Adapt: The Scourge Wars Book 2 by Derek Belfield

Author:Derek Belfield [Belfield , Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15: The Crystal Cathedral

Lynia ground the knuckles of her forefingers against her temples, a trait that was becoming more prevalent the longer she remained the Governor of Bastion. It had been two days since the Scourge had left the city and Matek and Lynia had been scrambling to put out the fires left in their wake.

Lynia wished she were exaggerating but there had already been a score of literal fires in the city despite most of the architecture being crafted from celestial marble—a building material that Lynia was coming to learn had supernatural properties. It was a perfect insulator. It retained heat as the weather was steadily cooling, and it remained comfortable even when the occasional full day of sun beat on it for long periods of time As for fires, they had been either started in homes or where firewood had been stored for the winter.

Out of curiosity, Lynia had begun experimenting with some of its properties. She wanted to understand how it worked before building more of the city with it. She hypothesized that the stone itself could absorb ambient mana and that’s why it gave off the low crystalline glow.

Light, she cursed. I’m starting to sound like Merus. The thought made her pause. She probed the feeling like one would the hole left by a missing tooth. It hurt but she could just feel the edges of that pain in her soul.

She knew there was a Merus-sized hole in her heart left from his passing. It gave her comfort somewhat to know that he still lived—at least in some sense—in her heart. The ceremony that Slate had organized hadn’t been for her—or anyone who truly grieved for the fallen Guardian. It had been a call to arms and an attempt to make the Scourge seem more relatable to the citizens of Bastion. Lynia could objectively praise the genius of the move while hating that it hadn’t done anything for her. It was little comfort to watch her only love burn to ash in Lucidus’ cleansing fire.

The ceremony, if anything, merely made her more faithful to Lucidus. She prayed to the deity every day in the hope that when she eventually left this life, she could join Merus in the afterlife.

Maybe it’s a fool’s errand, she reflected. But I’ll do my best if it means Lucidus will reunite me with Merus.

That promise guiding her actions, she pulled out the scrolls that had piled on the desk. It seemed so long ago that she had teased Merus for the same pile of parchment in a room that looked similar the one she had commandeered for her office.

It was one of the rooms in the palace offset from the throne room. It was spacious and well-lit. The natural light was one of the reasons she had chosen the room. It lent the room a warmth that wouldn’t be present otherwise. Everything else had been carved from the aforementioned celestial marble. She had asked the Guardians to bring her furniture and they had been diligent in their efforts.

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