Chapter 57

Maevyth and Zevander reach the Crone Witch’s cottage and, after a tense doorstep standoff, are allowed inside to warm themselves. Elowen immediately contradicts Maevyth’s sense of time, insisting months have passed since the Banishing, not weeks. Over stew, Elowen recounts that Moros emerged from the woods with Aleysia, disappeared, and on returning preceded a wave of spider bites that transformed villagers into ravenous, slumbering predators.

As they eat, Elowen’s questions expose more truths. She speaks Nyxterosi and reveals she is Nilivir who once lived with the Corvikae, even writing the blood-ink message at Corvus Keep. She explains the Corvikae were driven to the Crussurian Trench by golden-armored Solassions, where their priestess was forced to witness slaughter and was transformed into a tree.

Elowen further claims the creature in the woods is Cadavros, host to Pestilios, the God of Disease and Famine. She argues that gods draw strength from belief and now choose mortal vessels; once empowered, Pestilios can overcome the ward and reenter Aethyria. Zevander challenges her, but Elowen insists a god’s power is limited by its vessel.

Pressed on past lies, Elowen admits she once sacrificed a village boy to Cadavros to gain passage through the archway, but was burned and rejected as unworthy. She confesses she left the rose for Maevyth the night she was found and masked Maevyth’s true silver eyes with a spell that only death can undo.

With night deepening, Elowen leads Maevyth and Zevander to a small bed and warns that the infected awaken to feed at the witching hour. They settle in, aware of the looming threat beyond the cottage walls and the implications of Elowen’s revelations for Aleysia and the encroaching plague.