Two hundred years ago

Nadina was growing older. She had taken all necessary measures to ensure this would not happen to her swiftly, if not ever. She spent years searching for Roone’s nieces and nephews, the only members of his family whose life hadn’t been woven into the Shroud. If they had children, they probably now had children of their own; teaching them how to conceal their gifts, if they had any. Nadina knew firsthand how children born out of a union of an Artefix with someone beneath them diluted the power, generation after generation. Her own grandparents had been Artefix, but by allowing their son to marry an Infelix, Nadina was only what people here called Concipios. She couldn’t fault their decision to hide. She would have done the same if she were in their position. But she wasn’t, was she? Someone was walking behind her as she strolled along the gardens near the Pillar. She turned slowly, and her breath caught in her throat. “Hello, Nadina. Or do you prefer to go by Mavi nowadays?” her husband asked. “Roone. You are dying,” she said to him, not bothering with pleasantries. Roone was never one for them, anyway. She was in constant need of Arteficia, but she could feel his body withering. His power diminished. “This is Fawn’s price for letting me stand all those years, after I asked of so many to fall. My power is trickling into the land and the Shroud. My time is coming soon” he said. Sentimental fool. All that power, wasted on him. “What do you want? Spend your dying moments with your loving wife?” she asked. “I started hearing rumours about Infelix vanishing, and I knew it had to be you. I knew it, from the first time I laid eyes upon the monstrosity you created to hide your atrocities” he said. “Here, we call it the Cloak,” Nadina drawled, “and how is it different from what you did?” Roone scoffed. “You took away innocent lives forcefully, you claimed power that was never yours. That is why you cannot keep it in place. It will keep fading because Fawn abhors thievery.” he told her. “So your attempts were different because people weren’t coerced?” she demanded. “Yes. They sacrificed themselves. Artefix and non-Artefix alike, when they were told giving up their own lives was the only hope of keeping their loved ones safe, they didn’t hesitate. They gave up their lives for me to weave into the Shroud. That kind of love never fades.” Her lips pursed. “Ours did.” Nadina hated that her reply was more pained than sarcastic. “When I found out you helped them create the Cloak,” he elongated the last word, “it did, yes.” Nadina huffed. “I have seized power beyond your wildest dreams, and I will use it to burn Pyria to the ground. Roone the Scholar, Roone the Warrior. Content to have his wife possess nothing, while he held everything.” Roone swayed on his feet. He really was dying. “Greed will never pierce through what is made of love.”, he said, sadly. “We shall see about that. I wanted to be revered like you, and I am. I wanted to prove I was more than your dutiful wife, and I did.”, she scowled. “Was it worth it?” Roone asked. Nadina removed a vial of Arteficia from her tunic and quickly downed it. Roone couldn’t stop her, could he? She doubted he even wanted to. Stupid man. He had no idea what she could achieve with his dwindling reserves of power. She moved closer and willed his power into her. Once, they were happy. Once, he had treated her as his equal. She only wavered for a second. Treated her as his equal, so she wouldn’t become more. The husk on the ground was all that was left of Roone, and she was finally what he told her she could never be. She was so much more. “Yes.” she replied.