78. Chapter 78
CHAPTER 78
Dynalya
D yna sat beside Cassiel as he slept soundly in his bed. He didn’t move or make sound, but he was at peace in the dreamless sleep she put him in. It seemed to be the only way to end his torment.
“I didn’t know. This whole time, I never noticed something was wrong.” She clenched her fists on her lap, wrestling with a terrible guilt because she had only been focused on her own anger. “This was what you meant, isn’t it? When you said that he was not well. That he needed me…”
Dyna looked at Sowmya where she stood at the foot of the bed. Yelrakel remained a silent shadow at the door, in a cloud of dejection as she watched over her king.
The red-winged Valkyrie lowered her head. “There is no punishment worse than living with the fact that you killed someone you love.”
“He didn’t kill Yoel.”
“That blade was meant for Cassiel, my lady. His father took the blow, and he couldn’t forgive himself for it.”
Emotion lodged in Dyna’s throat. When she had learned Amriel assassinated Yoel, she didn’t know it was because he had shielded his son.
“Losing his father and rejecting the bond on the same night broke him. He couldn’t accept both loses. The burden was tearing his soul apart.” Sowmya’s voice wavered, and she took a breath. “He couldn’t bear to forget you, and he couldn’t bear to remember Yoels death … so he erased it.”
Because Cassiel had promised to never forget her…
“I think a part of him knew it wasn’t real,” Sowmya looked down at him. “Black clothes, refraining from revelry, and cutting of the hair are customs of aveilut , the year of mourning for a parent. Then there is the name he gave the illusion. Netanel means ‘a gift from Elyōn .’ For what else could his father be but a divine gift the Heavens granted him. It was the only way Cassiel could accept the new reality he conjured.”
Dyna’s mouth wobbled. His mind created it only as a means to cope with the loss, but because Cassiel had finally had Yoel back. He had lived all his childhood without a father. He couldn’t bare not having him after losing so much.
Dyna laid her hand over Cassiel’s. He felt so cold. “How could he do this to himself? Why reject our bond and go through all this pain alone? I don’t understand.”
“I think it was Yoel’s death that drove him to it, because he had already suffered failing to protect someone he loved before.”
“Do you mean … because of Sheli?”
Sowmya’s brown eyes held hers a moment, then dropped to the Hyalus crystal left on the bedside table. “What Cassiel feels for you is what my kind call Hased . A deep and devoted kind of affection that goes beyond duty and obligation. Beyond the threads of the universe and time itself.”
Dyna’s brow furrowed. She didn’t know what that meant.
“The depths of which his soul is bonded to yours could never be comprehended by another without feeling it for themselves. I know how much he hurt you and the anger you carry. But my wish, should Elyōn grant it, is for you to understand how much he truly loves you. I suppose only time will tell.”
With that, both Valkyrie bowed and silently stepped out of the room.
Dyna leaned her arms on the edge of the bed, watching Cassiel sleep. To understand everything, every reason behind every lie, she would need to live his life. Both lives.
Only time…
Would it be possible?
Cradling Cassiel’s cold hand in hers and Dyna closed her eyes. She breathed in and out as her magic began to stir. The Essentia Dimensio opened before her. Dark with the two blue bulbs of light. The aura of a Celestial’s divinity. One was Cassiel’s and the other…
Dyna reached out to it with her Essence and cradled them both.
And she sank.
She found herself in a new dark void. Similar to the Essentia Dimensio but it felt … different. A faint green light appeared ahead, and Dyna walked toward it. The ground beneath her feet turned into the reflection of water, then she came out onto a trickling stream passing through a shore of moss. Magic glittered in the air like green rain.
Her magic.
Had she passed through a new dimension? Perhaps within herself. She kept walking and memories flashed around her, distorted with color and voices and sounds of music.
Memories of two different lives.
Dyna didn’t sort through them. She let the past come at her as she dream walked through Kāhssiel’s life, letting him decide how to tell his story.
The first memory halted abruptly and opened to darkness and clash of steel. Blades of white flame cut through demons as a battle raged around her.
It was the Dark War against the God of Shadows.
Seraphim and humans fought and died as creatures of shadow tore into them. It was a brutal slaughter.
A bright blue ball of fire tore through the demon ranks. Dyna whipped around in search of him and there he was.
Kāhssiel in gold and silver armor, charging ahead with six white wings. “Here we stand!” he bellowed. “Cut them back!”
His army followed but there were too many. Shadows sprang from the earth littered with feathers and ash. They were darkness personified with horns and talons of smoke.
