Grey Aevium 4

I tossed the dead relic to him, and he plucked it out of the air. “Hurry! I’m dying to see what this thing is capable of.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he muttered, holding the sphere up in one hand.

The puppy form of Regis popped out of Grey’s side and then jumped up on the couch next to me. I gave his head a scratch as he leaned against me.

“Go on then, princess,” he said, pressing his head into my hand. “Make with the pretty sparkles already.”

Grey focused on the sphere. He must have activated his godrune, because a golden glow suffused the room, and brilliant amethyst particles began dancing along his arm toward the relic. When they reached it, the motes skittered across the burnished silver surface and vanished into the crevices and holes.

For a few seconds, it didn’t look like anything was happening. I tried to catch Grey’s eye, but his attention was entirely on the relic. I drew in a sharp breath as the wear began to vanish, the pockmarks filling in, the wrinkles smoothing, the burnished gray brightening. Then the flow of particles thinned to a trickle and finally stopped, and the last amethyst mote vanished.

Grey held up the perfectly smooth sphere, turning it so it caught the light and shined like a silver moon. As it turned, I noticed a line bisecting the top and bottom halves of the sphere, so thin it was nearly invisible. Grey must have seen it too, because he took a half in each hand and twisted lightly.

The relic came apart.

“Whoa,” Regis said softly.

The inside of the sphere was an organic framework supporting a crystal that cast pinkish light through the room. The crystal was shedding a fine dust that hung in the air, drifting aimlessly around Grey’s hand.