Epilogue
She didn’t know how long she had traveled through time and dimensions.
Goosebumps ran up her arms and neck. The colder she grew the more worry coursed through her.
She gritted her teeth as tears streamed down her face, mixing with blood and dirt.
Every bone in her body felt broken and she ached in every crevice of her soul. They had lost. She had lost.
Kaiden.
Fintan.
Jasper and Rhydar.
Her first true friend, Aradia.
Byron.
She gasped as her legs shook and gave out.
The dimensions swirled around her and cast her into a swarm of warm golden light.
She closed her eyes against the brightness and curled into herself.
She held onto her knees as all the emotions racked her body.
Sobs pulsed through her, cracking her mind, as she let everything she had ever held in, out for the first time.
“Nooooo!” she screamed. She beat the ground with her bloody fists. “No, no, no, no, no! Gods no.”
She had lost. She was lost. She squeezed her eyes as tight as she could, embracing the darkness. How long had she laid there swimming in pain and hopelessness? She didn’t know, but when her eyes finally opened it was still light. Not the blinding golden luster from before.
No, this was more of a sunset color. The soft marram grass tickled against her cheek, waving back and forth from her shallow breaths.
The sky was filled with orange hues and streaks of pink.
The call of seagulls filled the air and the smell of the sea crashed against a distant shore.
Grains of sand stuck to her lips and face and she spat them out as she tried to rise up.
Pain filled the void of sadness and anger.
There was much to fill and it threatened to consume her.
Every nerve in her body was on fire, her head became light and stars shot behind her eye sockets.
She lifted her hand to graze across her singed face and scabbed arms. Ukoron’s magic still burned as if he had just delivered fresh blows.
Her tongue was swollen and stuck to the inside of her teeth like sap on the bark trees surrounding her home.
Home. Arkan. Peraynia.
A dry, humorous laugh cracked from her lips. A gasp of pain cut the chuckle from her as she raised up on her good arm. She sat on her knees, looking around.
Where am I?
Nothing looked familiar. Even the air around her smelled sweeter, cleaner, untainted.
“Hello, Cahira,” a soft voice said behind her.
Cahira’s neck cracked at the speed of her turn. She growled through clenched teeth. She willed her fire and magic to her, but none came. It sputtered out and disappeared from her very veins. Drained and leaving her vulnerable. Cahira looked up at the voice.
A woman sat on a boulder atop a hill with ease.
Long blonde hair shone like the sun and eyes, an even deeper blue than Kaiden’s, observed her.
She wore a flowing gown that shimmered like the clearest water reflecting off the sun.
Gold bands wrapped around her long, bare arms and a ring as bright as the sun rested on her finger.
She stood and Cahira stepped back in surprise.
The woman towered over her and it wasn’t just because of the hill.
Even then, she seemed to block out the sun with her frame.
Her arms were muscular, and as the wind blew the dress against her body, Cahira could see her legs were very much the same.
No shoes adorned her feet as the woman walked toward Cahira.
The grass bent toward her as if she was the very lifeforce it craved.
Cahira swallowed. She was easily the most beautiful and powerful woman she had ever seen.
“Who are you?” Her voice was a rasp of a whisper.
The woman smiled. Her eyes, full of wisdom and love, softened at the corners. She held out a hand in invitation.
“I am Morana,” she said, “and I have been expecting you.”