Claimed by Love (A Rizer Pack Shifter Series Book 3)

by Wilson, Amelia

  The dragon looked at her in puzzlement and shook its head, letting out another high-pitched squeal.

  “I’m letting you go,” Shera grunted.

  As she pulled out the fibrous tendrils, the roots of magic which had dug deep into the dragon’s carapace came out easily, no longer strong and fleshy, but grey and withered. With each tug, the dragon begun moving its claws and legs more comfortably. It stretched out.

  “Leave one,” the dragon said out, surprising both the humans. “It will give me enough time to power the city so everyone can leave in time.”

  Shera could not believe her ears. Why did this dragon care what the others went through? Why was it concerned about the lives of the other people living up there? She did not have the time to ask this of it, for the dragon stretched magnificently, and spread open its slightly torn, wizened wings. If it could smile, there it was, a small grin etched on its face.

  Thank you, it telepathically relayed, before shooting off from the cavern, a single strand of binding magic still glowing to its left hind leg. As it flew towards the top of the cavern, the dragon swirled into a torpedo like formation and easily broke through the wall.

  Vahren looked at Shera, who was still awestruck by what she had just witnessed. He took her hand into his and kissed it. He tried to contain the tremble she felt over what she had done.

  “Thank you.”

  Shera could only nod and embrace him. There was nothing else she could do but see what the Jewel of Maan had in store for all of them.

  “It will all be all right. We will be fine,” he reassured her.

  Just then, a sharp shriek was emitted from behind them. They turned to see the High Priestess standing at the entrance of the cavern, her body bloodied. A long gash ran across her face, and her staff was broken. She limped at them.

  “Where… where is that damned dragon?” she gritted her teeth. Discarding the staff at the side, Iktai wheezed. The bulge in her eyes was almost too fear soaked, unwilling to come to terms with what Shera and Vahren had just done. “What did you do?”

  Her scream was now a distant relic to Shera. What was once fear born out of respect for the prolific figure in Sedayval, was now replaced with pity. This was the woman who had to conform to the ideas and beliefs of the others before her.

  The old woman limped badly, the injuries getting to her.

  “Gone. I set it free.”

  Iktai pointed at Shera, but no beam was emitted from her fingers. The symbols on her hand glowed weakly, flickered intermittently before dying off completely.

  “What did you do?” Iktai moaned. “What did you do?”

  Shera and Vahren looked away when Iktai slammed her head against the ground. The High Priestess sobbed like a baby, unable to come to terms that the Jewel of Maan was no more. She spoke in a sad monologue, not caring if they were listening.

  “When they first showed me the Jewel of Maan, I did not want to believe it. It was… a dragon. Something disgusting. There was nothing god-like about it,” Iktai said, her mouth curling in abhorrence. “But… but I had a duty to fulfill and this was it. I did the best I could.”

  Iktai sat atop a rock and looked at the discarded nest formerly occupied by the Jewel of Maan. Its detached scales were still littered on the cool rock floor of the airy cavern. She looked at the emptiness with a wistful expression on her face. There was nothing else left to be said. She had given up.

  “A three-hundred-year-old secret, and it is now revealed,” she said, looking up at the hole caused by the Jewel of Maan. One solitary sapping wire remained active, tied to the dragon as it revealed itself to the denizens of Sedayval.

  *

  They left Iktai to cry in the cavern. Nothing much could be done anymore. To get out of there, Vahren fused again with Shera. There was not much energy left between them, but as a united form, they could climb out through the hole.

  As they made their way into the central square, it looked like a scene of carnage. The beautiful pillars on and statues and marbles were broken, and the fight was slowly beginning to dissipate.

  When they broke apart from each other, Shera was greeted by the sight of her rival, Iman, who was panicky.

  “Shera, what are you doing here?” she asked, helping her up. To Vahren, she gave a yelp of fright.

  “Don’t worry, he is a friend.”

  “What?”

  “Iman, I don’t have time to explain. Sedayval is going to fall soon.”

  The look on Iman’s face doubled in its fright. She was close to the verge of tears.

  “Get yourself, your family, as many people out of here.”

  “Shera, what is going on?” Iman was almost at the verge of tears. The city was plunged into darkness. The lights no longer glowed, the waters no longer flowed. Everything was in stasis.

  “Get the Acolytes to activate the teleport pads in the temples.”

  “There is no power! Our runes no longer work,” Iman wrung her hands.

  “It will. In a while.”

  A few people screamed out in the darkness. Iman looked at the sky in terror at the silhouette of a great big beast flying over their heads.

  “Go, Iman! Tell the Acolytes to get everyone out of here!”

  “But Maan… Maan will help us!”

