Chapter 382: Elements of Nature
"I don’t want to see them end up here either," August breathed. "Sage is such a sweet boy."
She thought of when they were together on the path to the haunted forest, waiting for Finn to return. Sage was the one who urged her to run. He saw the intruders pursuing her before she did. He made it back to Graeme, right? He must have.
"He was with me before I was taken," she said quietly.
"They didn’t notice him?" Nedra asked urgently. "Are you sure they didn’t get ahold of him?"
August glanced back to the worry-ridden face of the female who bore such a striking resemblance to both Sage and Selah. Black hair and green eyes were not at all common.
"You can’t be their mother, can you?" August thought aloud, the dawning of this truth revealing itself on her face. "But you are so young."
Nedra’s eyes grew as large as saucers as the look of sheer terror filled them. "No," she lied. "No, of course not," she repeated, and then she forced herself to laugh. "I just care about them, same as you. Perhaps we should check containment after all to make sure they were not taken when you were found if they are from the same pack."
August watched Nedra lead the way. This female was their mother, there was no denying it now. But why was she so set against acknowledging it?
A knot tightened itself in August’s stomach as she considered what could cause Nedra to behave this way. Was she hurt? Was the vampire the father? And why was Nedra so young in appearance if she had given birth to someone Selah’s age?
"Zosime is in our pack, too. Are you familiar with her?" August asked as she walked a few steps behind.
"Wow, this pack of yours is certainly intriguing. Yes, I am familiar with Zosime. She is one Zagan had with him long ago during the dark times before this island. She was different than the other alyko he kept," Nedra recalled.
"When I created this place for him, he moved most of the alyko from where they were before. They were kept in the darkness always, locked away in a dungeon and separated from each other. He would test their abilities as he does here, but then they were simply filed away. It was a miserable, lonely existence. I tried to help make it better," she explained dully, as if she were unimpressed with her work.
"So they are not kept in the dark anymore?" August asked, thinking of the castle and how it remained a place shielded from the sun by its dense bent trees overhead. It was such a huge contrast to the bright day out here in the woods of the island.
"No, their abilities are honored in a place that gives them access to that element of nature they most identify with. It is a containment facility, yes—that was essential—but I have made it so that each wing of the facility feels as much like an oasis as possible. And they get to be with others. They get to experience community," she explained. "At least in outer containment, that is true. Inner containment is more restrictive."
"What do you mean about the element of nature they most identify with?" August asked. She had never heard anything about one particular element being special to a given alyko.
"You know that alyko are essentially fae, right? Or at least very closely related?" Nedra asked over her shoulder.
"Yes, I know that much. I was told about La Loba," she answered.
"Ah yes, La Loba. She is a most extreme example of fae," Nedra said. "She was attuned to every element. That is how she was able to bring forth life into those earthly creatures who were nothing but bones. The story makes it sound so easy," she chuckled, thinking about how hard she had tried to do the same thing for Zagan without any success.
"Most fae are not that way. There is one element they identify with most strongly. You could almost say that they are a manifestation of that given element. That element is manifesting them rather than the other way around. If there is a difference between the fae and alyko, it is that," she said thoughtfully.
"What is the difference?" August squinted, not understanding.
"The fae are literal physical manifestations of nature’s elements. The element is manifesting them rather than the other way around. Alyko gain power from an element. The fae are the element," she explained.
"That is confusing," August chuckled.
"It is confusing because it is a different way of thinking about things. How could an element manifest a person? We often get trapped into the one way of thinking, but once you open your awareness to more, it is not so confusing," Nedra told her.
"Like with the Veiled," August said.
"Yes, you also know about the Veiled?" Nedra asked.
"It is hard not to know about it," August laughed. "It is everywhere."
"Just wait. It gets deeper," Nedra replied. "You have likely just dipped your feet in if you are as young of an alyko as Penelope says. But then again, your case is quite an unusual one."
"She told you about the experiment?"
"And that you were human," Nedra answered. "Or at least mostly human. I doubt the virus could have changed you without some help. You must have had some latent genes in there somewhere. Perhaps even fae," Nedra looked at her thoughtfully. "Perhaps even lycan."
"Are they not the same?" August asked with a frown.
"No. Well, lycans have fae genes as well thanks to La Loba. But what I mean is that we don’t know where your dormant genes would have originated from. You could have lycan in your ancestry or you could have actual fae. It is quite interesting to think about it, isn’t it? Somewhere in your ancestral past was quite the story, I imagine. And look at where it has brought you. Regardless of whether or not you are part of an experiment, this is where you were destined to be."
