Chapter 80 Ro
Ro
Lost to the sheer darkness of oblivion, the hollow void felt remarkably peaceful.
A reel of memories appeared as vivid as when they’d happened.
Laughter and love. Smiles and friendships.
The warm embrace of my parents and sister.
Instances where I stopped to care for an injured creature.
Braxius, tired and cold from a long winter, threatening me with his mighty fire as I approached.
The first time he nuzzled against me.
Radhak taking me in and offering to put me to work. Rav teaching me proper sparring techniques and nodding his first offer of praise when I mastered a simple stance. Tio and I cackling around the fire over the stunt he’d pulled on our first mission together and how I’d saved his ass.
His complete devotion to Melody.
A grip like a constricting snake clenched around the abstract memories, and what followed was a twist of pain. Suddenly I was watching my mother’s funeral. An argument with Tula before I permanently joined Rahana. Mira describing my father’s last moments. When I released the arrow that struck Alba.
Dae being hauled into the depths of the Black Pool, the water becoming disturbingly still. Braxius’s tiny body tossed into the same water like a piece of trash. Nora, limp and still and covered in blood. Evenita dissolving before my eyes.
Dae sucked into Marvoe’s clutches.
Loss. There’d been too much loss. It overwhelmed like a bursting dam. I clamped my hands over my ears to silence the screams I cried in my mind. Or at least, the essence of my ears. I existed, but had no form. Saw, but had no eyes.
The horrific scenes rippled, then faded away. Nothing but a kernel of glowing light and I remained in this suspended ether. Where was it coming from? Curious, I reached to touch it.
It pressed against me—or, what would have been me, had my body still existed.
A comforting warmth emanated from it, and I recognized what it was.
The magic Evenita gifted me. A combination of kernels of power that bound themselves together.
She’d named them all, magics derived from the rumored gods.
All except one.
Thanna, The Goddess of Death. Her power didn’t reside in me.
Because hers had taken root inside the earth, hidden in a lake in the north of an old kingdom.
Melody had given me the answer. She thought her light should have defeated the dark, but we weren’t fighting against darkness. We were fighting against the power of death.
The scroll the seer had given me finally made sense.
Death ends with life,
A cease to strife, and it starts with just a flicker.
My magic hadn’t been simply telepathy with animals, a low-ranking power undeserving of classification. It was a connection to life itself. I could sense nature, the unease of the forest as I’d traveled north. Heard the thoughts of creatures and answered their cries.
I was the receptacle for all life giving magics; fire, sky, flora, fauna, water, wind.
And with them, I would overcome death.
My eyes shot open. I couldn’t see beyond the blinding brightness. But I did not need to see. I sensed life around me, felt it rally to my call. I was back on that grassy battlefield, repelling the smoky tendrils that clawed at me.
Life’s energy was crystal clear in my mental vision, mapping and identifying every source. In stark contrast were all the areas it was absent, corroded by that natural equalizer. In the depth of a nearby black mass, a hint of life flickered weakly.
Marvoe.
A brighter spark lay on the ground to his left, though its flare was erratic. Even Dae’s hazy silhouette was handsome.
Instead of drawing from my quiver, I drew from that basin within, summoning a familiar form. Instead of nocking wood to string, I nocked concentrated magic upon itself. I wielded the gift from the gods in the only way I knew how.
With unseeing eyes, I retracted my arm. Like a supernova, power exploded from that well inside of me, concentrated into a single arrow. All the donated drops of power left me and soared with the shot.
Through the smog of darkness, it struck true, infusing him with light like an injection.
Marvoe’s blood-curdling scream rent the air. Trees bowed at the force of his cry, leaves torn from their branches and carried away on a breeze of fury.
Like a fuse to a cannon, golden light sparked along every dark projection from his body.
A burst of invisible force spread from the epicenter, engulfing the land beneath its expansion.
The world restored before my eyes, the dark magic receding, like Alaina was using her time turning magic to return Windguard to its former glory.
A blanket of light climbed over Dae, and the ground around him lit up like the sun.
A dazzling display set the forest of Windguard alight, erasing every darkened mark and leaving behind vibrant green life.
The obsidian crystal in Marvoe’s grasp exploded into shards. He collapsed, returning to his human form when red light recoiled into Dante like a shooting star. “NO!” he cried, the sound filled with loss over the destruction he’d worked so hard to accomplish.
“Dae!” With no trace of darkness in sight, I raced to his side, my knees crashing onto the grass the moment I made it to him.
My hands roamed over his chest, his neck, his face.
His skin was wan, lacking its usual vibrance, and it was clammy to the touch.
“Dae, I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to save you. ” Hot tears filled my vision.
I choked on my words as they poured out.
“I never got to tell you just how much you meant to me. You’ve saved me from myself so many times.
When I had no one, you were sent to me by the gods, I just know it.
My perfect Sun God.” I laughed as I caressed his cheek, savoring the bristled texture of his beard, and stroked my thumb back and forth.
“I loved you more than I’ll ever get to show you. ”
I searched for his hand and held it tight as I pressed my forehead to his chest.
“Loved?” Dae’s garbled voice had me lurching up and gasping.
His skin returned to its warm brown hue, his eyes glittering with brown fire, no trace of the darkness that had taken hold.
I flung myself over him, hugging with every ounce of strength that remained in me.
My mind reeled, but I didn’t care about answers.
