appeared as the next in line to serve. We knew this must be the culmination of the prophecy. I’m sure you’re familiar. ‘Heir to the throne, the Alchemist, and a light that shall endure.’”
The whisper of leaves echoed in my mind, but the hall held only steel and stone.
“The Grove has been waiting for an heir to the throne adept in magic to be the catalyst that begins Obsidians’ golden age. She pointed to herself, touching her nose. She went cross-eyed briefly, then looked at me, her hands splayed and quaking mirthfully beside her face. “Ta-dah!” She giggled at herself and continued. Her laughter rang hollow, practiced, desperate, a performative façade hiding insecurity. “I’m the only royal left with an inherent gift to manipulate aura, hence the red misty stuff.” She winked at me. “A gift I inherited from my father.”
The air sizzled. Federica’s tone shifted earnest. “So, now you see, you must take me with you. Together, we’ll begin The Awakening! We’ll be the pride of Obsidian.”
“Find the heir” I heard the unfamiliar voice through the leaves.
I looked around the room, no trees and no one else in sight. I couldn’t tell if the sound was coming from the room or from within.
“Well, what do you say? Shall we make history together, then?” She leaned closer. Holding her gaze made me dizzy for some reason. I looked away.
“I just need some time to think.” I realized I’d said aloud. Her smile left her eyes.
“Aisling, we’re friends now, right? You’ll take me into the Grove with you, won’t you?”
I smiled nervously. “But that’s never happened before.”
“Won’t you?” The air around her started to ripple and shimmer. My eyes drifted around her silhouette. My head snapped forward, our eyes locked. I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.
“Say, it. Say the words”. Pressure built in my head, just behind my eyes.
The sound of leaves reverberated furiously in my mind. My heart rate and breathing calmed as if someone were doing it for me. The pain subsided.
“No.”
“My, you really are a Keeper. It takes someone special to resist. Would you like to try again.” She leaned closer. A burst of pain.
My muscles cramped as I tried to repeat my rebuke. My body’s betrayal turned my blood white hot.
“I’ll take you into the Grove,”
The air around her stopped shimmering and my muscles un-tensed, the heat dissipated, two hot streaks of red ran from my nose.
Did my body belong to them now too?
“Good. I’m so looking forward to the ceremony. I’ll see you in two days’ time.” Federica used her napkin to wipe away the blood before I could regain my composure. “This was such a lovely meal. Thanks for stopping by!”
I opened my mouth to speak, but red mist clouded my vision and my chair evaporated beneath me. I caught myself on hands and knees. The world spun as I looked up. I immediately shut my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Aisling.” Said a familiar voice.
My head shot up again. Two sentries stood on either side of me and there, at the castle gates creeping open, stood my mother.