AN OLD POWER

The air was too pure, too clean. It carried the scent of grass and something else—something sharper, unfamiliar, yet strangely sweet. I blinked as the world settled into focus around me. The ground beneath me was soft, lush, but not like any grass I’d seen before. The blades shimmered faintly, catching the light in a way that made them seem almost translucent. The sun—if that’s what it was—bathed everything in golden light, though there were no shadows, and the air itself felt alive, humming with energy.

“I see you are finally with us.”

A voice, vibrant and rich, reverberated behind me. It didn’t just break the silence—it seemed to weave through it, as if the air itself carried the words with purpose. I turned, still sitting in the strange grass, still trying to shake off the images of chaos and destruction. My mind was a haze of shattered memories: the city crumbling, the faces of Benack, Jezzery, and Kelsey. They flickered in my thoughts, refusing to fade.

But when I looked up at the figure towering over me, all thoughts of the past were momentarily swept away.

He was massive—easily twice the height of any man. His skin was a deep, verdant green, like the leaves of ancient forests. Long black hair cascaded down his back, swaying gently even though there was no breeze. His eyes, glowing with an unnatural green light, swirled with life as if they held entire worlds within them. He wore a simple leather tunic, the straps buckled at his shoulder and waist, leaving his muscled arms and legs bare. Dark geometric patterns marked his skin, their shapes shifting subtly as though alive, drawing the eye like the turning of the cosmos itself.

“Greetings, young one,” he said, his voice warm yet commanding. “I am Villas of Vermuila. Welcome to my home.”

I took a deep breath, and the air seemed to fill me with vitality. No pain, no exhaustion—only a sense of renewal. But even as the strength returned to my limbs, the weight of Allensmore’s destruction lingered in my mind. Had I died? Was this the afterlife?

Slowly, I rose to my feet, my clothes feeling strangely untouched by the events I’d just witnessed. I looked up into Villas’s glowing eyes, needing answers to the impossible questions running through my mind.

“Am I dead?” I asked, the only words I could muster.

Villas smiled, and the ground beneath us seemed to respond—small, luminescent flowers blooming where he stepped. He bent down, plucking one of the strange blossoms from the ground. It was delicate, its petals shimmering with hues of blue and gold, as if the flower itself was alive with light.

“You are not dead,” he said, holding the flower between his massive fingers. “But neither are you alive in the sense you understand it. Look at this flower.” He held it up, tilting it slightly, watching the light play off the petals. “It is beautiful, isn’t it? But watch closely.”

With a gentle motion, he severed the stem from the flower. For a moment, it withered in his hand. Then, with a soft breath, he blew on the blossom, and its petals broke apart, dissolving into countless glowing spores that floated into the air. They drifted around us, some settling gently on the ground, while others disappeared into the horizon.

“Though it is cut from its root, the flower lives on,” Villas explained. “Parts of it will find new life. So too will you. Your roots are not severed, only... redirected.”

His words hung in the air, and I found myself lost in thought, trying to understand. It was true—I felt different. My body was light, unburdened by the pain I had known. But the memories of Allensmore, the deaths of those I cared about, were still raw.

I took another breath, inhaling the strange, vibrant air of this place. The question burned on my lips before I could stop myself. “Benack, Jezzery... little Kelsey—are they all right?”

Villas’s smile faded. He lowered the stem, letting the remnants of the flower fall to the ground, where they shimmered briefly before fading into the earth.

“I’m afraid they are no more,” Villas said, his voice growing heavy with sorrow. “What you saw in the vision—the destruction—it happened. Your world, your home, has been consumed. Allensmore is dust, its life extinguished by a force I... underestimated.” His eyes dimmed as he spoke. “My brothers and sisters and I had planned for millennia to face such threats, but in the end, our plans were as fragile as the flower.”

The last of my Outriders, Trendal, charged with seeking those capable of helping me fight, brought you here. He saw something in you that others did not.”

Trendal. The name struck me like a hammer. “You mean the man from the alley?” I asked, confusion swirling in my mind. The one I had saved... or tried to.

A low rumble echoed in the distance, quieter than the destruction I had witnessed before, but enough to make Villas turn. He glanced over his shoulder, and I followed his gaze. On the horizon, the lush greenery of the land was turning dark, as though an invisible hand was draining the life from it. The sky, once vibrant and blue, began to grey, and the golden light dimmed.

“It seems we have even less time than I thought,” Villas said quietly, the urgency now clear in his voice. Yet his movements were slow, deliberate, as though he could bend time to his will. He gestured for me to follow. “Walk with me. We still have much to discuss, and though time slips away, we may yet find a solution.”

