“I met a warrior who tested me. Together, she and I have given the Andinna one last fight to reclaim what we lost. I cannot do it without you, though. We are beaten and bruised. Right now, the last of our people are fighting to survive while I am here, begging for your help. I will continue to serve in your name until I have an heir ready to claim the throne. I will continue to serve our patron goddess, the mother of our bloodline. The only difference between me as a boy and me now is I ask to serve as the new Avatar of Lariana and King of Anden. Allow me the privilege to join your ranks, so I can bring our people back. This is not the time our people should fall into darkness and accept death. This is the time we stand, and we fight, but I need you to let me serve to the fullest of my abilities.” He was pointing at the ground, breathing heavily as he finished. Bringing it under control, he had to bring it around.
“A thousand years. For a thousand years, I served. I want to continue to serve. I await your judgment.”
“Queens of Anden, my daughters and my Avatars! Is he worthy to serve?” Lariana asked, her voice booming through the Hall of Queens. “Do we make an exception for this male and see if his body can handle the power only females have been allowed to hold?”
Alchan waited as no one moved.
Then one moved. His grandmother went to one knee and bowed her head. Then his great-grandmother.
Not every queen bowed, but like a wave, many of them did—so many.
“Ah,” the goddess said softly. “And so, Alchan Andini, Prince of Anden, you have roused the queens to believe you worthy of this power. You do understand what it means to rule, I’ll give you that.”
She appeared in front of him again.
“Now, you must prove worthy of me,” she said with that vicious smile.
“No,” Alchan whispered. “Not you.”
His words greatly offending her, she glared at him, a snarl ripping through the room like the very world was against his words.
“Excuse me?” she hissed. “You are to become my Avatar, and you don’t think you need to be worthy of me? You’ve grown arrogant.”
“I am here to prove myself worthy to my sister,” he answered truthfully. “Just as you once had to become worthy of your own, long before you created the Andinna and our wyvern cousins.”
“Explain,” she said softly, intrigued. Still angry, but curious. He could work with curious. “Tell me what you think you know.”
“Once, two dragons warred as the world was put together. They fought endlessly, light and dark. One more dominant and one more powerful,” he began. “They fought and shaped the very world we live in. The seasons ebbed and flowed as the white dragon and black dragon fought for who would overrun and take this world. To flood it in light or plunge it into darkness. You did not win,” he whispered, envisioning it. “No…something else changed. A new arrival came. A dragon, young and new. She convinced you and the males to love, taught you how to win their hearts, but still, you warred with your sister, born a moment before you and more powerful than you could ever be. Darkness can consume the light, but there will never be a world where light chases away all the shadows. You held on, and here, on Al Moro Nat, was the night you almost lost. The night she was at the peak of her power.”
“You know the truth of our story,” Lariana said, her eyes narrowing.
“You realized you could never beat your sister and truly rule the dragons,” Alchan continued, ignoring her words. He had put the pieces together, realized what he was missing, and drawn from his own life, parallel to the goddess in front of him. “You had to earn her love. A dark creature who had never known it but understood its power. A dark creature who knows power and dominance but not leadership. Goddess Lariana, mother of my bloodline…you rule because your sister loves you and allows it. If she chose, she could defeat you and plunge this world into an endless night. She could bring death on a scale unimaginable. But you rule and hold her leash because she loves you and allows it. You love her enough to keep hold of that leash, so she can continue to enjoy this world she can never truly be a part of and could never truly rule. A world she could ruin if that bond is lost.”
Lariana stared at him, wide-eyed. “How do you know this story?”
“Because I love my sister, Maevana Lorren Amori. She is powerful, and she is dominant. She could defeat me in single combat, and I would…stand no chance.” Alchan blinked back tears as he smiled, finally allowing himself to show one emotion in front of these powerful females. “But she chose me to be her king, and she currently walks to your domain to confront your sister and become the first Avatar of Kristanya. I am here to become your Avatar, not because I believe I am worthy of you or your gift, but because I must be worthy of her, or I cannot rule and serve my people effectively. She means more to me than all things.” He had already boldly stepped over the line and offended this goddess. Now, he looked up and truly met her eyes, a challenging stare, one he felt fit and ready to give her. “Just as Kristanya means more to you than all things. Balance is the key, isn’t it? Light needs darkness to shine in. Darkness needs light to snuff out. Life needs death to be meaningful, and death needs life to feed on.”
“You are the only male to ever stand here and have the chance to speak to me,” she said quietly. “And you picked a story you should not know nor understand because my sister and I thought it would be best to keep it hidden. We didn’t want anyone to think I could ever lose control of her and what that might look like. You are the only Andinna to ever say the story out loud in its entirety, knowing the implications it brings, knowing what it means. And I think…you might be the only one to ever know and understand without fear.” She shook her head, no longer angry but somewhat awed by his words. “You don’t fear the darkness.”
“There is some in all of us,” he replied. “At least all mortals.”
“You don’t fear the power.” She stepped closer to him.
“Not in the hands of someone I love, no,” he said, looking up at her.
She studied him as though he was something she had never seen before.
