The Blood of Vampire: Chapter 23 - Aeliana's Silent Will
The momentary crack in Jatex's Stillness was quickly sealed by the Gem. He was inert once more, the Gem radiating its oppressive Order. But Ryn had seen the flash of light and the single word.
"You're not a statue, Jatex," Ryn muttered, hoisting the heavy, silent boy back onto her shoulders. "You're a prison built around a single, furious will."
As they traveled, the Gem of Frozen Tears began to guide Jatex's feet, moving toward the Mirror Lakes with chilling precision. The Obsidian Compass was working, but its navigation was painful.
The emotional cost of using Aeliana's Scars to counter Kael was that Jatex's internal landscape became utterly devoid of self. He was operating solely on his sister's pure, spiritual defiance.
Ryn, noticing his perfect stillness, began talking to him constantly, desperately trying to provide the human context that the Gem had stripped away.
"You know, Aeliana once saved me when I was a clumsy apprentice," Ryn recounted, her voice cracking. "I almost triggered a geomantic cascade in the old capital's drainage system. She didn't Siphon the error; she Weaved a solution. She used pure spiritual logic, not brute force."
Ryn paused, watching Jatex's rigid face. "The Elders called her perfect, but she was a Weaver who chose to be Lawful, not because she had to, but because she thought she could change the system. When she realized she couldn't, she chose the ultimate rejection."
Ryn realized the truth about the Gem of Frozen Tears. It didn't just suppress Jatex's chaos; it isolated the single, pure intention of Aeliana's sacrifice—the Silent Will to break the Law.
Jatex was no longer driven by his grief; he was driven by her Defiance.
Ryn's words resonated deep within Jatex's frozen core, providing the raw, emotional catalyst needed for movement without engaging the Thirst. His Shadow-Blood Weave was powered by Aeliana's Silent Will, making him a silent, unstoppable force of spiritual defiance moving toward the second Ward.