Memories and Obligations

  Yana sat on the blue-black ground. Her back was straight and her eyes gently shut. The ground moved beneath her in a soothing ripple that calmed both her mind and her soul. All was quiet on the plane; even her own breathing was subdued. She waited and waited. Her breathing relaxed, but her heart was expectant.

  The Winter Soul Plane seemed to react to her calm. The rippling ground settled more and more, and the skies pulsed with a blue-black awareness that was hypnotic. Yana allowed herself to settle as her mind searched for things familiar to it. Her heart quickened, then there was a spark at the edge of her mind. The spark bloomed into a flame that quickly burned to nothing, and darkness bloomed into her mind.

  It was a shard memory.

  Yana was young, yet still very serious. She walked with a confidence most could not find in fully lived lives. She stepped forward without doubt or fear. Two adults walked with her. He was a tall shadow that seemed to be of some aristocratic human line. The female looked scholarly, her back straight and, although her physical body was human, her shadow had a large bushy tail that curled up and over her shadow’s head. She was of the Fox-kin—her fox blood only manifesting through her shadow line, lying dormant within her shadow.

  These two were Yana’s parents. Just as soon as she had the revelation, her memory-self spun around, a bit of rage in her eyes and confidence never leaving her being. “Are you absolutely sure you will be safe?”

  Her father smiled. “Of all of us, you know best—no one can escape their fate.”

  Yana clenched her fists tightly. Her mind and body suddenly warring with each other. Her shadow rose high into the air—its edges smooth, rounded, and exuding unbelievable amounts of power. As it rose, it began drawing in all the shadows around it with a loud sucking sound. A sound like an alarm. But instead of running, every shadow in the area ran toward it. Her shadow didn’t grow, but it pulsed with power and seemed to be even more connected to her—as if it were an extension of her soul.

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  Her father frowned and her mother watched it all curiously. Her calm voice washed over Yana as she spoke. “You grow stronger every day, my dear girl. Remember to stay humble. Your Wao spirit can ruin you.” Her father frowned and pursed his lips, but he didn’t say anything.

  The memory instantly ignited at the edges and once again burned in a bright flame as it disappeared from before her, but became part of her at the same time. Another and another memory approached until six memories pressed into her vast mind at once. She was even younger in one. The council of the Wao looking down at her from on high, the black skies of the final ring of Pa weighing heavy upon her as she looked up at the council with defiance.

  “You are Wao! The blood of the Wao is with fate again.” The entire council spoke in unison, and the world seemed to shake as this memory burned away.

  In another, she was older as she stood over the graves of her parents. She knew that they would die. She knew that they would be betrayed. She knew they had not feared death or thought it was not their time. Still, fury rose up in her and the ground quaked and broke behind her, a shadow legion rising from the darkness awaiting her command. She smiled at the graves of her parents. If they had to die, so did everyone else. Her eyes gleamed silvery-black and this memory burned away as well—and became a part of her.

  In a third memory, she looked into the prismatic eyes of a Pra assassin. He was one of her men, strong, seemingly unbeatable, and had risen through the ranks far too quickly. She cocked her head. “Tell me your secret or die, Caleb.”

  Caleb smiled—it was almost like a challenge. “I have a system, mistress. I was born with it; I do not know how it works.” She watched those prismatic eyes as they fought to stay broken beams of colorful light. His weakness—he was lying, and she didn’t care. Her eyes gleamed. “Give it to me.”

  The soul army stirred as more and more memories poured into Yana and she remembered more and more of her past. Her mind hurt, like it was full, packed with knowledge or something more. Yana breathed heavily, but she did not stop. She fought to calm herself and she refused to stop. She would learn all that she could. She would only stop when every memory was back in place.