He held a book out, the leather binding singed in places. "This is the book we retrieved from the Pit. You recognize it, Peta?"
She craned her neck. "Olivisha's spell book?"
Raven nodded. "She was … apparently the first Salamander."
Talan grunted. "Yes, she is. Ollie is the middle child."
Ollie. That he referred to the original Terralings with such familiarity was strange to me, even stranger that I was now a part of that elite number in a way.
More than all that, though, was a sudden fatigue that swept over me. I stared at the two men; neither was working Spirit on me, but I knew Talan could hide that from me too.
"It's your emotions," Peta said into my ear, quietly enough that I would be the only one to hear her. "Strong emotions, realizations, healing from all that pain, and the shift from snow leopard back have drawn your reserves low." She butted her head against mine and tried to shift some of her energy to me. I held off on taking her up on her offer.
I reached up and touched her gently. I could stand a little longer.
"So what is this prophecy you are talking about? Aren't most of those done up by Readers?" The words of Frost, the Original Terraling, hovered in the back of my mind. One to save, one to destroy. I fought the shudder that wanted to ripple through me.
"Most are spoken by Readers, yes," Talan said as he took the leather-bound book from Raven, "but we have a few seers in our pure elemental bloodlines too. Like Aria, like Ollie."
Aria, the Sylphs' queen before Samara. She'd spoken to me, named me the Destroyer, and her words had been truer than I'd ever wanted.
He flipped through the book, stopping about three quarters of the way to the end. "Here, after the spells she begins to write what looks like a journal. But interspersed, here and there, are small prophecies." He turned a page, ran his finger down it and turned another. "Here." He tapped against the page and turned it around for me. I took the book gingerly.
The spot he'd tapped was only a few lines. I read them silently as Peta peered down from my shoulder.
"The world will come to a breaking point, where there will be no going back. The Veil will no longer be the refuge it once was as its barriers will break wide open, the humans will allow fear to rule, and the very existence of our world will be at stake. It is then that the ties that bind both the Veil and the ground beneath our feet must be severed. To save any … to preserve any chance of life … chaos must reign. Destruction must gather. All pretense of protection must be ignored. The six must stand together. The Destroyer will reign freely, and she will decide the fate of the world."
"Well, that's rather cheery." I handed the book back to Talan. "The words are the opposite of what I would have thought." I frowned, not sure I was even bothered by the words because they made no real sense except the last piece. That was rather clear. "The prophecies regarding the demon hordes were all about surviving, about stopping the destruction. And yet this is like we should actually encourage destruction."
"That's exactly right … Destroyer. You must help me find my siblings, and then the six of us will do what we must to heal the world. That is why it has always been you, over Raven, who must do this." Talan stared hard at me.
I stared back. "I'm not causing more destruction, thanks. Already brought down the Eyrie. Already helped to sink the Pit."
Neither of those actions were something I was proud of. Many people had died for my efforts to kill Cassava the day the Eyrie had been brought low. And more yet had died at the Pit as the lava had turned on the Salamanders. Though, that hadn't been my direct influence. I'd been there and seen the results-I still felt the weight of responsibility on my shoulders.
Peta snorted softly. "That's like saying I'm never going to purr again. I might try not to, but it's in my nature."
I twisted to look at her, my tone dry. "Thanks for the backup, cat."
I rubbed a hand over my eyes knowing I could not take any more in and still retain what I was hearing. "I'm done. I need to sleep for a bit and then perhaps we can get on with the training."
Talan nodded. "Be my guest. But do not sleep long."
I grunted at him as I left the circular room and the two men standing in it. The walk through the tunnels was silent, but my mind would not shut off-there was so much to take in, that I was overwhelmed with all I'd learned.
Back in the room that had been assigned to me, I sat on the edge of the bed. Peta jumped down beside me.