Chapter Seventeen #5
I went on. “It’s the same type of power I felt coming from the tree at my grandfather’s funeral, which means there was godhood power being channeled into that shield.
The boundary between us and the afterlife has been closed off, but there are remnants of godhood powers still on the earth, like the powers within the elder tree.
I believe Ava siphoned some of that magic when she was combining everyone’s magic, and some of that godhood power went into the shield. ”
“Which is why the Warden has to go to the afterlife before destroying Ilamanthe, so he can kill the gods, end their power, and get through our shield to finish the job,” Doctor Mack agreed.
“Killing the gods is going to take him time, so we have a short period before Doctor Taurus damages the realms completely. If we are able to reach the mutabeecha and open a time vortex, there’s a chance we can end this war before he does. ”
“How small of a chance?” Marcus asked.
“Small enough that you may want to start saying your goodbyes,” Doctor Mack said regrettably. “But isn’t a small chance enough to at least try? What other option is there?”
Kallie turned to her mom. “You’re not going to lie down and let the Warden do what he wants with what’s left of our world. Not after what he’s done to the fae.”
Queen Emmaline’s voice was determined as she replied, “If there is a way for me to get through to the afterlife, I will find it, and I will do it. I am the Worldweaver. There is nothing that I will allow to stand in my path. But doing so will be no small feat. I won’t be able to do it alone.”
“This is a fool’s errand,” Ivy insisted. “We’re all gonna die trying!”
“It’s that or die lying down,” I pointed out. “If the Warden takes us down, then at least we went down fighting.”
Queen Emmaline raised her voice. “There are no other options. There is a boundary that separates the fae realm of Edinmyre and the fae afterlife of the Great Hunting Grounds, which one must cross in order to reach the land of the dead. The living can’t get through it, but if we can break that boundary, we will have a chance of making it to the afterlife and back. ”
“How does that work?” Chancey asked. “Didn’t the Warden already break the connection to the afterlife?”
“What I’m referring to is different from our connection to the afterlife.
I’m talking about a connection to a different realm entirely, though a boundary Doctor Taurus hasn’t touched,” Queen Emmaline explained.
“Edinmyre is its own fae realm, essentially its own planet, which exists physically just like the Earth. The fae afterlife, the Great Hunting Grounds, are a spiritual world connected to the rest of the Blessed Haven, but it exists within Edinmyre itself. There’s a boundary that prevents the living from entering the spirit world, but if we can get past that boundary, we can reach the Great Hunting Grounds, and through it, the Blessed Haven. ”
“Which we can venture through in order to reach the Ancestral Lands, where the mutabeecha live,” Sophia added. “That’s perfect.”
“So it’s like a back door into the spiritual plane?” I asked. I wanted to make sure I got this right. “From Earth, we can portal to the fae world of Edinmyre, then pass through the boundary to the Great Hunting Grounds. From there, we can go to the other realms within the Blessed Haven?”
“Exactly,” Queen Emmaline said. “As you’ll recall, Ilamanthe is built off the bones of one of Edinmyre’s ancient cities, Ithriel. The portal between Ilamanthe and the fae city of Eiragrad is still open, which will take us to Edinmyre.”
“Why don’t we all take the portal?” Marcus asked.
“Didn’t Emperor Cassiel say this portal served as an exit strategy if Ilamanthe was compromised?
Aren’t the residents of Eiragrad our allies, who’ve been sending us resources since Ilamanthe formed?
I bet the Warden wouldn’t find us there.
Why haven’t we used this portal to provide refuge for our people yet? ”
“Because doing so has consequences,” Queen Emmaline reminded him.
“The citizens of Eiragrad have been helping where they can, but sustaining two cities is no easy feat. To move our entire population there would be a massive undertaking, and not everyone would make it. Fae and Elves would be able to settle there permanently because of their ancestral connection to the realm, and the witches would be fine due to their ancestral ties to the fae, but they’d be unable to return to Earth after being there for a few days.
The rest of Ilamanthe’s population would go mad soon after arriving.
Anyone who doesn’t have ancestral lineage connected to Edinmyre is unable to stay within its borders without losing their minds. ”
No way in hell would I let that happen. Kallie, Marcus, and I could tolerate living in Edinmyre, but Ava only had a single fae ancestor in her bloodline by the name of Arthur Cedrick.
The connection was distant, and I doubted it would be enough to prevent her from going insane while within Edinmyre’s borders.
She had too much Hawkei in her, and I’d get blown up by the Warden before I left her behind.
