Contents
Chapter Sixty-Eight: Essiya
Overview
In the bloody aftermath at Janub Aya, Essiya loses Marek to a spear meant for Sefa. With the mist falling for Nuzret Kamel, Essiya uses Rawain’s scepter to raise the ancient fortress, surrendering to her consuming magic. The act unlocks Rovial’s buried memories, revealing Jasad’s divine origin, her sisters’ betrayal, and a cycle of reincarnation.
Summary
Essiya surveys the carnage at Janub Aya, ordering Maia’s fallen husband taken to the river. She finds Sefa comforting a shaken Marek. When Marek pleads that Arin will return and the fortress isn’t needed, Essiya refuses but promises not to raise it if the Nizahl Heir arrives.
At dawn the Nizahl renew their assault, flanking from the sea. Essiya retrieves Rawain’s scepter as doubt gnaws at her. A recruit’s spear targets Sefa; Marek hurls himself into its path and dies in her arms. As Sefa’s grief shatters the air, the long-awaited mist finally falls over Sirauk.
Turning from the battlefield, Essiya begins the ancient recitation. Blood and light pour through her as the fortress erupts along the border. Figures from her visions join the chant, dissolving into silver and gold within the rising wall, while Essiya’s magic knits her fractured self and overpowers her resistance.
The spell unlocks a cascade of ancestral memory: Rovial names Jasad, sparring with her sisters Dania, Baira, and Kapastra. After Baira’s creation of the Ruby Hounds and a non-blood king, Fareed, Rovial retaliates. On a “neutral” bridge, the sisters betray Rovial—rending her body, ripping out her core, and casting her magic into Hirun’s river.
Rovial’s essence then cycles through mortal hosts every century, each consumed by power and tragedy. The memory closes as it touches a green-eyed girl, and Essiya’s present reality vanishes, fully entwined with the fortress and the origin of her magic.
Who Appears
- Essiya (Sylvia)Commander at Janub Aya; refuses to wait for Arin, witnesses Marek’s death, raises the fortress, unlocks Rovial’s memories.
- SefaNearly killed by a spear; Marek dies saving her; devastated, catalyzing Essiya’s final decision.
- Marek LazurBegged Essiya to delay the fortress; sacrifices himself to save Sefa; dies swiftly from a spear wound.
- LateefReports Maia’s husband’s death and aids Essiya amid the battlefield aftermath.
- MaiaUnaware at first of her husband’s death; Essiya orders his body prepared for rites.
- Maia’s husbandFound dead in Janub Aya; his loss underscores the battle’s toll.
- RovialAncestral source of Jasadi magic; founder of Jasad; betrayed by her sisters and cast into reincarnation.
- DaniaSister-goddess; strategic, complicit in tearing Rovial’s core from her body.
- BairaSister-goddess; created Ruby Hounds and a non-blood king, Fareed; helps betray Rovial.
- KapastraSister-goddess; locks the sky, restrains storms; holds Rovial as her core is torn out.
- FareedJasadi man stripped of magic and made king, emblem of Baira’s defiance of blood rule.
- Nizahl recruit (scrawny soldier)Throws the spear that kills Marek, recognizes him, and panics, too late to save him.