I wasn’t sure if it’d been real. I didn’t know if it ever was. Whatever his motives, his reasons, doing this to me was unforgivable.
Oberi was in shock. He stood at my side, unable to function as he fought against the truth of what had just happened.
“I don’t understand how we didn’t catch this. We share a bond,” I said brokenly. “We can hear his thoughts. Marcus looked inside his mind, and Danny felt his desires, but we still didn’t see this coming.”
He was lying to himself about what he truly wanted,Oberi said somberly.It is the only way he could’ve misled us, and Danny and Marcus as well. To deceive us, he first had to deceive himself.
At his words, I realized something crippling. I thought back to the vision the Elven goddesses had sent me not so long ago— the images that had flashed across my mind of the rampaging armies across the world, the old bearded king upon his throne, and the dead woman at the base of the tower.
The full truth of the visions hit me hard, and I clutched at my chest, feeling a sharp pain. The king I’d seen hadn’t been the Warden, and the marching armies hadn’t been The Mission. Those had beenCharlie’ssoldiers, and the old king was Charliehimself. The goddesses had tried to give me a forewarning of what was coming. They had seen that Charlie would take the world over for himself, and that everything would suffer and die because of it due to famine and disease. The entire planet would turn to nothing but barren ash, all the realm’s people at the mercy of a dictator-emperor.
The woman who’d thrown herself from the top of the tower was still me, but my end wasn’t a result of being the Warden’s prisoner. In my vision, I’d endured years of sadness watching Charlie rule over all, and my love for him eventually faded and turned to agonized hate. Charlie didn’t let me wander free, nor did he permit me any sort of happiness within the palace except the kind he desired. One day, I wasn’t able to take it anymore, and I jumped from the tower to end my life. The cry of the wyvern within my vision had been Oberi, grieving for me, as I abandoned Charlie to rule over his vast and empty kingdom alone.
This wasn’t what could happen— I understood deeply that this was whatwouldhappen, if Charlie achieved his goal. He’d bring the entire world under his command and destroy it. I wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it, no matter what I did, and any affection we had for each other would eventually wither away under the shadow of his greed.
I thought about the future, and what it held. I could tell Charlie of this new interpretation, but I already knew he wouldn’t listen. The years would drag on by. I’d still be an Elvish mystic, but he wouldn’t take my visions seriously if I foresaw something negative. He’d ignore my warnings and forge ahead anyway, like he was doing now. I’d become no more than a spiritual figurehead without any power, if I wasn’t that already.
There were no options. Either the Warden was going to take over the world, or Charlie would, and both options would bring agony and anguish to anyone who managed to survive the all-encompassing war. Those who died in battle would be the lucky ones, for those who made it to whatever new world was built would live in misery until the day they died. Neither one of them would get to build the utopia they desired, for they would bring nothing but suffering.
Oberi observed every thought I had, trembling with each passing image as it flitted through my mind.So the goddesses have spoken,Oberi marveled.If Charlie wins, this is what will be.
“Yes. And we’re powerless to stop it.” I hung my head.
Oberi put a paw on my knee.You are not powerless, for the prophecy is not yet done.
He was correct. There was still one verse of my prophecy that hadn’t been fulfilled.
A new world formed from gods of old,
One from ashes or one from light
The choice is hers alone
I still had a final, last option. One choice— a choice that I needed to make quickly.
The ending of my prophecy was never about us beating the Warden. It was always about me defeatingCharlie. He had chosen to curse me to a cruel fate in order to turn the world to dust at his command. A fate worse than death was my destiny, and I knew that fate was one where I remained locked in a cage.
But I wouldn’t be the only one. Charlie was going to lock usallin his prison, and we wouldn’t be able to escape him on Earth or in the afterlife, because it was his destiny to open the Elven Gate. Once he did that, he would have control over the Blessed Haven. The Divinity Keys were going to give him that kind of power, and I’d put them right in his hands.
Yet I still had a chance to change this fate. I could save people by wiping the entire universe off the map, because being an eternal prisoner was worse than not existing at all.
I recalled the dying Earth from my vision the goddesses had sent me, and knew I couldn’t allow that to happen. I needed to save this world from the person I loved, because the fate he would give it would be a more painful one than the ending I’d bestow.
My magic was strong, and you know what? I think this was where everything was leading to after all, right from the very beginning.
My mother had taught me that I could connect with the Earth’s soul, and pull from it to strengthen my own magic. I’d tried to use that spell for good, and had desired to get stronger so that once I was powerful enough, I could use it to heal every soul and heart on the planet at once.
Now I accepted that spell would never work. There were too many bastards like the Warden roaming this realm, and they would never let me heal them, so that meant the world would always be this way unless I took a different path. Instead of using my connection to Earth’s soul to heal the world…
I could reverse it, and change the universe forever.
I could feel the connection between the Earth and the spiritual realm, strained and fighting to survive. All I would have to do was tie my Spirit magic to that bond, and yank it tight. Once I did, both realms would collapse, and reality would cease to be. The Earth would be destroyed, along with all who lived on it, and the spiritual realm would die, taking all its souls and the gods within one energetic blast.
Everything in existence… would end.
I expected Oberi to freak out, but he didn’t. He calmly resonated with my thoughts, taking the idea in.
“What’s the point of living, Oberi?” I asked desperately. I wasn’t sure if he could help me, but I needed some sort of excuse. Just one, to convince me to turn away from what I was considering.
