Media: Eli's character banner

Music: Always with Honor, Earthrise

"Cady, Cady, wake up!"

Someone was shaking her. She groaned, cracking open a bleary eye.

"Oh, thank the Orishas." Her brother let out a sigh of staggering relief. "I heard the others say you came in the common room and went straight to the bedroom.

"You shouldn't be here." Cadence sat up a bit too fast, causing a wave of dizziness to crash over her. The headache was still there, but it had receded into a dull throb. "It's the girls' dormitory."

"You look very pale." Her brother touched her forehead with the back of his hand. "And you're very cold. We should go to the infirmary."

"I just got out," Cadence said. "G-Give me a few minutes, I'll be fine."

Her brother gripped her wrist, stopping her from sliding off the bed.

"Tell me what's wrong. I want to the infirmary earlier to find you, but Kashimi told me you were discharged and you would be either at Ales' or the Varya quarters. He also said you hadn't been eating or sleeping well. You took drugs to help you sleep. Something is going on, I can feel it, just let me help you."

To tell you that I'm seeing the very creature that killed our father and destroyed the Orisha mansion because I was selfish for an instant? No. You'll hate me, and I can't afford that. I'm not accepted anywhere, not here, not outside. Losing you will break me. Cadence pressed circles around her eyes, massaging out the tension. "Nightmares," she said. "It must have something to do with the Energy fluctuation. I asked for something that would give me dreamless sleep."

Her brother sighed. "I'm very worried about you, shezinka."

"I'm sorry," Cadence said. "I didn't mean for all this to happen."

"No one can blame you for discovering your Affinity so late."

Cadence shook her head. This was not what she meant. It all started with her freeing the Polong, setting off a chain reaction of events that eventually landed her here in the Hall of Games, sitting on a bed feeling nauseous with her brother worrying his heart out in front of her eyes. Truly, if she had just blocked out the Polong's words, grabbed the required books off the shelves, she would still be a simple handmaiden. She would be abused, yes, but it was a stable and safe life where she would eventually save enough to pay for a Healer to save her father. If only she had held on a little longer instead of searching for an easy way out.

"Do you know what day today is?" Her brother asked.

"Er." Cadence had lost count of the days, being confined in the infirmary. "Khamis, I guess?"

"That's not the day I meant," Cole said. "I mean, what occasion falls on today?"

"If you mean Imbolc, that's weeks away."

Her brother made an impatient sound and rolled his eyes. "It's your birthday, silly. Happy nineteenth. I hope you're happy that you're old as frosts now."

Cadence blinked. She hadn't been paying attention to the dates. She knew her birthday was coming up, but that little thought was lost among the many other more important ones, and eventually, she forgot all about it.

"Wow," she said, slightly over-whelmed. "I didn't realize."

"This is why you have a smart brother. He helps you to remember things you can't. Hold out your hand."

Cadence held out her right hand. Cole reached forward and dropped something into it.

"Happy birthday."

It was his rope bracelet. However, there was an addition to it—a small, bear-shaped trinket crudely carved from wood. Cadence could tell it was her brother's handiwork, not a master's, for it was too coarse and chipped to pass for a Tinker's work.

"I love it," she said, trying to hold back her tears. Frosts, she was nineteen now, she should not cry. "Thank you."

She hugged him. The rope bracelet swung from her fingers, which she looped it back up and held the wooden trinket in her fist. She inhaled his familiar, woody scent, bringing her back to the time when they still lived in Azrapol. When it wasn't snowing, the ground wasn't hard and the lake hadn't froze over, Cole would take Cadence fishing. He had taught her how to build a quick fishing rod, make a hook out of a safety pin, and dig up worms from the wet earth. Most of the fish in the lake near their home wasn't large enough to eat, and they were spiny and prickly. Once in a while, Cole would manage to catch a trout, and he would cut it up into small portions before making various dishes out of them. When it rained, or hail pelted from the sky, Cole would read stories to her; stories about the Orishas, the other nations, folklores. Cole was more than just her brother, he was her father and mother too.

Cole released her. "You have no idea how much I wish Papa was here to see us. We're a family of Warriors, he must be so proud."