“I watched you grow up from your grandmother’s eyes. When you became the last of my children on this mortal plane, I had hoped you would have a daughter and send her to me. Now, I see you have walked on a path I didn’t recognize. A path so close to my own, I could not recognize it for what it was.” She leaned back and smiled.
“I didn’t see my path either until the Avatar of Amonora, a male named Varon, decided to show me the way,” he admitted. “But once the light revealed it, I knew what I had to do.”
She hummed, her smile widening as if she knew something humorous.
“Alchan Andini, you have been judged, and you have been found worthy.” She reached out and grabbed his forehead. Power flowed into him as she spoke. “You have joined the ranks of your predecessors and are now my Avatar…and the first true King of Anden. The wyverns will answer your call. You will see the hearts of your people to better serve them. You will rule without question and none shall be able to stand up to your dominance. Remember this important warning. Failure is answerable to me, and I will intervene in your activities if necessary. I have before, and I will again.” She released him, pushing him down onto the throne. “Good luck. Save my people from the death that awaits them, and…go find your sister. Show her that you are more than worthy of her love.”
Lariana leaned over and kissed his forehead.
Then everything was gone, and he sat in a throne room by himself.
45
Mave
Mave stood alone on the peak, staring in awe at the storm that whipped around her but didn’t touch her anymore. It perfectly cocooned the summit. The stone and rock under feet were warm. The air was warm. She thawed, and her pain subsided as blood flowed again, and her body could finally begin its healing process.
She was there. Turning in a circle, looking around, she wondered where she had to go now or what she had to do.
“Kristanya!” she screamed.
<
br /> “No need to yell,” the familiar voice said. “I’m right behind you.”
Mave growled and turned slowly to see the goddess walk out of the storm.
“Welcome to the one place on this earth where the dragons can still stand in the mortal realm and the one place where mortals can stand in the next. You stand on the border of two worlds, both of which I helped create,” Kristanya greeted, opening her hands and gesturing to the surprisingly boring space. Just an open bit of mountain, the summit surrounded by a storm. “Protected by the male dragons, both to keep all of you little mortals out…and to keep all of us females in.” She gave Mave a vicious smile.
“This is where you and I will figure out why you won’t make me your Avatar. Why you’re willing to let the Andinna die,” Mave said, glaring at the goddess, her fury compounding. A flame, that nearly died on the mountain, roared back to life. “And the Avatar of Amonora said you’ve meddled in my life before! What is that about?”
“Yes. We’ll talk, then we’ll move forward with the test. There is no turning back for you now, little girl.” Kristanya’s eyes narrowed. “You want to be my Avatar, and Amonora’s charity case is right, I have meddled in your life before. We’ll start with the meddling, as it’s being called.” Kristanya was suddenly right before Mave and touched her lower abdomen, palm out. Her free hand grabbed Mave’s shoulder and squeezed. Mave didn’t move as those fingers dug into her, painful even through the padded armor. “For decades, I saw souls come to me for final judgment, and they would tell me of you, murderer of your own people. Some of them lied. They were sad specimens of Andinna, but others…they could have had wonderful lives that you cut down too soon.” Kristanya growled. “Then decades became centuries. I told my sister, Amonora, to take something from you, something I felt you didn’t deserve. This.” The hand on Mave’s lower abdomen pressed. “That which brings so much death has no right to bring life into the world. I cannot create, as the goddess of death, and you brought more death to your own people than any other Andinna in history. This is your penance for killing so many. You will never have a legacy.”
Something in Mave broke a little. Something very small. She would never have a child. Mave hadn’t even known she might have wanted one.
That option was now ripped away from her, but it wasn’t herself Mave hurt for. Her husbands would never know the joy Kian did when he saw Senri pregnant. Mave would never be able to give them that. They would never have their own children…unless they found another female to have them with.
That cut Mave’s heart more than anything else.
“But you know why I did it,” Mave tried to say as Kristanya squeezed her shoulder harder. “I had to survive. I didn’t get to choose who I had to kill on those sands, Kristanya.”
“When you came to Anden, I went into your dreams, angry with you,” Kristanya said as if she were admitting a secret. “I had no intention of training you, but you surprised me. You showed me the warrior they all saw, those warriors who fell to you. You have a dark core, something I had never seen in another of the Andinna. I saw the paths and knew if I continued to take my anger out on you, there was no hope. So, I switched course and decided to make you great. Not that it helped.” Kristanya released her and reappeared several feet away again, staring into the storm.
“It did,” Mave growled. “Look at what I’ve accomplished and where I am! I’m here, begging you, my patron goddess, to give me the power to defeat our enemies. I need to become your Avatar. I keep this punishment you’ve given me. I don’t need children, but I need to watch my husbands grow old. I need to help my king. I need to protect the people I fought against for a thousand years. Allow me to prove myself for the Andinna one last time. Allow me to bring more death in their name, instead of death to them.”
“You, like so many others, wish to use the power to subvert death. To keep what is rightfully mine from me. Make no mistake, Mave, their souls belong to me. They all do in the end.”
