Hall of Games [ REWRITE ] | The Varya Chronicles #1

Chapter Seventeen

Media: Cadence

Music: This isn't real, The Last Witch Hunter soundtrack [ I highly recommend you play it when you reach the middle of the chapter huehue ]

The pain seared every part of her. She cried out for her brother, her father, and the mother she never knew. Someone clutched her hand, she clutched back, begging the person to stop the pain inside her.

Put it out. End it, end it!

Her eyes flew open to find her brother asleep beside her bed, his head buried in his arms.

Cadence's eyes still hurt. Carefully, she cracked them open.

The infirmary was empty, cold, dark, except for the sliver of sunlight that sauntered through the crack in the curtain, shining directly on the vase opposite her bed.

She remembered her fight with Khazaria, she remembered everything with outstanding clarity, but had she really summoned the swords?

Cadence tried to remember what the explosion of shadows felt. It did not hurt her, but rather a part of her, something she never knew she had, break free. She closed her eyes again, allowing her mind to sink back like how she would float in water.

There! She felt them. The shadows were silent now, but still reacted to her when she tried to touch them. Cadence opened her eyes to see wisps of darkness roll off her hands and vanish.

Euphoria washed over Cadence. She brought her hands to face level, staring at their long, slender shape as well as the callouses and burn marks.

Cadence never even thought she would have a single drop of Varya blood inside her. She had tried so hard, prayed so hard, anything that might make her Varya. Now, she was one.

"You're awake." Kashimi walked out of the shadows, a lamp in his hand. "I was worried you might not wake up at all."

"What happened to me?" Cadence's throat felt like sandpaper, and her face felt like a balloon that had been inflated far beyond its capacity.

"You're Varya," Kashimi said. "And that's that."

"You felt my energy before. I wasn't Varya, even Derek-" She broke off, not wanting to think of the man who discovered her identity in the tavern.

"Indeed I have. You weren't then, but you're now."

"There must be some kind of explanation," Cadence pleaded. "I know I should be thrilled to be Varya, but this is bewildering."

"Varya blood is passed from generation to generation." Kashimi gestured at Cole. "Your brother is one, and I have no doubt that you took after the parent whose powers were passed down. Affinities need to be Awakened before it can manifest itself. I believe your encounter with Khazaria forced your body to enter a protective mode and bring up all its defenses."