All that mattered was the warmth of his hands on my body, and the love that exploded from my heart.
“I hope it’s not past tense,” he added wearily, probably because I was squeezing the daylights out of him.
I laughed through my endless flowing tears. My nails dug into him, anchoring myself because I never wanted to let go.
Garbled groans moaned several feet away.
“You son of a bitch,” Dante growled upon his storming approach, no beast form in sight.
I positioned myself between Marvoe and Dae, unwilling to lose him again should the dark wielder rise. But Marvoe looked barely human. His skin held a blue tint, his body frail and emaciated. He’d given so much of himself to the dark magic that when it receded, he barely had anything left.
Dante mounted him, rearing his cocked fist back, and delivered a cracking blow to his jaw.
“This is for Mira.” Another blow sent blood spewing from Marvoe’s busted lip.
“This is for Jasper.” A matching hit to his other cheek.
The now disfigured face beneath Dante’s towering frame appeared dazed.
“And this. This is for Argora Vale.” Dante’s hands enclosed around Marvoe’s throat.
The hideous version of a man kicked and squirmed, attempting to pry the fingers locked in a death grip.
“Magic doesn’t make you powerful. Or using threats to force others to bend to your will.
You prayed on those who felt oppressed, weaponized them by feeding them lies of grandeur.
But you never cared for them. Never cared for anybody but yourself.
That isn’t what made you powerful, it’s what made you weak.
It’s why you’ll die here, surrounded by no one who loved you.
Oh, and this will require no blood.” Dante’s arms flexed and a sickening crack rang out.
Marvoe’s eyes bulged and his body convulsed until it didn’t. For good measure, Dante shifted into his beast form. I looked away, but still endured the skin-shredding, gut-spilling, bone-breaking sounds from Dante ripping the corpse in half.
“Gross,” I muttered, returning my attention to Dae. He sat up, but winced from his arm. “We’ll get you a healer,” I promised, ready to seek out the king or the Prince of Duski, if either remained.
An odd silence surrounded us. No screams, no weapons. Just a still forest. None of the god gifted magics remained within me, but I sensed no lingering tension in the creation around us.
“Ro…” Tio said, limping as he approached, holding Melody’s hand. His eyes were wide, marveling at the untainted forest. The blonde beauty just stared, mouth hung open.
Dante fell to his human knees before me. “I owe you everything,” he said, pressing his hand over his heart, blood smeared across his knuckles.
“As do I.” King Nicholas held Nora in his arms and knelt. Her eyes fluttered, and I sobbed in relief. Marco and Alaina made their way to me as well, the prince’s arm wrapped around her neck, using her for support. He lowered himself onto his knee beside his cousin.
Three rulers of separate kingdoms bowed their heads on behalf of their lands, their people, their loved ones. I had no words, because this wasn’t my glory. We’d all fought today, had been willing to sacrifice ourselves to stand together.
“I think that earns us a lifetime of favors to call in, don’t you think, Ro?
” Tio perfectly broke the silence, wearing his charming smile before planting a kiss against Melody’s temple.
“And we all made it. Oh, I mean, oops.” Tio extended his arm, using his magic to lift the fragments of a broken Jasper that’d scattered along the forest floor on the east side of the clearing.
“Has anyone seen Evenita?” Alaina’s eyes scoped the battle scene as the reduced number of soldiers gathered in the aftermath. Her piercing blue gazed searched for answers. I offered a look of shared heartache and slowly shook my head.
The time wielder bit the inside of her cheek as her eyes turned glassy.
“She wanted me to let you know it was alright. I think she knew it would play out this way.” I wish I could show Alaina how peaceful the old woman looked in her final moment.
Marco looped his arm around her calf from where he knelt and rested his cheek against her thigh in solace.
Dante lowered his head and drove a hard punch into the soft ground, watering it with falling tears.
Evenita had touched all of our lives. I doubted we’d all be here today if it hadn’t been for her.
Prince Nicholas reached out and gripped Dante’s shoulder, and collectively we offered a moment of silence.
Until a few floating chunks of rock rolled on the ground beside us. “My buddy said you could fix him again,” Tio timidly mentioned.
“He can wait,” Alaina snapped, barely keeping her composure intact. A few of her long braids had fallen from the coil atop her head, and she whipped the long pieces behind her, holding her chin high though I sensed she wanted to break down.
Tio pursed his lips. “Fair enough.”
“Is it over?” Nora’s voice was heavenly, though weak. Her head hung limply to the side against her husband’s chest.
“It’s over, my lady. We won.” Nick pressed a kiss to her head, balancing her in his arms while still on bended knee.
“On behalf of the three kingdoms, I offer you an endless trove of treasure, access to anything you wish, Ro Collins,” Prince Marco said.
Nick shot him a questioning, sidelong glance. “You’re only doing that knowing it’ll come from our pockets and not yours.”
Marco feigned insult before deciding he didn’t have the energy to muster offense and simply shrugged. “I mean, it’d be such a hassle to travel across the ocean for something she could just get here.” The snowy-haired prince grinned, not relenting his hold on Alaina.
Nick shook his head with a laugh. “I agree with my generous cousin over here. Anything you want, Ro, you name it.”
I peered around at the group that stood with me throughout the darkest period any of us would ever face. Now, we stood on the cusp of a bright new future.
“Actually, there is one thing.”