"I-I'm-" Cadence wanted to tell him she was Walker, but Ales' warning echoed in her ears. The time for you to tell him will come. There are enemies out there, people you should hope you will never encounter. "I'm actually Oracle, Cole."

Her brother did a double take. "You what?"

"I took an Affinity test. The dagger that was supposed to be imbued with Warrior Energy did not resonate with me at all."

"But." Her brother's eyes widened. "That's theoretically impossible. Papa is-"

"A Warrior, I know, and Mama was Murka."

"Maybe," her brother said. "Mama came from a Varya family, but never told us about it? Affinities need to be Awakened before it can manifest. Until then, no one can tell whether one's a Murka or Varya unless they have verified blood connections to a Varya family. I think Mama was also Varya, except her powers were never fully realized."

"It's plausible," Cadence said. "I wish Papa would tell us more about her."

"He loved her very much, that's for certain."

Cadence had no doubt their father loved their mother to bits. When she had pressed him for details, anything about their mother, he would smile to himself before wiping the emotions off his face, telling them it was a story for another time, until there was no more time to tell the tale.

Cadence swung her feet off to the side of the bed and felt them brush against the carpeted floor. She tried to stand but almost keeled over at once, if not for Cole who caught her hand.

"Whoa," he said. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the infirmary."

"Positive." The stabbing pain was gone from her head. She looked at the candle clock by her bed. Three chimes in the afternoon.

"We have a history class in ten minutes," he said. "I'll tell Mistress Valeriya you're sick, although she's expecting you to be in class."

"It's fine, I'll go." Cadence did not want to be cooped up in a room on a bed anymore. She did not have any milk of moonflowers left. If she stayed behind, she might fall asleep and the Polong would haunt her again.

"You sure?" Cole raised an eyebrow. "You can hardly walk."

To prove her point, Cadence walked to the door without falling over.

Her brother threw up his hands. "Alright, you win."

Cadence realized she was still in her Murka robes. If she walked into a class of Varya wearing this, it would cause her more harm than good. "You go ahead. I need to change first." She gestured at her robes.

"Alright. History class is in hall three, it's on the floor above the combat hall. Just take the stairs on the right."

Her brother left the chamber. Cadence started to strip and change into her Varya robes. The Varya robe was cut in a way similar to a kubah, except it lacked embroidery on the sleeves. Like a Murka's robe, it came with a utility belt and even a separate bandolier which Cadence did not put on.

After putting on the robe, she slid on the blue armband which marked her as an Oracle.

It's just for show. Cadence thought It's not who I really am.

She slid her brother's rope bracelet around her left wrist above her own. The little wooden trinket bounced lightly against her skin, keen on reminding her of its existence. It made her smile just a little.

Cadence followed her brother's directions, taking the stairs on the right when she reached the combat training hall. She found hall three at the end of the corridor.

She was late. Mistress Valeriya, High Priestess of the Hall of Games, was already present.

Mistress Valeriya was easily the most beautiful person Cadence had ever seen. The High Priestess was a woman in her mid-thirties. Like Ales, she too had green eyes, but hers were more feline, highly accentuated with dark khol. Waves of memories hit Cadence as she observed the High Priestess' makeup—it was the most noblewoman thing ever—long dark hair held up by silver pins, eyes lined with khol, cheeks powdered with mashed, pink pearl powder, and the slight glow on her red lips. Cadence noticed she wasn't wearing a kubah, instead, a sleek, strapless blue gown rolled from her shoulders to the ground. There was something exquisite about her, Cadence felt as if she could just stare, and stare, and stare...

"Mistress Valeriya has that effect on people." Elijah Khavarosk, who was sitting at the desk next to where she was standing, broke her stupor. "Take a seat before she gets mad at you for being late."

Cadence scanned the classroom for a free seat, but almost every desk was occupied.

Elijah patted the seat beside him. "Empty seat."

Mistress Valeriya turned around, and Cadence hastily dropped into the seat next to Elijah.

"Merri," he said. "I'm Elijah Khavarosk, but please, call me Eli."

He put out a hand. Cadence shook it tentatively, slightly afraid his hands might suddenly sprout teeth.

"Cadence Novik."