As I walked beside him, I became aware of the strangeness of the landscape. The grass beneath my feet felt alive, pulsating faintly with every step. The air was thick with the sounds of life—chirps, hums, and whispers—but none of it was familiar. In the distance, I could make out strange creatures moving about, their forms unclear but shimmering in the same light as the grass. One of them, a large, deer-like beast with antlers that seemed made of glass, wandered across our path. Its legs moved with such grace that it hardly seemed to touch the ground, and its eyes—glowing orbs of silver—watched us as we passed.

Villas reached up and plucked a strange fruit from a low-hanging tree nearby. The tree hadn’t been there moments before, but now it stood beside the river, its bark pale silver, its leaves shimmering. The fruit was bright red, almost glowing, with veins of gold running through its skin. He handed it to me, the fruit cool in my hand.

“Here,” he said. “Eat. It will help with what’s to come.”

I hesitated, but Villas’s calm gaze reassured me. Taking a bite, I was struck by the sweetness of the fruit. It was unlike anything I had tasted—rich, warm, and energizing, as though the very essence of life flowed through it.

Villas watched me carefully. “Good. You are adjusting faster than I expected.”

I wiped the juice from my mouth, still unsure of what to ask next. The destruction of my world was fresh in my mind, but the serenity of this place felt like a dream.

“What caused this?” I finally said, the distant rumbling now just a low hum in the background. “What could destroy an entire world?”

Villas looked away for a moment, his expression darkening. “The universe is vast and full of balance, though most beings can’t see it. It moves in ways so large, so intricate, that its harmony is invisible to those who dwell within it. Since the dawn of time, we—the guardians of life—have preserved this balance. But millennia ago, something tipped it. A force awoke—a hunger—that devours worlds. At first, I thought it started in a distant part of the universe, consuming everything in its path, but now I think it may have spawned closer to home.”

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We reached the river, its waters clearer than anything I had ever seen, and Villas knelt beside it, trailing his hand through the stream. The water glowed where he touched it, rippling with light.

“We tried to stop it,” he continued, his voice tinged with regret. “My brothers, my sisters, and I—gods, as some would call us—we tried to fight the monstrosity. But in our desperation, we made a terrible mistake. We sought to create something as monstrous as the beast itself, an abomination born from our own power. We thought we could control it.” He paused, staring into the water. “But my brother... he betrayed us.”

I stared at Villas, the weight of his words sinking in. Gods, creating abominations? Betrayal? This wasn’t just a battle between worlds—this was a battle between divine beings, and I had somehow been caught in the middle of it.

“You said closer to home,” I said, my voice trembling slightly. “What is it?”

Villas sighed as he stood once more, the weight of ancient knowledge pressing on his shoulders. His glowing eyes darkened slightly, as if the very mention of the force they faced drained the light from them.

"I do. But you must understand this—what we face is not merely a creature, nor even a god in the way you or I would comprehend. It is something more—a hunger incarnate. A force so vast, so primal, that no world, no life, no universe could ever sate its thirst. It consumes not just for power, but for the sheer need to fill an emptiness that cannot be filled. Its desire is endless, and what it devours becomes part of its eternal hunger."

He looked into the distance, his voice heavy with the burden of eons of failure.

“We have faced many terrors, but none like this. Not even gods are immune to its reach.”

“Villas, I tell you now, you’ve made a mistake. I’m sorry, but I’m not the man you need,” I said, desperation edging my voice. “I have no power in me. I barely had any life left at all when your outrider found me. He picked the wrong man.”

Villas turned back toward the river. “Do you see this river?” he asked, gesturing toward the flowing water. “This is all the life that runs through Vermuila. It has flowed for hundreds of thousands of years. See how it forks up ahead into a handful of small streams. All but two of them dry out. One is mine. It will run on forever, getting smaller and smaller as the eons pass. The other... is yours. It runs and pools, blocked by a stone. I intend to remove that stone.”

“The stone?” I asked, confused.

“The stone is my doing. I blocked everyone on Vermuila from the powers of the gods. I believed it too dangerous. I have seen other worlds where people willingly threw themselves onto the fires of their own ambition, hoping to gain power. You managed to break through, even weighed down by my hand. Even Trendal couldn’t manage such a feat.”

A low rumble, faint but steady, echoed in the distance. Villas, still kneeling by the river, rose to his feet, the water from his hand dripping back into the stream like slow droplets of rain.

“Let’s walk,” he said, turning his back to me. “We don’t have far to go, but we still have much to discuss.”

This time, Villas didn’t wait for me. His long strides carried him down the riverbank, and I had to jog to keep pace with him. I could feel the weight of what he said pulling at my thoughts, the absurdity of it. Me, special? No. It was impossible. I’d lived a good life, yes, but nothing remarkable. There was no hidden power inside me. If there had been, I would have known it, wouldn’t I?

As we walked, a thought crossed my mind—one I hadn’t fully processed until now.

“Villas, are you certain Trendal didn’t make a mistake?” I asked, my voice faltering. “There’s nothing special about me. The only remarkable thing in my life was... Myia.”

