Owltalon: :) my beta lost her internet connection

FlexManSteel: :) that will be explained in this chapter, and if not this one then the next.

Rathon pushed the door to the riders' hall open with a sense of reverence. Only then did it strike him that he truly did enjoy living on Vroengard, among the mightiest of peoples, the Riders. He walked down the hall to his chambers slowly, memories of all the things that had happened to him in this place flashing through his mind. Moon light still flashed through the windows when he reached his rooms. He opened and closed the door, leaning against it and taking a deep breath. The words of Aesire rang in his mind.

My apprentices, listen to me. These crowns, these spells, are more than just a mark signing you as a King or Queen. They are living things. Wherever you walk, so shall they. Whoever is your enemy so shall they be theirs. They are one with you now. They will never take orders from another unless first bidden by you. You will never walk alone again, my children. Speak their names and your need and their mighty powers will come to you and fulfill your commands. However, be cautious of these powers. With them, you could lay waste to an army of men without lifting a finger or casting a spell. These spells are wild; they always have been and they always will be. No one can tame them. Be wary of them always.

Rathon opened his eyes to the dark room that was blinding. "Light," he whispered. "Give sight to my eyes." The crown on his head shifted and light began seeping from it as it where a waterfall of brightness. The light flowed to the ground, across the floor and up the wall to the ceiling. Before ten seconds were up, Rathon could see as if it were high noon. Outside, the blackness of night remained, for the light stayed in the room where he had bidden it remain. Not a single ray of light existed through the window. When the room was perfectly lit, the light ceased flowing from ShadowLight. Rathon took a deep intake of air and began packing his things. He did not burden himself with the treasures he had collected over the years, but only the things he would require for a day or two of flying and a few personal items. He wanted to begin his new life as a new life; and not with all the trappings of his old existence. A gentle tapping at the door caught his attention.

"Enter," he said, and his voice seemed different to him. The door opened and Nayter stepped in and looked about the room in awe.

"What is this?" she asked breathlessly.

"This," Rathon said as he descended the ladder to the lowest level, "is ShadowLight." He examined Nayter and noted the red brimming her eyes. "You've been crying," he commented.

Nayter touched her eyes with the backs of her hands and quickly said, "No…I haven't. I…get very tired at this hour."

"What can I help you with ?" Rathon asked, wishing there was some way to ease her obvious pain. I wonder what upset her. Maybe it is Brom leaving. Perhaps she loves him.

Nayter licked her lips and then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his chest. "I will miss you Rathon. All three of you. Katelyn invited me to go with her to the Dwarfs, as her Second hand, and I think I'll accept, but I'll miss you…and Brom."

"We'll be back," he said, slightly caught off guard.

"In five years." Rathon started to hear the slightest drops of tears hitting the ground below. "I'm scared. My entire life I've had the three of you here." Rathon was taken aback. He had never known she considered him such a friend, since she mostly only talked with Katelyn. "Without two of you…I don't know what I'll do."

Rathon placed a hand on the small of her back and hugged her in return. Trying to ease her discomfort, he said, "I cannot tell you what you should do. I am the King of Man and you are not enough of a human that I would claim authority over you. If I could offer advice, it would be to rely on your own strength in the years to come, instead of relying on others. It was inevitable that we would leave and in no way was it your fault or choice. So do not torture yourself over it."

Nayter pulled back and smiled up at him. "You must work on your ability of motivating others."

Rathon chuckled. "I haven't spent much time developing that skill."

Three knocks echoed on the door to his chambers and Brom entered. Feeling nostalgia from the last time he left Vroengard, he thought, This is almost the exact same circumstances. How truly strange fate is. Brom examined the two of them.

"Hope I'm not interrupting."

Instead of responding the way Rathon had expected, Nayter turned to him and said with barely restrained emotion, "Why did you say that to me on the steps of the King's hall?"

Brom's eye flicked to Rathon for a moment. "I…don't know what you are referring to and if I did I certainly didn't say it in an ill-meant manner."

