by Emily Albert
“Wouldn’t what? Kill herself?”
“No, I never thought she would end it all! She had it in her to be who we needed, but she chose to let it slip away.”
She felt the focus of every being in the area—the dark, limitless space—directed at her. Their gazes burned into her body.
She had a million questions. She decided that “Where am I?” would be suitable, followed by, “Who are you?” but she couldn’t manage to say either.
“You should have been better than us,” someone said from behind her. “That’s how it works. You’re supposed to learn, to follow through where we could not.”
“You were supposed to take the world, child. Your descendants were supposed to take it, and you were the next to try. None of us got past ruling Haeden. No one took another country,” Darrian said, ashamed. “You were supposed to finally make a step in the right direction. Everything could have been ours.”
“Ours?”
“It goes back to the Original. He started the mission for our bloodline to take over the world. He believes we are superior and that we must have complete control if we want the world to thrive.”
“I wanted it… I…”
There was a frenzy of various distressed, angry energies.
“If you had told me the history, maybe…”
“I tried to lead you without it because your focus needed to be on the future, not the past. But still you didn’t listen. You could have gotten past the riot, could have made them understand. If you had just killed Marco without shouldering the blame.”
“It wasn’t possible. I tried.”
“Yes, you tried. You tried to do a lot of things, but you didn’t. That’s what matters. You couldn’t handle the pressure.”
“You made me crazy!”
“No, child,” Darrian said in a sobering voice. “You made yourself crazy.”
“We watched you,” a voice said. “We were rooting for you. Everyone said you would be better than your ancestors. We thought we saw something in you, which is why we chose you over your brother. But we were wrong. You just gave up… You gave up before you even had an heir.”
“If you had only told me…”
“You knew enough that you should have kept fighting. You knew how important it was.”
They were interrupted by a huge, looming presence. The others seemed to feel it as well, and they fell silent.
“I see that this one has failed, as you all have!” said an impossibly deep, contorted voice. “Show me, who is the next one?”
She could feel her guardian’s presence get closer to her.
“There’s no one else. They are all gone. This was the last one.”
Lenna felt a cumbersome gaze fall on her. It had a heaviness that could only belong to the Original.
“I see you’ve come back from my land, Lenna Greyor of Haeden,” he said, “and I see you’ve met your ancestors.”
“I—”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” he said. “This has been our goal for generations, a mission as old as me. I realized when I was on the ground that I was better than everyone, all the other bloodlines. My family was strong, and I knew if we continued, we could have everything. I wanted that for us. I also wanted to be known as the one who started it all. I didn’t care how many generations it took, as long as everyone remembered me. We could have had it all, if it hadn’t been for you. I believed in us. Darrian chose you, and so I trusted you. But you failed me.”
“Isn’t there someone else who can…” her voice was faint, but the Original heard her.
“Do you have any children, Lenna Greyor?”
“No… but Remy? Remy could rule…”
“Lenna, Remy Greyor is dead.”
She stopped, dumbfounded.
“Refused to eat in his cell. He was no good anyway; Darrian saw it the moment he was born. He didn’t have what it takes to conquer the world.”
“My father could come back…”
“Ollivan Greyor abandoned us long ago,” the Original said without regret.
“Surely somewhere else in the world there is someone…” Her voice was so meek it frightened her.
“No! It was supposed to be you! It was supposed to be all of you!”
Lenna could not feel pain here, but she still felt the fury of an entity bigger than she could imagine.
The view of the world flickered.
“See what you have done? We’re fading! Our line is leaving the world.”
Lenna cowered into herself.
“It’s out of our hands now,” the Original said, finally resigned. “We have lost.”
There were tiny words of protest coming from everywhere around her.
The world shuddered and trembled for some time. Lenna watched in shocked silence until it fizzled out completely. Then, all power was gone. It was quiet, it was dark, and it was nothing.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For years, this book has been shaped not only by me, but by the people closest to me. I’d like to thank those who taught me, inspired me, and shared my excitement.
Ryan, who made me a better writer, and who would be proud if he were here today.
My parents, who bore the brunt of my rambling after each writing session.
Shweta, who was my biggest cheerleader, and who made me laugh at my mistakes.
Jamie, who took care of this book at its worst.