The largest shadow demon with red eyes she knew fell upon Kāhssiel by a dead tree. He lost hold of his blade and raised his hands to fight but the shadow slashed at his arms, and he cried out in pain.
All around him, Seraphs continued to fall.
The air was ripe with sulfur and blood. With death and hopelessness.
Kāhssiel dodged the Shadow’s next attach and flew back. He gritted his teeth as he faced the demon.
“If I am to fall here … then so be it.” Kāhssiel smiled wryly at the skies churning with black clouds, and his familiar voice shook Dyna’s soul. “But let it not be this day.”
He filled his hands with flame and as the Shadow charged with a roar. Kāhssiel roared back. Ready to fight. Ready to die. Here was his last stand.
A blast of green power erupted between them. The powerful blast knocked Kāhssiel back to the ground.
The Shadow screeched in the air as it was thrown across the battlefield with streaming remnants of green light.
A bright light burst from the roots of the dead tree and from it sprang a new tree. One made of pure white light and leaves like glass. It cast its brilliance across the battlefield like a blazing star and demons fled.
Seraphs rejoiced and cried out to the Heaves. Thanking Elyōn .
But Kāhssiel sat on the round and stared up in awe at the young woman in armor standing beside him. The wind whipped her dark brown hair around her face.
Dyna’s face.
Her green eyes glowing with magic met his and she scowled. “Are you attempting to lose your head or is there simply nothing it? Stupid Seraph.”
Then she ran off into the throng.
“Wait…” Kāhssiel called, staring after her with a dumbfounded look on his face. “What’s your name?”
Was it possible to fall in love at first sight?
Such a thing begged to question as Kāhssiel couldn’t stop thinking of the human who had saved his life. Once he learned Sheli’s name, he invited her into his circle of generals. For her power, he said, but they both knew it was because he was intrigued.
They rode to battle on Pegasi and fought side by side during the Dark War. They learned how to combine their fire in an ultimate attack that turned the tide against the God of Shadows.
Together, they banished the darkness brought out the sun.
Dyna’s heart swelled as she watched them argue with each other, protect each other, and fall hopelessly in love.
But they never said it aloud.
Maybe because he was a king, and she was a healer’s daughter.
Or because his people didn’t approve.
The dream smoke brought Dyna to that same Hyalus tree during the golden hour. Kāhssiel was dressed in elegant white robes, his pearlescent white wings catching the light. Gold-spun blond hair fluttered around his face in the evening wind as he stood silent, facing the tree. Dejection contorted his features.
“You wish to leave?” he asked.
Sheli stood behind him, dressed in a dress woven from all shades of gold. She clutched her arm to herself, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I should go to Magos with my family. There is nothing for me here.”
He closed his eyes. “You are one of my generals. I need you here.”
“The war is over, Kāhssiel…” Her eyes filled with tears though her voice remained steady. “And so is our time together. Now you must live your life. Be a king and rule your people. I should be with mine.” She looked away. “Allow me this and I will grant you anything. Whatever wealth or favor, I’ll do it.”
But Kāhssiel didn’t answer.
Sheli choked on a sob and shouted desperately. “What do you want from me?”
Kāhssiel turned to her and his blue eyes softened. “You already know the answer … lev sheli . I want you to choose me.” He took her chin, lifting her face to him. “Because I have already chosen you.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “But I’m human.”
“I care not,” he breathed. “From the moment you arrived, your light was a gift in the darkness. At hazricha v’hashkia sheli. You are my sunrise and my sunset. You are the one I choose. In this life and in the next one.”
Then Kāhssiel kissed her beneath the glow of the Hyalus tree and Sheli stayed.
Dyna bore witness as they were married and crowned before the court. The Seraphs secretly whispered that such a union was blasphemy. She overheard plotting from the shadows of the halls and felt the cold stares of his three generals that secretly reviled them.
Yet they were too happy or perhaps too oblivious to notice the displeasure of their people, for Kāhssiel and Sheli awaited a child.
The third general was the one who led the scheme to remove them. He looked exactly like Lord Raziel. His past life, Dyna assumed, but he had the same name, and those cold blue eyes had not changed.
It left her with an unsettling feeling as the memory faded away and the dream smoke darkened.
Dyna found Kāhssiel and Sheli in their chambers in the Hilos castle, laying together in bed on a sunny evening. He kissed her belly that was beginning to round, and they laughed at the flutters they felt in response. As the sun descended, the crystal necklace on her chest, began to glow.
