[The Temple of Seven — Inner Sanctuary — Continuation]
The crystal remained silent—no light, no flame, no wind. Not even the faintest shimmer passed across its flawless white surface.
Seyra continued staring at it, turning the small globe between her hands as though she were searching for the magic she was certain must be hiding somewhere inside as she frowned.
"...Is this a real crystal?"
Nerath’s expression tightened before anyone could answer—
CHEEEWWW—!
Seyra suddenly bit the crystal; the entire sanctuary froze. Kharzen’s eyes widened and Ravian’s mouth fell open.
Two priests exchanged a horrified glance as Nerath stared at the child as though he had just witnessed someone bite one of the sacred tablets of the Seven.
Seyra slowly pulled the crystal away from her mouth and inspected it.
"...It tastes like stone."
Kharzen immediately turned his face away; his shoulders trembled once. Ravian coughed into his fist and Vaerun’s silver eyes remained fixed upon Seyra.
He looked at the crystal. Nerath closed his eyes for a moment; the Seven Gods had tested kings, nobles, warriors, healers, and countless children within these sacred walls, but none had ever bitten the testing crystal.
He quietly wondered whether the gods had prepared him for this; apparently, they had not.
Nerath slowly extended his hand. "My lady... give me the crystal."
Seyra handed it over, and the High Priest took a breath and examined the sphere again. His golden eyes gradually lost their amusement.
He turned toward Vaerun.
"Azram."
Vaerun’s expression hardened. Nerath held the crystal between his fingers.
"She possesses no Aether Core."
The words fell heavily into the sanctuary. Ravian’s expression changed. "No Aether Core? How is that possible?"
His voice lowered.
"Every human born beneath the heavens possesses an Aether Core. The sacred tablets say that the Twin Divine Dragons blessed humanity with the gift of Aether." His gaze shifted toward Vaerun. "How can Lady Seyra possess nothing?"
Nerath did not immediately answer. Instead, his eyes moved toward the ancient carvings covering the sanctuary walls. The story of humanity’s first blessing had been carved into those stones for thousands of years.
Two divine dragons, one golden and one white. Their bodies entwined beneath the heavens, their wings spreading across the world.
From their blessing came the Aether Core, and from the Aether Core came the spirits. Every human possessed one.
From the poorest farmer to the emperor seated upon the Golden Throne. It was the foundation upon which Eshkaran had been built.
Every person carries an Aether Core within their body. Through it, they form contracts with elemental spirits. Commoners generally possess enough strength to contract with lower spirits. Their power rarely exceeds the third level.
Knights reach the fourth, and Scholars up to the sixth."
Meanwhile, nobles inherit stronger Aether through their bloodlines. The power of their ancestors passes from generation to generation. Most noble houses possess spirits of the seventh level. The strongest bloodlines may reach the eighth and the ninth...no human has ever reached it."
The Seven Elements had their own hierarchy.
Veyra—the Breath of Air. Azhar—the Eternal Fire. Nymara—the Sacred Waters. Khar—the Foundation of Earth. Sola—the Divine Light. Nazh—the Veiled Shadow.
And then—
Zaman...the Spirit of Time.
The rarest of all, the one element no living human had ever successfully contracted. Most commoners possessed a single spirit contract.
Nobles generally possessed two; the greatest bloodlines possessed three. Only two men in the entire Eshkaran Empire were known to possess four elemental contracts.
The Malik of Eshkaran.
And—
Azram Vaerun Veyrath, the Silent Tempest.
Vaerun stood silently beside the child who had just bitten a sacred testing crystal. His four elemental contracts were enough to make kingdoms cautious, and his Veyra (Air) alone had earned him a reputation that made enemies reconsider breathing too loudly in his presence.
Yet now...his newly adopted daughter possessed none.
Ravian’s voice broke the silence as he looked towards Seyra. "If she truly has no Aether Core...then she cannot form an elemental contract."
Nerath nodded.
"That is what the crystal tells us."
Kharzen’s brows drew together. "But she touched the fire spirit earlier."
No one answered. Ravian looked toward him. "And the spirit allowed it."
Kharzen’s jaw tightened. "She also touched the other spirits."
