Shadow of the Monarch

I looked at the dark door and realized how close I had been to crossing over to my actual death.

The one time my magic didn’t work was the one time it was not okay, and I was about to pay the price for it.

I backpedaled away from the dark door as quickly as I could. I didn’t stop moving until I was a good twenty feet away from her. I moved to take another step, but a terrible feeling in my gut told me to look behind me.

There it was, the edge of the cliff, less than a step away.

Iris watched solemnly as the distance between us grew, but she stayed rooted to her spot. She was looking at me as if I was some kind of spider trapped under a glass jar. What she planned to do with me remained a mystery.

I stood frozen on that unwelcoming cliff, uncertain of what to do next.

I glanced at the dark door again.

It stared back, alien and unfeeling.

I knew I had to cross the door to return to Priscilla, but if I did, I would only accomplish in dying prematurely.

Priscilla was fighting the living armor at this very moment, the one that had killed me. Yet once again, I was unable to help her. Like a bad curse, I couldn’t fulfill my role as a guardian, even in a stupid dream.

My luck, this is unreal, I thought.

Iris lifted her staff and slowly walked over to me again. A sly smile crept onto her face. I could never tell if that smile meant she was about to tell me everything was going to be okay before lending assistance, or if she was about to force me through the portal regardless of what I wanted. She had been very helpful so far, but what better time to reveal her true motives than now, when there was no one else around? If she was about to betray me, I was not about to go without a fight.

I tried to summon the Mocles Saber, but it did not respond to me. I raised my right hand and tried to create a kinetic barrier around me, but it fizzled and faded away as soon as it appeared.

It was at the very moment I knew I was in deep trouble.

I shook my head as I lowered my hand.

I had never felt so helpless before in my life. There was nowhere to run, and without my magic nor my weapon, I couldn't really fight back.

I could only watch as Iris closed the last few yards between us. A mournful look replaced the smile on her face.

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

When Iris reached me, she took a deep breath as she took my frozen hands into hers. Her hands were scalding hot, as if they had just been removed from a furnace. When she removed her hands, I noticed she had left a brilliant pearl the size of a marble in my hands. It shone with an other-worldly light, like a small star fallen from the heavens.

“Crush it,” she said.

I did as I was commanded, too scared to do otherwise.

The pearl collapsed into a small pile of dust like a fine wafer. I closed my hand to hold on to the dust, but the dust slipped away like quicksilver on a tin pan. The wind caught the dust and carried it over the ocean like dandelion seeds. The dust glittered as bright as gold in the light of the setting sun. And though the dust filled the sky like butterflies migrating south in the heat of August, it soon vanished from sight.

The dark door slowly filled with brilliant light, growing brighter and brighter until it was too bright to look at. When the light faded, I saw a hazy window leading back to the observatory I had left behind.

“Is that really?” I asked.

Iris nodded. She looked pained. Then I remembered that she had given up her Divine Favor to save my life.

"How can I thank you?" I asked.

"By not dying again," she replied, laughing nervously. “I saved you this time, Titus, but I cannot save you again. Do you understand? Unlike the others, you only get one life in this dream.”

I could hear the fear in her voice.

I nodded.

"I'll try," I promised.

“Swear to me."

“I swear it!”

“Good! Now hand me your Remnant.”

I tried to summon the Mocles Saber. This time, the broken blade appeared in my hand. I held it out for the Seraph to take.

Iris took the blade with her right hand and examined it carefully. Then she lifted the blade into the air in front of her, the flat of the blade facing her. With her left two fingers, she traced the flat of the blade from hilt to point. A blue line of light followed her fingertips, engraving the entire length of the blade. When she reached the end and lowered her left hand, the blue line flared up brilliantly, momentarily obscuring the entire blade from sight. When the light faded, Iris held in her hand a blade I thought I would never see again.

“Kairos

“-your mother’s blade. You’re going to need it until you have fully recovered your magic."

I took the blade with trembling hands.

It was exactly as I remembered it-a razor of a blade made of a cold, dark metal. It sported a minimal crossguard, suboptimal for dueling but perfect for what the blade was designed for-to strike down targets frozen in time. My very own Remnant, the Mocles Saber, was forged from the fragments of this marvel of a blade. And though the Mocles Saber's time dilation was powerful, it was nothing compared to what Kairos was capable of.

To see my mother's blade again, faithfully reconstructed, was more than I could have hoped for.

“Is it-”

“-fully functional,” she said. “Three time dilation, fifteen seconds apiece. You can combine them for an unbroken forty-five seconds. And if I remember correctly-"

"-I can make a fourth once I'm stronger," I said. "Iris, how?"

"That's the power of a Divine Favor."

I hugged Iris, making sure the blade didn’t nick her as I did. She hugged me back warmly.

“You don’t know how much this means to me,” I said, trying to hold back tears.

Iris sounded like she was about to cry as well. I released her in alarm, thinking I had hurt her with the blade she had given me. But a quick glance told me that wasn’t the case. I noticed a troubled look on her face as if she was ashamed for indulging in something she shouldn’t have. When she caught my look, her troubled expression vanished like a startled ghost.

“I was just about to take a nap when I saw you get murdered by Apollo,” she admitted. “If I hadn’t gotten up to get a cup of water-”

"-ah. Well, I’m glad you stayed up for a few more minutes.”

Iris nodded as she motioned for me to enter through the door.

“Your lord awaits,” she said.

“Yes. Thank you.”

I jogged back toward the door. When I neared it, powerful winds began to sweep all around me like a hurricane. The door felt as if it was drawing me in. I heard the sound of fire burning, Priscilla shouting, and the terrible clang of metal clashing against metal. The fight was still going on, though I could not see at all what was happening, if Priscilla still had the upper hand.

Apollo, I thought. That's who we're up against.

He was strong enough to break my barrier with a single strike from his zweihander when the spikes from Priscilla's gauntlets were not. I knew he was a Host, but he didn't sound invincible based on the conversation between Iris and Morpheus. Still, I had no idea what to expect from him, and without my kinetic magic, I needed to be careful. I was mortal, and any death from here on out would mean the end for me. That meant I would have to rely on Kairos's time dilations to stay alive.

That, and her.

I turned around to take a last look at my savior’s face. Iris smiled confidently, but her eyes told me she was just as worried as I was about the task that lay ahead. I wasn’t sure what a Divine Favor was worth, but it sounded like it had cost her quite a bit. That told me that at the very least, she saw Priscilla and me as valuable, something I hoped to count on until we escaped the First Cycle.

“Go, my champion,” Iris called. “I will be watching over you."

“Glad you've got my back.”

"As always."

I stepped through the door, bracing for my grim return to reality.