“I remember the first time I saw you,” Sheli murmured as she ran her fingers through his hair.
“By the Hyalus tree.”
“I mean the very first time when the Heaven’s opened and the Seraphs fell to this world. I was there. You were a bright blue light in the sky … like my very own shooting star. Then I found myself wishing I could fly through that sky with you.” Sheli smiled sleepily and placed a hand on her belly. “Once that wish came true, I dared to wish for another, and Elyōn granted it. What do you wish for, my star?”
Kāhssiel look at her with so much love, Dyna felt it. “I already received my wish.”
She sighed happily. “How do you say wish in your language?”
“Mish’alah.” He curled his body around hers. “Do you know what your name means?”
Sheli’s green eyes caught the light as she snuggled closer to him. “It means meadow.”
“In my language your name is means, mine .” They shared a languid kiss. “As in belonging to me…”
If only that wish had been enough.
The low drone of a horn rang outside, announcing the alarm. Both leaped up and someone banged on their door.
Kāhssiel opened it to reveal Raziel. “Sire, we are under attack. Your generals … they have risen a coup against you.”
“What?”
“Come quickly. It is chaos!”
Kāhssiel snatched up his weapons and threw on his armor. “I cannot leave, Sheli here. She cannot use magic while pregnant.”
“Then I will see her to safety, sire.” Raziel bowed. “I will guard her with my life.”
No… Dyna shook her head. Don’t let him take her!
Raziel quickly ushered Sheli out into the hall and Dyna dashed after them, but the dream smoke took her away to a battle in the Hilos courtyard. Celestials fighting celestials, and Kāhssiel was forced to strike down many. By the time he realized who was friend from foe, it was too late.
Kāhssiel! Sheli called out to him though the bond.
He whipped around and met Raziel’s sneer where he stood with his struggling mate at the edge of a cliff. And before his eyes, Raziel shoved her off.
“SHELI!” Kāhssiel tore into the air with wings of flame and raced to them like a comet. He dove through the free air for his mate down the chasm.
Sheli’s wet eyes looked up at him. There was only a sad knowing on her face. The sound of her voice passed through their connection and Dyna’s heart. This is not the end, kohav. We will be together again. Wait for me.
Dyna shut her eyes.
She couldn’t watch her past-self die, but she felt it when Sheli hit the ground. Her entire body spasmed with agony.
Their bond brutally shattered and Kāhssiel’s horrible screams eched through the sky.
At bottom of the chasm, he clutched Sheli’s broken body. His broken cries rendered across the kingdom. The loss of a True Bonded mate should have killed him, but mad with grief and rage, Kāhssiel transform into an entity of flame. Sheli’s body dissolved away, and he was left staring at the ashes in his empty hands.
“They took her from me.” He growled like a monstrous beast of annihilation. “They will all burn .”
Dyna watched helplessly as Kāhssiel filled the Realms with flame. Their screams of fear then filled her eyes as his people either fought or fled. All fell to his power.
He was unstoppable.
So Dyna was confused when the dream smoke cleared to a memory of Kāhssiel in chains. He sat on knees before the Hyalus tree. His armor and face were stained with soot. All that was once green had been razed to black ash. Scattered fires lit the brush and charred feathers floated in the breeze.
The dried blood on his lips cracked with Kāhssiel’s coughed. Wind rattled the translucent leaves softly and he briefly closed his eyes as if remembering a past moment in this very place.
A brokenness lined the shadows of his face.
Exhaustion.
Surrender.
“All this death and bloodshed, only to end defeated. To what end?” Lord Raziel said. “For some witch?”
Kāhssiel fixed his dull gaze on him. “Am I defeated?”
“You are in Skath chains, Kāhssiel. Your Seraph fire is useless now.”
He smirked indifferently. “They will not hold me for long, Raziel. As soon as I am out of these chains I will come for you. For all of you.” He looked at the traitors standing beside him and lurched toward them. The guards held him back by his chains, jerking back his manacled arms. “You have betrayed me, and nothing will stop me until I have vanquished every one of you. I will return you to the Gates and raze Hilos to the ground. You cannot stop me while I bear this power. As soon as I am free, I will fill this world with a sea of flame and consume it all until there is nothing left of it! I WILL BURN IT ALL!”
His roar echoed his promise over the land, and they grimaced from the force. Fear stole their confidence as they realized the truth.
“I am invincible,” Kāhssiel chuckled. “You don’t have the power to stop me. Not with these chains. And not with your army. In the end, you will be naught but dust.”