"Which House are you affiliated to?" Eli asked. "I've never heard of the Noviks."

"I'm no noble," she said.

"Surprising," Eli said. "All Varya here are nobles, Cadence. Word of your Awakening spread like wildfire, and there are many rumors about you."

"I'm sure there is nothing fascinating about me." Cadence pulled dropped her bag onto the table. She had brought all the textbooks Ales had prepared for her since she didn't have enough time to go through the titles.

Eli didn't reply. Instead, he turned to focus on his own textbook.

G-geography. She put the first book aside, then started on the second one. The C-C-omplete Atlas-

"You can't read, can you?" Elijah removed a book from the pile and handed it to her.

Flushing, she took the textbook from him. "Technically, I can read, if only the words would stay on the page.'

"Kheliruan," Eli said. "It was said that one in a hundred people suffer from it."

"Good to know." Cadence flipped open the textbook and glared at the meaningless inked letters.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about," said Eli. "Kheliruan is not a sin."

"What do you know about being sick?" Cadence snapped at him. There was no way he understood how often she felt useless because of Kheliruan, the inability to be normal, just like the others.

Eli blinked, his composed demeanor slipping. "I Heal people, Cadence. I've been around sick people my entire life, do not assume that I know nothing about the sick and the wounded."

"Is this why you're in the infirmary?" Cadence asked. "Not that you're sick, but Healing others, like you've Healed me?"

"Something along the lines of it," said Eli. "Kashimi is a fine mentor. They don't teach Healing exclusively until we finish a year here, then we'll be sent to our respective Hall of Affinity. The Hall of Spirits is practically my home, what's there to explore when you're familiar with the teachers and the environment? I'd prefer seizing my chance here in the capital to extend my skills."

The girl sitting in front of them turned around and gave them an angry glare. "If you two want to talk, get a room. There are actual people trying to pay attention in class here."

"Apologies, Mimba," Eli said.

Mimba rolled her eyes and turned back.

"Thank you," Cadence said.

"What for?"

"For Healing me."

"You were in need of help, I was merely passing by. You're welcome."

Mimba turned back again and slammed a fist on the table. "I don't care you're the heir to some House of War," she said angrily. "If you continue to disrupt my education I will beat you up."

"Apologies, again," Eli said. This time he meant it and fell silent.

Mistress Valeriya walked down the aisle, surveying every Varya in the room. "We'll be addressing the Moskavan civil wars today. Moskava reacts to itself more so than toward the outside. One little spark between the Houses was all it took to ignite a full-scale war. There had been more than ten civil wars recorded in the last two centuries, all of them caused by warring Houses, with the most recent being the Great War."

The Great War, that was the war she had been dreaming about ever since her father's death. Cadence found herself leaning in, focusing all her attention on the High Priestess and tuning out everything else.

The High Priestess took up a piece of chalk and started drawing on the blackboard. She drew the sigils of the five sister Halls—the Hall of Warriors, the Hall of Spirits, the Hall of Elements, the Hall of Harmony, and the Hall of Shadows. Every Hall represented a particular Affinity, and they go in the order of the Halls—Warriors, Oracles, Naturams, Tinkers, and Walkers.

"Unlike the Hall of Games which runs on an elected system, the sister Halls are run by the leader of selected Houses, and the highest seat of honor is passed from one generation to the other, and the family must have the blood of the first Founders. The Five Founders are the first Varya who ever walked the earth, and their powers are so immense, they were said to be Orisha-like. Katya, Borya, Shura, Timur and Kazimir built the five sister Halls."

"Kazimir is disgusting. The other Founders should have killed him when they had the chance. Walkers are unnatural beasts, they must be killed," Koba said out loud. "My House had a hand in the Great War, you know."

"Hear, hear!" Another boy crowed. "The Great War was a rightful choice!"

The whole classroom burst into an uproar, with most of them crying out their Houses' partake in the Great War and serving by House Khavarosk as it felled the final blow to crush out the Walkers in Moskava.

The sickening feeling returned. Cadence glanced at Elijah. He was silent, eyes fixated on his textbook and his hands curled up into tight fists.

