But that was not what a Spirit Wielder did.
No, that’s what The Gray would have done.
“I know you want to go home, Lyric. And you will. I promise. You will get home, and you will fulfill your destiny. We are here to remind you of that.”
I whirled on the others, but they didn’t say anything, so I turned back to her.
“That prophecy is the only thing that ever goes through my head. I’m losing everything because of it, and I don’t even understand it.”
“You were supposed to lose much. You know this. The world will burn, but the world will live, and you will know the end. The end of all, the end of nowhere. But the end.”
I shook my head at her words. “Are you saying I have to die? Or that the world does? And which world. The one I came from? Or the one that I was destined to be in?”
“You will know when the time is right.”
I threw my hands up into the air. “I hate riddles. It’s always riddles with you.”
“Perhaps it needs to be.” She paused. “Your home is with Easton,” Seven continued, and my head shot up.
“Yes. With the family I have made. Because this war and this prophecy took all the other family I had.” Emotion twisted me up, but I pushed it back.
I still had the flames in my palms, but I didn’t extinguish them. I wasn’t going to hurt the beings in front of me, but they couldn’t see me as weak, either. Although I was pretty sure they could read my thoughts, so it wasn’t as if they didn’t know me inside and out regardless.
“The prophecy said you would lose what you loved most. And you have lost. For that, I am sorry,” Seven said.
It wasn’t lost on me that she had used we when discussing what they knew but being sorry came from her alone.
So she didn’t speak for all of them when she talked about her feelings. That made sense. Especially since I didn’t know the others.
I felt like I knew Seven, but I didn’t trust her. I didn’t trust anyone anymore.
No, that wasn’t right. I trusted my core group. The people I was going back for.
“Can you help me make it back to where the others are? I can’t even say the Obscurité Kingdom anymore because, without the wards, is it truly two separate kingdoms?”
Seven just stared at me and blinked as if I wasn’t making any sense. I didn’t blame her. My entire body hurt, as did my soul. I needed time—the one thing we didn’t have.
Seven finally answered. “No, we are nearing the end. Where it will either fall completely, or there will be a new kingdom to rise. A new leader to follow.”
More riddles.
“And what am I supposed to do now?”
“You have the path, and you will follow it. Or, you will not. It is all up to you and what you decide. But just know that the world relies on you.”
I let out a harsh laugh. “I think I’ve got that by now. That’s all anyone’s been telling me. That I’m the Spirit Priestess, the one who’s supposed to unite everyone. How am I supposed to do that with people who hate us? That isn’t what’s happening, is it? Do I only unite the good? Or do I unite those who have fought against us and bled for what they believed in?”
“That’s a choice you and the court will have to make.”
“What court?”
“That’s a question you will have to ask.”
I threw my hands into the air. “I honestly have no idea what I’m doing.” Tears slid down my cheeks, and I was embarrassed that I had let them fall. “I’ve chosen to stay. That’s what the prophecy said. I made a choice to come back. I made a choice with Easton. And I’ve watched so many of those I love get hurt or die. We’re in the middle of a war, not against the kings or the queens. But because of a Spirit Wielder. Do you understand that? The Gray was one of you.”
“He was never one of us,” one of those behind me snapped, but I didn’t turn to look at him. He was just a faceless voice that never answered my questions.
“But he was, wasn’t he? Maybe not in this circle, but he was a Spirit Wielder.” Amongst other things.
“Yes, and he went too far. Was swayed by hate and death. And when the courts fell, and the new ones were built, he was sent to his personal dimension, the Shadow realm. But we were never able to keep him there for long. And that is where you came in.”
So, the Shadow realm was a jail for The Gray.
“And the crystals fell. They shattered. So now I have to fade? What choice do I have to make now?”
“Time will tell.”
“And you can’t get me there any faster?”
“You must continue on this journey. But fear not, Lyric. You will not be alone for long.”
At that cryptic comment, the elements slammed into me again, and I found myself on my knees, the sepia tone of the southern Spirit territory surrounding me once more. Braelynn hovered over me, her wings outstretched as she protected me. I looked up at her, her warm scales shining as her claws dug into the ground. She snarled at whatever faced her. I shook myself out of the daze I was in and rolled to my stomach and then rose to my knees. Braelynn didn’t even look at me, even though I knew she felt me there. Could tell I was moving. She had protected me when my soul was in that other place. Though she hadn’t been alone for long it seemed.
I had hoped the first person or creatures we met along this path would be friends, not foe.
I looked forward and cursed.
Of course, it was the League. Water Wielders, who had been on the side of the King of Lumière at one point. Assassins who didn’t care about anything but profit and wreaking havoc.
Some members of the Creed of Wings and the League had come to our side after the last battle, but not all.
No, it seemed these were either anarchists or were now on the side of The Gray. Or maybe they wanted to be on the side of The Gray.
And killing me and my Familiar, my best friend, was their way of getting it done.
I didn’t have answers, but I wasn’t going to waste time questioning.
I would protect my friend and myself.
A large wall of Water came at me, and I wondered where they had gotten it to Wield. Most Water Wielders, just like Fire and Earth Wielders, couldn’t create elements out of nothing. They had to have access to the medium to use it. And since I knew that not all the League members in front of me were those special Wielders that could create, they must have had a storage basin of Water somewhere and were using it to fight. I slammed my hands against the ground as I rolled out from under Braelynn, a wall of Earth separating us from the League.
Braelynn spewed fire, searing the tops of the Earth wall so no League member could make it over.
They shouted on the other side, and I grinned, looking at my best friend. Braelynn winked, and I smiled. There she was. She wasn’t gone. Though it didn’t feel like it sometimes, she was still in there. I had to remember that, even if it broke me a little inside to think about it.
I kept moving, using my Wielding as the League tried to get around the wall of Earth. They slammed Water into it again, this time shaking it to its core. I used Air to push down on the assassins.
Braelynn flew up, scorching them. They screamed and used Water fashioned as daggers to come at us.
I didn’t care, I kept moving, kept fighting, eliminating one after the other.