  Shera did not have the heart to tell Iman what she knew. There was no time to explain to the religiously fanatical Young Acolyte that the god they all prayed to was a victim. Sedayval, the High Priestess, even Shera – they were all parasites leeching from a living, magical being.

  The street was plunged in darkness. Most of the power source that had ran the city was now gone. All that was left was the last final wire still looped around the Jewel of Maan’s front leg. That was the only power that kept Sedayval from crashing down.

  Vahren inched closer to her, exhausted. He could move no more.

  Just when all hope was lost, a great dark figure loomed in the sky. The Jewel of Maan flew down, and looked at Shera and Vahren. Iman screamed out profanities and cowered, begging for Maan to spare her. The Jewel of Maan ignored her and spoke to Shera.

  “Leave it to me,” it said.

  And it sent out a telepathic wave towards everyone in Sedayval.

  “The city will crumble and fall in an hour. This will give everyone enough time to evacuate this place. Go to the Temple of Maan, and walk through the teleportation pads. They will transport you to the nearest cities.”

  The runes on its body was evidence enough to be the runes derived from the words of Maan. The cable still stuck on its body was proof of its exact nature. Others may not know, but the important people in Sedyaval did. And it was enough.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Shera said to Vahren.

  The Jewel of Maan blinked at them, and let out a small string of fire through its mouth. Shera gasped, but the fire did not burn them. Instead, it swirled around them like butterflies, replenishing her energy. She was enamored once more, invigorated by the immense energy within her.

  “Go with my last blessings.”

  “Aren’t you leaving with us?”

  “I… we… made this city. If it is to die, we are to die with it.”

  “You don’t have to,” Vahren said.

  “Oh, but we do,” the dragon explained. “We have been fused for so long, we have forgotten what it is like to disassociate anymore. We may be made of hundreds of people, but now our minds are melded into one. It is who we are, and we have to accept it.”

  “Why are you choosing to spare us?” Shera could not help but ask.

  “For three hundred years, we have seen the smiles and sadness of the Sedayvalian. We love them with all our heart. From the wail of a newborn child to the last breath of the centenarian in Sedayval, we have been there all the way.”

  Shera looked at the beast. Though it wasn’t the truth she had expected, she had finally found some closure. There was nothing else left to be said. People were beginning to evacuate around them, heading to the Central Square or
the temples.

  Epilogue

  They were teleported to a distant Cliffside on lower Earth, about seventy miles away from the floating city. There, they could see the floating city of Sedayval. But it now seemed bare. The greeneries that once littered its surface were now brown or red. The obsidian underbelly was rusty. The water from the Vahana river that flowed against gravity into the city now ceased to exist. Sedayval was slowly dying with the Jewel of Maan.

  The one hour given to them by the Jewel of Maan finally came to an end. Even from a distance, Shera and Vahren could hear the Jewel of Maan give out a great roar. There was a flash of light as the dragon imploded within itself. With nothing to keep it afloat, the great rock that was Sedayval came crashing to the earth. A cloud of dust and a great rumble of the earth were felt from where Shera and Vahren stood. The dust would not dissipate for weeks. People from far and wide would soon learn that the floating city of Sedayval is no more.

  Shera thought that she would cry at the destruction of her homeland. But, as she looked at the thick smog formed at the crash site, all she could feel was relief.

  “Everything in my life has been a lie. I don’t know what to believe in anymore, Vahren.”

  “There are things in life that you don’t have to believe sometimes. And it is fine to say that you don’t know, and you don’t want to know. Curiosity is a kind of dangerous drug.”

  “But what if I wanted something more to life? What if I wanted to believe that there was something great?”

  “Then when it isn’t, you would be disappointed. But if it is, you would then be happy. But let me ask you this. Wouldn’t it be better sometimes, to just not know?”

  Shera pondered long and hard at Vahren’s question. They stood at the edge of the cliff, arms clasped into each other’s.

  “Tell me something that is true then. Make me believe in something.”

  Vahren smiled wanly. The sadness was still evident in his face. He had come to Sedayval to free the Jewel of Maan. Instead, he had to accept that it too, just wanted to die.

  “Believe in me, Shera. We have a saying in Shando. A dragon is made from two things; love and belief.”

  She smiled at him..

  Satisfied, Shera jumped off the cliff, hands still clasped in his. The surprise on his face was not unpleasant. He had anticipated her move. The duo held hands midair, the loud whooshing sound in their ear deafening to all the other sounds in the worlds. The bright light from the seemed so incandescent when viewed from the perspective of a falling body. Shera could only squint, unable to take in the rush of air coursing through her as she plummeted to the ground below.

  There was a time to anchor one’s beliefs on the ground, and there was a time to take it up. A good ship knew how to do both.