Nerath slowly turned toward Seyra; the little girl was sitting on the edge of the stone platform, swinging her legs. She looked completely uninterested in the conversation as she picked up a date from a nearby offering bowl.
Bit into it and chewed, then looked around.
A child without an Aether Core should have been powerless. Unable to sense spirits, unable to touch them, and unable to contract with them, and yet every spirit in the temple had acknowledged her presence.
Some had even followed her; that contradiction should not have existed. Nerath’s golden eyes darkened.
"If this becomes known..."
Ravian understood immediately that the House Veyrath had enemies...many. A powerless daughter would be viewed as a weakness; a child unable to defend herself would become the easiest weapon against the House.
Nobles would whisper. Rivals would watch, and those who could not defeat Vaerun directly would search for the person standing beside him.
Seyra.
A four-year-old girl, a child with no Aether Core. A daughter whose survival would depend entirely upon the protection of the most feared man in Eshkaran.
Vaerun finally spoke.
"Enough."
His voice was quiet, and everyone fell silent. He looked down at Seyra. She was still holding half a date in her tiny hand, and his gaze remained unreadable, then he looked toward Nerath.
"Are you referring to my daughter as useless?"
Nerath hesitated.
"No."
Vaerun’s eyes sharpened.
"Then we are finished."
Nerath stared at him.
"Azram..."
Vaerun turned toward the great doors as his voice carried no hesitation. "She is my daughter no matter what the crystal says."
There was no anger in his voice, only finality. He walked toward Seyra. Vaerun stopped before her.
"Come, let’s go home."
She immediately jumped down from the stone platform and caught his hand. "I’m hungry."
Vaerun looked down at her.
"You have been hungry since we entered the temple."
"Because temples don’t serve food."
. . .
. . .
"I will get you something from the market."
Seyra’s eyes brightened. "Something sweet?"
"Whatever you want."
Without another word, Vaerun began walking. Seyra followed beside him, her tiny fingers wrapped around his. Captain Kharzen and Assistant Ravian fell into step behind them.
The priests lowered their heads as the Azram passed, but none of them could stop themselves from watching.
The feared Silent Tempest of House Veyrath was leaving the sacred Inner Sanctuary while holding the hand of a powerless four-year-old girl...or so the crystal had claimed.
At the threshold, Seyra turned around; her violet eyes met Nerath’s golden ones across the vast sanctuary, and for one brief moment, neither moved.
Violet met gold.
Child met High Priest. Mystery met suspicion.
Then Seyra lifted her little hand. "Bye, High Priest!"
Nerath blinked, smiled, and turned back, and the bronze doors slowly closed behind them.
BOOM.
The sound echoed through the sanctuary, and silence returned.
Nerath remained where he stood, his gaze fixed upon the closed doors. Then he slowly looked down at the crystal in his hands, his golden eyes narrowed.
"There is no way...that she possesses no Aether Core."
His fingers tightened around it.
Every human born beneath the blessing of the Twin Divine Dragons possessed an Aether Core, everyone.
A weak core, a strong core, a damaged core, and even a dying core. But never—none.
Nerath slowly raised his gaze toward the ancient carvings of the Seven Divine Spirits.
Veyra (air), Azhar (fire), Nymara (water), Khar (earth), Sola (light), Nazh (shadow), and the seventh—Zaman (Time).
Time.
The spirit whose name had not appeared in the records of Eshkaran for generations, Nerath’s expression darkened.
"What if..." He looked back at the crystal. "...you were never meant to measure her?"
A cold silence answered him. Nerath clenched his fist; the crystal remained perfectly white, with no glow, no elemental mark, and no answer.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"What exactly are you, Seyra Vaerun Veyrath?"
Outside the sanctuary, the distant sound of Seyra’s laughter echoed faintly through the temple halls.
Nerath listened, and for the first time in many years, the High Priest of the Seven felt something he had almost forgotten.
Uncertainty.
He stared at the crystal once more, then his golden eyes hardened. "I will find out, even if I must search every tablet beneath this temple."
Far beyond the sacred walls, the wind moved through the date palms and somewhere unseen...something ancient seemed to stir.