(Starla)
My thoughts drifted to the Academy.
"Why aren’t you training new guides?" I asked. "Surely there are female children with the gift? Or no?"
"There are." Alistair’s voice was hollow. "But the disease doesn’t just kill the guides. It kills their children too. The gift is hereditary, passed from mother to daughter. And when the disease takes hold, it corrupts the gift. Children being born to infected guides never develop their power. Or they develop it, and it kills them."
I felt my stomach drop. "So you can’t train new guides because..."
"Because there are not many new guides to train." He met my eyes, and I saw the sadness in his gaze.
Fifty years of watching their people suffer, their warriors struggle, their Sentinels lose control.
No wonder they sought human guides. No wonder they were desperate now.
"And the human guides?" I asked. "Have they helped?"
Alistair’s expression twisted. "Some. But it’s complicated. Human guides and Beast guides aren’t the same. Human guides can purify our contamination, but they can’t..." He paused, searching for words. "Not all of them can bond. Not the way Beast guides do. They can’t form the deep connection that allows a guide to truly heal a Sentinel."
I was curious. "Explain more about this bond."
"It’s like..." He frowned. "Imagine your energy is a river. A Beast guide can merge their river with yours, become part of your current. A human guide can only dip their hand in. It helps, but it’s not the same."
I thought of Aksel. The moment I had touched him, the moment something had clicked. The way his energy had recognised mine and let mine flow into his, bringing him peace.
But I am human. So how did I reach him?
I pushed the thought away for now.
"Has anyone tried to find a cure?" I asked. "For the disease?"
"Every single day," Alistair laughed, but there was no humour in it. "The greatest healers in the Beastworld have tried. The most powerful magic. Nothing worked. It’s like the disease is... intelligent. Like it knows how to evade every cure we create."
"How?" That was indeed very strange.
"Every time we find something that works, the disease adapts. It’s like fighting an enemy who knows your every move before you make it. Like playing chess with a Grandmaster." He shook his head. "Some say it’s a curse. A punishment from the gods for something we did. Others say it’s just nature, a plague that we can’t escape."
I sighed heavily. It all hurt my heart deeply and made me ask.
"Can I see the surviving guides, the ones whose energy is gone but are still alive."
"Well, Runa is one example. Her energy is fading. She can no longer fully guide my brother, but none of them will admit to it. They think I am a fool," Alistair bitterly said, and I understood his bickering with her. But that took me by surprise. Never had I thought that Runa would be affected too. That also explained her sheer dislike of me.
"She is clingy, and my brother is stubborn; his deep-seated hatred for humans won’t let him take one. Take you as his guide." He resentfully smiled at me.
"Not only Aksel but Azkan is in pain too, but he wouldn’t admit it." Alistair gritted his teeth. "This annoys me, destroys my peace."
I placed my hand on his arm. "I understand, and I will try to reach him."
"Thanks, I know I can count on you."
His words made me think.
"What about you? You don’t have a guide either?" My question made him ruefully smile.
He thought for a few moments before cryptically saying. "She is not ready. She will come when she is."
I could have pressed him, but I didn’t. I only nodded. He would tell me more about her when he felt like it.
"Shall we visit the guides?"
"Yes, I want to help." I met his gaze. "If there’s anything I can do, anything at all, I want to try."
He openly smiled at me. "You are something else, and you intrigue me. You know that?"
"I have been told." I mirrored his smile.
"Come on." He offered me his arm. "I will take you to them."
***
The healing ward was in the oldest part of the Stronghold, tucked away in a corner. The corridors were quieter here and the torches dimmer.
Alistair walked beside me, his usual cheerfulness subdued. "Most of the surviving guides live here," he explained. "They are not sick anymore; the disease has run its course on them. But they are weak. They can’t guide. They can barely take care of themselves. Their energy has depleted."
He pushed open a door, and we stepped inside.
The chamber was warm, filled with soft light. Several Beastwomen sat in chairs by the window, their faces pale and their eyes distant. They looked like ghosts, hollow shells of what they had once been.
"Ladies!" Alistair waved, putting on his charms.
"This is Starla," Alistair said gently. "She is the human guide who was able to reach Aksel."
One of the women, a wolf-beastwoman with silver-streaked hair, looked up. Her eyes were tired, but there was something sharp in them. She had a comfortable woollen shawl wrapped around her shoulders.
"The human," she spoke with firmness. "We heard about you."
"I am sorry to intrude," I began. "I just wanted to understand."
"Understand what?" Her tone was sharp as she leaned back in her rocking chair.
"The disease. What it does. How it feels."
The woman studied me with her twinkling eyes. Then she gestured to a chair beside her.
"Sit," she ordered. "I will tell you."
I did as I was told. Alistair distanced himself, speaking to others, laughing with them. It seemed like he was a favourite and frequented this place.
"My name is Hila. I was a guide once, one of the strongest of my generation. I bonded with a dragon Sentinel, fought in battles and saved countless lives." She sighed and shook her head. "And then the disease came.
"It started slowly," she continued, her voice raspy. "I would guide someone, and feel tired. More tired than usual. I would sleep for hours and wake up exhausted. My energy felt thin and depleted quickly."
I listened with my heart loudly pounding in my chest.
"Then it got worse. I couldn’t guide anymore. My bond with my Sentinel broke, not because we wanted it to, but because I couldn’t sustain it. He went mad without me. They had to..." She trailed off, her eyes closing. "They had to put him down."
I felt tears sting my eyes. "I am so sorry."
"Don’t be." Hila opened her eyes. "It was a long time ago. But that’s what the disease does. It takes everything. Your power. Your bond. Your purpose. And then it leaves you sometimes alive, but empty. That’s the worst part."
I reached out and took her hand. Her skin was cold, her energy barely a whisper.
"You are warm," she said, surprised. "Your energy. It’s..." She frowned. "It’s different."
Quickly, I pulled my hand back. "Different how?"
"I don’t know. It feels..." She shook her head. "It doesn’t matter. I can’t guide anymore. I can’t feel things the way I used to."
But I saw something in her eyes that looked almost like hope, but she refused to comment further.
We stayed in the healing ward for another hour.
I spoke to more surviving guides, listening to their stories, their pain and their loss. They had all been strong once. And now they were just... waiting...waiting to fade away into nothingness.
"You should go," Hila said finally. "The sun is setting. The Commander will worry."
I blinked. "Azkan doesn’t worry about me."
Hila laughed, a dry, rasping sound. "Child, I have been watching that boy for a long time. He worries about everything. He just doesn’t show it."
I slowly smiled because I knew the truth. He hated me; he wouldn’t worry about a lowly human guide.
"Come on," Alistair said, tugging my arm. "We should head back."
I said goodbye to the women, promising to return. Hila held my hand for a moment longer, her eyes searching mine.
"You are different," she said again. "I don’t know how. But you are."
I didn’t know what to say.
So I just nodded and followed Alistair out.