Chapter 39 #2
“I am.” His soft smile made her heart ache. When their lips touched one final time, they cried together—for the end of his life and the end of their story.
Eldric held her face in his hands. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she breathed, defeated.
Alissa was about to do the hardest thing she had ever had to do—end the life of someone she loved to save her daughter and her town from a fatal curse, but she couldn’t stop. Not now.
She watched Eldric lie under the tree beside her daughter, their hands entwined as one of them prepared for death. With his nod of consent, Alissa started reciting the words she had memorized, the words that would hopefully break the curse that had haunted generations.
“Oh, time, please forgive my ancestors’ foolishness. Forgive the ones who strayed from magic’s ways. Those who let selfishness dictate the rules of an entire people.”
With each new word, she felt her magic leap stronger than ever. The fibers of her power traveled freely through her body, leaving her forearms in glowing threads of white and black.
“ALISSA, STOP!”
The scream coming from behind startled her, causing the strands of magic to recoil back into her forearms. Alissa narrowed her eyes, straining to see through the darkness of the night. As her vision adjusted, she finally made out the figure of Mrs. Weller.
They hadn’t noticed it before, but she had followed them all the way to the forest after they fled with Dhalia.
Mrs. Weller had witnessed everything: their kiss and the sorrow that accompanied them, Eldric lying beside the frail child, and the faint glimmers of magic emanating from Alissa.
At that moment, she understood everything.
“You can’t do this, Alissa!” she urged.
Alissa shook her head. “It’s the only way, Mrs. Weller. A sacrifice is needed.”
Lorena, whom she loved as a mother, came closer. “I understand, my child.” Her eyes darkened. “Take me instead.”
Alissa froze. Speechless.
With the remnants of battle staining her appearance in every imaginable way, Alissa believed she had managed to hide the pain eating at her heart. But Mrs. Weller, who had helped raise her as her own, could see through it all.
Mrs. Weller moved her hands to hold Alissa’s, her lips pursed. “My dear Alissa… I have lived enough. There isn’t much more left for me in this world.”
“Of course there is,” Alissa protested, her lips quivering. “I took down the walls. For you. For all of us!” She wiped a tear from her own cheek. “The world out there is so beautiful… Freyah would have wanted you to see it.”
Lorena closed her eyes, trying to tame her own wave of emotions. “I see the way you look at that man, my girl. I cannot allow your chance at true love to be stolen from you.”
Alissa had a thousand comebacks ready, but something inside her kept her from voicing them aloud.
“I lost my husband while you were away, and now I’ve lost my Freyah.
I don’t think I can bear living without them here.
It’s insufferable. None of the wonders of this world interest me if my family is not here.
I have nothing else to live for, child.” Lorena took a deep breath, but the air got stuck in her lungs.
“Please, do me this favor. Let me see them again.”
The past few months of Lorena’s life had been the worst she had ever lived.
She had lost her husband, seen her town ravaged by vicious men, and witnessed Dhalia’s life wither away.
She still had hoped she would be able to rebuild herself in the end, but after learning of Freyah’s passing, she didn’t crave a new beginning anymore; she craved the end.
Sacrificing herself for Dhalia and Alissa—the only two people she loved who could still be saved—was for her a gift, greater than any other.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” Alissa asked, sniffing.
“Don’t you see?” Lorena Weller spoke with a smile. “In the end, this is all about a mother’s sacrifice. You’ve done your fair share of sacrifices for your daughter. Now it’s my turn to do mine.”
Alissa traveled back to the conversation they had the night she found out Dhalia was going to die.
“The love of a mother has the power to change the world, Alissa. You would be surprised to find out that, given the chance, you would do anything for your child. You would kill and die for her in the blink of an eye. As I would for mine.” Mrs. Weller’s words made more sense than ever.
Alissa found herself crying in the arms of the woman who had been a mother to her for over a decade. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save her,” she whispered, letting out the guilt she carried for Freyah’s murder.
“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault, my girl. She loved you so much… and so do I.” Lorena’s gentle smile appeared. She didn’t look afraid, but rather, relieved.
“I love you too. Thank you for taking care of my daughter, for helping me save her.”
“I’m not doing this only for Dhalia, you know?
