It’s taken years to dig deep enough, but we’ve finally found it—virulence. I don’t know why I didn’t remember it earlier, but the events with the Empyrium have weighed heavily on my mind. I felt the magic and power in that stone before I was taken to the Evanescence. It sparkled like it was alive. While I attempt to pick apart Zerra’s weaknesses, perhaps there are other ways to take back the power I lost.

This magic I’ve been granted is a gift, but it is difficult to contain, and it does little to raise me above others. That little queen in Heart is said to be the strongest, and I cannot allow her the upper hand. Perhaps this material is the key. When infused with my magic, the stone alters its state, changing its properties and granting me abilities beyond my nature. Next time I visit Zerra, I intend to test for its other capabilities.

Rion continued reading, discovering that not only did virulence channel magic, but doing so would affect Zerra in adverse ways. He read about Herric’s months of meticulous testing, weighing the pros, cons, and outcomes of channeling his magic through the stone in her presence. He’d read about witches who lived deep in the forests of The Woodlands who used stone or wooden carvings of someone’s likeness to set curses upon them and had adopted the principle to create a set of objects intended to harm the goddess.

Rion then went on to read about the arks Herric had created in her image. He’d gifted one to each ruler in Ouranos, promising it would help control their magic. Through his testing, Herric had determined it would take vast quantities of magic used over time to bring Zerra down. While the rulers believed Herric had handed them a lifeline, they were slowly killing their goddess without realizing it.

Rion couldn’t believe what he was reading. He’d never heard of these arks. Did his father know about them? Was this information imparted only to the ascended?

But it then occurred to him that if Herric had gifted them to the other rulers, perhaps he had only made six. Rion looked around the room at the walls of his study and the glittering black stone walls of the Keep.

He stood up and placed his hand against the surface, attempting to feel something buried in the layers of stone. This Keep had been standing here throughout most of the Second Age. Again, King Elias was credited with its construction, but had Herric surrounded them with virulence, and no one had ever realized it? Rion sent out a tendril of magic, anticipation churning in his gut. It touched the stone, but nothing happened.

He frowned. Perhaps this wasn’t virulence after all and he was wrong about how it appeared.

No matter the case, now he had to know more.