"Silence!" The High Priestess slammed a hand on her desk. The force of the hit shattered the corner of the desk, spending wooden debris spewing in all directions. Her voice reverberated with power, authority, and anger. She seemed to grow taller, larger, her shadow looming over the recruits who cowered under her glare.

"You will not discriminate in my class. Your Houses were part of a war that should have never happened in the first place. It is nothing to be proud of. War should never be glorified, or used as an excuse to cause mass genocide. Your ancestors have wiped off an essential part of our culture and history, and they will forever be marked on history books as perpetrators of such a heinous crime."

She swept her eagle-like gaze through the class one more time before turning back to the blackboard.

"Kazimir may have betrayed the Founders at the end, but there is no denying he was a genius," she said. "He was the first to come up with the idea of a Hall. Although it was initially a good idea, the congregated Walkers from all over Moskava eventually turned into a formidable army, not a build system that supports the other Varya. In fear that the Walkers might get too powerful for them to contain, the other Founders started building up their own armies and Halls too. This led to an extreme rivalry between Borya, the second Founder, and Kazimir, the last Founder. As we know it, the Halls were run by the families of the Founders. Borya poisoned the son of Kazimir, which induced his wrath, and he swore vengeance on Borya and all who had helped her. Kazimir amassed his troops and marched toward the Hall of Spirits. Borya pleaded with the other Founders to help her, and her pleas moved Shura and Timur who allied with her to defeat Kazimir. When the final moment came, Kazimir was too proud to surrender. He drowned himself in the Savage Seas."

Cadence had heard of the Founders' story, but she didn't know that Kazimir took his own life. There were so many versions of that particular story—Kazimir was chopped into pieces, his physical body scattered so he could never return; his Spirit and Soul were shattered by the other Founders, but never impaled by his own sword.

"Open up to page thirty-six please."

Cadence complied, although she had no intention of trying to read the pages. She was surprised to find illustrations inside the textbook. Page thirty-six had black and white illustration of the Hall of Games. It hadn't changed throughout the centuries, not even the slightest bit. There were more words, but she was only interested in the illustrations. Without waiting for the High Priestess' cue, Cadence flipped through the textbook to see the other illustrations.

Every chapter held a rough estimation of six to seven illustrations. Cadence reached the very back of the book about the Great War. She had seen the first illustration before, it was the infamous sacking of the Region of Shadows.

The illustrator had taken the time and energy to create a masterpiece. He or she captured the fear in the faces of the civilians—men, women, and children running for their lives, trying to dodge burnings trees and flying rocks as trebuchets loaded and unloaded mercilessly from the other side of the wall. The flags of various Houses flew high as the flag of House Yesuntai and the Hall of Shadows were reduced into nothing but flaming rags. The most prominent banner of them all was the silver thorned apple of House Khavarosk. It soared high above the heads of the Walkers as the raven of House Yesuntai was torn from its poles.

Cadence turned the page, unable to stomach the gore only to be greeted by a more grisly scene.

A person, Cadence couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, was crucified to pyre. Barbed wire was used to secure the person to the wooden cross which was erected on top of a pyre. The fire had burned away the person's hair as it screamed. The onlookers cheered and stomped on the Yesuntai flag, the banners of House Khavarosk raised and waved in the wind, watching the fire consume the victim alive.

There was a sign hanging from the person's neck. Cadence held the book to face level and squinted. It said-

"Death to the Walkers," Eli said quietly. "It's barbaric. They rounded up all the Walkers they could find in the Region and burned them at stake. I do not concur to the violence my House has committed. Mistress Valeriya is right, there is no honor in the killing of our own people."

Elijah did not talk for the rest of the class. When Mistress Valeriya dismissed them, he was the first to rise and storm out of the class.

"Eli-" Cadence went after him. "Wait."

When she reached the doors, he was gone.

Instead, someone was at the door waiting for her. It was a small Murka boy with big, puppy eyes and a head of messy dark ringlets. "Patrol Sanrovo asked me to give this to you."

The boy held out a small, rolled up piece of parchment, sealed and stamped with wax.

Before Cadence could utter her thanks, the boy was gone.

She sidled up to a quiet corner, far away from the sharp eyes of the other Varya recruits, broke the seal and unrolled the parchment.