Chapter Eighteen

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Media: Animated character banner of Cadence

Music: When It All Falls Down, Audiomachine

Kashimi discharged Cadence after four days. Every night before she fell asleep, she asked the female Healer, Healer Omin, for milk of moonflowers. The wound on her cheek had closed into a thin scar, but she could still feel it burn.

"Ales would like to see you in his office, Cadence," Kashimi had said before Cadence went off. "There are many things you need to know since you are now Varya."

Cadence kept her head low as she darted through the corridor to Ales' office. The twin snakes on the door stared at her out of their ruby-red eyes. She ignored them and knocked. "Ales?"

"Come in." Ales' deep voice rang out.

She entered the office to find Ales waiting for her with a small jeweled chest and several curios on his desk.

"Take a seat." He gestured at the armchair in front of his desk.

"What is all this?" she asked. "I thought you're going to brief me about the Varya division?"

"Everything in a good time, Cadence. I want to perform a little test on you, it won't hurt, I promise."

"What test?"

"An Affinity test." Ales leaned forward, locking his fingers together before his face before resting his chin on them.

"There's no need. I'm a Warrior."

"I have my doubts, Cadence. If you have nothing to hide, you have no need to fear."

Ales gestured at the table. Cadence stared at the displayed items—a silver dagger, a clay bowl filled to the brim with water, a lighted candle, a piece of rock, a sprig of sage and a bead of obsidian.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"I want you to hold these items. They've been enchanted by their previous owners of their own particular Affinity. If you share any similarity with their traces of energy, they should resonate with you."

"What exactly do you mean by resonate?"

"You'll feel this tingle, like ants crawling up your arm, and the object will glow."

Seeing that Cadence was still motionless, he gave the silver dagger an encouraging signal.

"I don't see why this is necessary." She picked up the dagger, feeling stupid. She gave it a shake, but nothing happened.

"You don't, I do," Ales said.

"Am I supposed to feel something?" Cadence fidgeted with the dagger, trying her best to feel perhaps a spark, or maybe the crawling ant sensation Ales had described. "It's been awhile. Or maybe this dagger isn't working."

"You're not a Warrior," Ales said. "Try the others."

A small shiver had begun to creep up Cadence' spine. She proceeded to pick up the candle which Ales lit with a match. It only gave her a headache. She drank from the clay bowl, fiddled with the chunk of rock, crushed the sage in between her fingers, but she felt stupider and stupider. Where was the tingly sensation that she was supposed to experience?

"I'm thinking maybe that you've gathered the wrong ingredients," Cadence said, holding out the crushed remains of the sage to Ales. "It's not working."

"You missed the last test."

"What?"

"The obsidian. Take it."

Cadence stared at the obsidian chunk. It seemed to stare right back, prompting her to pick it up.

"You're kidding me, right?"

Ales inclined his head at the obsidian.

She rolled her eyes and snatched up the obsidian.

Cadence felt nothing at first, nothing but the cold surface of black, glassy rock against her skin. Then, the inexplicable happened. It was like staring into a small sun blossoming from the heart of the obsidian. Her Core flared to life, roaring with incessant energy, rushing up to her heart and through her veins, reaching out to the little rock in her hand.

The darkness she had experienced during her encounter with Khazaria swelled up within her. She could see the shadows, she could see it all. It was on the floor, across the desk, behind the objects on the table as light was cast down from the lights above. She could see.

With a swipe of her hand, she brought the shadows slinking down. She willed it to fade back into the corners. They did, and parted ways. The glow faded, leaving behind a normal-looking obsidian rock on her palm.

Cadence didn't know whether she should feel scared or elated. This marked her as a real Varya, but the kind which everyone hated and hunted, purged from Moskava eighteen years ago.

"How?" she whispered.

Ales didn't look surprised, just merely interested.

"Have you ever considered that maybe, your parents weren't your parents?"

"You are sounding atrocious, Ales."

"I know a Walker when I see one." Ales leaned forward, his amber-green eyes glimmering like melted jewels. "My sister was one. Kashimi was the one who inspected you when you were brought into the infirmary, unconscious. One cannot simply dismiss the wisps of shadow drifting around you. Kashimi called me in when you started moving things around in your sleep, bending the shadows now and then. It was then we were convinced you were a Walker."

"It's impossible," she said weakly. "My father was Warrior, and my mother Murka."

"This is why I asked you if you've ever considered the possibility that your parents weren't your parents. Affinity by blood, and that is the law of nature."

Cadence gripped the armrests hard, digging her fingernails into the wood, feeling the pressure bend them.

"My mother then," she said. "Maybe she descended from a Walker family, but her Affinity was never triggered and stayed Murka until she died."

"Can you prove that theory?" Ales asked.

"I-" She couldn't. All her life, she only knew she was Murka, her father was Warrior, and her brother was Warrior, that was that. There was no mention of any other Affinity, not even her mother's past. If Ales asked her to list out three things she knew about her mother, she couldn't even recite two.

