Gilded Ashes Chapter 284: I have You

Enya’s question hung in the bright air for a long mont.

When you were... Still alive?

Her mother lowered her gaze, not in a way that felt heavy, and not in a way that tried to hide sadness. It was almost calm.

She still smiled.

"Yes" she whispered. "I dealt with a lot of them."

Enya’s shoulders loosened with relief so fast it felt embarrassing. She didn’t even know what she expected - tears, maybe, or silence, or her mother pretending she didn’t hear. Instead, the answer ca simple, like a fact you accepted and moved on from.

And then her mother’s mouth curved into a small, cheeky grin.

"Imagine this" she said, as if she wanted to make the story fun on purpose. "You’re holding the last strategic point, and you’re completely surrounded by Nyxes. Not the scattered ones. Not the ones that sniff around and retreat. A full wave. They circled you like water circling a drain, and every ti you looked down, there were just more coming."

Enya’s eyes widened. She scooted closer without thinking, knees bumping the flower blanket, hands braced on the petals like she needed to anchor herself.

Her mother tilted her head, amused by Enya’s expression.

"I rember..." She paused for a tiny beat, like the na carried its own weight. " and Kori were the only ones left."

Enya’s eyes practically lit up.

"Kori?" she blurted, like she couldn’t believe the universe connected those dots. "Kori-Kori? The white knife scary lady?"

Her mother humd. "She had many titles, but yes. Kori"

Enya made a sound that was half laugh and half gasp. "And? And what happened? Were you on a tower? Did you have beasts? Did you-"

Her mother lifted a finger, gentle. "Breathe, Enya."

Enya clamped her mouth shut. For a full second. Then she whispered, "Okay. Sorry. Keep going."

Her mother chuckled softly and looked out over the garden, as if the sunlight helped her see the mory clearer.

"It was a high point" she said. "A ridge, really. Narrow, sharp, and bad for running. Good for not getting surrounded from behind, at least. We stayed up there because the ground below turned into a storm of dark bodies. They kept reshaping, crawling over each other, using each other like ladders! And the ones that could throw projectiles never stopped. Not for a second."

Enya frowned, already offended on her mother’s behalf. "That’s not even fighting, that’s full-on cheating!"

"Nyxes never cared about fairness, my dear" her mother said easily. "They cared about getting to us. That day, it felt like the whole world narrowed down to one ugly job - survive until extraction."

"Extraction?" Enya echoed.

"An aircraft. New model, first of its kind. It could hover mid-air, and this operation was the first one where it was actually seen in action" her mother said. "We waited for it to arrive and pull us out. But we were kind of trapped. If we climbed down, we died. If we stayed, we had to keep holding."

Enya’s fingers curled in the petals. The image ford in her head so clearly it almost felt like she stood there too. Wind. Darkness. Two people on a high point, watching the ground boil.

"And your vines?" Enya asked quickly. "Did you make walls like I do? Layers?"

Her mother nodded. "I did. Bigger walls. Taller. Over and over. Thick enough to stop claws. Thick enough to stop bodies. But the projectiles were the worst. Every ti a vine wall caught one, it ripped apart in an ugly way. Not like wood breaking. Like sothing... Unraveling. Like whatever they were made of contradicted life"

Enya swallowed. She rembered the feeling of her own walls failing, the way it didn’t make sense in her hands.

"So you were stuck" Enya said, voice quieter. "And Kori was with you."

Her mother’s smile returned, softer now. "Kori kept complaining."

Enya blinked. "While you were surrounded?"

"Yes" her mother said with calm certainty. "That was her way of staying sane."

Enya snorted, then leaned forward again, hungry for the part that mattered most. "And then? What did she do?"

Her mother’s cheeky grin ca back again, as if she enjoyed this part. "At so point" she said, "we realized the projectiles weren’t random. They had a rhythm. They weren’t firing whenever they felt like it. The Nyxes that could shoot were taking turns. Like they learned, or like they copied each other."

Enya’s eyes narrowed, impressed despite herself. "So you studied them."

"We had no choice" her mother said. "And Kori got tired of being pinned in place."

Enya’s breath caught. "What did she do?"

Her mother lifted her hand, palm up, like she held the mory on it. Then she mimicked the motion.

"Kori took one of her knives" she said, "and threw it into the air."

Enya’s mouth fell open. "Huh? Just like that?"