  As the brown dragon took to the sky, it flew not with a sense of purpose, but one that was of accomplishment. The body was encompassed of calmness and emotional turmoil, balance in imbalance, and truth in a sea of lies.

  When Shera and Vahren flew together as one, they did so, not because they knew they were in love; but because they were curious enough to search within themselves, and admit that they would not know where this relationship would head to.

  The fusion gave out one roar into the sky, and flew towards the eastern region of Shando.

  *****

  THE END

  A FRIEND IN LOVE

  Introduction

  Yarra sat in her room, listening to the noises coming from the hall. She had been waiting for him to come. The time on her wristwatch showed that it was fifteen minutes past midnight. He was on time.

  She was lying on her side, with her back facing the door. With a small creak from the un-oiled hinges, the door opened. Still, she did not turn to face her mysterious visitor. She already knew the purpose of his visit. Her ears picked up every rustle of his footsteps against the parquet floor.

  Arms hugging a throw pillow, she tensed just slightly. She would not give him the pleasure of knowing what she knew. The tears started welling up in her eyes.

  The fine hairs on her neck stood up. She knew that he was standing two feet away from her. It was strange how the faint smell of his cologne made her emotional. In her vision, he had been wearing a loose white shirt, skin tight jeans, and a silver choker that she had gotten him for his birthday. Yarra yearned to turn and look at him. Perhaps her vision had been wrong, but that had never happened before.

  Her back facing him, she heard the smooth sound of his finger running against something metallic. ‘The gun,’ she thought to herself. The slightest of click came from the revolver. He took aim, and Yarra did not dare move. She would let her vision play out the way she wanted it to. There would be a letter on her table addressed to him. Perhaps he would read it after killing her, perhaps not. She would not know.

  Chapter-1

  The Present

  Death is inevitable. Humans know that much, though when and how are questions they can often not answer.

  Yarra could. And she had seen hers. Nothing fancy. In her vision, she was lying in bed, and the clock was a quarter past midnight. She, from a third person’s point of view, saw a man hold a gun to her back, followed by a loud explosion. All was dark afterward.

  She also knew the identity of her killer. He looks suave, and cruel; a smirk present on his face as though he relished the opportunity to rid her off the face of this earth.

  Presently at the moment that the vision occurred, she was on a date with him. He was not the same person that she had seen in her vision. The man in front of her was mild-mannered, intelligent, and even quirky. Yarra watched him take a scoop of ice-cream from the bowl. A dollop of vanilla fell onto his lap. She handed him a tissue to wipe at the spatter on his brown khakis.

  “I’m sorry,” he says nervously, accepting her offering. “I’m just a bit nervous.”

  She let out a polite laugh. His emotions were genuine. There was nothing extraordinary about the man in front of her. He was average in height and features. Pockmarked in the face, the only trait of his that transcended the sublime was his smile, warm, almost incandescent smile.

  No way could he be the man in the vision. That man she saw held on to the gun as though he had been using it all his life. He was a ruthless killer. The person in front of her right now had dropped his fork twice and spoon thrice throughout their date.

  “What do you have to be nervous about?” she asked him, fishing out another tissue from her purse.

  He accepted it graciously. She had a point. The guy in front of her was a total babe, very much unlike the losers she had dated. At least he did not constantly talk about himself.

  “It is just…, I rarely go out on dates. And…, and you are…”

  He did not finish his sentence. Instead, he looked down and blushed.

  Yarra reached for a scoop of ice cream they were sharing. Her heart was hammering in her chest.

  How would she let him know that he would kill her one day? In a year to be exact. She couldn’t. He would have looked at her as though she were a complete lunatic!

  “What are you majoring in?” she asked to distract herself from the thoughts in her head.

  “Economics. You?”

  “English literature with a minor in contemporary art.”

  He looked at her with a smile that warmed her entire body. For a moment, Yarra forgot her future vision and enjoyed the first date she had had in years.

  The café across the street from their college was packed with people coming out from their mid-morning classes. It was one of the sort of dates arranged by her friends.

  They complained that she did not go out much, but what was the point of going out when you knew what was going to happen? She could not enjoy football matches because she would know who would score the winning pass.

  Her visions came at irregular intermittency, but she could predict which man would make a pass at any of her girlfriends. Whenever someone came up to her with a possible setup, Yarra’s precognitive abilit
ies were able to tell her their future together – sometimes even as far as seventy years.

  Though in her vision, it showed the possibility of happy marriages, Yarra was bored. She would have known what to expect with all these men. The lure of the mystery was already lost.

  When one of her friends, Sharanya, had spoken to her about Avice, Yarra listened as politely as possible. As Sharanya continued her spiel about the cute boy in her economics class, Yarra nodded, already knowing that her mental precognizant nature would shoot into a flurry of future images about her life with Avice.