Chapter 15: Brotherhood of the unholy night

Her gaze gained weight. “What?” she asked.

“My Sigil name is Undying.”

She frowned. “I’ve not heard that before. Is it related to the Necro Sigil? I’ve heard of those that evolve into Undead or Necrotic Dominance, but I’ve never heard something like Undying. It sounds like an already evolved Sigil, but that’s…”

She trailed off, and her gaze intensified. Her eyes narrowed. “Well, that’s unexpected. You have an already evolved Sigil?”

Riven shrugged. He had to admit that he liked the surprised look on her face. “I guess? It’s not something I know much about. Maybe it’s a Radiant.”

He added the last part just to get back at her, and he was glad to see the way she winced. Good. Learn not to call people you don’t know ordinary just like that. Even if they are.

She recovered soon enough and scoffed. “You can tell with the shape of the Sigil. Describe it.”

Riven did, and the surprise on her face turned into one of confusion. She shook her head slightly. “No idea.”

Then she stood up and crouched beside him. Riven was so surprised that he stiffened in place. She stared at him as if he were a piece of meat at the market, and then she raised her hand, making Riven flinch.

“I’m just going to check it,” she said.

“You can do that?” Riven asked, his voice strained. He was doing his best not to look at her so close to him.

She didn’t reply. She merely slammed her palm on his chest, making him grunt. Before he could say anything, he saw that her eyes were vague and that she was frowning in concentration.

At first, Riven felt nothing, but then he felt as if someone were staring at him from all directions. Kivara gasped out loud, and her body began to tremble. He called her name, but she didn’t reply.

A shockwave of aura surged out of Riven and slammed into her, sending her flying back. She gave a short cry of pain, her nose dripping with blood, and then she simply collapsed.

“What the…” Riven was so shocked that all he could do was stare at her where she had fallen. The forest was silent, and the fire continued to burn without sound or smell.

All the while, Riven sat there with his mouth open. But then he rushed to his feet and ran toward her. Fortunately, she only seemed to have passed out and was still breathing.

Riven stood there before he sighed and dragged her into the roots. Then he went to kill the fire. He did not know how long her powers would linger, and he did not want to find out.

After that, he ate the remaining meat and crawled back into the roots as well. Whatever she had done had taken a lot of energy from him, and he felt tired and sleepy. Before he passed out, though, he remembered the aura that had swept out of him.

It was cold, a chill that touched the soul, and it carried hints of blood and violence with it. Riven didn’t know if that was his true aura. But he was too tired to think, and he passed out soon after.

When he woke up, it was still evening, and he was still alive. So was she. He checked to see if she was still breathing and then went to check on his resurrecting stone.

After that, he had a debate with himself. I can’t trust Kivara. She’s an aura practitioner, and who knows when she might switch up? But should I go alone? I can probably make it outside without her help, but I might die at least once.

Or get captured by Vorin. I should think about the option with the biggest advantage. I can go alone, but with her, I will be able to learn and observe. I will be able to form a view of the aura practitioner world.

After making up his mind, he buried the stone again and returned to find that she hadn’t moved since he left. He muttered, “Seriously, what did she do? Apart from getting tired, I didn’t feel anything else.”

He sighed. “I can only wait for her to wake up.”

With his sleep, he had regained some energy and decided to do some practice and experimentation. He searched for dead insects, and it was harder than he thought, but he found some. He gathered them, placed them where there were dead leaves, and spread his hand above them to try to sense if he could harvest some aura, but nothing leaped toward him.

Riven thought to himself, So only dead monsters and humans? Or do insects and plants have low energy? That makes sense.

He tried a few more experiments, but nothing worked. Riven had the idea of going out into the forest to look for something bigger to hunt, to kill, to see if he could cultivate aura.

He felt hunger that wasn’t tied to food. It was the hunger and urgency to start learning, to start gathering power. But then, in the same breath, he cautioned himself. I have lived my whole life as a weakling. If I must get power, then I must build myself.

By the time he was done, it was already night, and since there was nothing more to do, he crawled back into the roots to sleep. He checked on her, but Kivara still hadn’t woken up.

Riven fell asleep fast, and his dream was just as troubling—a storm of different horrors he couldn’t grasp. Suddenly, he saw his sister with half her face melted off, shaking him, but the voice that came out of her was unfamiliar.

He tried to hold her, and that was when something smacked him on the head painfully enough to jolt him awake. He was met with glowing gold eyes surrounded by darkness.

Kivara.

Riven blinked in confusion and looked around. He was still between the roots, and it was still dark. When he turned back to her, he saw her put a finger to her lips in a sign of silence.

Then he heard the voices. They were low, but he heard them clearly.

He turned back to her and saw the grimace on her face.

The Brotherhood of the Unholy Night had found them.

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