Chapter 52 — The Temple of the Elders
Morning came quietly beneath the strange sky of the Veil.
The four of them had barely finished gathering their things when Lirael stood and looked deeper into the forest.
"I may know another way to reach the cure."
Blue immediately looked up.
"You do?"
Lirael nodded.
"There is an old temple not far from here. Before I was exiled, the Elder Fae would gather there. Fae from different parts of the Veil would meet inside it whenever something affected all of us."
Gus stood.
"So it's like a meeting place?"
"More than that."
Lirael's expression became serious.
"The temple was also used to store things that were considered too important—or too dangerous—to remain with individual clans."
Rito looked at her.
"Dangerous things?"
"Ancient weapons. Artifacts. Magical objects. Things the Elders believed shouldn't be used."
Blue's expression sharpened.
"And you think the cure for Zak is there?"
"I believe it could be."
Lirael crouched and drew a rough map into the soil.
"Cell's blade was an ancient Mistborn weapon. The curse it placed inside Zak wasn't meant to be treated by ordinary healing. If the Elder Fae possessed anything capable of reversing its effects, they would have kept it inside the temple."
Darius's absence suddenly felt even heavier.
Blue looked toward the forest.
"Then we need to get there."
Lirael pointed toward another direction.
"There is a Mistborn portal nearby. It should take us to a wooded area close to the temple."
Gus raised an eyebrow.
"You keep saying 'should.'"
Lirael smiled faintly.
"Because the Veil doesn't always behave the way it should."
That answer earned a quiet sigh from Gus.
They followed her.
After nearly an hour of walking, they reached an ancient stone arch covered in vines and moss.
Lirael stepped toward it.
Mist began gathering between the stones.
Rito watched closely.
The mist swirled around Lirael's hand before spreading across the entire archway.
"Stay together."
They stepped through.
The world twisted.
For one brief moment, Blue felt as though his body had become weightless.
Then his feet touched the ground again.
Forest.
The four emerged beneath a canopy of enormous trees.
Blue looked around.
"So we're close?"
Lirael nodded.
"We should be."
A blade suddenly came through the trees.
Blue ducked.
"Attack!"
Figures exploded from the forest.
They moved with frightening speed.
Rito immediately summoned wind, sending one warrior crashing into a tree. Gus disappeared into shadow and reappeared behind another, striking him across the back.
Lirael dissolved into mist.
A blade passed through where her body had been.
She reappeared behind the attacker and drove him into the ground.
Blue clashed with another warrior.
Their weapons collided repeatedly.
The stranger was strong.
Blue twisted underneath a strike and drove his shoulder into the warrior's chest, sending him stumbling backward.
Rito's wind caught the warrior before he could recover.
"Now!"
Blue moved.
His blade struck.
The warrior fell.
Gus finished another with a burst of dark energy.
Within moments, the small group of attackers was defeated.
Lirael looked around the clearing.
Her expression changed.
"That's strange."
Gus looked at her.
"What?"
She stared at the fallen warriors.
"What are they doing here?"
Blue looked at their appearance.
"They're Fae?"
Lirael nodded slowly.
"Yes."
"But they aren't like the Fae you've met."
"No."
She looked uneasy.
"These are Dark Fae."
Before anyone could ask what that meant, something moved behind them.
A figure burst through the trees.
Blue turned.
But the stranger never reached them.
A blur shot across the clearing.
Darius appeared.
His blade flashed once.
The attacker collapsed.
Darius stood over the body for a moment before wiping his blade.
He looked at the others.
"So that's what they are."
For a second, nobody moved.
Then Blue's face lit up.
"There you are!"
He rushed toward him.
"I'm glad you're alive!"
Darius looked at him as though the statement were ridiculous.
"Of course I'm alive."
Blue laughed.
"Still the same Darius."
Rito smiled with relief.
Gus shook his head.
"Thought we'd lost you."
Darius looked at all of them.
His expression softened slightly.
"Good to see you too."
Then his face became serious.
"But we have bigger problems."
Blue's smile disappeared.
"What happened?"
Darius looked toward the forest.
"I've been wandering through this place for hours. Eventually I found a camp."
Lirael's expression changed.
"A camp?"
"Yeah."
Darius looked at Blue.
"And they've got Kin."
Blue's eyes widened.
"Mira too."
The relief from seeing Darius disappeared instantly.
"We have to get them."
"We will," Darius said.
"But there's something else."
Blue waited.
"They're inside a temple."
Lirael's eyes widened.
"The Elder Temple?"
Darius nodded.
"That's the one."
Blue's expression hardened.
"Then we go now."
Darius shook his head.
"We need the cure."
Lirael looked toward the temple.
"The cure should be inside."
Blue looked between them.
"Then we do both."
Darius nodded.
"That's what I was thinking."
Lirael, however, remained silent.
Blue noticed.
"What?"
She looked at them.
"It won't be that easy."
The group became quiet.
Lirael looked down at the fallen warriors.
"Fae are strong. But Dark Fae are different."
Gus frowned.
"How?"
Lirael took a breath.
"They value strength, pride, and battle above almost everything else. Conquering something is part of how they prove themselves."
"There is an old legend about where they came from."
Darius crossed his arms.
"We're listening."
Lirael looked at each of them.
"The first Fae queen was said to have been blessed by the divine. She had four children."
She paused.
"Two boys. Two girls."
Blue remained silent.
"One boy and one girl were different from the others."
Lirael's voice became quieter.
"They were the first Dark Fae"
"They looked similar to ordinary Fae," Lirael continued. "But their hair was darker. Their eyes were darker. And according to the stories, something about their nature was different."
Rito listened carefully.
"They hunted. They killed. They conquered. They wanted everything around them to belong to them."
Lirael looked down.
"Eventually, they became responsible for a great war between the Fae and vampires."
Blue's expression changed at the mention of vampires.
He knew that history was important, but even he knew very little about it.
Lirael continued.
"The Dark Fae eventually tried to change. The ones who remained began living as warriors who protected the Fae instead of conquering them."
"But four hundred years ago," Lirael said, "a Dark Fae boy and girl were born."
She looked toward the temple.
"Some believed they were the reincarnations of the original two."
The group remained completely silent.
"They rejected the way the Dark Fae had changed."
Lirael's voice hardened.
"They started a civil war."
Blue's eyes widened slightly.
"A civil war?"
Lirael nodded.
"They wanted to take control of the Veil."
Nobody spoke.
"And if they succeeded," Lirael continued, "their goal wouldn't stop there."
Gus's expression became serious.
"They'd leave the Veil?"
"Yes."
Lirael looked at them.
"They want to conquer everything outside it too."
The group stood in silence.
Darius finally looked toward the distant temple.
"So that's what we're dealing with."
Lirael nodded.
"And if they have the temple, it means their position in the civil war is much stronger than I thought."
Blue's expression hardened.
Then he remembered something.
"Mira."
Lirael looked at him.
"If they have a vampire…"
Her voice became grim.
"They may execute her."
Rito's eyes widened.
"Why?"
"To make an example."
Lirael looked toward the temple.
"They lost their ancient war against the vampires. If they publicly execute one now, they can show the rest of the Veil that they believe they're stronger than the Dark Fae who came before them."
Blue clenched his fists.
Darius looked at him.
"We save them."
Blue nodded.
"And we get Zak's cure."
Lirael looked at the three of them.
Then toward the ancient temple hidden beyond the trees.
"Yes."
She took a breath.
"But we need to be prepared."
Because whatever waits inside that temple wasn't simply a group of Fae guarding an artifact.
It is a war that had been burning for centuries.
And somehow, we have to just walk directly into the middle of it.