Chapter 20 The Prison of the Sun
The ground beneath my feet felt like it was made of thin glass. One wrong step and I would fall into the white nothingness forever. Solis’s hand was warm in mine, the only solid thing in a world that was falling apart.
"What do you mean a prison?" I yelled over the sound of the world cracking. "The First Weaver said he built the world!"
"He lied, Eara!" Solis pulled me behind a pillar of white stone that was crumbling into dust. "He didn't build the world. He stole it. He trapped the Sun and the Moon inside this loom so he could play God. That three-headed thing? That’s the real owner of this place. It’s the Hunger that lives behind the stars."
One of the dragon’s heads slammed into our pillar. The impact sent a shockwave through my teeth. White dust blinded me for a second, and when I could see again, Seraphine was standing on the dragon’s back. She looked like a bug compared to the beast, but she was laughing.
"The hunger is my ally, Solis!" she screamed. "It doesn't want to rule. It just wants to eat. And I’ve promised it every soul in the Sun Empire!"
"You're a fool, Seraphine!" Solis stepped out from the shadows. His body was glowing again, but it wasn't the soft gold from before. It was a jagged, angry light. "You can't control it. It will eat you first!"
"I don't care!" Seraphine’s face was twisted with a hate so deep it made her look ancient. "If I can't have a perfect kingdom, I'll have a perfect grave! I'll take everyone with me!"
The dragon lunged. Its three heads moved like snakes, snapping at us from three directions at once. I felt the heat of its breath, a cold, soul-chilling heat that made my skin turn grey.
I have to do something, I thought. I’m a weaver. If this world is a machine, I can find the off switch.
I looked at the black mark on my arm. It was glowing red, feeding off the energy of the Dragon’s Heart shards Seraphine held. It wasn't just a curse anymore. It was a tether.
"Solis! I can reach the heart!" I shouted.
"No, Eara! It will destroy you!"
"It’s already destroying everything!" I didn't wait for him to stop me. I ran toward the dragon.
I wasn't a girl in a white dress anymore. I was a weapon of revenge. Every person I had lost, my father, my mother, and the Solis from the other timeline, was screaming in my head. They wanted justice.
I jumped onto one of the dragon’s scales. It felt like hot iron, but I didn't let go. I climbed up the beast’s back, my small fingers digging into the gaps between the scales. Seraphine saw me and raised her hand, a bolt of red lightning hitting the scale right next to my head.
"Die, little weaver!"
I ignored her. I reached the base of the dragon’s neck, right where the three heads joined. The Dragon’s Heart was embedded there, glowing like a bloody sun.
I grabbed it.
The world went silent. It wasn't the silence of peace. It was the silence of a heart stopping. I felt the memories of the dragon flow into me: thousands of years of being trapped in the dark, being milked for power by the First Weaver and the Sun Council.
The dragon wasn't a monster. It was a victim. Just like me. Just like Solis.
"Eara! Let go!" Solis was climbing up the other side, his golden eyes wide with fear.
"I can't!" I screamed. My hands were fused to the stone. "It’s showing me everything, Solis! The First Weaver... he’s still here! He’s the third head!"
I looked at the middle head of the dragon. Its eyes weren't red like the others. They were milky white. The First Weaver hadn't vanished in the blast. He had merged with the beast. He was using the dragon to reset the world himself!
"You cannot win, child," the dragon’s middle head spoke, its voice shaking my very bones. "I will weave a world where no one remembers your name. A world where you are nothing but dust under my feet."
"I don't need them to remember my name," I hissed, my eyes turning a blinding, silver-white. "I just need them to be free of you."
I pulled on the silver thread in my heart. The one I had almost given to the First Weaver. I didn't give it to him. I wrapped it around the Dragon’s Heart and squeezed.
The stone shattered.
A wave of energy hit me, throwing me off the dragon’s back. I was falling again, but this time, the world was changing around me. The white void was being filled with color: the blue of the sky, the green of the trees, and the gold of the real sun.
We were back in the cathedral. The ruins were still there. Seraphine was lying on the floor, her armor broken, her eyes dull.
Solis landed next to me, gasping for air. He looked like himself again, the man, not the boy. But he was fading. His hands were becoming see-through.
"The reset... it’s fixing the timeline," he whispered, reaching for my face. "There can't be two of us, Eara. The boy in the palace is the real one now."
"No!" I grabbed his hand, but my fingers went right through him. "I saved you! I broke the heart."
"You saved the world," he smiled, and it was the most painful thing I had ever seen. "Now go to him. Teach him to be the man I was. Make sure he never lets the shadows in."
"Solis, please!"
He vanished into a cloud of golden stardust.
I stood alone in the ruins of the cathedral. I felt older. My body was back to its normal size. The black mark was gone, replaced by a silver scar in the shape of a star.
I heard footsteps behind me. I spun around, my hand reaching for a weapon I didn't have.
It was the twelve-year-old Solis. He was wearing his royal robes, but they were torn. He looked at me, and his eyes were gold, but they weren't empty. They were full of tears.
"Eara?" he asked.
I opened my mouth to speak, but the ground shook again. A shadow taller than the cathedral towers fell over us.
I looked up. The three-headed dragon wasn't gone. It had followed us back. And it was no longer made of stone. It was made of living, breathing shadows.
But that wasn't the worst part.
Standing on the center head was my father. He was holding the First Weaver’s shears, and he was pointing them right at Solis’s throat.
"The pattern is finally perfect," my father said, his voice sounding like a nightmare. "Now, daughter, watch me cut the light forever."