The darkness of the bedroom doorway moved again. Faith heard a grunt beside her and Riley was gone. She took a step back, watching the darkness. Something moved off to the side. A hand grabbed Faith and shoved her. She stumbled back and felt the window behind her. The drapes pulled away further, letting more light in.

Something rushed out of the darkness at her. All Faith saw were more of those blue scales as she moved the knife between her and it. She had only seen deer move that fast. The thing the scales belonged to stopped just short of her. Faith saw only one or two blue scales before they were gone, as though they’d gone back under Destiny’s skin. Her hair faded from white to its usual black. She gasped, taking a step back, the knife staying in her. It had caught her between two ribs.

Faith didn’t move, fear and confusion keeping her pressed against the window. Destiny stumbled back again, falling to her knees, then the rest of the way to the floor. Riley moved out of the darkness. He had a scratch on his face, but he seemed fine other than that. He knelt beside Destiny for a moment and Faith looked away.

It passed through her mind that she had killed Destiny, but at the moment she wasn’t sure who or what she’d killed. The thing that had come out of the darkness wasn’t the woman that now lay on the floor with a knife in her.

“She’s gone,” Riley said, joining Faith at the window. He gently pulled her away from it. “It’s okay, she’s not getting back up.” He led her into the kitchen and called someone. When he hung up, he looked back at Faith. “Holtby is on the way.”

Holtby arrived not long later. Alone. Faith and Riley opened the drapes further to let in more moonlight. Holtby knelt beside Destiny, not saying anything for a long while.

“She attacked?” Holtby asked, looking at the two of them where they stood at the window.

Faith and Riley nodded.

“She…wasn’t how she usually was,” Riley said.

Holtby didn’t look surprised. He stood. “I saw her become some kind of monster last night. She’d been watching me all day.” He shivered. “Then she killed Mr. Trindle.” He glanced at Destiny. “I’ll call three others I trust. They all know something is happening in Silverfield, and at least I know they aren’t working with Willet. You say she attacked, I believe it. Can I borrow the phone?”

When Riley showed Holtby where the phone was, Faith followed. She knew Destiny was gone, but she still didn’t want to be alone with her. Those Holtby called came soon after and took the body with them when they left. Holtby assured Faith and Riley that everything would be fine. No one from outside Silverfield would come asking. Destiny had been declared dead a long time ago. Holtby left and the house was silent again. Faith didn’t hear any creaking.

“We should leave for Eads,” Riley said. “Even if we just stop at the side of the road and sleep.”

Faith nodded. She didn’t want to sleep in that house, and she doubted she could if she tried. Riley packed his notes away in the closet, then the two of them got in the car and he drove away from Silverfield.

“I looked through the older notes I hadn’t looked at in a while,” Riley said. He hesitated. “Those marks come from the sleeping beings like Ninivus. A few of the notes and books mentioned missing people coming back with marks like those.”

Faith didn’t want to say it, but it was a thought she couldn’t ignore. “What if… What if that’s what happened to Suzie?”

“We’ll find her,” Riley said. “Before anything happens.”

Faith could hear the uncertainty in his voice, and his words did nothing to calm her own uncertainty. They would try, but what if they were already too late? Faith forced that thought away, locking it in the back of her mind. That’s where it stayed as they put distance between them and Silverfield on the long, dark road. After a while, Riley pulled over to the grass. Faith was exhausted enough that she went right to sleep, but that didn’t stop the events of the day from haunting her.

The morning sun was bright through the car windows when Faith opened her eyes. Her neck was stiff from sleeping with her head against the window. Riley was still asleep, his head hanging forward. Faith had never seen him look so peaceful, but he didn’t look comfortable. The sun moved further, shining in his face. Riley lifted his head stiffly, blinked at Faith, then yawned. He started the car and pulled back onto the empty road.

“I’ll call Holtby when we get to Eads,” Riley said. “So he won’t think we’ve gone missing.”

They stopped in Baylis before continuing on. They reached the town of Eads late at night. In size, it was somewhere between Silverfield and Baylis. They got a room at a small hotel not far from the start of the trail into the forest. The beds were both oddly short. Had they chopped the end of the mattress off? Neither Faith or Riley was that tall, but the beds were too short. At least no messengers attacked. That was worth the uncomfortable beds.

