Almost three days later, Elizah and Jayden were seated on the armchairs in Jade's dining room, and Jade was sitting across the two of them.

"I assume there's a lot you want to talk about, "Jade said and set down a tea each in front of Jayden and Elizah.

"First, from what accounts I heard from the both of you, Noxaura was the one who orchestrated the trial," Jade said, and the two of them nodded.

"So, is Noxaura still alive?" Elizah asked as she held a teacup in her hand.

"We can't be certain. Most of the town assumes that she is dead because she was in the castle tower when it burned down. But there is another speculation here," Jade said and was passive in her gaze.

"Is it really the time to be discussing speculations?" Jayden asked, and Jade sighed.

"I suppose I should've told you much earlier, but there is speculation that the real Noxaura has long been dead. To be precise people say she has been dead as long as you have been alive Jayden" Jade said, and Jayden and Elizah exchanged confused glances.

"What do you even mean?" Jayden asked, "this is all just rumours. Why is this being discussed right now?"

"Well, the assumption says that the Noxaura you both saw was a mere shell, occupied by a guardian spirit. That could be the reason for her violent outbursts," Jade said, and Jayden gave Jade an incredulous look.

"You really want us to believe this?" Jayden asked and stood up, now frustrated that Jade was discussing rumours at such a critical time.

"No one knows this for sure. In fact, even the king himself didn't. I speculated this, and it seems to be true after your accounts of what happened in the palace," Jade said, and Jayden calmed down slightly.

"Alright, let's discuss this speculation another time. There are other matters at hand, especially whatever happened to that south tower of the palace," Elizah said, knowing going further on this topic could lead to an odd atmosphere.

"Coming to that, what was with that crazy amulet you gave me?" Jayden asked, "It could have killed me and Elizah."

"Wait. An amulet?" Elizah asked, and her eyes were wide, and she was agape.

"Yes," Jayden said and looked at Elizah with a peculiar glance.

"That's strange," Elizah said. Her brows furrowed in thought, "In the bits and pieces I remember of Noxaura's torture, I remember her mentioning an amulet."

Jade sighed and leaned back in her chair.

"I guess it is time I told you the truth about your destinies. I can't hide that forever, can I?" Jade said, and she set her glass down on the table.

"Almost 400 years ago, the first ruler of the now Larkspear empire arrived on this island from a northern territory. At the time, his home territory was ravaged by plague and war. Although people had magic, there was a limit on how much they could use. It was like a well, and once the well ran dry, a person could not use magic. So to look for a solution to his homeland's problems, a young prince of the Equalis empire of that island sailed on a long journey to this island, which was at the time known as the source of magic. This is where he found the structures or shrines which limited magic use and regulated the amount people used. So in his haste he destroyed these structures, assuming it could help his home win the war because they would have unlimited magic. What he didn't realise was that these structures were sanctuaries of six spirits who guarded the magical balance of the world. By destroying the limiting structures, he angered the spirits who cursed all the magic bearers. By this curse, all those who have magic, will die as a result of it, if not used regularly. At first the prince assumed that this curse wasn't important as his home territory won the war and the plague vanished. But as time went on, even those who did use their magic died by strange occurances, and the simple reason being that the amount of magic that they could use was far greater than what they spent. As a result the Equalis kingdom moved to this island, hoping to gain the spirits favour once more, but to no avail. Now 400 years later, the Equalis kingdom has become the Larkspear kingdom. Still, there has been no solution to the limiter problem, until you two arrived," Jade said. She completed her narration while Jayden and Elizah just glanced at her with confusion.

"How does this have anything to do with us?" Elizah asked, and Jade pulled out a roll of parchment.

"This was your destiny," she began to read.

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The time of change has arrived.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Magic will change.

The spirits restraints will break.

The shrines will return.

The end of an era is near.

Darkness will rise again,

Magic will die,

And so will we.

The anger of a prince,

Now unleashed,

Causing destruction all around.

He destroyed everything,

Everything he hated,

Everything he loved.

All reduced to ash,

Including himself.

The revenge of a girl,

A girl broken,

Broken by the world,

Brings her love to life,

But loses her own life in the end.

An abandoned son,

A child forgotten by one mother,

And far away from the other,

Has a forgotten daughter,

Just like him, but remembers too late.

The three will fall together,

Bring back the world that once was,

And leave the rest to the children,

The children of the spirits,

The new hosts of a coming era

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For a moment, a grim silence hung in the room. The implications of death made all of them uneasy, and Jade decided it was best that she let them process the information for a bit.

After a while, Jayden finally decided to ignore the impending death from the prophecy. Instead, he continued the conversation from earlier.

"So we will bring back the limits that magic had before?" Jayden asked, and Jade nodded.

"Six amulets correspond to the six sanctuaries of the spirits that once existed. You have unleashed only one out of the six amulets that exist. Without the two of you, these amulets will remain trapped. These amulets are created so that only the destined ones can unleash them. And that refers to the two of you," Jade said, and Elizah was deeply thinking over everything that Jade had just said.

"But doesn't the prophecy mention a third person?" Jayden asked, and Jade sighed.

"Sadly, we can not find them as of now. But wheels of fate will turn, and you will meet them, is what I hope," Jade said, "For now, you both must focus on bringing back the limits."

"Isn't the limit still not a good thing in case of a war once again?" Elizah asked after a moment.

"Hm," Jade said with a bewildered glance in Elizah's direction, "You're quite smart aren't you?"

Elizah was surprised by that, but Jade continued, "Yes, you are completely right. In case of war, we would be in danger. And to be honest, there is a war coming very soon."

"Then here's my decision on this. I don't want to bring back the limits," Jayden said, interrupting the two of them, and both Jade and Elizah turned to him with shock in their gazes.

"Wait, that's a bit rash. There are still people dying without the limit," Elizah started.

"But that is still less than the number of people who will die in case of a war. We can't save everyone," Jayden said, and his gaze was solemn.

Jayden and Elizah exchanged glances of annoyance before Jade intervened, "There is no hurry to make a decision. We still have to locate the amulets after all. Besides, we have other things to finish first."

There was another grim silence over the room.

"Cyprian's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow. Which reminds me, there's something important that we need to discuss about him," Jade said, and Jayden gave her a bewildered look.

"What is there to discuss? He never really cared for me anyway," Jayden said softly, and he turned to the floor.

"That's where you're wrong," Jade said with her voice soft.

Jayden looked even more bewildered at that, "He whipped me and always was with my mother to insult me."

"He never was like that. At least, as long as I knew him he wasn't," Jade said, "He changed because of influence."

"It's no surprise. The 'Noxaura' I know believes that I'm the worst that ever happened to her," Jayden said with his anger only building up in his voice.

"That isn't true. Cyprian was brainwashed by the spirit living within Noxaura's vessel. You never knew the real Cyprian," Jade said with a glare and Jayden was taken aback by her words.

"This isn't the time for a joke," Jayden said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry to say this young prince but it is true. He never showed you his true emotions because of how your mother was. He always would have loved you," Jade said with her eyes gentle and full of sorrow.

Jayden buried his head in his palms. He wanted to scream, and he felt the tears welling up, and his hands started to shake.

"I need to clear my head," Jayden said as he stood up about to leave.

"Wait, I'll come with you," Elizah said and walked up to Jayden's side.

"Be careful out there, there's been a crowd waiting to see you two since last week," Jade said as she saw them off, and the two of them only nodded before they disappeared into the forest.