Rohana and Darius left us standing in tense silence, everyone aside from the Thralians and Aracely trying really hard not to make it awkward.

I have no idea what just happened.

Hira turned into this really hot red-head which I was really excited about because there aren't many of us red-haired people in the pool of brown and black and blonde, so I instantly decided to like her. Then the Ginerva were hugging her and crying like they just saw a ghost come back to life, which I guess they have based on Rohana's words. I got little out of that too. I still don't know if Rohana and this woman - Branka - are friends or more than friends. Rohana spoke to her as if she were a lover, but she kept saying best friend or friend. It could be that she was just hardcore friend-zoning her. I don't know.

We all had to watch in silence while she shot out her anger. I felt like I was imposing on a very private conversation and kept my eyes pinned to the ground. Honestly, my life has been stacked with so many surprises and reveals in the past cycles, that this doesn't really faze me. I'm so used to being proven further that the characters from children's books are real, that I'm beginning to forget what it was like to think that all of them were just stories. I once dreamed of having magical powers, and now there are fourteen people in my life with these abilities.

I counted Branka in that count, figuring that her association with the Ginerva was clear enough.

"So are we supposed to go around in a circle and introduce ourselves, or do we just keep standing here like gargoyles?"

"Svenja," I whisper harshly, grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to me. She mouths the word "what" as if that wasn't at all slightly rude.

"I already know who all of you are," Branka answers, moving her gaze from where Rohana and Darius misted out. I don't look at her, still feeling like I'm invading her personal space.

"Don't tell me that you read minds too," Henry says in a disgusted tone, earning a glare from Tanith.

Branka smiles a bit, but I can tell it's forced. "No, I don't read minds. I am Hira, in a way. Everything she lived through and knew, I remember."

"Well, at least we don't have to hear a tragic backstory," Arlene remarks happily. I roll my eyes, more used to their snarky comments than the others who give her warning glares.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Willa says.

"Seriously," Thyra pouts. I turn to her and smack her hard in the arm. Toya opens her mouth to make another comment, but I raise my hand to smack her and she shuts it.

"You pirates have no filter," Mal says, shaking his head. I'm inclined to agree.

"So what's the new tragic story of the cycle, mate?" I would smack Cliff too if the question wasn't somewhat relevant. Although he could've worded it differently.

Willa and Branka share a look, looking like they're having one of those silent conversations that Fauna and Darius used to have. It sends a jolt of sadness through me as I remember how this whole adventure started.

I miss those days when I'd dress up Clarice as Lily and then watch as she and Darius had their usual morning banter already going in full swing. I miss seeing him pop out from under the couch to try and scare her, only for her to look more bored than ever. He was trying to cheer her up after her dad died, and though his efforts were childish, they seemed to work. I wasn't of much help in the matter, but he did whatever he had to to make her smile even a little bit.

"They've already encountered him more than once, it's about time they knew," Willa says, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Knew what?" Lance asks, still standing beside Garrison who looks more stone-faced than ever as he tries not to stare at Branka. According to Lance, he and Hira got close while she was in the tunnels. Gods I don't even want to know what's going through his mind right now.

"My name is Branka Rieka Kenna Verken. I was a part of the Ginerva before...well, my untimely death."

Tsillah snorts, smirking, but not entirely smiling either. Rohana's rant replays in my mind and I wonder if it's true that the serious faced woman really did smile at one point. I assume so, as even Garrison can be caught grinning here and there, and if he smiles then surely she did or does.

I glance at Branka finding her staring sadly at Tsil as if remembering the same thing as me.

"And you still are," Nilsa affirms, the others nodding. "Rohana knows that, despite her words."

Branka nods but her eyes are distant as she looks at the rest of them as if searching for the truth of Rohana's words. I eye Nilsa, not recalling her ever wearing twin blades. Come to think of it, I may not have known her long, but I don't remember her ever carrying weapons. Even when they went to get Claire back.

