Discordant Note | TBATE

Chapter 129: To Change the Source

Toren Daen

We flew for several long minutes, the ground passing away beneath us in a blur. My bond kept lower in the sky as the tenuous pulse of her heartfire cord lulled me into a light sleep. As I dozed, flashes of the destruction I'd wrought on the swarm of vicars surfaced in my mind. So many echoing heartbeats snuffed out by my hand.

In that half-conscious state of mine, I found a mote of regret. I didn't revel in killing. The earthen part of my soul still viewed human life as precious.

But what those vicars had been doing... that fundamental human side had drained away in their malice. Just like Kaelan Joan. Like Lawrent and Dornar.

What I'd done was necessary.

"I'm going to land now," Aurora said over our bond and aloud. I lifted my head from her warm, plated back, blinking to adjust to the light. "We can afford to go no further."

Lady Dawn's massive avian form dipped lower, angling toward a copse of trees. Her wings made a strange scything sound as they shifted, a powerful whirring sound emanating from within the djinnic construct. "Why now?" I asked, strengthening my grip around my bond's neck as she lowered.

Aurora touched down with impossible finesse, making sure not to jostle or crush Sevren or Mawar who were clenched in each large talon. She released them gently into a nearby patch of grass before stepping back. Both were unconscious.

I slid off her neck, falling a good few stories before my feet hit the ground. I turned around, looking up at the majestic form of the altered djinn relic.

"We are at the edge of the Redwater battlefield," Aurora said, the massive raven-like head peering around the small clearing we'd touched down in. The trees were sparse, and strange red lines ran along their veins. Indications of the Redwater's effects on the plant life. "My asuran signature is partially masked by this construct, and further so by the aura of death surrounding that asuran battlefield. But as I've inhabited this construct more fully, I struggle to restrain the notes of my presence that would give away what I am."

I sighed, running a hand along the large brass-like feathers. I settled my mind into the thick cord of heartfire running from my core to the djinn relic.

I still struggled to comprehend what exactly I'd done in that last split instant as Mardeth had approached. I'd wrenched control of the djinnic relic away from my bond. Then I'd changed the source of the relic's power. From a muted shade to the pulsing feather that contained Aurora's everything.

These lines of lifeforce are not just tethers, I understood. No longer did the feather in my core flood my sternum with mana. Instead, that power traveled along these heartfire threads. They are both veins carrying blood and strings vibrating with music. And I changed the tune and energy flowing through.

Aurora wasn't just puppeteering this relic any longer. Some part of her truly inhabited the machined bird in front of me. I doubted she could stray far from me, however. The relic was supported by my own lifeforce, and this simple cord was already extremely draining on my reserves of aether.

"I'll need to change the source again then, won't I?" I said with a hint of sadness. I could feel the note of sorrow my phoenix bond felt. Once she'd gained control of the small songbird, she'd experienced a taste of true freedom for the first time in an age. And now she was closer than ever to having a body once more, only to be forced to relinquish it.

Aurora lowered her head, nuzzling my chest with a beak that could swallow me whole. It glinted a deep bronze color. "We will have time to work with this in the Relictombs. It is not as if I shall never feel the wind under my feathers again."