32. Raelyna #2
I leaned against the closest wall, my body sagging as I could barely fight off the waves of nausea shooting through me in rapid succession.
“Is it usually this bad?” Orela asked, the worry in her voice strained as she watched me, unable to help. “The visions . . . they don’t give me the full picture.”
“No.” The word fell flat as I pinched my nose, the migraine in my head pounding.
“This isn’t good—not good at all.” Her ramblings echoed in the room. It took everything in me to glance up, catching my sister pacing the floor before me, the two other females looking at her in concern.
“Sorry—” I tried to say as a piercing stab of pain ripped through me, and my apology ended in an agonized cry.
“You have to let it out. There’s no other option—” Orela kept muttering as she paced the floor frantically. “No—yes—too many options—too much can change—has to be done.” The words came in fragmented sentences, incomplete thoughts, and then all at once, she stopped, looking me dead in the eye.
“You have to let the affinity out—the one gifted by Aeternus—now.” The words were a rushed bark as she looked at me with a pained expression. “It’s the only path we can take.”
“I-I don’t know—” I bit back another groan of pain as I looked up toward Orela. “H-how to do that. If I did, I-I would have already-y.”
“You need to, Raelyna. It’s our only option. Close your eyes and focus within yourself. Find the light glowing deep within you and focus on that. You need to have faith,” she stated, her eyes narrowing in on me with concern.
“I’m trying.” I pushed the two words out between the stabbing pain in my skull. “It’s not that easy. Not after everything we’ve been lied to about.”
“It’s exactly that easy—” she stated, her fingers digging into her hair as her movements became more erratic. “The visions—the future–it all comes from the light. From faith—from turning from this corruption we’ve lived in. There’s more—can feel it—you just need to—believe it’s possible.”
With a shaky breath, I closed my eyes, trying to shut out the pain coursing through every fiber of my being as I focused inward, searching for any form of light, any spark of hope.
I kept pushing deeper, trying to fight off the wave of nausea, ignoring the flow of blood trickling from my nose as I searched for an answer.
Another sharp pain bolted through my head, pulling me from my search as my eyes shot open, tears streaming down my cheeks. “There’s nothing,” I said between sobs as I sank to the floor, the wall still supporting my weight. “I’m sorry.”
Orela crouched on the floor beside me, grabbing my hand. “It’s in there, Rae. You can draw the light out; you don’t have to live in the darkness anymore. I’ve seen it. You just need to keep searching within yourself.”
“You don’t know that, Ore,” I stated, frustration rising in me. My sister’s eyes darted toward the two females beside her, before she pulled the sleeve of her gray robe up, and a gasp fell from my lips as I took in the golden markings stark on my sister’s skin.
“It is possible, Rae,” she admitted. “I know because I found the light—I found hope in Aeternus.”
My breaths grew shaky as I tried to dig deep once again, focusing inward as I searched for any flicker of hope. A light in the dark.
Please. Please just break free.
I felt another wave of nausea roll through me, my stomach clenching at the feel.
But then I could feel it, the pulsing golden glow from deep within.
I followed the small tug deep in my soul, coaxing it to the surface, praying to Aeternus that this worked, that the light could break free.
My head kept pounding, an angry migraine that threatened to consume me if I focused on it for another minute.
My hands were soaked in my blood as I kept fighting to unearth the light within me.
I was tired of living a life where I’d been lied to .
. . and now—now I had the choice to choose what I believed, to choose who I believed in.
And I’d known there was something more, ever since my father’s death, since I’d started doing my own research into our Quarter.
I’d known there was something more. I just needed to choose it for myself.
“Come on, Rae.” I heard Orela’s voice in the distance, her words a faint encouragement as I kept guiding the golden glow forward. “Come on.”
I felt an intense ripple of heat blaze within me.
Then light shone forward, emerging through the markings on my skin, the color rippling as it flickered between an onyx hue and a golden one.
I kept focusing on the light—on the truth we’d uncovered, on the Eternal, on the faint trickle of hope that stemmed from a life not shrouded in darkness.
I felt it the moment the ink burst forth on my skin, the golden color embedding itself into my very being. My wings tugged out at the same moment, the charcoal feathers rippling as they seemed to coat themselves in a deep golden hue that shimmered even in the low lighting.
My body glowed with a golden sheen as I stared down at my forearm in awe.
Below my water affinity, a new symbol appeared .
. . the outline of an earth affinity now glowing on my forearm.
My gaze tracked even further, eyes seeking out the discredited bargain mark from my deal with Luc—only, the onyx X that had been on my skin for the past eight years was no longer visible.
The ink had entirely vanished—wiped away like it had never been there.
I stared closer at my wrist, finding another new mark of delicate lines.
Three triangles interlocking over my wrist.
Past. Present. Future. All tied together in interconnected lines.
“A starbound mark,” I heard one of the females whisper in awe when they caught sight of the same mark I had.
My own head shook in disbelief.
In over a century of existence, I’d never seen a starbound mark with my own eyes. And now, I sat here, with the mark stark across my skin.
I had a starbound . . .
My gaze drifted from my wrist, up my forearm. Every mark on my skin glowed in the golden color—the color Callum had told me was a gift from Aeternus. A symbol of light.
Slowly, I pushed off the ground, standing shakily as I realized my headache was gone, like it had never been there. I tilted my head to the side, studying the glimmer of my wings.
Gold.
Like Callum’s—
Like all those who followed the Eternal—the creator of the City of Gold.
For a moment, all I could do was stare at the feathers in disbelief, the golden color glimmering even in the dimly lit corridor we found ourselves in.
I’d done it.
With another tug against the muscles, I forced my wings to retract, knowing that I couldn’t afford for the golden color to be seen. Not while I found myself deep inside Cato’s temple.
I turned, staring into my sister’s eyes, tears glistening as we studied each other’s markings, the light glowing from within.
At that moment, I realized I couldn’t hide who I was.
I couldn’t let those still living in the shadows of corruption overshadow me.
I had to let the light shine in the darkness cast over the Quarter.