"She threw it high" her mother said. "Right above where a cluster of projectile Nyxes gathered. We didn’t have a clear shot from where we stood, and even if we did, it wouldn’t matter. There were too many."

Enya pictured it. A knife spinning in the open air, and below it - darkness, dozens of mouths and arms and shifting bodies.

"And?" Enya whispered, barely able to keep still. "What was that gonna do?"

Her mother’s eyes glead with sothing that looked almost proud. "Kori shouted" she said. "Her special eye – I forgot how it was called... Shone really bright. It sounded like she yelled at reality itself."

Enya’s grin stretched wide. "That sounds like her."

"Mhm" her mother agreed. "And then ice gathered around the knife."

Enya froze. "Ice?"

Her mother nodded once. "At first it was nothing. A shimr. A thin crust. Like a bit of frost forming on tal. Then it thickened so fast it stopped looking like ice and started looking like a growing stone."

Enya’s hands lifted without thinking, as if she wanted to hold the shape in the air.

"A boulder" Enya gasped.

"More. A teor" her mother corrected, and her grin widened. "It swelled in midair around the knife like the knife was the core and Kori decided to build a weapon around it. The ice ford sharp edges on its own, not smooth. Jagged, sharp."

Enya made a sound that was almost a squeal. "And then? It just fell down?"

Her mother mimicked an explosion with her fingers - a large flick outward. "It didn’t just fall" she said. "Before it did, it shattered into a storm. Ice shards. Razor-sharp bits. A whole field of sharp white-ness. Then dropped like it wanted revenge. All of the small bits slamd into the cluster of Nyxes, and the impact completely tore them apart. The Nyxes tried to reform, but every ti they moved, the ice cut through them again. It bought us breathing room."

Enya’s eyes shone so brightly it looked like she might cry just from excitent. "That’s... Insane."

"It was effective" her mother said, as if that was the only thing that mattered.

Enya leaned closer, voice rushing. "So you survived? You two got out?"

Her mother’s laugh ca out small and warm. "Yes. We moved the mont the projectiles stopped. We just ran, haha."

Enya sighed dramatically, like she could feel the sprint in her legs. "Smart."

"Alive people run" her mother said. "Dead people hesitate."

Enya went quiet, then slowly leaned into her mother’s side like she couldn’t stop herself. She rested her head against her chest, listening to the steady beat beneath the pale yellow fabric.

For a while, she didn’t talk. She just breathed in the familiar scent of her mom’s closeness. The garden’s flowers also slled nicely.

"You really were strong..." Enya murmured, and it wasn’t a question. It was a fact she liked saying out loud.

Her mother humd back, almost sleepy. "Mhm."

Enya’s fingers played with a petal near her knee. Then her voice ca softer.

"Say..." she started.

"Hm?"

"Aren’t you sad?" Enya asked.

Her mother didn’t flinch. "About what?"

Enya lifted her head slightly, eyes searching. "Well... Here, you don’t have your full powers. Not like you had before."

Her mother’s hand slid into Enya’s hair, combing through the curls with patience, like she wanted to untangle more than just strands. "I’m fine" she said. "I have what I need."

Enya frowned. "But-"

Her mother tapped Enya’s nose with one finger, gentle and playful. "I have you."

Enya’s chest ward so fast she felt embarrassed again. She tried to hide it by pressing her face back into her mother’s dress for a second, muffling a small, happy hum.

Her mother’s laughter vibrated through her, soft. Then, before the mont could turn too serious, her mother shifted her weight and stood up. The flower blanket beneath them didn’t break or flatten. It simply rearranged itself, blooming neatly back into shape like it never got sat on at all.

Enya blinked up at her. Her mother held a hand out. "Co" she said, bright and casual, like she planned this all along. "I want to show you sothing."

Enya grabbed her hand instantly. "A flower?"

Her mother’s eyes glead. "You guess it! A new one."

Enya’s face lit up so hard it almost hurt.

They walked together down the pale stone path, between colors so vivid they looked artificially painted. Enya skipped once, unable to help it. Her mother didn’t scold her. She just squeezed Enya’s hand gently, like she enjoyed her presence the most.

Ahead, deeper in the garden, a small patch of dark plants shimred oddly in the sun, like they reflected a light that didn’t co from the sky.

Enya leaned forward, excited.

"What is it?" she demanded.

Her mother only smiled.

"Look"