"Father or no, you have more pressing matters at hand, Cadence. Walkers are either completely extinct in Moskava, or the remaining few had all fled to other nations. This is a hostile place toward your kind. Even after the Great War, Walker hunters and other bounty hunters still crawl all over Moskava, eager to torture anyone they suspect to be a Walker. If new of your Affinity ever took flight, the whole nation will see your head on a pike in less than two days."

She clutched the edge of the table, trying not to panic. She knew Ales was right, Walkers were never the popular Affinity. Even when they still existed, they were purged from even Lekhobar and Eyria, shunned by the others although the Hall of Games acknowledges their powers and contribution. The Hall of Shadows was an ugly bedtime story that her brother would read to her.

"Shadows, gritty-nitty monsters, Rakashas and the like," Cole had said. "The Region of Shadows is a super haunted place. You cannot enter its grounds without encountering some sort of paranormal entity."

"Ghosts aren't real," she had said. "And why are Walkers so hated?"

"I don't know," Cole had answered. "But it must suck to be one, though."

Cadence turned to Ales. "What should I do now?"

"Moskava is not ready to accept the emergence of a Walker," Ales said. "Not when the Great War has only ended eighteen years ago. Raphine Khavarosk is still alive. He may be retired with his grandson taking over the leader role in the Hall of Spirits, but he believes that there are still Walkers he hadn't been able to purge. Then, we have the Walker Hunters. They are greedy people who would do whatever it takes to take a Walker in alive to Raphine Sanguinis. You have a pretty hefty price on your head now, my dear."

"But," Cadence said, tired. "This is the Hall of Games, heart of all Varya. Shouldn't I be protected here?"

"Not even the Hall of Games can protect a Walker," Ales said sadly. "I can testify to that. You are barely able to control your Affinities. You have no idea how to defend yourself when it comes to the Walker Hunters. They are ruthless, savage, intensely trained to counter all form of Walker powers. You might take one down if luck was on your side, but what if they came in a group?"

Cadence stared straight into Ales' eyes, trying to understand why he was so defensive. Sure, there were Walker Hunters, but she was in the Right Order now, no one would dare to harm her. It was illegal to take up arms against a fellow Patrol.

"My sister was killed by Walker Hunters," Ales said.

"W-what?"

"Walker Hunters are this group of crazy Varya going around killing and torturing anyone they suspect to be a Walker, or anyone remotely being related to a Walker. They used to be an underground network, but rose into full power after the Great War. The war never really ended, for the purge for Walkers grew and grew. No one was safe. The commoners, the Oracles, they were kidnapped and dragged in by the Walker Hunters to be interrogated. You have met one, Derek.

Ales slid back the left sleeve of his kubah, revealing his forearm. He bared it to Cadence. She stared, mouth gaping at the horrendous black striations spanning from the elbow and around the wrist. They bulged against his skin, stark and deformed.

"What is this?" she whispered.

"This is what Walker Hunters have done to me. They created a kind of poison that was supposed to be lethal to Walkers, but it was never proved. As their recruitment expanded, hundreds died at their hands. Poisoned, tortured, beaten and starved to death. The poison they used, it not only kills, any contact with it corrodes the skin. When I laid down my arms and begged them to let my sister go, they laughed and said yes, only if I would test out their Walker poison. I was desperate, I was willing to do anything to bring my sister home, and I said yes. They shackled me to the wall and poured the poison down my arm. They wanted me to scream, and I screamed. However, I should have known better than to trust their words."

Ales let his sleeve fall back into place, hiding his scars.

"Do you want this to happen to you, Cadence?"

Cadence shook her head. "I know nothing about being a Walker. I don't even know where to start."

The image of her brother popped into her head.

"I need to tell my brother."

Cadence turned on her heels, ready to fly out of the room, but Ales grabbed her wrist.

"No. Telling another person means exposure. You cannot tell anyone, not even your brother."

"But he's my brother! There's no way in the world he'll tell another person if he knew the consequences."

"It's not worth the risk," Ales said. "Until you learn to control your powers, I strongly suggest that you keep a low profile. Pretend to be an Oracle. As shadow-bending looks the same to telekinesis, you can convince the others."

"But he is my brother," Cadence said. "I don't want to lie to him." She had done enough lying. One lie led to another, and if a lie was to be exposed, it meant bringing everything out of the closet in one, horrific bang.

Ales placed a hand on her shoulder. "The time for you to tell him will come. There are enemies out there, people you should hope you will never encounter. Right now, you should be worrying about your Affinities. You're Varya now, and your Core will be brimming with Energy. If you don't use it, you'll become restless, you'll lose sleep and eventually, your body will collapse."

She shook her head. Her breaths came out in shaky puffs. The table was suddenly not sturdy enough for her to cling onto. She didn't want any of this. She had prayed for Affinities, but for something simple and common, not the kind that would get her into trouble.

"Go back and rest," Ales said, gently arranging everything back into the crate. "I will send up your Right Order robes, your timetable and the books you need by evening. Varya quarters are at the west wing, two floors above the Murka recruit quarters."

He walked Cadence out of the office and closed the door behind her.

******

A/N

I have finished writing the draft! *cries* There is a total of 40 chapters, so don't worry, this story isn't going to end so fast! :') 

I'm currently taking some time off before editing the draft. I'm very excited for you all to read the rest of it!



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