"Wait a minute. Verken? That means that you two..." Lance drifts off, gesturing between Branka and Willa. I follow his finger, glancing between the two while trying to understand what he's getting at.

"Yes," Branka sighs, returning from her daze. "Willa is my mother."

Oh. My. Gods.

"Wait a second. How old are you?" Thyra asks Willa.

"Eight-hundred and seventy-five." She says it like it's the most casual thing in the world to be nearly nine fucking centuries old. I feel my jaw drop and don't bother to clamp it shut.

"Huh. And you're...?"

"A hundred and thirty-eight," Branka answers.

One-hundred and thirty - holy fuck. I must be a damn toddler to them. My mouth snaps shut with a click. Toddlers let their mouths hang open.

Henry bursts out laughing, slapping his hand onto Garrison's shoulder. The latter glares at his friend's hand, but I know that look in Henry's eyes and prepare to move back against the wall to give the two some wrestling space. "You really know how to pick them, Garry."

Winston grabs the back of his shirt and yanks him back before Garrison can tear off his head. That boy has the biggest death wish I know. Always poking and prodding into other people's business or saying things that he shouldn't. I wonder how long he'll last before one of the Ginerva tosses him down the stairs. I smile at the thought.

"Our age is beside the point," Willa states, glaring heavily at Henry.

"This is about what Rohana said." I turn around on my heel, not having realized that Roseia was in there. Usually, she makes herself known to all, though I suppose she is now. For once, I find her looking nervous, biting her bottom lip as she holds Branka's gaze. "About you...about your father."

A shadow passes over Branka's face, but it's Willa's I watch as her face goes grim. "Branka is nothing like her father."

"Mom," Branka warns. The woman looks prone to arguing but seems to decide against it when she sees her daughter's determined expression. "You all know the deal Xaxias made with a demon to gain the power he has, do you not?"

We all nod, recalling the brief story that was copied into our minds when Tanith and Willa linked our minds or whatever. I'm still trying to sort through them, but at least I'm not so confused anymore.

Xaxias was greedy for the power that the elementals held. He knew how powerful they were, and he wanted that strength for himself. To make him the one and only elemental that ruled over everyone. He was so desperate for power, that he made a deal with a demon. The details of the deal are fuzzy, but the base of it was power in return for something the demon himself yearned for. What that was, I'm not sure.

Anyways, the deal was struck, the exchanges made, and then Xaxias became Xaxias, dark power and all. He's been trapped within Thralia for nearly a century, causing trouble about the island while hatching whatever plan it is he's now carrying out. His followers have slowly been adding to their numbers, and despite a large amount of them being killed here, there's no knowing how many he has elsewhere. We know his main ones, but the ones he calls pawns are unknown.

That's not going to mention that he's likely got more of those creepy creatures like the one that's currently rotting in the garden. Lance told me how it was killed, and I didn't finish eating my dinner last night after having caught a glimpse of it out a window.

"Well," Branka continues, "Xaxias wasn't always known as Xaxias. Before, he was known as Dagen. A normal Thralian man with a family. No one could've imagined the future that came, and the one person who always believed that he was better than what people claimed, he killed. He murdered his second-born daughter Cleménce. My...my little sister. He drank her blood and gave her soul to the demon who asked for the soul of the one he loved the most, and along with it, the souls of which his enemies loved the most.

"One the same day that he killed Cleménce, he killed Rohana's parents. He tried to kill all their families too-" she waves a hand to the Ginerva "-but Rohana sent each of them to protect their blood. My mother and I got to the late King and Queen before he could, but that didn't stop him. He killed every man and woman that was in the same graduating year as us from our training camp, and their family members were branded as a reminder to them to never trust us. He sought to turn Thralia's united people against each other. It didn't work, but those families didn't take a single penny or gift we tried to give them.

"He resurfaced twelve years later, burning a small town on our western border and massacring the entire population. A year later he killed ten children. All girls, all bearing some kind of physical feature that matched ours. Every year it was something different, though it always had one thing in common. He always made it clear that the blood was on our hands. If we can't save our people, then how can our people trust us to keep them safe?

