A Treasure Discovered

Verlian sat on the bench in Ashke's home staring at Ravynne's necklace. Since the two had returned home two days ago, Ravynne had refused to speak to Verlian, so he'd been staying with Ashke instead. According to Serin, Ravynne hadn't even been showing up to work either. He imagined she was just working through processing things. After all not only were members of her community murdered and cannibalized, but she also killed someone for the very first time.

He huffed and slouched over, keeping his elbow on his knee and holding up the necklace, allowing it to dangle from his fingers. His long black hair slowly slipped off his shoulder and onto his bicep. Ashke was right. The crack went almost all the way around, except for one side, and it looked as if it had a mechanism that would open, but try as he might, it wouldn't budge.

"Just let me see it already." Ashke said. Verlian twitched not knowing that Ashke had come in and had been standing there watching him. Before Verlian could respond, Ashke began to speak again, "I'm not going to steal it from you. Ravynne should have no qualms about me looking at it." Verlian sighed and handed the necklace to Ashke.

Ashke fiddled with it, "Are you sure she said it didn't open?"

"I'm sure."

"She couldn't have been remembering incorrectly?"

"She was adamant that she wasn't."

"Hmm…." Ashke held it up in line with his vision and squinted as he inspected it, "No it definitely opens." He tried to pull it apart but couldn't. Verlian sat there with his head propped up in his hand watching Ashke whisper, "Come on…come on…." as he struggled with it.

Finally, he got an idea. He slid his thumb nail along the crack, shoving it in as much as he could before using it like a crowbar to pop the necklace open. Verlian jumped up, "You've done it Ashke!" but Ashke's face had fallen upon seeing the inside.

"What is it?" Verlian inquired. He tried to look over and see but Ashke ran over to his bed.

"What are you doing?" Verlian asked. Ashke pulled his ring out from under his mattress and held it side by side with the necklace so Verlian could see and compare the two.

They both had the same symbol.

"Isn't this…" Verlian's voice trailed off.

"The symbol of Lita." Ashke confirmed.

Each god had a ring with a symbol on it to indicate whether they were of the Lita or of the Tenebris. The symbol contained an image of an animal in the center that was framed by intertwining golden leaves. There was but one minor difference between them, and that was the center image. The Lita's symbol was that of a stork carrying the sun with a vine held in it's mouth, while the Tenebris' symbol was that of a raven carrying the moon with it's claws.

"How would her mother have had this?" Verlian questioned, taking the necklace in his hands carefully and inspecting it to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"I don't know. It's odd, I've only ever seen the symbol on a ring. Have you ever seen anyone with it on a necklace?"

Verlian shook his head in response, "Never."

Just then Ashke came up with an idea. His whole body responded as the theory made its way into his brain. "She said it burned her. You said she killed someone for the first time. If she's from the Lita and she hasn't spent any time training and hasn't been blessed, then it's possible she'd be corrupted."

"No, she's not. She can't be."

"Verlian. The Lita create. We aren't meant to kill. Is it possible to with enough training and blessings? Yes. If she hasn't received any of that and she's been living in the human world her entire life, then does this not make sense? It's burning her because she's being rejected by the clan."

Verlian rubbed his eyes, his brain was going a mile a minute. "Hold on, hold on." He got up and moved his fingers to rub his temples, "No, it can't be. There has to be some other explanation."

"No, there isn't. It all makes sense now. Those times she was meant to die? She didn't. Why? She's not a human. This necklace is burning her. Why? She's corrupted and it's rejecting her. She didn't inherit the skills of her parents. Why? She's not of their flesh. She was born in the year of the sky for goodness sake Verlian!"

"If she WERE a god, Ashke, then we would've known her. I don't know of any gods named Ravynne, do you?"

Ashke stopped for a moment and rubbed his chin, "That is a good point…..but it's the only flaw! Everything else lines up perfectly!"

"Ashke you can't just pick and choose the facts that fit your narrative. You have to look at the entire picture and the entire picture does not have a god named Ravynne in it."

"Verlian, let's just ask her. Let's just see, maybe there will more clues."

"No. You've interrogated her enough," Verlian shoved the necklace into his pocket, "I'll handle this. You're not to say a thing to her regarding your theory. Do you understand?"

Ashke nodded as Verlian departed. He HAD to see Ravynne. As much as he wanted to deny it, what Ashke had said did make the most sense. How would she go undetected though if she were a god? When he confessed that he himself was one, she didn't believe him. Ravynne wasn't a good enough actress to play off her hurt that well. If she had been hiding that she was a god, why? Maybe he was right from the very beginning, maybe she was a spy. Not for the bandits as he had initially thought, but for the Aurelian Empire.

He burst through the door to see Ravynne struggling to cut some vegetables. She jumped in surprise, not expecting the sudden noise, but continued without looking up. His demeanor looked intimidating, but it was really just him wanting the truth. He pulled the necklace out of his pocket and tossed it in front of her.

She immediately dropped the knife and gasped, "My necklace! You bro-" she stopped herself and investigated it, obviously confused. She didn't dare touch it, but she moved her head all around it, investigating it as best she could to make sure it was indeed her necklace. "What is this? What did you do to it?"

Verlian analyzed her carefully, "Ashke opened it. You said it didn't open, yet here it is. Open."

"I-" her eyebrows furrowed and her hand pressed softly against her bottom lip. "I didn't know…..that it opened..." she shook her head slowly her confusion growing, "…..I never saw her open it not once in my entire time with her. She always told me it would be mine but she never showed me the inside of it or even mentioned that it could open…What a beautiful design to have stayed hidden…" Ravynne's eyes filled with tears, "I feel warm….it feels like I just got a gift from my mother."

Verlian had no doubt in his mind that she was being candid and waltzed over to her, hugging her tightly. "Are you absolutely positive you've never seen it open before? You've never seen that design? Is there really no possibility that you're remembering incorrectly, or maybe you've hit your head in your past and suffered memory loss."

She shook her head, "No, I've told you I'm not misremembering. Why are you asking me such questions? Why is it so important? It's MY mother's necklace, what do you care. What does it matter to you even if I was lying?"

He sighed and walked over to his nightstand, grabbing his ring off the top, "Because, mine is similar." He showed her the symbol on his ring and she gasped. "Oh! They must've been made by the same person, they're almost identical!"

Verlian rubbed her back, "Ravynne. This is the symbol of my clan, the Tenebris. They are gods….gods of destruction. This symbol," he pointed to her necklace, "is the Lita...they gods of creation."

Ravynne looked up at him confused, "What? What do you mean?"

Verlian's eyes widened as a sudden realization hit him. The necklace, was not originally Ravynne's. How did he miss it? He grabbed the necklace and dashed out of the house, Ravynne shouted behind him.

Ashke turned around as Verlian burst through his front door, frantic. "You were right, but not all the way."

"What? What? Don't just break down my front door and start speaking riddles." Ashke stared at him confused and slightly annoyed that Verlian didn't just knock like a normal person.

"Her MOTHER's necklace. Ravynne never died when she should have. She was burned by the necklace after she killed someone. She was born in the year of the sky. You said she was a god. Except, there is no god named Ravynne. Do you know who we wouldn't know?"

Ashke looked like his mind was about to explode, "A demigod named...Ravynne….."

"Ashke, her MOTHER was the god."