by M. Dalto
“What of her?”
They both looked up, expecting Brynaxia to have come closer, but instead she had stalled, pausing, distracted by something across the way.
Reylor used it to his advantage, knocking his shoulder into Xavon’s jaw hard enough to loosen his grip. Reylor crawled away through the dirt and leaves, his attention solely on the book in his path. A few more paces and he was knocked back down into the dirt as an unexpected powerful blast collided with his back. Sprawling on his face, he should have been protected by Treyan’s magic, but something had happened—it wasn’t there. Fearing the worst, Reylor tried to look for his brother, but he was sore—too sore to move. A flash in his peripheral, however, told him he didn’t need to look too far. His fool of a brother was already moving through the brush toward the discarded book. He must have been watching what happened to Reylor and wasn’t going to take any more chances. He didn’t discredit him that—he just wished Treyan was in better health to make such rash decisions.
He was too slow.
Another blast hit the ground right near the book, knocking Treyan off his feet, and Brynaxia was again on the move. The essence around her had changed, and the swirling power lashing out toward them was erratic and uncontrolled. Reylor feared if they couldn’t figure out a way to keep themselves out of her path, they may not have the chance to do so again.
Chapter Forty-One
Lexan landed on something soft, only to realize it was his sister, who had in turn landed on Jared as they were unceremoniously knocked off their feet by the unrelenting blast. Scrambling out of the line of fire, Lexan looked around and noticed an overturned tree with its roots exposed, leaving enough of a pit in the ground beneath it for the three of them to regroup.
First making sure Sarayna and the Emperor were coherent, he motioned to the safe haven and began moving before waiting to see if they understood and followed. If they were going to have any part in running the Empire one day, thinking on their feet in the middle of an unanticipated battle in an unknown realm was going to be their best practice.
Thankfully, they both followed and appeared unscathed as Lexan caught his breath against the cool dirt beneath the roots.
“What the hell was that?” Sarayna breathed as she settled next to him.
“I’m hoping I can figure it out,” Lexan offered, sifting through his crossbody pack. He searched blindly until he gripped the bound tome within, pulling it out and resting it on his thighs before quickly flipping through the pages.
“This is not the time to read,” Sara hissed.
“On the contrary, I think it’s the best time…”
“How are you?” Jared asked, pulling Sara’s attention away from her brother. Lexan frowned as he continued to read the book.
“I’m…okay,” she said softly.
“Where’s your locket?”
“I don’t know. It was gone when I woke up. Where are we?”
“Your guess is as good as ours.”
“Actually, that’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Lexan interjected. “Though my fear is we’re in some sort of limbo thanks to those lockets.”
“What do you mean?” Sara asked.
“Alara and Seyth said they were Keys, that something happened both in the Otherrealm and in the Empire to bring us all here. I fear ‘here’ is a limbo between the realms that we’re not going to be able to escape from if we can’t buy ourselves some time.”
“Who is attacking us?”
“You heard them,” Sarayna said softly, sadly. “It’s Brynaxia who somehow used Mom to come back…”
“And that’s exactly how we’re going to get Mom back,” Lexan said thoughtfully, flipping through a few more pages.
“How do you expect us to do that?”
“We’re going to hit her where it hurts.”
“With what magic?” Jared inquired.
“Not magic. Memories.”
“What—”
Lexan ignored Jared’s question and instead stood from their shelter.
“What are you doing?” Sarayna hissed, still under cover.
“I’m helping…and if you want to start doing the same, I suggest you prepare yourself for the worst.”
He didn’t know why he handed her the book. Did he want her to know the fate that awaited her should her true purpose come to pass? Did he want to tell his sister that she would be the only one able to put an end to all this, but only with the greatest of sacrifices?
He didn’t want to, but he would. When he had to.
But first…
“Brynaxia!”
“Lexan,” Jared hissed.
Lexan had to take another step away. He didn’t want to be there when Jared realized what would be expected of Sarayna.
Instead, he moved closer to the approaching Queen Empress, the power surrounding her almost as brilliant as the sky above.
“You know you don’t have to do this. Let us help you.”
“What do you know, young princeling,” Brynaxia sneered. “You know nothing of the pain I have endured and the torture I am going to deliver to those who inflicted it.”
“Is Xavon on that list?”
The mention of his name was enough to make her power falter. “Xavon was the one who brought me back to this world to right the wrongs that were done against us. For that, I owe him my life.”
“You owe him nothing,” Lexan countered. “Xavon is the reason you’re here, yes, but he’s also the reason your life originally ended when it did.”
“It was Leminol who caused the rift between the kingdoms—it was Leminol who ended it all, who destroyed our family.”
“It was Leminol who ruined Xavon’s life, perhaps. However, it was Xavon who ended your existence, and it was Xavon who used your own child to do so.”
“I…my children were taken from me. Leminol sent them away, and it was Leminol who brought the destruction to our world.”