“Well, that idea is out,” Danny said. “You don’t want me going any nuttier than I already am, and Ava’s crazy enough.”
“We can’t move everyone to Edinmyre, but we can use it to get to the afterlife,” Queen Emmaline continued.
“I believe that my powers, combined with Lucas’ abilities, might be enough to break the boundary between Edinmyre and the Great Hunting Grounds.
As the Worldweaver, I have the ability to reach realms other fae can’t access.
Lucas is a reaper who has the power to reach realms most witches aren’t able to.
Together, we should have the ability to get some of us through the boundary, so we may cross over.
But it will take time to weaken this barrier. ”
“I’ll help any way I can,” Lucas offered.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I stated. “We’ll break the boundary, travel through Edinmyre to reach the afterlife, and obtain aid from the mutabeecha to open a time vortex and get rid of the Warden once and for all. Then we can work on repairing what’s left.”
Oberi placed his paw on my hand. This is a good plan. I believe this will get me into the afterlife after all.
I reeled back, though no one else had heard him. You? I demanded. What about the rest of us?
I thought it was clear I intend to go alone.
Why would I ever let you do that?
Because the afterlife is a dangerous place, especially with the Warden there inciting a war!
Which is exactly why we’re coming with you. You need back up, and that’s final. I won’t be compromising on this.
I turned back to the others. “Oberi and the demigods will make the journey into the afterlife. It’s the safest way.”
Oberi grumbled, but he knew I was right. Nobody else objected, so I figured we were all in agreement.
“I must warn you,” Doctor Mack added. “I’ve been looking into Doctor Taurus’ future for a long time now, and his path has only become clearer over time.
At this point, there is no margin for error.
If we don’t find a way to defeat him in a few months’ time, the Warden will come here and crush everything.
There will be nothing left of us at that point. ”
A chill traveled down my spine. I was sure the others felt it as well.
“Lucas and I will get started on breaking this boundary right away,” Queen Emmaline said. “We’ll let you know when we’re through, but it’s not going to be anytime soon.”
“It’s all we can do. We’ll have to research as much as we can about time vortexes in the meantime. We don’t want to make any mistakes.”
“Yeah. It’d be a pretty big fuck-up if we managed to ruin time and cause reality to fold in on itself, wouldn’t it?
” Kallie stated, as if she was already thinking this plan was a bad idea.
She trusted her mom to get us to the afterlife, but I didn’t know if she believed going to it was a good idea.
“If we do this wrong, timelines could collapse, and we’d end up creating paradoxes by running into duplicates of ourselves on other timelines. ”
“We could just kill our other selves. Problem solved!” Danny said.
“No, not problem solved. You have no idea how any of this works. You’re going to fuck up the timeline worse than we’re already planning on doing,” Kallie shot back.
“I bet the other me is an asshole, anyway. Nobody’s going to miss him. I’m the better version,” Danny boasted.
“You’re an asshole,” Kallie grumbled. “And somehow we got stuck with you.”
“This meeting’s over,” I said, signaling everyone needed to leave. People didn’t need to keep fighting. “This is our last option. Let’s just pray the shield holds.”
Those in attendance began to disperse. I didn’t make it a step toward the door before Ivy was at my side, gripping my bicep with their strong nails digging into my skin.
“I get you’re trying to undo all the damage you’ve caused, but fancy magic ain’t going to fix this,” Ivy hissed.
“You ain’t saving nobody until you undo what you did to Ava, because she’s the only one who’s going to get us out of this mess.
The two of you need to get it together. We can’t seek out the mutabeecha and get rid of him unless you two straighten up. You hear me?”
I tore my arm out of their grasp. “And what exactly do you want me to do about it, Ivy?”
Ivy scoffed, like they knew there was nothing I could do, but they sneered anyway, “Maybe spend the next few months in counseling so when you do get to the afterlife, you can actually do something useful and save our asses. Get your fucked up head fixed so you don’t do something crazy to screw us over again. ”
Ivy stomped away, leaving me stunned by their words. Ivy was the last person who I wanted to be right about anything, but they weren’t wrong to say my head was fucked. One wrong move, and I could ruin this for everyone… like I had before.
I had a bad habit of creating chaos. If we were going to pull this off, then I had to make sure everyone— including Ava— could depend on me to get it right this time. I didn’t know how long it’d take for Queen Emmaline and Lucas to break through this boundary, but I knew one thing for certain.
We couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes.