Chapter 46 #2
Blythe rose to her full height, which would tower over me if I had the strength to stand.
“I knew my siblings' intentions for me, so I had an enchanter help me devise the prophecy. I needed a plan to ensure that when unbalance caused the world to cave in on itself, there would be a fix. Before my siblings fated me to my tomb of stone, I gifted one last soul a fragment of my power in order to keep my line of magic alive.” Her head shot towards me. “You.”
Her words didn't surprise me, as everything she told me I more or less had pieced together through the manuscripts and my visions.
“I knew you would be created before generations of your ancestors even existed. I was waiting for the right moment to give the world my last gift. Things needed to get worse before you could make them better.”
“How has the balance of nature unwound?” I asked, confused by her claim.
She spun in a circle, her palms opened flat towards the stars. “Don’t you see it? The very chaos we are standing in the midst of, flows throughout the entity of our world.”
“Sure, things in Caelestis are pretty catastrophic, but surely that’s not the case over the entire planet?”
“Horrific things are underway. You may not see it now, but you will.”
“But you’re free now. You’ve been saved, can’t you stop it?” Using all of my strength, I tried to push myself up from the ground.
The goddess came back for me, assisting my efforts by pulling me to my feet. Her touch was light and feathery on my skin. “There is no hope for saving me, my star. There never was.”
I stared at her blankly, studying her bittersweet expression.
I had been following what she was telling me, but now I honestly had no clue what she was even talking about.
“You mean I just destroyed a priceless statue for no reason?” Kohen was right.
The king would definitely have a shit fit about this.
She caught onto my confusion, and breathed out a breath of starlight, though ignoring my accusatory question. “You will not be the one who dies tonight.”
A sigh of relief-coated air poured from my throat. My posture laxed where I stood, somehow steadier than I was a few moments prior.
Blythe dropped her hand from me. “The sacrifice is in regard to myself. When I am gone, you will take my place.”
My relief was short-lived.
Though it was a struggle, I formed a singular word of shock. “Wh…what?”
I shivered as Blythe made contact with my jewels, trailing a single crystalline finger over my cheekbone. “I could not have chosen a better soul to give these to.” A connection sparked between us as she touched me—magic flickering between our souls.
She’d been waltzing around a clear explanation, leaving too much up to my imagination. “Please, tell me what is going on,” I prompted the goddess.
Blythe’s eyes drooped with sorrow and a single drop of silvery liquid streamed down her skin. “I wish we had more time, but the clock runs short. We must be quick with completing the transition.”
“Transition?”
“Take my hands.” Blythe reached her palms out to me.
I glanced down at them, shaking my head.
“My star, you are capable of so much more than you realize. Take my hands, and allow me to show you.” Her voice flowed into my ears, a calming whisper that soothed my soul.
“You believe that you only have power over the mind of mortal souls…” she hummed, her voice dragging my gaze to her irises that twinkled like the cosmos.
As if I had no control over my own being—and maybe I didn't—I placed my hands in hers, allowing the cool touch of her crystallized flesh to wash over me.
The goddess beamed. “My dear, you will soon be able to manipulate the stars.”
“The stars?” The sentence was simple, but I scrambled for the words all the same. I briefly recalled something I’d read about the possibility of Blythe having more power than we realized.
“Why do you think I chose to give you the constellastones? The jewel was the closest thing I could give to the cosmos.” Her lips quirked up. “Until now.”
Light exploded out of the woman before me.
Her eyes closed and her face emitted deep focus as she pointed her head towards the heavens. I fought to maintain my balance as the ground quaked beneath us, but she held onto my hands, keeping me upright and durable.
My eyes were forced to squint as the glow from her skin intensified, illuminating so brightly that I was sure the creatures in the ocean would be blinded by her power.
Starlight dripped off of her. The luminosity crept its way from her fingertips and slithered up mine.
I stood a silent observer to the glimmering, white substance that felt slick as it masked my skin, and as her physical excretion of magic covered my flesh, pieces of hers vanished.
“You need to stop this war,” she whispered, her voice beginning to sound frail as she evaporated before me.
“How?” My throat shivered as her magic consumed me, filling my veins with the power of the constellations.
“I am granting you the power of the cosmos. Use it. Save who you can, then leave through the tunnel under the castle. If things play out correctly, you will find safety at the end of it.”
“And if they don’t?”
“There is more than one outcome,” she answered.
My body tingled at the continuous absorption of power. Sparkling beads of constellastone sank their way into me, making my skin crawl. Like water, I soaked the magic in, allowing it to consume me.
The goddess’ legs had dissipated and her torso was now only half visible. She floated before me, her hair blowing in the cosmic wind of magic spilling out of her.
I scanned my eyes over my own body. My clothing and armor had been melted away by the heat of the starlight, allowing me to see the trail of crystals that embedded themselves into me.
They covered my skin, gleaming and twinkling for a few seconds before absorbing and leaving my flesh with a glowy hue.
My hands went slack as hers vanished, only her neck and face left for me to see. She smiled faintly, but did not say another word before the rest of her faded away into nothingness.
I fell victim to another excruciatingly bright beam of light that flashed as soon as she had dissipated. The force knocked my bare body to the ground, where I sank into the cobblestone, the aftershock of whatever the fuck that was leaving me completely jarred.
My hands quivered in front of my face. White swirls of stars circulated around my fingers, coating my palms and trailing up the backs of my hands. The delicate design faded halfway up my forearms, leaving a permanent reminder of the goddess marked into my skin.
The beating of my heart as it tried to escape my ribcage let me know that I was very much alive.
I pulled my knees to my chest, hugging my arms around myself and erupting into tears.
Relieved to be alive but also in complete shock, my emotions needed an outlet.
I sat for an incomprehensible amount of time, rocking back and forth like a child, only flinching when I felt a rough hand on my spine as someone knelt behind me.