I’m doing it for you and Freyah, too.” She pressed a gentle kiss to Alissa’s cheeks.
“Be happy, my girl. You deserve it.” Lorena’s eyes gleamed with the pride only a mother would feel.
With one last hug, she whispered the words that Alissa would hold to her heart forever. “I’m so proud of you, my dear Alissa.”
Freyah’s mother took Eldric’s place beneath the tree. She would never know what her daughter’s last words had been, but hers were directed at the man she had chosen to save. “Take good care of them, lad.”
“I will. I promise you,” Eldric replied, filled with gratitude for this woman he didn’t know—a woman willing to give her life in his stead. That was where all of Freyah’s kindness had come from, he was certain.
Alissa restarted the spell, her voice wavering.
“Oh, time, please forgive my ancestors’ foolishness. Forgive the ones who strayed from magic’s ways and let selfishness dictate the rules of an entire people. Hear the plea of a humbled beholder and bring back the balance of life and death into this land of sins.”
For every word Alissa chanted, more threads emerged from her forearms, out of her body.
The white materializing from her right arm was the only light illuminating the forest’s darkness around them, while the black ones were almost completely hidden in the night’s shadows.
Other people now arrived where they stood, drawn by the striking light coming from the forest. From the perplexed looks on their faces, Alissa knew she wasn’t the only one seeing the black and white threads flowing around this time.
“Please grant us your mercy and give back the years taken from this innocent soul. Take this sacrifice to mend our kind’s mistakes, to right our wrongs, and spare future generations from this fated curse.
Accept this promise to never again unbalance the natural order of life, to never break the Magic Edictum.
Let this land be once again a place where old age comes with the passage of time and not out of punishment. ”
The threads began to weave their way toward where Dhalia and Mrs. Weller lay beneath the oak tree.
The dark threads penetrated Mrs. Weller’s body; with each new strand that entered her, she appeared older.
With every light thread that flowed inside Dhalia’s almost lifeless form, a year of life was returned.
The black threads of Senectus Subita that had once swirled around the girl were gradually replaced by the white ones.
With each thread, her youth was restored, transforming her back into the beautiful child Alissa remembered until only one last thread remained.
“Bring at last to the people who have only known misery, some sense of peace.”
When the last of her verses were spoken, Alissa’s knees buckled, and she fell to the ground. The pressure in her chest was so overwhelming that she thought her ribcage would explode. She tried to draw deep breaths, but the air didn’t seem to get to her lungs; she heaved in pain, in desperation.
Why did it hurt so bad? Did she finally reach the limit of her magic reserve?
Alissa closed her eyes, focusing on the power that a moment before had been bustling through her veins. But there, diving deep into herself, she found only silence. The numbness in her veins was one she only knew existed now after experiencing true power for the first time.
When the pain subsided and she managed to look up, she saw it: each lasting strand of her magic dispersed into the atmosphere, taking with it the life of a gentle woman—a sacrifice that would never be forgotten.
Eldric helped her stand, and they rushed to where Dhalia lay, her body now reflecting her childlike spirit. Her golden hair shone, her skin was flawless, and her small figure had returned to the way it was always meant to be.
Except Dhalia wasn’t breathing.
Alissa’s world turned as her worst nightmare unfolded before her. It had all been in vain—all of her efforts, all the killing, Freyah’s death, Mrs. Weller’s sacrifice.
All of it.
She cradled her daughter’s motionless body in her arms, helplessly weeping on Eldric’s shoulder.
How could she have believed she was capable of ending such a curse? How could she have allowed herself to become attached to the hope of saving the girl when she could barely save herself?
“Don’t cry.”
The sweetness of the voice Alissa knew so well pulled her back to her senses.
She looked down to see wide brown eyes staring up at her, accompanied by a smile that washed over her with a wave of relief.
Alissa held the girl tightly in her arms. Eldric soon joined their embrace, his throat tight with emotion.
“I missed you, mommy,” the girl whispered.
Alissa watched her child with her heart full, glad her innocence remained intact even after the curse. She admired every little piece of her girl, everything that made her who she was.
“I missed you too, baby.”
Dhalia was finally safe.
After six long months of struggle, Alissa could finally breathe again.
It had all been worth it in the end.