At the mention of her name, a lump formed in my throat. Myia—my anchor, my heart. If she were here now, she’d laugh at the thought of me being called special. But in my mind, she had been the special one.

Villas stopped walking for a moment and looked at me, his glowing eyes piercing in the fading light. “Tell me about her,” he said, a curious warmth in his voice. “What made Myia so special to you?”

I swallowed, my chest tightening as memories of her surged forward. If she had been here, I’d have hidden my emotions as I always did. I never let her see my pain, my struggles—only the man who would protect her, no matter the cost.

“Myia... Myia was remarkable. She had a way of making the world brighter just by being in it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “She was kind, gentle. She thought everyone had goodness in them. To her, the world was full of love, and it seemed like the world loved her back. No one ever spoke ill of her. She had a way of bringing out the best in people.”

“And why do you think that was?” Villas asked, his voice steady, but his expression almost knowing.

I frowned, confused by the question. “She was just... caring. People liked her because she was genuine. She made everyone feel seen, feel important. It’s hard to explain, but it’s true. Everyone loved her.”

Villas nodded thoughtfully, but there was a deeper meaning in his eyes, something I didn’t understand. “And do you believe that just because she was kind, that’s why everyone she met adored her? No jealousy? No envy? Not a single ill word from anyone she encountered?”

I stopped, staring up at him. “Yes. I know it sounds impossible, but it was true. If you had known her, you would have understood.”

Villas’s smile returned, but there was a hint of something else in his expression—something almost amused, yet reverent. “It is not hard to believe. In fact, I know what you say to be true. But ask yourself—why? Why did everyone feel this way about Myia? Could it be that someone close to her was unknowingly changing the world around her, shaping the perception of others?”

His words hit me like a wave. My mind raced, trying to grasp what he was implying. “You mean... me?”

“Even with the stone’s power suppressing you, you were able to alter the world in subtle ways,” Villas said, his voice filled with admiration. “You unknowingly harnessed your life force to shield her, to ensure her happiness, to influence the very air she breathed. It wasn’t conscious, but it was powerful. Even Trendal, my greatest outrider, could not achieve such a feat.”

I was speechless, struggling to comprehend. Was he saying that I, without knowing it, had changed the lives of those around me—changed Myia’s life? My mind spun, unable to accept it. “I... I don’t know what to say. I never meant to... I didn’t even know I was doing anything.”

Villas placed a heavy hand on my shoulder, his grip firm yet gentle. “I do not diminish Myia’s kindness. She was a beacon of love, but you were her foundation. Your devotion to her was so strong, it tore down the walls that should have held back your power.” He paused, meeting my eyes. “And that is why Trendal chose you. Your strength lies not in brute force or cunning, but in your capacity to affect the world through your heart, through your life force.”

I shook my head. “So what? What do you want me to do? Think this monstrosity away? Wish it into a pleasant creature?”

Villas laughed, the sound booming through the air. His chest rose and fell, muscles straining under his tunic as he threw his head back. “If only it were that simple.” The humor faded from his face, replaced by a somber expression. “No, my friend. You must grow. You must learn to harness the power of life itself, and channel it in ways even I cannot predict.”

But before he could finish, Villas staggered. His green skin dulled, turning a pale grey as his legs gave way, and he fell to his knees. His enormous hands clenched into fists, muscles taut as if fighting against an unseen force. His body convulsed, the vibrant energy draining from him.

“No... No!” Villas gasped, his voice now a harsh echo. “Quick! Into the river! Let it carry you downstream! I’ll remove the stone... hurry!”

The ground beneath us began to shift, the rich green of the grass turning brown, decaying as if an invisible fire was racing toward us. Villas’s body trembled, his strength failing.

Without thinking, I moved closer to him, but he grabbed my arm, his massive hand engulfing my forearm. His grip was strong, though his body was collapsing under its own weight.

“We are out of time,” Villas rasped, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Go! This is my last gift to you... the last of my children.”

With one final surge of strength, Villas flung me toward the river. I tumbled into the cold water, the current pulling me swiftly downstream.

“I may not be the only one,” Villas called out, his voice fading as I was carried away. “Others... others have made their own plans. Be careful. Learn. Grow. Seek my Iliad when you are ready...”

I glanced back, watching as the brown rot spread across Villas’s body, encasing him in a tomb of decay. The river ahead forked, and I was swept into a narrower channel, the current dragging me faster.

The water churned, growing colder. I could see the end—a large boulder blocking the way. Villas hadn’t removed it. There hadn’t been time. The current slammed me into the boulder, and I sank beneath the water, the world spinning around me. I thrashed, trying to reach the surface, but debris and rocks swirled with me, dragging me down.

A small stone hit my shoulder, sending me spinning into the darkness. As the world faded from view, a final thought crossed my mind. Myia.