"One day, fifty-four years after he killed my sister, there was a note delivered to the castle." Each of the Ginerva's heads whirls to her. It seems they don't know this part of the story.

"My mother was away on court business, and we were about to leave with the elementals to the eastern border so that Lira could bloom the Chocolate Cosmos flowers. They're extremely rare, and the townsfolk who look after them throw a whole cycle of festivities in celebration of their blooming.

"Anyway, the note was an anonymous tip saying the date, location, and reason for Xaxias's next move. I didn't believe them, thinking that it was just a trap meant for Xaxias to finally get what he wanted. Our heads. Still, something about the note nagged at me, so when we got back from the eastern border, I tracked the person who delivered the note to me and gave them one to give to the anonymous traitor. I followed the messenger and waited on a rooftop for five days before someone finally showed up. When I approached them, I didn't know who they were, but I questioned them until I was satisfied that they were who they claimed to be.

"We met every other cycle for him to give me information. As soon as I had all the information I needed, I started planning my death. I woke up on the day of his next assassination and knew exactly what was going to happen. When Rohana summoned me to the throne room, I knew what was going to be discussed. I knew that King Hart and Queen Lira would come along with us, and I knew what we would find when we misted into Prird."

Her mother and sisters full on gape at her now. Some looking prone to tackling her.

"Nothing was on fire, yet. There were screams in the town square, and we misted right into the middle of it where Xaxias and his dogs were tearing off the limbs of the village elders. The fight went on for an hour, possibly two before I spotted the person I had been in contact with. He pointed to the small church, and that's all I needed to know before sprinting right for it. Xaxias had been developing a type of explosive that could kill anyone within five miles of its detonation point. The full diameter of the explosive is said to be almost seven miles."

"Holy fuck," Alex breathes, and I nod my agreement.

"Xaxias wanted to know the destruction that it would cause, so he placed a smaller portion of the explosive in the church. Prird was supposed to be his test run."

"Supposed to be?" Lance repeats.

"You and Clarice are more alike than we think, aren't you?" I ask her.

"If anyone asks, she got the idea from me." We share a quick smile, but then she's looking back at the floor as we all wait in silence. "All it took was a word from me and the elementals, my mother, and my sisters were misting anyone they could grab out of the town. Smaller explosions had already gone off, a herding attempt to get us as close to the church as possible, but I kept repeating that word, keeping them from going towards it.

"They were so busy killing and misting, that they didn't notice when I misted to the church. I knew what was coming, I knew what would be asked of me and what it would do to the people I cared about. I expected to see my father there, I had hoped for it. What I hadn't expected was to see Rohana. She was always so stubborn-headed, and I should've known that she would've ignored me and gone towards the smoke rather than away from it. I was standing right in front of the steps of the church when I saw her, and she was across the street staring right back at me, confused. It was in that moment that I felt time slow - not by her, she rarely uses her power. She thinks it's useless.

"I hesitated. For two seconds I hesitated, all because I knew what she'd do. My father appeared behind her, not to kill her or harm her. Instead, he looked to me, and for the first time in fifty-four years, I saw the father I used to know. He looked...scared. I didn't hesitate then, and I walked into the smoke seconds before the final explosion went off.

"I have the power of void manipulation. It means I can make something out of nothing, or turn something into nothing." She holds out her hands, palms up in front of her. We all stare for a moment, but then something begins to glimmer in the sunlight coming from the window, and suddenly there's a sword with a golden and black pommel laying on her hands. She hands the weapon to Nilsa who runs her hand along the edge of the sword, her eyes carefully examining it in the clear practice of holding such things.