Raziel mouth thinned. “I questioned why Elyōn chose you to remain a Seraph and wield the pure flame. Why did he choose you to hold such a power when it has only created a monster? It was not made for this world, and it shall not remain.”
He looked at the others holding the chains and nodded. They forced Kāhssiel forward and yanked out his six white wings.
“What are you doing?” Kāhssiel demanded.
“Ending your reign,” Raziel said as they drew their swords. “Kāhssiel, we hereby denounce you as our High King and as a son of the Heavens. Your wings will be sheered from thy back and with it your power. Your soul shall be eternally damned to remain in Gehenom for your punishment, never to return to the Heavens.”
“Stop!” Kāhssiel fought. “You cannot do this. It’s sacrilege!”
“It is no less than you deserve.”
Dyna cried out in horror as swords of flame raised above him. But she caught the moment Kāhssiel strained forward, fanning out all six wings, exposing the margins. The blades sliced through them. His scream of pain tore through her ears, and he fell flat on the ground. The power that had hovered off him like a wave of heat vanished from the air.
Kāhssiel lay there in a pool of blood, a few of his feathers floating on top.
His speed. His strength. His fire.
His wings.
They were gone.
All that was left were the six stumps of exposed muscle and bone on his back. His mortal weakness and terrible agony crashed over Dyna as she cried. His pain, it almost matched the pain he endured when Sheli had been taken from him.
Almost.
Kāhssiel choked on a dry chuckle. He rolled onto his back and his body shuddered as he bled out. Yet he laughed and laughed, the crazed sound filling the stunned silence.
“What is so amusing?” Raziel demanded.
“You never defeated me,” Kāhssiel murmured, looking up at the gray skies. “You merely assured that I would return to finish what I started.”
They all stared at him.
“My soul is now mortal but not truly human and no longer a Seraph. It will belong nowhere. You said it yourself. I will be cast to Gehenom , but I think you forgot one thing …” Kāhssiel met his eyes. “Lost souls are always reincarnated.”
All the color drained from Raziel’s face, his eyes growing wide as he realized what he had done. “You wanted this…”
“You have my gratitude. As my thanks, I curse you with a long life. You will live to see my return, Raziel. Who knows. Perhaps you shall sire your own demise.”
Raziel roar of rage filled the field. Kāhssiel chuckled at his fury. His laughter baited him. It mocked him, because they both knew only one of them had truly won.
Kāhssiel looked up at the sky with tear filled eyes, still laughing. The sun rose on the horizon and fell over the Hyalus tree. The translucent leaves rattled gently, gleaming like stars of gold.
Raziel shoved off the guards and wrenched out his sword.
Dyna covered her mouth, her vision blurring as the burning blade lifted above Kāhssiel’s neck.
Kneeling, she reached out to him, wishing she could stop it.
His dried lips parted with a soft exhale as he gazed at the clear sky bathed in the sunrise. Tears rolled down his temples. Then he whispered his last faint words into the wind, as a soft wish for only her.
“I will find my way to you … in every lifetime.”
The sword came down and Dyna fell backwards off the chair with a shriek. She was back in Greenwood. Cassiel was still there, sleeping soundly in the bed.
Dyna stifled her sobs.
They had been killed for loving each other. For bearing a child that was different. Yet they called him the monster?
Taking Cassiel’s cold hand in her shaking palms, Dyna finally noticed the bracelet wrapped around his wrist. Braided out of crimson hair.
When the Vanguard came, he must have saw the past repeating itself again. The fear must have strangled him. He saw no other choice but to cut out his heart and shatter their souls to erase himself from her life. There was nothing left to do but once again go to his death for her.
For her life was more precious to him than his own.
Dyna’s tears landed on the bed beside his fingers, soaking through the cloth. She had been so angry with him. So furious and spiteful without ever stopping to consider that he had been suffering, too.
Her shaking hand landed on her stomach where his lips had once kissed. The vow he had written there had burned when he left .
Everything I do, no matter how painful, will always be to protect you.
Laying her head over Cassiel’s heart, Dyna wept.
When night fell, she stepped out into the hall. Yelrakel and Sowmya straightened.
“Watch over him,” Dyna told the General.
Yelrakel clanked a fist over her heart.
Then she faced her other Valkyrie. “Lieutenant, I have another task for you. A mission for the crown.”
Sowmya lowered to one knee and bowed her head. “My queen, I am at your command.”