Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
He then tells them exactly what Eythos did. When Penellaphe recounts her vision, he reaches over and takes her hand and says how tricky it is to understand prophecies, adding that they’re only one possibility, and not every word is literal.
Gods, is that true. I have revamped my interpretation of the prophecy so many times as visions came to me over the years.
Holland explains that Sera will go through the Culling but won’t survive it. As they talk more, he reminds Sera how reckless and impulsive she is and tells her it can be her greatest strength; it could have given whatever Eythos believed upon hearing the prophecy a chance to come to fruition.
He shows them the cords of fate, and as they look at the almost broken thread, the only way to disrupt fate, Holland reveals that the key is love—the only thing not even fate can contend with. He says that love is more powerful than the Fates. It’s even more powerful than what courses through their veins, though it is equally as awe-inspiring and terrifying in its selfishness. He says it can extend a thread by sheer will, becoming a piece of pure magic that biology cannot extinguish. It can also snap a cord unexpectedly and prematurely.
He reiterates that Sera cannot survive the Culling, not without sheer will of what is more powerful than fate and even death. Not without the love of the one who would aid in her Ascension.
When Ash takes Sera to her lake and Ascends her, those statements become all too clear. And it moved me to witness it.
Holland then tells Sera she’s had many lives, and Eythos remembered the first one: Sotoria.
As they discuss the Rot, Holland says life has only continued because the ember was in Sera’s bloodline. However, she now carries the only ember of life there is, and if she perishes, everything everywhere will die with her.
He goes on to say that the Primal God of Life is the most powerful being in all the realms and that she’s never been merely mortal; she’s the possibility of a future for all.
When Sera’s doubt creeps in, Holland reminds her that she’s a warrior, just like Sotoria learned to be. He adds that he doesn’t know what Sotoria originally looked like—he didn’t follow her threads until Eythos asked what could be done about Kolis’s betrayal—but he knows she didn’t look the same with each rebirth. He then tells Sera that Kolis may have sensed traces of eather in her and thought she was a godling entering her Culling.
Holland knows what Kolis has been doing to the missing Chosen—turning them into Revenants—but states they are not the only mockery of life he’s managed to create. He details what some of the gods from Kolis’s Court have been up to: creating the Craven.
Not to mention the Ascended…
Holland tells them about the Craven, talks about balance, and alludes to the fact that Sera bringing Marisol back to life had consequences. He confirms it was her time, and Sera’s act needed to be righted. Therefore, the Arae decided who would take her place. Holland asks Sera if knowing that ahead of time would have changed her actions, and she says it wouldn’t have.
Holland reveals that what the god Madis did to Andreia was an attempt to rectify what one of Kolis’s creations left behind and adds that is all he can say without it being considered interference.
He reveals to Sera that Kolis can’t kill Nyktos because life cannot exist without death, and they should not be one and the same. He adds, however, that anything is possible, even the impossibility of a Primal of both Life and Death. He says that such a being would be unstoppable, and there would be no balance. The Fates ensured long ago that the absence of either ember—life or death—would collapse the realms. Suddenly and absolutely. He says that if Kolis kills Nyktos, he’ll kill himself and everything else in the process. He ends by saying he doesn’t actually know what Kolis’s end goal is.
When they discuss what led to the present moment, Holland admits that he couldn’t tell Sera how pointless her duty was and outlines that the mortal realm has a year—maybe two or three if they’re lucky—before the Rot consumes it, but warning the people would only incite panic.
Sera seems a bit crestfallen, and Holland reminds her not to give up hope, bringing up the broken thread and saying that fate is never written in bone and blood. It can be as ever-changing as her and Nyktos’s thoughts and hearts.
She reminds him that Nyktos can’t love, and he tells her that love is more powerful than even the Arae can imagine.
Before they part ways, she asks if she’ll see him again, and he can’t answer. He does remind her of something she already knows, though: All her training wasn’t a waste. She is his weakness. Only it’s not Nyktos. It’s Kolis.