"After the explosion went off, I absorbed most of the blast and kept most of the damage to the church and a few blocks outside of it. Everything else after that was simply shaken from the blowback of the blast. Strong as Hart and Lira were, I knew that they'd need their strength to finish off the rest of the fight my father would put up, so I did the hard work and put a barrier around the town, keeping the heat from burning everyone that was now safe outside of the town. As the blast continued to burn, I slowly let my barriers flicker, acting as if I really was dying. Along with it, I cut the bonds between me and the rest of the Ginerva, as well as my mother. The last piece was to disappear, and that was the easier part. There are docks on the eastern side of the island, and it was easy enough to slowly mist out of the church and into the cargo hold of a ship."

"Why? Why do any of this? It doesn't make sense," Vanya says. Her eyes bounce back and forth between the Branka's, desperately searching for the answer.

Branka turns to them, her spine straightening slightly. "After I died, how many times did Xaxias attack again?"

They don't answer, all searching the ground as if the answer will be written on it.

"None," Kathika finally answers, still looking confused. "But we thought it was because he finally got what he wanted."

"One of us dead and the rest of us off-balance, trying to learn how to walk again," Tsillah finishes.

"He didn't stop because he got what he wanted, he stopped because he didn't get what he wanted, and because he thought he never would again."

"What are you talking about?"  

Branka turns to her mother, her face dropping and throat bobbing as she swallows. "Mom...Cleménce was never the one he loved the most. She was never meant to be the true sacrifice."

"What?"

"He thought he could trick the demon by killing her. He thought that whatever love he had for her would be convincing enough for him to gain the demon's power without losing the one person he truly loved the most. He never loved Cleménce. It was me. That's why I had to die. If he got me, then he would have more power than any of us could counter. He needed to believe I was dead. Without me, he can't gain the power he so badly wants, and he knows that he'd die before getting five feet within you. I was his last hope."

Willa's fists clench, and I have the good enough sense to slowly back away, pushing the pirates behind me against the wall. Willa holds eight powers within her, I'd rather not be the victim to one of them. Or all of them.

"So how did you come across Aracely?" Ozzie asks, clearly not taking notice of Willa's face.

Lance, of course, notices and finds my gaze. He barely jerks his head to the side gesturing to behind him. I give him an exasperated look, not in the mood for his protective male bullshit. He just deepens his stare and I fold, knowing all too well that I'm more than happy to avoid being thrown against the wall - or anything else ever again for that matter. Once against a tree was enough.

I turn to Svenja and motion for her to walk over to them. She gives me the exact same annoying look I just gave Lance. I don't bother to try and pull authority that I don't have, and just tightly grab her wrist before slowly making our way towards him. Mal and Amel notice our movement and step up beside their brothers, giving us more space to cower in the corner. They're all getting a talking to after this. A strong one.

"The ship ended up docking into Kurin Bay," Branka says, halfway turning to us so she can still keep an eye on her mother who looks close to exploding. "I roamed around for a while, searching for someone who could hide me in plain sight where my father would never find me. I came across a man in my search, and after telling me that he was a lowly wizard, I asked him if he knew of anything that could help me. He told me about the blue soul stone and where to find it, but he told me that he wasn't experienced in its ritual. Thankfully, he remembered a woman from his youth who was obsessed with such things. He told me to get the soul stone, and then gave me the location of where I could find her.

"I got the soul stone from Snake's Lake in the eastern continent. The wizard said it would be in an underwater cave, so I dove into the lake until I found it. He failed to warn me about the one-eyed creature that guards the stones, but it's nothing I couldn't handle. I had a large gash in my thigh from one of its teeth, but now there's only a scar and a story. I traveled to Fernweh after that and combed through every street and house until I found the witch the wizard told me to find. It didn't take much convincing on my part," she says with a glance to Aracely who's smiling proudly. "We did the ritual, and then she put the stone in my neck to ensure that no one would find it nor be able to destroy it. Not to mention that if we wanted the full effect of hiding me in plain sight, the jewel had to be implanted into my body for the physical changes to happen."

"All I had to do after that was slip a very hard to make elixir into the healer's food, and everyone suddenly had memories about a girl named Hiraeth Koranyl," Aracely explains. "I had to drug everyone every few years to erase their memories about her