Obsidian Memories
covered in hardened ash that, in the light of the living lamps, seemed to
ouldn'
lab in the center of the Broken Keepers' hall. His right arm, completely
tone
dentical to that of the shard she held in her chest. A sy
an had said. "Now you share
had never touched the Heart of the Temple. Not because she didn't understand
llowed her to t
t, carved in stone and fire. Asha knelt before a circular plaque on the floor, where Aeo
Maeka said from behind he
seen what the Children did with the dark ash: they
t control it?" she aske
ck in the stone. And stone
disappeared i
tretched out her hands. She pl
tion was
mory it contained was not alien. It was wild. It wasn't ordered as in temples, nor sealed in fragments clear as am
s eru
re
orders in forgotten languages. Warriors covered in blac
midst of
ha. An
e same bracelet Asha wore now. But hers burned compl
.." Asha
irectly at her, as if it could
en, th
eding. Dark ash had embedded itself in her
ppeared
f you don't seal the emotio
how?" Ash
nd, revealing a sma
p part of
ed at her
n the dark ash, I must
u put a flame in a glass lamp. The fir
est. The Heart shard was beatin
f I lock aw
shru
you anymore. But
t her
ds still burned, and yet she didn't stop. She knew
ael. Not just
es, she would eventually merge with them. Like a mirro
osed h
er palms bac
didn't try to r
let
early. Aeolina-the woman of memory-was talking with three others. Warriors. S
olen," Aeolina said. "And if we don
to divide the Heart?"
d in being worshipped. I'm interested in keeping
a pang in
ision
re still beneath her hands. They didn't glow
said a voice
as L
. "But to do so, I had to... l
ha
ked at h
ea
nt, as if assessing how much of th
ave. It only makes you more efficient.
too
ected. "The only one capable
ll flecked with ash glinting beneath th
ver. But
t up s
e how to be o
en n
emory sealed there. One that even the Children fear. If you
alley will swallow you, a
she wasn't afraid. But because
e that r
iving
ining had already
till many memori