Nayter face grew angry, though a tear ran down her face. She shook her head, her wolf ears twitching back and forth. "Again you flee behind the defenses of your incomprehensible form of speaking. What you said that moment hurt me deeper than anything that has ever been said to me since my first breath filled my lungs." Clenching her eyes tighter as her tears intensified she growled, "Wake and greet the light of reality, Brom Eragonson. Whether meant by cruel intentions or the pure heart, your words were misplaced and will not forget them nor forgive you." She placed a finger on her forehead. "A part of LunarMist is inside of me, enthralled into my veins by my Father. Know that on that day you made an enemy with your other self, simply for the pleasure of casting grief onto another. The most foul-tonged curser in the land has ten times the kindness of you. You deserve your crown no more than any one of those arrogant nobles!" With an incoherent cry, Nayter fled the room, brushing past Brom and out the door.

Brom's ordinary face of stone hardened into steel. Even the most base emotions his brother was feeling where now hidden from him. "Are you ready? "he asked Rathon.

"I think so." Rathon grabbed his pack and Brom opened the door. As Rathon was stepping out of it, Brom placed a hand on the opposing door, stopping him. Rathon looked at his brother. Brom's eye looked off in the distance where Nayter was just finishing into the city, then down at the floor.

"I'm sorry," he said, "for how heartlessly I've treated you all our lives. Just know that it wasn't without cause."

Every railing argument he had ever made against Brom for how he treated Rathon leapt into his mind and he opened his mouth to begin his well-rehearsed tirade on his brother, when he stopped himself. He placed a hand on Brom's shoulder. "Whatever you have done I forgive you for. We are brothers and brothers fight, especially when they're princes. We are starting life anew, Brother. Let us leave behind everything that trapped us in our old life and bury whatever grudges we may have."

Brom gripped his shoulder in return. "You have grown. Far more than I ever did. The Rathon that left us four months ago would have spent hours shouting at me for the bastard I have been to you. But now…" He shook his head. "You were a King even before Eragon placed a crown on your head. Let us go now. We are not ordered to be at the landing platform for some time yet, but let us stop at a dining hall and be brothers one last time, shall we?"

Rathon dipped his head. "Nothing would delight me more."

And so the two went to the grandest eating hall in Doru Araeba, and they ate and drank for over an hour, laughing and enjoying each other's company as they never had before. When it was over, and the King's order of presence drew near, Brom said, "Truly will I miss you, my brother, until the very hour I return to this island." Before Rathon had a chance to respond Brom stood and said, "We must get to the landing platform before too much longer."

Rathon nodded and they both left to get their respective belongings. Fifteen minutes later, Rathon ascended the last set of stairs that led to the open landing space for dragons. There stood Eragon, Aesire, Hola, Zodion, Katelyn, Nayter, and Brom, as well as the dragons of those present flying in the skies above. When Zodion noticed him, he snapped his fingers to Zodion and said, "And here is the successor of ShadowLight, even as we finish speaking of him."

Rathon set down his bags and said, "Am I late, my king?"

"No," Eragon said. "Right on time, in fact." He spread his arms and said, "Come before, my Rulers." Katelyn, Brom and Rathon all stepped before him and knelt. "Katelyn to the Dwarfs, Brom to the Elves, and Rathon to the Humans. It pains me to ask this, and by it, I mean no disrespect or doubt, but it is a formality that must be satisfied. You all understand that the lives of every person in this world, whatever their race, is entirely tied back to you as Kings and Queens. If they die or suffer, you alone will be held accountable. You all understand this?" They all nodded. "Good. Then I will let the previous holders of your spirits speak to you."

Aesire stepped forward in front of Brom and smiled down at him. "Brom, my protégé. You, over the years I have known and trained you, have become one of the driest sticks in the mud I have ever met in my life." He placed a hand on Brom's shoulder. "That can be a good thing. But you would do well to enjoy life among a race that enjoys it to the fullest, the elves. That is my advice to you. Take it if that be your desire."

Then Hola strode up to Katelyn. "Though little time we have spent together, I have watched you since you were but a child. And with you, I entrust BloodFire, and the well being of my daughter. If harm befalls her in your service, many debts will need to be paid."

"If I might ask a question," Katelyn said.

"Ask what is in your heart, just as you did the night we returned from your training."

"When the three of you summon the Spirits, Zodion and Aesire looked almost pained by it but you remained calm-faced as ever. Why is that?"

