CHAPTER 31 #2
“I know,” she casually says, revealing her delicate hands from the large openings of her cloak. They hold a blue flame that flickers in her hands. “I’ve waited thirty years for you.”
Koen’s tail whips and slams into the ground at the sight of it as a gust of hot wind slaps against my face. My eyes lock onto the flame, watching her hand hover over it as her lip pulls into a wicked smirk.
“I don’t understand… you’ve been gone for a few weeks.” A tear cascades down my cheek, falling to the ground. “Father feared you were dead. Alice and I went looking for you! I don’t even know if she is alive!”
She scuffs, rolling her eyes and letting her hand flick in the air. “Ah, she’s fine.”
“How can you say that!” my voice rips. “We almost died looking for you!”
“I told you Alice would never survive.”
“You knew we would come find you…”
Her brows lift. “I knew you would come. I warned you not to bring Alice to the mountains.”
“What about Father?!” Tears pour from me like a rainstorm, making it impossible to see clearly. “He is heartbroken with the thought of you being dead and now… he most likely thinks I am too! This is going to kill him!”
“That isn’t our father.” The blue fire cracks in her palms. “I think you know that.”
I rise, pushing my trembling body off of the ground. “How can you say that!”
“Because you know it's the truth, yet you always run from the truth! You have always been too weak, that’s why those stones belong to me.”
I glance towards the stones that brightly glow against my skin. “What the hell are you talking about, Tilly!”
“Tileatha.” The fire darkling rips a violent growl.
My lip curls in disgust towards it. “I can call my sister whatever the hell I want.”
It lunges forward, but Tilly halts it. “No.”
It narrows its eyes towards me, fire crackling and popping against its skin. It's ready to kill me.
“The stones are the powers from the Gods, Serene. The one who holds the stones is the one who will be able to control it all. Those dragons will make the one who wields them the most violent wielder of the realms, they are the key to everything. The power. The magic. Everything is inside them. Only the Deskyiara bloodline can control them.” She sucks in a deep breath.
“But for some reason, the Gods chose you, even though you died.”
“Oh my—” I scoff, rubbing my blurred eyes with the back of my hand. “You believe in that too? I am alive, standing right here. I have never died, Tileatha.”
“Koen hasn’t reminded you of it?” Her head slowly cocks to the side. “I thought for sure he would get you to remember.”
“You’ve gone mad.”
“No, I've flourished. Thrived. Dear sister, I have always been what you couldn’t be. Father just never saw it. And now, with the years I have spent in the Darklands, I will be unstoppable against those who try to stop me. Including you.”
The steam from Koen’s exhale beats against my back. His low grumble sends chills down my spine.
“What would I try to stop you from doing?” I choke on my words. “I have gone to hell and back to try and find you! Thrown into the battle games where I could have died!”
“Who said I wanted to be found?”
The knot in my throat won’t bulge. I try to swallow, but everything hurts. She’s right. She left. I followed. But she knew I would.
“I’ll make you remember. I’ll make you see it.” Her rosy lips pull into a snarky grin, grabbing the blue flame that dances in her hands, and with a twist of her fingers, it vanishes. The stones I once saw in the Queen’s archives now hover over her palms.
I stumble back, falling against the dragon's nose before he gives me a stern, yet subtle push.
The sight of the large claws and thick, onyx scales make my insides twist and turn.
With a snap of her fingers, the stones hover around me, circling me in, as a wall of blue fire burns around the stones and me.
The stones beam brightly as the same colors as the stones on my arms, spinning in a slow circle.
“How… How did you…” I stutter, staring at the stones before me as I can see flickers of memories pulsing within.
“Get the stones here?” Tilly cuts me off. “Well, technically it isn’t the exact ones, but our mind is replicating them.”
“I don’t understand.” I zone out, my eyes steadily focusing on them as they swirl around me.
“You will.”
The fire stone slams into my chest, right where my heart sits, dissolving inside me as I frantically claw at my body. “What the hell is this!”
“Be patient, dear sis.” Her lips curve into a sinister smirk.
I don’t even recognize her. Who is this before me?
The vibrant yellow crashes into my chest with a force that takes my breath away, followed closely by the rest of the colors.
Each stone disappears into the depths of my being, merging with me.
Yet, surprisingly, there is no pain, no discomfort.
Only an unsettling confusion that crashes into my mind.
Flashes of a bright light consume my sight. Flickering images run rampant, making my body collapse to the ground, the rocks digging into my knees. I see everything.
Memories of my life, everything in Seattle was nothing but a lie. A place to keep me safe. Away from the darklings, away from… Tilly. Yet she found me. What wicked mind tricks did she play on us while we were there?
Then I see Florian and I, announcing our marriage for the Kingdoms to come together.
I see Tilly and I dancing during the night of a ball, hand in hand, our laughter filling the whole room.
I see… our parents. The King and Queen of Azure, sitting at the throne.
Their hair, white as snow. Their eyes, emerald blue hues. Their smiles, kind and gentle.