“Leminol tried to protect your children after what Xavon did to them—did to you. Together you and Leminol tried to rebuild all that Xavon destroyed. Your daughter—”
“Stop.”
“—your daughter was the greatest sacrifice of all. You chose to leave her behind because you thought you were doing what was best for your Empire. You never expected Xavon to use her like he did.”
“No!”
The wind forcing them to find shelter ceased as Brynaxia crumpled to her knees, holding her head in her hands. Lexan didn’t know what he had done or said, but he knew it was working and he wasn’t about to let up. Daring a step closer, he kept his eyes on the collapsed Empress.
“Xavon was the reason you lost your family,” he continued. “Xavon took your daughter from you, and in trying to save her you lost your son. He used his child to end you and has come back to begin the cycle again. Even the woman you possess is of his getting, and if we don’t stop him now, there will be no end to his reign of torment. We’ve met your children. They’re still alive, and safe in the Otherrealm. They have been helping the future generations of Empresses who did not have the knowledge to protect themselves from him and from keeping his warped history from repeating itself.”
A visible flicker, and Brynaxia was looking up at him. No—not Brynaxia. He could see it in her eyes. It was…
“Mother?”
“Lexan.”
The voice was Alexstrayna’s.
A scream and Brynaxia was writhing, as if fighting an internal force.
“They helped us get back here,” Lexan continued. “Alara and Seyth. They helped us return. Now with you—and Alexstrayna—we can make this right.”
Brynaxia was panting now, shoulders heaving with each breath. Lexan dared another step toward her, knowing what he saw. Knowing his mother was there, just beneath the surface of this woman, and perhaps together they could speak reason and do what they had come there to do—
“Brynaxia! Don’t let them near that book!”
Lexan spun around, foolishly turning his bac
k to the fallen Empress. Just as he was surprised by the outburst, it was enough for Brynaxia to regain her composure and regenerate the forceful wind.
“I knew you were just like the others,” Brynaxia growled. “You’re nothing but a liar looking to take the Empire for yourself!”
“No, that’s not true—”
Lexan was thrown off his feet into the brush. He swore he heard his name being called—but the air was knocked out of his lungs and he struggled to regain his breath.
Slowly he opened his eyes to see the eerie glowing presence of Brynaxia make her way through the forest, and he hoped to the gods above that Sarayna was ready to do what she needed to…
Chapter Forty-Two
Sarayna knew why her brother gave her that book.
She knew what she would need to do the moment they returned to that cabin, when he brought them all back to the Otherrealm and told them the story no one wanted to hear.
It was what she was born for—and what she would undoubtedly die for.
She just wished she had more time. That they all had more time.
Sarayna knew better than anyone else; you can’t always get what you want.
She looked over at Jared, who was rifling through the book Lexan had handed her.
She would miss him the most, if only because she would never have the chance to tell him how much he had hurt her.
“I have no idea what else we could possibly learn from this book,” Jared muttered.
“There’s nothing else we need to know,” she said quietly.
“We can’t just let him die out there!”
“I know that,” she said softly.
He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I know. I know you do…I’m sorry.”
“So am I,” she replied.
“For what?”
“For getting you into this mess. For making you think I was something I’m not.”
“Sara, that’s…no, that’s not true. If anything, I should be apologizing to you.”
“You’re right about that,” she scoffed.
“Please, just try to understand that I tried. I really did, Sara. I wanted to try so bad to be who you wanted me to be but—”
“It’s fine, Jared. It’s over.”
Jared stuttered. “Wait—what? What’s over?”
Sara only gave him a small smile and a quick kiss before she stood.
“All of it.”
“Sara, wait—”
Princess Sarayna was already walking away.
Away from the Emperor she thought she knew.
From the brother who would have all she could not.
From the father she wished she had longer to get to know.
From the uncle she knew she should have tried harder to understand.
Toward the Empress who wanted nothing more than to return to her home.
To the mother she knew still waited for her.
To the fate that was bestowed upon her at birth.
To the destiny that was waiting for her to fulfill it.
The book called to her like a lover, though she knew she had never seen it before in her life. The stories that told the history of her people, and the Prophecy that decided the destiny of her family. With that book, Sarayna knew she would be safe, and with that book she knew she could make things right.
She heard yelling to her side and saw a struggle in the shadows. She knew they saw her, could feel the power building behind her, but she didn’t care. Her focus was on the book.
Sarayna felt the power blossom within her, a warmth like she never felt before and knew she never would again. It was like the comfort of her family sitting around the hearth meshed with the passion of a lover in her bed. It pulled to her like a siren’s song, and she allowed that emotion to channel through her. She used it to guide her through what she needed to do, allowed it to control her movements, her mentality.
With it she became the Prophecy, and the Prophecy became her.
The glow of the book matched the glowing of her hands, of her heart. She imagined the protection her parents gave her when she was only a child, the kindness Jared showed her when they first met, the adoration from Jamison, the protection from Lexan…
Even the stubbornness from Reylor.
