"The library will be closing in ten minutes!" My co-workers voice rang out sending a chill up my spine. Even after working at the library for some time her 'teacher voice' still sent me spiraling back to grade school. The heater nearby hummed casting a gentle warmth over my little desk keeping the frigid air at bay.
I glanced over to the people on the computers making sure that anyone who needed my help could catch my attention. So late in the day there were only two and neither of them moved even as the system sent out a five minute warning to their screens. I looked back to my own screen flipping through a few different tabs making sure that the computers were still connected to my system and that the automatic shutdown was correctly entered.
I quickly began shutting down the multiple other tabs I had open to keep me entertained during the slow moments between helping people. YouTube and Google were the last tabs to go cutting off the music that had been streaming into my ear for the past 8 hours. The silence rang in the air for a moment before the normal little clicks and whispers of the library came back into focus.
The computers kicked their users off one by one. One of the users glanced toward me giving a slight glare, but I simply smiled back. I couldn't extend their sessions even if I wanted to, which I didn't at this point. The patrons quickly gathered their things and pulled on their coats moving out into the night letting in small gusts of cold. I stretched feeling my body pop and protest the movement before moving about closing down the catalogues spread throughout the building. It didn't take long before I was back to my own desk carefully packing up my snacks and pocketing my phone. Clicking the heater off.
"The library is now closed!" Jane's voice cut through the air once again making me jump slightly. It shouldn't bother me so badly, but then again I had been conditioned most of my life to respond to that sort of tone. I quickly finished gathering my things and swung my bag onto my back.
"See you all tomorrow." I called quietly. Jane glanced up from the front desk where she seemed to be finishing something.
"Be careful, Kiddo. It's pretty cold tonight."
I simply smiled at her worry. "I'll be fine." I added tugging at my hoodie. "It's not a long walk."
"When are you getting your car fixed?" She pressed on.
"Should be able to fix it in a few days. No big deal." I added with a small wave before pushing out into the darkened streets. The cold was stronger than this morning and it easily shred through the simple black hoodie. I shivered hiking my bag higher over my shoulder before beginning my walk home. Normally I would have some sort of music playing, but with it being darker thanks to daylight savings time, I didn't trust walking alone and distracted in the night. I quickly crossed the street half jogging to reach the sidewalk before heading up the street. The soft whisper of cars in the distance sounded like the wind talking to itself punctuated by soft screeches of faulty brake pads. The night was peaceful as I moved from streetlamp to streetlamp.
It took me by surprise when the world felt like it was suddenly tilting. I forced myself to a stop wheeling my arms to catch balance. I blinked and glanced down at myself. I felt fine and yet the world lurched again sending me stumbling forward this time.
"Fuck." I gasped steadying myself. "Is this an earthquake?"
An instant later I knew that it wasn't. I felt the world began to unravel. It was the only way I could explain it. Like whatever held our reality together was simply coming undone. It was then I noticed the horrible black that was spreading toward me. Like liquid nothingness it curled and flowed underneath my feet. There was no time to scream or cry. I simply fell as if there were nothing beneath me at all.
Spiraling out of control I plummeted further and further. It was colder than before….no that wasn't right. It was worse than cold. It was numbing and the numbness was crawling inside of me ripping me apart one molecule at a time.
I almost didn't feel it when something very solid slammed into my chest. The pain was muted. I couldn't see what it was but I wrapped around it clinging to anything solid in the maelstrom. I couldn't see. Couldn't hear past the roaring silence that threatened to unravel my mind. I could faintly feel the thing in my hands. Metal, bitingly cold, it laughed and cried at the same time. It felt like a book.
"We're going to be unmade." It whispered. "Made and Unmade. Light and Dark. Truth and Lies." It sang a moment later. "Pretty traveler." It purred. "Soft and Hard. Made and Unmade."
I screamed, but there was no sound. Only the chanting as I lost all feeling. I could feel my hands disappearing. Worse than pain this feeling. Simply ceasing. Even the thing in my hands was disappearing.
"Made and Unmade." It sang. "Pretty pretty thing." I wished it would stop. But it was stopping. Everything was.
"Listen." It ordered. Whatever was left of me did. So little left. All scattered and torn. Made and Unmade. Power, great bands of power thrown out and mending what was broken. A great ancient power awakening. Becoming whole.
It looked to me.
Whatever had been chanting was twining with me. What was left of us. Made and Unmade. Darkness and Light. Sound and Silence. We danced with each other. There could not be a Cauldron without the Book. It weaved us a new body, gathered the fragmented minds. Sensation, cold and wonderful wrapped around us.
The ancient thing it purred to us. Sang to me. Told me not to be afraid. My body was fire and the water was ice. There was pain and it was good. A new body. Forged in chaos.
Something was near us. Near me. I cried knowing that it didn't matter. I wanted it all to stop. My mind being forced back together by something so much greater than me. An equal to us. Oh how it hated our power, but loved me. Much like it loved another. Gave her gifts. It would give to me.
A hand, small but powerful, grabbed mine. I clung to it. There was a long moment where nothing happened. Just the black water. Cold, but no pain this time. I squeezed the hand wanting any reassurance and I felt that hand squeeze back, and then pull.
My head broke surface and I breathed in my first lungful of air. There were panicked voices and strong arms helping pull me out. I felt too much. The smell of blood was in the air. Steel and blood. I could hear the sounds of fighting. Wails of the dying. And voices speaking a language I didn't know.
A woman was suddenly in my field of view and she was absolutely beautiful. Tanned skin, fair features, and blue eyes boring into my own. She spoke but the words didn't make any sense. Like some language I had never heard before.