"An apt question indeed. Over years of holding BloodFire inside of me, its flames burnt to a crisp, which is what I meant when I said that its power was fading. That is the reason it did not pain me to summon its spirit form as it did my fellows. Because BloodFire had grown too weak to cause me pain." She cast her eyes at Eragon. "He can attest to its ability to cause pain. However, do not fear that its power still is weak. As the darkness dies with a new sun, so BloodFire's power was restored into the bonfire it was meant to be when it entered a new host. You."

Katelyn dipped her head. "I understand."

Then Zodion stepped in front of Rathon; but said nothing, only looked down at him. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Rathon said, "I wish to thank you, Master, for teaching me in the ways of your art and for entrusting me with ShadowLight."

A small chuckle escaped Zodion and the left side of his mouth inched up into a smile. "Foolishly were both of those powers given to me. I but handed them down to one more worthy of their limits. ShadowLight was different from the other two, my apprentice. It was calling for you, pushing away from me and trying to get to you. You are ShadowLight's chosen bearer. If either LunarMist or BloodFire had been given to you in place of ShadowLight, the spirits might very well have clashed."

"What is the danger in that?"

Zodion's brow darkened. "The Book of ShadowLight says this: ShadowLight was the second of the three great spells found, harnessed, and sealed away for fear of their powers. Legend speaks of the moon crumbling and sun exploding on the day that these three spells were brought together. BloodFire, LunarMist, and ShadowLight were never meant to come into contact. Alone, they are harmless. Two together, they could kill thousands. But all three at once would bring about catastrophe without comparison."

"Master, you do not think such a thing could occur, do you?"

"I would rather act like such an event could occur and find out it could not then act like such an event could not occur and find out it can. Remember that."

Eragon spoke then. "My rulers, look. The sun begins its slow ascent. Time is for you now to depart this island. You all have my blessing. Go, and crush the Black Chamber wherever it may fester."

As Rathon stood and grabbed his pack Katelyn wrapped her arms around his neck in a fierce hug. Rathon's heart jumped and he felt suddenly connected to Katelyn.

"Good bye, dear friend," she said.

"It's a separation, not an execution," he stammered.

"It may as well be as such. As soon as we part in the skies we are to act as if the other two have been killed."

"It's not meant to be that dramatic."

"Regardless, I will miss you." She looked up at him. "Promise me that you won't change in the next five years."

"To make that promise would be no different than to promise he will not live; for life is change," Brom said from behind them. "Whether we care to admit it or not. He would change with your presence, Katelyn, as he showed in Bullridge. Let us see if he can grow without it."

After a long moment, Katelyn dipped her head and stepped away. "You have a valid point." Eragon spoke then.

"You each will take turns flying out on your dragons. As soon as this palace is out of view from your dragon's back, the two rules are set in play. Katelyn; you were crowned first, so you will leave first."

Katelyn called Arani and the silver dragon floated down to the platform. There was something mournful about the way the dragon moved. Katelyn leapt up to her shoulders and positioned herself in the saddle, followed in turn by Nayter. "Farewell, my masters." And with that, Arani swept open her wings and leapt into the air, flapping three times to gain altitude in the uncertain air above the waters. In ten minutes, she vanished from sight.

"Brom," said Eragon, "ordinarily I would send Rathon next, in order of crowning, but you have farther to go then him. You will go next." As he spoke the azure Zacaid lowered down to the platform, nestling there and waiting for Brom. Brom climbed up him and sat in his saddle. He dipped his head to those below and then Zacaid leapt of the side of the platform and plummeted down the rock face before snapping open his wings yards before they hit the water. Soon, they vanished as well, for Zacaid flew almost twice as fast as Arani had.

"Rathon," Eragon said expectantly. Even as Zacaid had left, Leonis had landed before them. Rathon jumped up to his shoulders and looked down at them. He wanted to say something, some apology for the way he had acted all his life. In the end, no words came to him.

Make up in actions what cannot be expressed through word, Leonis said. Our Kingdom awaits us and the dawn calls.

Rathon nodded sharply and sat in his saddle. "Goodbye, Father," he said, simply.

"Goodbye, my son," Eragon said, the hints of pride echoing his voice as he looked up at Rathon. Then Leonis let loose a resounding roar, jumped from the palace, opening his wings after falling several yards, and set their course to Ilirea. And so it was that Rathon, reborn as the embodying host of ShadowLight, went to live and rule, as King of Man.