Graced by Sophia Sharp Read Free Book Online Page A

elements without showing any sign of decay or embrittlement. I believe it was made from a source cal ed allurvai .”
    “ Allurvai ?” Laura asked. “What is that?”
    “It is a type of mineral, wrought centuries ago by the very first of the Vassiz . I have read of it, once. Knowledge of its formation has long since disappeared, and I did not think that any of it remains in this world. It is extremely precious. It is harder than diamond and stronger than steel. Once it is forged, there is no known way to break its shape. It is, for lack of a better word, indestructible .”
    “But, the other tower…” Laura began.
    “I know. Which is what makes it al so intriguing. To destroy something like that… it means that whoever did it knew of the source. They knew the tower was made from allurvai , and had some type of…
    counter… to it. Otherwise… wel , there is no other way I could think of that they could have broken it.” He paused for a moment, pursing his lips. “To prove my point: look.” Quickly, he went to the side of the clearing, and picked up a rather large rock from the ground. Coming back, he positioned it in his hand, and held it tightly. Then, al of a sudden, he slammed the rock as hard as he could against the edge of the white tower.
    The force of impact was so great that Alexander’s hand ripped back. It was like he had hit a heavy hammer against a metal anvil. A hol ow ringing noise sounded for a few seconds, and then subsided. Alexander looked to Laura and Logan, then slowly upturned his hand to drop the rock he just held. When it fel , Laura saw that it had broken in two – a clean cleave in its form. And the spot he hit the tower with immeasurable force? There was not even a single scruff mark there.
    “You see?” he asked, looking at the broken rock. “No ordinary tools could have assisted them in breaking the tower.”
    “But then how would they have done it?” Laura thought out loud.
    “My only guess,” Alexander offered, “is that the elders know of this place, and equipped whoever came with the essential tools needed to destroy the structure. But… I do not know what those tools might be.”
    Just then, Laura heard someone approach from behind her, and whipped around. Logan and Alexander had also picked up on the noise, and were looking back as wel . It was Madison, walking back towards them with a grim expression on her face.
    “I found it,” she announced. “But what I saw was not what I was expecting.”
    “It’s broken,” Laura said.
    Madison looked shocked. “How did you know?”
    “Gray helped me find it,” Laura explained. “I would have wandered right past it if it wasn’t for him, but he picked up on it. I just came back from there.”
    “We must have just missed each other,” Madison mused. “I take it the men haven’t seen it yet?” Laura shook her head. “Wel , let’s go over there then. It’l be worthwhile to see what we can find.”
    They started back, with Madison leading the way. As they walked, Laura’s mind worked with possibilities. If what Alexander said was true, and the tower was truly made of allurvai , then how could it have possibly been broken? He said it was indestructible , no less. And Laura believed it – she had seen its shining sides looking completely untouched by the passage of time despite standing in a place where rain and wind and other elements surely must have worked against it. And she had seen him smash that rock against it, hard enough to break the stone in two. And if the ones who broken it were some of the Vassiz chasing after them – and who else could it have been, anyway? – they would have had to have something much stronger than the rocks lying around.
    She shivered. What it al meant, she was sure, was that the elders knew significantly more than any in her group did. To have broken the tower, it meant that the Vassiz responsible had been equipped with something that could go against allurvai – something that