“They aren’t yours yet,” Mave snarled, refusing to accept Kristanya’s words. “I’m not bringing anyone back from the dead. I am demanding the chance to change their path. The Andinna don’t believe in destiny. No soul belongs to you until it’s dead. Others tend to the living; you tend to the dead. You said it yourself.”
“That changes nothing. You cannot be my Avatar,” Kristanya said, shaking her head. “You will not pass this test. I should kill you now, but you’ve made it this far. I’m only indulging you at this point.”
“Why?” Mave screamed, feeling powerless. “Why can’t I be your Avatar? Why do the Andinna need to die for you to hold this line?”
“Because if I make an Avatar, the world will be plunged into darkness,” Kristanya roared, making the earth shake. “Because I am Darkness. I, the first god of all gods. When the world was new, I was born, and I was powerful.” Something shined in her eyes—glory and a mad power. Mave didn’t move, but she wanted to. She wanted to run…to hide. “I am the primordial darkness! There was nothing before me!” Kristanya smiled, fangs bared, and walked closer to Mave.
Mave took a step back.
“I am the beginning, and I will be the inevitable end. Here is the problem, dear, naïve little girl…I will let the Andinna die before I put my power into the world and destroy it. If I release my power onto this world, my sisters will turn against me, and I am more powerful than both of them. It will not be the end of the Andinna. It will be the end of everything.” Kristanya’s smile turned into a grin as if she was pleased with that idea. “It’s so tempting. When I was born, I was alone. I was everything, and I was nothing. I was destruction with no outlet. Death with no life to destroy. Darkness with no light to snuff out and consume. Endless possibilities, but no paths to follow. Then my sister was born, and she gave me all of those things, and we battled. Endless and violent energies, constant foes, trying to claim this world. Finally, my vicious needs had something to crush, and I nearly succeeded. I nearly ended this world before it ever began.”
Mave stumbled as Kristanya appeared right before her. She fell as Kristanya looked down on her.
“But…after my sister and I warred, for what felt like an eternity, we settled. We learned from each other, and I’ve grown fond of this family I have. So, my dear, naïve warrior…” Kristanya crouched and reached out, touching Mave’s chin. “I will let the Andinna die because the alternative is worse. I do not want to be alone anymore. I do not want to turn against my siblings and hurt them. I do not want darkness and nothing. I want them with me for eternity. I need them. So, no, I will not give a mortal even a fraction of my power. It would only lead to endless death of all things. There is no mortal—past, present, or future—who could understand the things I have had to do to fight my darkest urges.”
Mave tried to understand.
“You could kill all of them?” she asked, looking at Kristanya in a new way.
“I am Death, and all things can die,” Kristanya answered, her words colder than the mountain Mave had climbed. “Even the gods.”
“Why haven’t you already?” Mave’s heart was pounding. “What’s kept you in check?”
“I bowed to my sister and put forth my powers to her needs, to keep balance in the world, and allowed her to lead me as she did the other dragons,” Kristanya answered, her head tilting to the side. “Lariana, my bright sister, is a leader, where I am only destruction and power. She is…perfect. She is all the things this world needs. I will follow her until we have no options left, the battle must continue, and this world’s time is done. On that day, I hope our end will still find a way to be peaceful. I don’t wish to fight her.”
There was a level of awe and reverence in Kristanya for her twin Mave didn’t expect, but she understood it.
“I don’t wish to plunge the world in darkness,” Mave whispered.
“But you will because you don’t understand,” Kristanya said sadly, reaching out. “When the time comes for the Andinna to die, I will retreat into my core and g
reet all of their souls. I will probably think about this moment and wonder, but it is not worth the risk.”
“You don’t understand,” Mave snapped, pulling her face away from the goddess’s touch. “I don’t want to plunge the world into darkness. I want to be my king’s sword! I need to be his weapon. I need to fight better than all Andinna, and I need him to lead me. I have never been a leader, either, Kristanya. I have never wanted more than a small portion of the world. I don’t want to conquer. I just want to survive. I want to help my king because he has to lead us all, or we’ll fall.”
“Your king,” Kristanya said softly, her eyes narrow once again. “My sister has spoken to me about your king. An upstart who didn’t do his duty and produce a female heir for her. Maybe if he had done that, she could rise up and become my sister’s Avatar, but no…it’s too late for him to create that. Another path closed.”
“I wouldn’t follow his daughter until she proved herself. He has. He’s probably there right now, standing in the Hall of Queens, asking Lariana to make him her Avatar.”
Kristanya seemed confused. She looked into the storm, but Mave wondered if she was looking beyond that.
“Ah,” the goddess whispered. “That’s where my sister ran off to tonight. I was focused on you…” Kristanya frowned. “Really, sister?” Her head tilted to the side as Mave realized she had been forgotten, and the words weren’t for her. “It doesn’t matter,” the goddess said softly, shaking her head. “It changes nothing.”
“What?” Mave stood up, wondering what this goddess knew that she didn’t.
“You don’t need to know,” Kristanya answered, turning on her again. “Because you need to pass the test, and I grow tired of this conversation.”
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