Through them, she wanted to defend. For them, she wanted to serve.
She took that golden power within her and spread it wide on both sides, knowing her family and her loved ones were close, and yet too far to help her in this last part of her own journey.
She felt the energy, and spread it as far as she could. Anywhere she could reach, where she could help protect them from the threats of those who wanted to do them harm.
The force grew searing, the heat inside sweltering. It wasn’t like the power of the locket she lost, but it was close.
She knew this was it.
As she approached that book, nothing touched her, no words could reach her.
It was only she and the Prophecy.
“Goodbye,” she whispered.
As she touched the Annals, there was only fire and light.
Chapter Forty-Three
The flash was blinding, but Sarayna knew she was still breathing, even as the rush of power through her from the book took her breath with it. As she blinked to clear her vision, the surrounding area was still bright, and she looked up to see a figure standing above her, dressed in white, with her otherworldly attention fixed directly on Brynaxia.
“Mom.”
“What are you doing here?” Brynaxia screamed, the void-like black of her attire a stark contrast to her mother’s.
“I was summoned,” Alex said with a glance back at Sarayna, who was still in disbelief. She was prepared to have ended it all, ready to leave everything behind. Panting where she kneeled on the damp ground, she watched her mother and the dead Empress face off, Sarayna’s shock matching that of Brynaxia’s.
If she had known that was all it would have taken, could she have brought her mother back to them sooner?
“You’re all fools!”
Sarayna was knocked to the ground before she realized the Annals had been taken from beneath her hand.
She barely had time to see the man running past, but she knew who he was. She had seen him before, and she knew what he was going to do.
She couldn’t move swiftly enough to stop him.
Xavon moved faster than usual for a man of his age, and he held the book to his chest like it was a lost child that needed saving.
He was too quick. There was no way Sarayna could catch up to him to stop him…
Something leaped from the woods, tackling Xavon to the ground. She could hear the sounds of their struggle, broken only by the shouting of her name. In the light emanating from her mother, she could make out…Jared?
“Sarayna, catch!”
She wasn’t sure what was coming at her, but instinct had her moving out of the way. Only too late did she realize Jared had thrown the Annals back toward her. The book landed with a thud and a flash, and she had to shield her eyes against the explosion.
If Jared destroyed the Annals after everything they had endured, she’d murder him herself…
“Leminol,” Brynaxia gasped. “How?”
Sarayna looked back to the book, which was not only in perfect condition, but now possessed the form of an ethereal man hovering above it.
“Bryn,” the deep voice purred. “My sweet Bryn—”
“Don’t listen to him,” Xavon shouted, but his yell was quickly stifled by what sounded like a punch to his gut.
Leminol still heard him regardless, floating away from Sarayna, away from the Annals, toward the brother who had betrayed him, betrayed them all.
“No, you have done enough. You have bastardized everything we once stood for—you have tainted the line with your own agenda. Your tentacles may be wide-spread, Xavon, but I have been watching. I have been waiting and now we end this once and for all.”
Alexstrayna thought she heard her name whi
spered through the trees, but she could not remove her eyes from the scenes playing out in front of her. It was as if she was in a dream not unlike the world that surrounded them, for that was where they were, wasn’t it? The Empress’s dream. The world between where so many had come to traipse through the realms, and where so many may come after.
“Alex” she heard, but she did not tear her attention away from the threesome, reuniting in life but also in death. She watched them and their warped reunion, remembering but remembering differently from before. As if her memories had been altered, and she turned to look to the man known as Xavon…her own father.
Flashes not unlike the pain she felt while she was held captive by Brynaxia bombarded her mind, as flashes of those memories assaulted her. Pictures of Xavon, framed and hanging in her childhood home while she grew up. Remembering him when she was younger, but realizing she was too young to have actually known him. Sensing her mother’s devastation when he died…but he never really died. He just…left. He used them and abandoned them when he deemed his duty complete. Just as he had done to so many others…
She didn’t need to look to know that she was being surrounded by her family.
“Alex, we have to go,” Treyan pleaded.
She shook her head, her gaze on Sarayna. “You know we cannot leave yet.”
She saw in her daughter’s eyes that Sarayna knew—perhaps she had known all along. Maybe they all knew that at some point it would have to come to this. With Sarayna looking at her, Alexstrayna knew she was ready. That just like her, what Sarayna thought was hers to have was not, but if she could leave the world doing something good despite everything else that had been done to try to ruin it—this would be it.
Sarayna nodded and turned to face Jared, who had trudged through the wooded overgrowth to join them.
“I forgive you,” Sarayna said softly. “You were pulled into this. Whether you truly wanted it or not, it’s yours now.”
“Sara, please—”
Instead of answering him, Sarayna looked to her brother. “And you—you’re still a bastard who ruined my life…but you’re my brother. I know that the two of you are going to do right by the Empire.”