Chapter 92 Kali
“ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SHOOT!” they all shouted in unison.
“Haha, Brody lost. Go get the firewood, Smokey Bear.” Xander grinned widely as Brody rolled his eyes.
“That was a dumb way to decide,” Brody grumbled as he started gathering sticks along the forest’s edge.
“What do you want me to do?” Chelsie asked, receiving a mischievous glint from Reiya’s eyes.
“You know, the river is right there, and I would love some roasted fish. If only I knew someone who could catch us fish easily.” Reiya bared her teeth in a big, cheesy smile.
Chelsie giggled. “I can do that for you, Ray Ray.” Reiya swung her arms around Chelsie and gave her a big hug.
“Thank you, Chelsie. You’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. The only problem is I’m going to need a whole school of fish to feed my teddy bear.” Chelsie tilted her head, smiling and looking at Brody. “He’s lucky he’s worth it. I’ll be back soon.” She narrowed her eyes at Xander. “Don’t let her out of your sight!”
Xander lifted his hand to his forehead and saluted Chelsie. “Sir, yes sir. Not out of sight.” He grinned as she rolled her eyes at him, shaking her head.
Reiya smiled as she watched Chelsie walk away. They all liked to poke at each other’s nerves, but it was obvious how close they had all become. Even Chelsie, who Reiya thought would never warm up to anyone, had taken a liking to their group of dragons.
“How are you holding up?” Xander asked as he took a seat on the green, plushy moss beneath them.
Reiya took a seat beside him and leaned back on her hands.
“I’m okay right now. I’m worried about Lee and how he’s holding up.
He doesn’t have anyone with him. For all I know, he’s sitting in isolation somewhere, with nothing but his solitude to keep him company.
That’s what’s the most heartbreaking ... thinking about Lee being all alone.”
Xander raised his arm and rested it around Reiya. “He’s strong. He’s going to be just fine. I’m sure he’s spending all his time worrying about you.” Xander chuckled and looked up at the dimming sky. “Don’t worry. You’ll get him back.” He gently rubbed her back, and she leaned into his side.
She felt the heat that radiated from Xander.
It was a different heat than Lee’s. Lee’s heat was exciting, while Xander’s was just a gentle warmth.
Not too long ago, he was a stranger to her.
Now, he was like the brother she’d always had.
It felt like he’d always been part of her life.
And in a way, he had, since their souls were connected.
“I’m glad you’re here, Xander,” Reiya said quietly.
“Me too.”
Lee sat in a chair as he stared out a window. He was in a barrier that allowed others in but wouldn’t allow him to leave. He sighed in frustration as he heard soft footsteps approach his side.
“What do you want?” he growled angrily without looking at the person at his side.
A smile rose over the person’s face. “Quite the unpleasant fellow, aren’t you?” A calm, light voice echoed through the room.
His eyes twitched and he shifted his angry gaze at her.
“Now don’t look at me that way. I spoke out on your behalf. Several of us did, in fact. Of course, I already knew this would happen.” She walked in front of him so that she was able to completely face him.
“What’s your game here, Selene?” Lee narrowed his gaze at the goddess.
“Watch your tone with me. Reiya is a child of mine. You think I want to see my children hurt? This was all meant to happen. This future has long been foreseen. All we can do is watch it unravel,” Selene said gently.
“Why? Why only watch it unravel? If you’re on her side, why not help her?” Lee snorted, keeping his angry gaze on her.
“I have helped her. Everything I have done has helped set things in motion. There is a difference between helping and interfering. As one blessed with the power of prophecy, I can’t interfere blindly and mess up the timeline.
However, I can give things a gentle push in the direction they need to go. ”
“How long have you known she would be my mate? Did you know back when I was given the necklace?” Lee looked at Selene as he waited for her answer.
“I’ve known since long before then,” Selene said with a warm smile.
“So, this is all your doing? We’re just pieces in the game you’re playing?” Lee raised his voice in slight agitation.
“There is a difference between knowing the future and changing the future. I can see the game and the few ways it could end. And, at times, I help direct pieces into the future I want. Still, I don’t have any direct intervention.
Unlike you. You can have a direct hand in the change that happens because you can’t see the future.
You can fight by Reiya’s side and directly change fate.
Don’t think you’re in a more frustrating position, because you aren’t.
” Selene tilted her head downward, having explained the situation more clearly.
Lee leaned forward and rested his head in his hand.
There was no way her position was more frustrating.
He needed to be at Reiya’s side, and he couldn’t.
This was agony. He couldn’t take it. She was heading toward danger, and he couldn’t be there to help her.
His precious, sweet fairy, who was now his only purpose for living, was heading into danger for him.
He didn’t know how to feel. Reiya was the fairy princess, but the Merrow Queen was vicious.
No one had ever been able to retrieve the Ocean’s Tear.
Would things be different because it was Reiya?
He was really worried about her. How was she holding up?
It was such torment not being able to see her and see how she was doing.
Selene walked away from him, back to the edge of the barrier that was keeping him caged. “She’s doing okay. Brody, Chelsie, and Xander are with her.”
“Xander went with her too?” Lee raised his head and turned to look at Selene.
Selene smiled and nodded. “They’re keeping a close eye on her and being a comfort. She is more worried about you.” She winked at him and then left him alone once again.
Lee turned around and looked out the window.
A small smile raised on his lips. His sweet fairy would be worrying about him.
And knowing that Xander was traveling with her really touched him.
He left his kingdom to go with Reiya. Knowing that the Gemini twins were together helped put him at ease slightly.