When Faith woke up, Riley was at the small table by the window, staring out at the forest. It was strange to see him without his notes. The two of them had breakfast downstairs, then got back in the car. It wasn’t far to the dirt parking lot at the edge of the forest. A trail led away through the dense trees. Riley parked, his car the only one there. The two of them started through the forest.

Riley had brought a bag with water, blankets, and hard food he’d dug out of his closet back in Silverfield. Faith didn’t know how long they walked. The path led continuously upward. Eventually, they left the path. It had turned north, but they continued west, up the mountain. Faith hoped Riley knew where they were going, that they wouldn’t get lost out there. A little while after she thought this, they came across a stone building, barely visible among the trees.

The sun was high, bright, and hot. Faith couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this sweaty. Plants had grown through the stones of the building, and wooden shutters blocked most of the windows. One window was open, but it was only a hole with no glass or frame. The door was of the same wood and had seen too many rainstorms.

Riley opened the door. Surprisingly, it didn’t fall off its hinges. The two of them went inside. There were candles lit in alcoves on the walls. Someone had to have been there recently, and whoever it was might still be there. Maybe it was Hew. Stairs curved up ahead of them. A door stood open to their right, leading into the room with the open shutters. Faith followed Riley in there.

The light barely lit the empty room. Faith could almost see a doorway to a hall at the other end of the room. Something moved slightly in that darkness. Faith tensed. Could it be messengers, all the way out here in the mountains?

“There’s nothing here,” a voice said from the dark doorway.

Riley looked at the doorway sharply. “Who’s there?”

Faith had been hoping it was Hew.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I don’t know what you came to find, but you won’t find it here.” It sounded like a man’s voice, but whoever it was didn’t leave the doorway. “The second and last time a group called Sky and Sea formed, they left nothing behind.”

“You know about Sky and Sea?” Faith asked.

“I was a part of Sky and Sea,” he said. “I’m the only one left.”

“Do you know how to keep beings like Ninivus asleep?” Riley asked. “Who are you?”

The shape in the doorway moved a bit but didn’t step out of the gloom. “I am Vallen Gwynn. As for Ninivus and the others, I cannot help you. Sky and Sea thought they had a way of keeping these beings asleep forever, and they thought those before them had a way. They were mistaken. We were mistaken. The way we found isn’t a way at all.”

“What was the way?” Faith asked. “Does it have to do with this pendant?” She touched the oddly warm glass.

He didn’t say anything more, but Faith knew he hadn’t left. She faintly could see someone standing there.

“What does wyvern blood have to do with Ninivus and the others?” Faith asked.

“The way they found can’t help you,” Vallen said. “And it might hurt you.” He was silent for another moment, then he stepped out of the darkness.

His black hair was short, and there was a deep sadness in his dark eyes. His pants were ragged, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Dark red scales covered his chest, arms, hands, and some of his neck and face. They weren’t small like the ones on Destiny had been. The rest of him, including around his eyes, was covered in red feathers. Huge wings spread out behind him, with the same red feathers.

Faith was at a loss for words. Riley didn’t say anything either. What had done that to him?

“I suggest you go far away from the sea and try to forget what’s happening there,” Vallen said.

“And just give up?” Faith asked, trying to hold back the sudden rush of anger. “I won’t run away. I’m going to get my daughter back.”

Vallen blinked, then he turned away, pulling his wings in close. Was he leaving?

“Please,” Faith said, not liking how her voice shook. “Quivis has my daughter. I don’t know who that is, but I’m not giving up on her.”

Vallen sighed quietly, then he turned to face them again. “There are things you need to know.”

A little of Faith’s hope returned.

“I suppose I should start at the beginning,” Vallen said. “If you’re going to go rushing after these beings, you should know what you’re dealing with.” His wings relaxed, spreading out again. “As you know, there are four beings asleep in either lakes or the sea nearby. Ninivus, Altunei, Vibis, and Elaita. They once tormented the world freely, but that’s not where this began. They are only a part of something much worse. Something that is asleep off of Gull Bay.” He looked at Faith. “His name is Quivis.”

