The Weaver | (2) The Shattering Archives

Book 2 of the Shattering Archives; 1st Draft Manuscript;

The Weaver is not a standalone. Book one MUST be read first: Forgotten Lover.

The Sea of Nothing was an endless expanse of Empty Space, stretching on forever in all directions. Only a small portion of it had been fully explored and mapped. But a great deal more remained hidden, floating in the warbling and humming murk of the void.

Within the realm of the Sea of Nothing, ruins slept in the deep reaches of Empty Space. In all the centuries to have passed by, Julius had yet to uncover it all. And out of all the Angels and Drakan alike, Julius knew the Sea of Nothing best. He had explored the depths far beyond the mapped regions of the known. He had delved deeper than even the Archangels and Drakan Lords themselves.

Yet he still could not find the two items he sought.

Within the lost and undiscovered ruins of the melted Stone Tree chamber, Julius stopped and stood, gritting his teeth as his hands clenched into fists.

His fists trembled.

It was the only sign and evidence of his ever growing fear and desperation, something he kept concealed from everyone, including Beralin. Especially Beralin.

I am running out of time, Julius thought in the crushing silence.

But Beralin knew him. She always did. No amount of masks and disguises could hide him from her clear gaze.

Which was what brought on the suffocating fear with growing strength as each day passed by. With every day to go by wherein Asel’s Tree was not in Julius’s possession, the more time was slipping away from him.

He left Beralin to search the uncharted territories of Empty Space, while he also did the same. No matter how far away she went, even though she was now lost in the deep, Julius always felt her. He knew where she was. He could sense her presence along the lines of the Weave.

As long as Julius could sense her existence, he could function. Her existence calmed him enough to exhale through gritted teeth and focus.

He released his fist with a slow hiss of his breath, and re-opened his eyes.

The Chamber of the Stone Tree was once vast, as far as an endless field, and as high as the sky itself.

Here in the Sea of Nothing however, it was broken into fragments, of which Julius only found a few, all of which were the melted and destroyed fragments. Not from the other, the side to have been protected.

It was the protected side Julius needed. The side that had been protected from Rothir's flame. Yet he still could not find it, and he wondered, with grief and ancient fury, if it had been purposely hidden from him, like so much else.

No! He thought desperately. I will not lose. I cannot lose!

With a shaking breath, Julius continued his long search.

Beralin’s presence suddenly disappeared.

Julius’s eyes widened. The shock punched him so hard that his gasp of horror remained unborn from his lips. He spun around to the direction he last felt her presence, and came face to face with Sudryl.

The regal and ancient Angel of crimson hair and identical emerald eyes, caught Julius’s shoulders before Julius could Warp across Empty Space to Beralin’s last detectable location.

“You will not find her, Julius,” Sudryl said, his voice as firm as the voice of Asel.

Fury and fear ripped through Julius’s mind, and he tore himself away from the crimson-haired Angel’s grasp with a single, powerful step back.

“Where is she?” Julius hissed.

Sudryl’s eyes narrowed with grim determination, and guilt. “Asel has taken her. The time has come. He has sent her to learn.”

The tremble returned to Julius’s fists. “No.”

Sudryl did not try to approach him, because even Sudryl knew better than to push Julius further.

“Bring her back,” Julius said sharply, his voice tight and strained.

But Sudryl did not waver. “I cannot. You know I cannot, Julius. It is Asel’s Will.”

Julius felt his heart crack and bleed.

He flung his hand out towards the depths of Empty Space

“Why?” Julius said harshly, his voice breaking with both fury and devastation. “How can you and Asel do this to me? How can you do this to her? She doesn’t deserve any of this. She never deserved any of this. Let her live her normal life. Let her live in peace and joy!”

Sudryl met Julius’s hard gaze.

In the end however, Sudryl turned his head away, closing his eyes. They swam heavily with age, cursed and burdened knowledge, and regret.

Seeing the regret in Sudryl’s eyes dampened Julius suffocating terror and rage, because Sudryl was just as bound to Asel’s Will as Julius and Beralin were. The crimson haired Angel was more bound than either of them.

And as a result, rendered Sudryl completely, and utterly, powerless.

“Leave her, I beg you,” Julius pleaded, to both Sudryl and Asel. “Leave her out of the prophecy. I can fulfil it without her. I will do whatever it takes. I will do everything and anything. Just leave Bera out of this!”

Sudryl’s regard - as despairing as it was - lingered on him, and Julius’s expression warped and twisted with devastated betrayal upon Sudryl’s silent answer.

Julius shook his head in denial, and turned his back.

No. I will not accept this. There has to be another way. No matter what, I will protect you, Bera, Julius vowed in silence. I will protect you.

He Warped through the Sea of Nothing to Beralin’s last detectable location in the hidden, forgotten depths of Empty Space.