With Xander by her side, magically, nothing could happen.
Please be safe, my sweet fairy.
Selene flashed into a dark room surrounded by stone and dimly lit by a few candles. The strong smell of decay hit her nose as she took a few steps closer to the figure in the center of the room.
“Your floral scent is disgusting,” a voice hissed.
Selene scoffed. “I feel the same way about your scent of rotting flesh.”
“The pieces are all moving into position,” the voice whispered, staring into a bubbling stone pot.
Selene sighed with a small frown. “This is the worst part. Knowing the future and the possible outcomes, and having to watch it happen.”
The figure in front of the pot lifted her head and turned her pale face to look at the goddess.
Her dark orbs stared at Selene, a faint sneer on her lips.
“Really? This is the worst part?” The woman's raven hair spilled across her face like liquid shadow, each strand catching the candlelight as she tilted her chin upward with unnatural precision. Her eyes were like bottomless pools of obsidian with no trace of white, reflecting the trembling flame, not as warmth but as distant stars trapped in black ice. The flickering light caught the glassy sheen of her gaze, revealing nothing behind them but an ancient, hungry void that seemed to drink in the darkness rather than be consumed by it. The woman’s black hair brushed against her face as she lifted her head up higher.
“You know what I mean.”
The lips of the pale woman curled upward as her eyes smiled with blackness. “You mean how you have to stand by and watch her walk to her death bed?”
Selene averted her gaze, looking away from the woman in front of her. “Do you see that future too, Kali?”
Kali turned her head and gazed back into the stone pot.
“I can see many futures.” She dipped a pale boney finger in the hot liquid and swirled it around.
“It’s the futures between light and dark that align that are most likely to happen.
” She looked up at Selene. “The futures that we both can see clearly. There are two distinct ones that stand out. Futures that we both know are likely to happen.”
Selene nodded her head and looked back at the woman. She was the dark priestess, an immortal, who had the gift of prophecy. The two had existed together since the beginning of time. The Yin and Yang of each other.
“If he dies, she will have a long road for recovery,” Selene said solemnly. She exhaled lightly and frowned.
“She won’t have time for that recovery. She can mourn the dead after this is all over.
Sacrifices have to be made sometimes for the greater good.
Balance must be restored. An order has been broken, and it must be set back in alignment,” Kali spat out bitterly.
What was one life? What were a few dozen lives in the grand scheme of things?
“I just hate to see my children hurting.” Selene looked up to see the crooked smile on Kali’s face.
“What did you just see?” Her voice was but an airy whisper.
“Something that you must not be meant to see. A future that now has only one path. What is about to happen is meant to happen. The string of fate has been laid. Now it must continue to play out.”
“You won’t tell me what you’ve seen?” Selene asked in irritation, pinning her gaze on the priestess.
“No, I don’t think I will. It’s more entertaining this way.” Kali looked up from her pot, her obsidian eyes shining at Selene. “This is still only one small part. The big showdown is yet to come.”
The closer the future came, the clearer it would be.
This was one of those futures where so much could happen.
Where so much could go wrong that Selene couldn’t see exactly which outcome it would be.
Reiya would make it. She would pull through.
She could see her clearly in the future with the demons, but not the others.
This worried Selene. There wasn’t anything that could be done about it.
This was life. Love, happiness, pain, and sadness were all part of life.
And as much as she wanted to shield Reiya, she couldn’t.
The future that was coming was in Reiya’s hands now.
Her decisions would directly affect the outcome.
Selene met with the dark orbs and nodded her head. “Let’s hope this future doesn’t blow up in our faces.”
“We’ve learned our lesson. We know what can happen when we interfere too much.”
“Like the balance shifting too much to one side?” Selene scoffed with an obvious eye roll.
Kali stared into the liquid in the pot in front of her. She scowled as her gaze burned into it. “Exactly. Now we have to play damage control.”
Selene scoffed again, folding her arms over her chest. “You mean I have to do damage control. My children have to be put at risk for damage control.”
“What about mine? What about my people? Do you think you’re the only one making sacrifices?” Kali’s voice hissed angrily. She then sneered at Selene, an arrogant smirk on her face. “Of course, that’s what you do best, though. You sacrifice the ones you love.”
“What happened to Endymion was not my fault!” Selene clenched her teeth and squeezed her arms over her chest. A silent water crystal dropped from her eye.
“No, it was our fault.” She looked up at Selene and gave her a sympathetic smile. “We got too arrogant. In the end, he saved us from our mistakes. Now we have to make sure we set everything right. Remember who all this is for. Remember the path we chose and the roles we picked.”
Selene nodded and met with the obsidian eyes. “If we continue to let it play out correctly—”
“And let the necessary sacrifices happen ...” Kali interjected, her head tilted slightly.
“In order to save him, some lives will be lost.”
“It’s the bigger picture you must continue to look at.
This is our one shot. You saved the Gemini twins’ souls for this reason.
We can’t let this chance go to waste. It’s your only chance to get him back and my only chance for redemption.
” Kali stared at Selene with resolve. For Endymion, she would put the Chain family through hell.
She would push them into battle like the pawns they were.
Selene dropped her shoulders in defeat. The Gemini twins were needed for the demon war.
That much was true. But that wasn’t the reason she saved their souls.
There was something else that she needed from them.
They were in too deep now. There was no turning back.
This match would need to play out. Then, she would seek what she needed from the Gemini twins.
She sighed and nodded, her voice quiet as she agreed with Kali, “For Endymion.”