“He’s not the same as the others?” Riley asked.

“He is far worse,” Vallen said. “And he is how this all began. A long time ago, people tried everything to calm his fury. Quivis didn’t want sacrifices, he wanted to swallow up the land into the sea. A thousand years ago, from here to the sea was much different. Four of the strongest warriors were sent to stop Quivis, but they couldn’t.”

“Only four?” Riley asked.

“The strongest,” Vallen said. “No one else would agree to fight Quivis. These four faced Quivis alone…” He seemed lost in his thoughts for a moment. They didn’t appear to be pleasant ones. “Quivis put his will into each of them. It changed them and destroyed them. They became Altunei, Ninivus, Vibis, and Elaita.”

Faith thought of the dark mass writhing in the lake. “Those beings used to be human?”

Vallen nodded. “They aren’t anymore. Quivis used them to protect himself and they had no choice but to protect him. That’s when Sky and Sea formed for the first time, to stop the four of them and stop Quivis. All they knew of Quivis was that he feared wyverns. Sky and Sea went to find the wyverns, but they found only one, badly wounded by Quivis and believed to be the last of his kind.

“The wyvern gave Sky and Sea his blood and told them that with it, they could send Quivis and those with his will into a deep sleep and keep them there. At a cost to them. They agreed, not asking what the price was. They took the blood into themselves and sent Quivis and his allies into a deep sleep. For a while, they thought this would work, but then it started to change them. Some of them didn’t survive what it did to them and others didn’t want to see what would happen to them.

“The members of Sky and Sea that remained stayed hidden. Soon enough, they were gone too. They left behind many things, and the second time Sky and Sea was formed, they made the same mistakes. The first group hadn’t left behind a warning. Sky and Sea perished a second time.”

“Other than you,” Riley said.

Vallen nodded. “I watched Sky and Sea make the same mistakes and I couldn’t help them. When they saw me, they tried to kill me. They wouldn’t hear me out. This time, I made sure there was nothing left for future groups to make the same mistake.”

“Weren’t you a part of the second group?” Faith asked.

Vallen didn’t answer for a moment. “I was a part of the first group.”

Faith thought about that.

“I’ve been alive for more than a thousand years,” Vallen said. “Soon before the second Sky and Sea formed, I tried to send the beings back to sleep, but I couldn’t.”

“Didn’t it work before?” Riley asked.

Vallen nodded. “But not anymore. It seems the blood of a wyvern can send these beings to sleep, but once those with the blood in them change, it doesn’t work. I wounded one of the beings, but I’m not much of a fight against them alone. And submitting another to this fate isn’t an option.”

“And if the blood is in a pendant?” Faith asked.

“The pendant won’t protect you,” Vallen said.

“But it can put Ninivus to sleep?” Riley asked.

Vallen frowned hard. “It can, but you will not survive. I know what happened to Lily Harold and Corisa Gault. They found the pendant, somewhere I hadn’t looked here on the mountain. I know they sent Ninivus to sleep, but they both died in doing so. Maybe if you had a distraction, but the distraction wouldn’t survive. At least not in any state they would want to live in.”

“Are there any more wyverns?” Faith asked. There had to be a way…

“There may be one, but I haven’t found him,” Vallen said.

Riley’s brows furrowed. “In a thousand years?”

“I haven’t been looking that hard,” Vallen said. “I have no reason to. At first I thought a wyvern could undo what’s happened to me. Time passed, and I didn’t find the wyvern. If he could have helped me, I doubt he can now. A thousand years isn’t exactly the lifespan of a human.” He looked at both of them. “There is no way to stop Ninivus.”

“The pendant is worth a try,” Faith said. They had to try something.

Vallen shook his head. “It’s not a try you would walk away from.”

“We’re not giving up,” Faith said. She looked at Riley.

“We’re not,” Riley said.

Vallen sighed. “Then I’ve done all I can. I wish you the best of luck.” He turned and disappeared into the darkness of the doorway behind him.