up another egg, throwing it against the ground and kicking aside the pieces. She destroyed one, two, three of them, phoenix after phoenix she could never have—so no one would. But there were hundreds of eggs, and Avalkyra had only two hands.
Then she turned, seeing the distant, smoking desolation of the Everlasting Flame. She threw an egg as far as she could, but it shattered on the ground well before it reached its target. With dogged determination, Avalkyra picked up another egg and hitched it under her arm. Then she walked, dragging her feet, her body protesting with every painful step until she stood before that yawning void of nothingness.
With the last wisp of her strength, she flung the egg inside, then collapsed to the ground, chest heaving and head spinning.
Avalkyra’s good eye drooped.
She didn’t know how long she sat there, if she’d fallen asleep or simply lost consciousness, but she was brought back to reality by a tendril of awareness that whispered across her skin. It prickled at the back of her mind, but it was a strange, unfamiliar sensation.
Avalkyra turned toward the feeling, staring into the inky abyss of the smoking pit.
The abyss looked back at her.
Rising slowly out of the darkness was a feathered creature—a bird—its plumage so black it seemed to absorb what little light surrounded it. The feathers were iridescent, fading to the color of ash and smoke at the tips, and shadows clung to its wings the way fire sometimes clung to phoenix feathers.
But this was no phoenix. This was no creature of the living world.
This was a strix.
Its eyes—deep, dark holes in its face—latched onto Avalkyra’s.
And they didn’t let go. They chose her.
Avalkyra had found her bondmate at last. She had found her reckoning, her ruin.
No. Not just her ruin, but the ruin of all.
She smiled.
TIME LINE
NOTABLE RULERS FROM THE REIGN OF QUEENS (BEFORE THE EMPIRE, BE)
First Era, before dates and events were meticulously recorded (c. 1000–701 BE)
1000 BE – 800 BE
Queen Nefyra1, the First Rider Queen: Chosen by Axura to be the first animage and the First Rider Queen. Ignix, the first phoenix, was her bondmate.
775 BE – 725 BE
Queen Otiya, the Queen of Bones: Defeated a rival Rider family that tried to usurp the throne.
Second Era, the height of Pyraean culture (701–279 BE)
701 BE – 645 BE
Queen Aurelya, the Golden Queen: Began construction on the Golden City of Aura, from which she derives her name.
412 BE – 335 BE
Queen Liyana, the Enduring Queen.
335 BE – 317 BE
Queen Lyra the Defender: Mustered the Red Horde, the first-ever gathering of the entirety of Pyra’s Phoenix Riders. Successfully defended Pyra from the Lowland Invasion.
Third Era, the decline of the queendom (279–1 BE)
9 BE – 37 AE
Queen Elysia the Peacemaker: Her reign in the queendom was most notable for the loss of the Everlasting Flame and the mass evacuation of Aura. After leaving Aura, Elysia founded the empire and married the Ferronese King Damian.
AFTER THE EMPIRE (AE)
37 AE – 45 AE
Queen Ellody the Prosperous: Reign of Prosperity.
45 AE – 56 AE
King Justyn the Pious: Reign of Piety. Transformed Azurec’s Eyrie from a training facility into a pilgrimage site. Built the Pilgrimage Road.
56 AE – 95 AE
Queen Malka the Wise: Reign of Wisdom.
95 AE – 121 AE
King Worrid the Learned: Reign of Learning. Born deaf, he designed a specialty saddle to accommodate his condition. Set up the Morian Archives, making sure the empire’s histories were recorded by the priests and acolytes of the god Mori.
121 AE – 135 AE
King Hellund2 the Just: Reign of Justice.
135 AE – 147 AE
Queen Bellonya the Brave: Reign of Bravery. Lost her arm as a child, became the fiercest spear thrower in the empire’s history.
147 AE – 165 AE
King Aryk the Unlikely3: The Unlikely Reign.
165 AE – 169 AE
Queen Regent Lania of Stel: Reign of the Regent.
169 AE – 170 AE
Avalkyra4, the Feather-Crowned Queen.
Pheronia4, the Council’s Queen.
169 AE – Present
Reign of the Council.
1 Despite having died soon after her love Callysta, Nefyra is the only queen mentioned in any stories, legends, or histories from Pyra during this period. Because these accounts were verbal, it is likely there were errors in dating, or perhaps Nefyra’s heirs were named for their mother and grandmother, suggesting that Nefyra II, Nefyra III, and even Nefyra IV were the likely queens mentioned in these accounts. There is also the possibility that the line between myth and history has been blurred here, and the songs and myths were intended to depict the First Rider Queen as having