Then, I see Koen. All of our moments together. The nights I would run away, heading towards the mountains to meet him under the stars. The notes I would keep, tucked away in the wall hidden behind a loose brick. Even though I was meant to be with Florian, my heart always wanted… him.
Damn it. I have always been in love with him.
The Gods knew it. They heard my cries to never love… but they couldn’t stop it. They knew no matter what, it will always be him.
But the day of the battle, I feel the change in the air. The shift in the breeze. As if I am there right now. I feel it all.
Koen and I planned to leave. To run away. But I… died. I see myself in Koen’s arms. My lifeless body as the guards take him. He is pleading to them, begging them to let him help me. They took me to the Darklands. But why?
I gasp for air, my throat feeling as if hands are around it, strangling me. My eyes are burning as I clench them together. The pain feels as if it's killing me all over again.
“WHAT DID YOU DO!” KING Deskyiara bellows, holding my limp body in his arms. Blood trickles down my fingertips.
Tears pour down from Koen’s emerald eyes as he rushes after us when we enter the Darklands. Lava spits from the ground, singeing it as we walk the raven-black, charred walkway into the castle of the Darklands.
Onyx statues of two towering dragons with lava pouring out from their mouths, stand tall beside the lingering steel, arched door. Thorn-like weapons bulge from around the door, as men with arrows on fire stand at the railings of the castle, waiting to shoot.
“Stand down!” Koen raises his hands, they obey. They listen.
“Of course they listen to you,” my father grunts. “You better be sure this will work.”
“It will. I am certain.” Koen places his hand on the door, and it opens with the sounds of metal scraping against metal.
“I warned her not to go near you again,” my father snaps at him, allowing my mother to walk through the doorway first. “Foolish girl.”
A blue-flamed wall circles around a sword, with five stones resembling the ones that fell from the sky with the horses.
But this is before the horses fell. This is before the war.
The oracles, three of them, stand firm with long canes in hand, pointed with a red stone hovering in the middle.
The one with blonde curls, her eyes hidden by a golden crown that arches around each side, walks forward.
“We warned you, King Deskyiara. We told you she would die on the day of a battle.” The oracle speaks gently.
“There is no war!” the King screams, laying my body on a raven-black bed, surrounded by molting lava. “Save her.”
“Does he know the cost to have her live?” She glances towards Koen. The sobbing sounds of my mother and Tilly make my insides tug apart, my heart breaking into pieces. I died. I see my lifeless body. My soul… gone.
“I do.” Koen strides forward fearlessly. “My heart shall be hers. Forever. I shall forever wait for her on the other side.”
No. No, this can’t be.
The oracles begin to form a circle, their hands cuffing a blue flame, crafting a heart with their magic. One lifts the lava, forging it into blood to run through the heart. My heart.
“She shall have the magic of fire coursing through her.” The one oracle with midnight-black braided hair speaks. “The fire will consume her if she doesn’t fulfill what is to come.”
“What does that mean?” My mother’s voice cracks as she wipes away her tears.
“You will never see her live.” The oracle slams the cane against the ground while the other oracle takes the sword with the stones to Koen’s heart.
His eyes, my favorite part of him, close.
He falls lifelessly to the ground as she holds the light from his heart.
It’s bright, sparkling a bright, golden hue as she lets it hover across the air, colliding with the heart they crafted for me.
The heart hovers over my chest before falling inside me. Then, I rise, gasping for air. Darklings rush out in every direction, taking Koen’s lifeless body as I try everything in my power to reach him. Tears run rapidly down my cheeks as I scream out for him.
The darklings take their thin, lengthy hands, ripping the King’s and Queen’s heart out of their chests as I hear a heart-wrenching cry so powerful, it creates ripples of air, knocking me out as everything goes dark.
MY CLENCHED EYES OPEN, GASPING for air as I claw at my neck. I vomit. My throat burns as I cough, trying to catch my breath and steady my heart. My back is hunched over as tears soak my cheeks, and I slam my hand against the ground.
“You knew all along!” My face turns a cherry red as I yell, feeling the blood boil inside me. The dragon, Koen, rips a bellowing roar that shakes the rocks beneath me. “Why didn’t you try killing me when we were hiding in Seattle?”
“Because I needed you to find the stones.” Her eyes fall to my arm. “They would have never shown for me, but they would for you. If I killed you… the stones would have never been found. The power of the blood moon would have never been captured.”
“You are worse than the Queen that rules now.”
“That’s a compliment.” She flicks her hand, and the blue wall of fire disappears. “I have always been the stronger sister. I should have been chosen.”
“Yet, the Gods chose me. Father chose me,” I snarl. “Not you.”
Her thin brows lift as her lips pull into a pleased grin. “There you are, Sister. There is the Serene that Koen once loved, the way he loved that spark inside of you. Too bad loving you killed him.”
“You're disgusting. And Father blamed Koen for killing me.” My lip rises, fire beginning to flicker against my palms as I rise before her. Rise before my sister who betrayed me. “When you were the one who killed me.”