"I don't understand you." I told her earnestly tears beginning to fall. "I don't know where I am. What happened?"
Something brushed against my most inner thoughts and I slammed down gates I didn't realize I had. There was a startled pain filled sound. The woman jerked her gaze to someone off to the side. I didn't bother looking. I was so tired. The woman tucked a piece of golden-brown hair behind a pointed ear. Someone was touching her. I followed the arm up to see an incredibly handsome man staring at me in shock. His hair was blue-black much like a raven's feathers. Tan skin much like the woman next to him. They were both dressed in similar leather clothing. Blood and dirt crusted them. They both had a tattoo on their arms. They were beautiful. Too beautiful like someone had photoshopped them perfect yet they were living and breathing.
He spoke but still nothing he said made any sense. It was all just sounds. I bit my lip curling slightly into myself only to freeze as I saw my arms. Longer than before, but just as pale. Unblemished all my freckles wiped away like a blank page. Not so blank page….runes in a language I didn't understand swirled down my arms in the deepest black. I didn't mean to sob. I was naked, truly naked and those black marks were everywhere moving in elegant swirls and patterns down my body. They could see everything of me. The more I looked the more I realized that the markings were accented with a shimmering silver that was lighter than my skin tone. I felt like throwing up.
This wasn't my body.
I wasn't sure when I started to scream but I came back to myself as a familiar hand clasped around my own. I let the sound die in my throat looking over to the owner of the hand who had drawn me from the water.
Soaked to the bone, beautiful like the others, black hair that was plastered to the sides of her face ending about at her chin, silver eyes, and an almost plain face compared to the sheer beauty of the others. A soft squeeze. I took a deep breath covering myself best that I could.
"I don't know what happened. Where I am. Or who you all are. But...could I please get some clothes." I tried to sound calm. Instead it sounded insane my calm voice among the chaos. They all began speaking in low voices after a moment the one holding my hand tugged me upwards as she got onto her feet. I stood noticing how dirt and black still seemed to cover me. I shivered watching them.
A soft sound from the male and I felt my face break slightly in relief as he handed me what looked like a cloak. I gratefully took it and wrapped it around myself happy to have some sort of covering. I felt numb as they led me along the outskirts of what looked to be a massive battle. Everything felt so far away. I kept a hold on the hand that had saved me. It was a long walk. I ended up in some tent sitting with my savior quietly.
She seemed rather indifferent to it all watching me with dispassionate eyes. Finally she spoke. One word. Then again the same sound pointing at herself.
"Amren." She told me.
"Nova." I told her wincing at my name. My parents thought it was the coolest name imaginable, but they weren't the ones who had to tell people their name was literally Nova.
"Nova." She echoed back. I smiled and nodded. The corner of her mouth quirked up, just then someone came into the tent. I froze then relaxed as I recognized the woman and man from before, they immediately looked to me.
Amren said something that ended with my name.
"Nova?" The woman asked gently. I nodded and gave her a slight smile. "Feyre." She said simply tapping herself.
"Nice to meet you Feyre." I told her pulling the cloak a bit closer around me. She looked to the male then looked back to me.
"Rhysand." The man spoke violet eyes watching me warily.
"Hello Rhysand." I muttered.
"Nova?" Rhysand spoke just as that same scraping sensation touched my mind. The gates I had made all onyx, silver, and diamond held easily against the brush of claws. The way he was looking at me was frustrated. The claws against my mind tapped. He said something and the claws tapped again. Panic began to set in as I felt the alien sensation skate over the familiar and foreign gates.
He spoke again. He sounded tired. Looked it too. Yet those claws gently touched the edges of the gates asking permission. I blink and tilted my head the slightest bit at the revelation. Was he asking me to lower them? Did I even know how? It all seemed insane. Impossible.
I directed my attention to the gates and slowly imagined them cracking open. There was a relieved sound and then those claws were in me. I jerked at the sensation fear rising like a black tide. I could feel him moving through my memories going back into that darkness. When that book hit me. Back even further to my normal life. T.V. and YouTube. Video Games. The feeling of my fingers flying as I typed. Then all at once the presence retreated and I slammed the gates that guarded my mind shut. His eyes were wide enough that I noticed tiny specks of silver dotted in the violet. He said something in a low and dumbfounded voice and every pair of eyes looked to me shocked.
My mind began to shiver. I was alone in a place I had no idea where it was where I could feel things touching my mind. I was almost erased and now I was here wrapped in nothing but a cloak in a body that wasn't mine. A soft chant began in my mind.
Made and Unmade. Made again. Old and Young. Mortal and Immortal. Powerless and Powerful. To Learn. To Forget.
I covered my head even as I felt an unfamiliar force begin to well up from the core of me. Thick and powerful it swirled around me.
"Nova!" Rhysand sounded worried. I curled even more into myself as the chanting got louder. Drowning out my own thoughts. Drowning out everything but the feel of the raw power pounding along with the voice's chanting.
Dark and Light. Love and Apathy. Sane and Insane. To Learn. The voice that wasn't a voice chanted. To Learn. Something clicked.
"-no idea what's going on." Ameren's voice was low but calm.
"She didn't have magic before." Rhysand's voice. I glanced up feeling the magic that was pouring forth slow to a trickle and then to a stop. "I think she's calmed down a little." He murmured meeting my eyes.
"I..." My head swam darkness sparkling in my vision. "I want to go home." I told them quietly. They all seemed stunned. The darkness won before they spoke again.