Rain looked into the faces of the gathered Fey, seeing the same acceptance, the same belief. In him.

He turned to Ellysetta and saw the pride shining in her eyes. And this time, for the first time, the Fey he saw shining back at him was the Fey he knew he was.

"Will you wear the armor, Rain?" Bel asked. "Will you be our king?"

There was only one possible answer. Only one true answer.

"Aiyah."

Eld ~ Boura Fell

Vadim Maur sat in silence. Frost crackled on every surface of the Mage Council's war room. The room was so cold his breath should have formed vaporous clouds around him, but the chill of his fury was too deep, freezing him from the inside out.

Victory in Teleon and Orest had been snatched from his grasp. Lord Teleos, the strongest ally of the Fey in Celieria, still lived, and both passes into the Fading Lands remained in Teleos's control. He and the Fey would move quickly to rebuild his defenses, and the Fey would continue to move freely in and out of the Mists and interfere in Vadim's plans for Celieria.

Today's unexpected defeats had been a costly miscalculation. Already, he knew, the whispers had begun in the Mage Council.

He would now need a victory, swift and complete, to silence the enemies in his ranks. Celieria must be turned, the Fey's main supporters slaughtered or silenced, and then he must find a way to bring down the Faering Mists and beard the tairen in their lair.

He brought up the display of Celieria and began to plan his next move.

Celieria ~ Upper Orest

The roar of Kiyera's Veil drowned out all other sound, and torches burned bright around the lake, turning the billowing mist off the falls to clouds of red-orange flame and illuminating the faces of the tairen and the Fey who had gathered as Rain's witnesses.

Wearing her studded scarlet leathers, the Fey'cha belts full of bloodsworn blades criss-crossing her chest, Ellysetta stood straight and proud and watched with unblinking eyes as her shei'tan shed his leathers and steel. Her bloodsworn quintet surrounded her, and Steli crouched behind them, wings spread in a show of protection and might.

The air was chill against Rain's skin, the magic of the waters of the Heras strong. Each breath drew clouds of magic-laden mist into his lungs, making his power hum. Naked, he turned and walked down the slope to the lake and waded in.

The current was swift, and fought his progress as he swam towards the base of the falls and plunged into the torrential downpour of Kiyera's Veil. The water was icy from snowmelt and rich with potent magic from the ancient Source at Crystal Lake.

He turned his face up, letting the water pound down upon him. Invigorating magic engulfed him in clouds of billowing mist, and the icy streams of water cleansed him like the sharp, ruthless edge of a knife, stripping away the shadows of fear and doubt.

He stood there beneath the flow until the Veil had filled and scoured him, until every powerful branch of his magic awoke and surged up with desperate force, straining against the bonds of his control, fighting for release. His Fey skin grew brighter and brighter, and the water cascading down the Veil shimmered into mist and swirled around him in a silvery-white aura, like light from a star.

A voice, deep and resonant, like no voice he'd ever heard before, sounded in his mind and his soul and every illuminated cell of his body, as if the gods themselves were speaking to him.

You are ready, Rainier-Eras. Let yourself be king.

Tears mingled with the falling magic-bright mist. Peace stole over him. He breathed again, deeply, and filled his heart with courage and determination.

"I am Rainier-Eras!" He shouted it to the heavens, sending the affirmation spinning upwards in Spirit and thought and tairen song. "Feyreisen of the Fey'Bahren pride, king of the Fading Lands, Defender of the Fey."

The Fey and tairen echoed his cry. "Rainier Feyreisen! King of the Fading Lands! Defender of the Fey!"

Rain swam back to the shores of the lake. As his feet sank into the thick moss lining the bank, the star-bright magic continued to swirl around him, swathing him in veils of energy. He lifted his arms. Earth spun out in blinding whirls, enveloping the Fey king's armor, dissolving it in flows of green-hued magic that merged with the bright light spinning about him.

He continued to walk, setting one foot firmly before the other. With each step, the veils of magic flowing around him darkened to shades of red and black and gold, and he could feel the hundreds of Fey kings who had come before him brushing against his mind, whispering words of encouragement.

The sun-bright magic faded, leaving Rain clad in the armor of the king. He spoke a summoning word he'd never known before, and the king's gold blades settled snugly in their sheaths. The name-symbols etched into the armor flashed like a galaxy of stars before fading to simple gold and silver.

And there on the left breastplate, in a spot over his heart, a new king's symbol now shone: the sigil of Rainier-Eras, etched and encircled in gold.

Bel handed him the golden helm. Rain took it, remembering the Fey's brave cry of "To victory or death!" as Johr led them to war. He looked at his brothers, committing their faces to his memory, knowing many of them would not see another year. Knowing they would embrace their deaths so those they loved could live. He would not cry, "To victory or death!" That was not why he fought. That was not why they fought.

"To victory, my brothers." He caught Ellysetta's hand and raised it high. "And to life."

"To victory and life!" the warriors cried.

Rain summoned the Change, took Ellysetta on his back, and shot into the sky, leaving his plain warrior's leathers where they lay, the skin of his old life, now shed forever.