Page 21 of The Ember and the Emerald

Monstra clogged the sky, nearly blotting out the sun as they rained down streams of fire. A market turned battlefield erupted into chaos. Soldiers screamed and scattered across cobblestone streets, knocking over carts and tables. Smoke curled from burning wares, veiling everything in a choking, panicked haze. Men on horseback charged through the madness, attempting to shield women and children with oddly long shields. But the metal melted under the relentless assault of flame.

I stood atop a mountain, watching it unfold, removed from the carnage. From all emotion. I was an observer, nothing more, untouched by the pleas climbing into the air.

A tall, muscular man in gold-plated armor strode up a hill across from me, bellowing orders. Soldiers snapped to attention, rushing to obey. A pack of monstra stalked him like dogs following an owner, their delight unwavering.

Ahav?

The king.

My father.

Still, I felt nothing.

He reached the top. All the monstra who followed him grinned—then unleashed hell. In an instant, fire consumed his body, even his scream.

Ash drifted away on the breeze.

Someone loosed a scream, agonized and broken.

From the desperate masses below, a lone woman rose, exploding into the sky. She wore art in dress form: a sheer green gown as delicate as the clouds, fabric whispering in the wind, clinging like mist to her emerald skin, catching the flickering firelight with an ethereal shimmer. A thick jade braid hung over one shoulder. But her face. Her face was blurred to my gaze, as if covered by a cloud.

And yet, something in me recognized her.

Wings made of water flapped with elegance and grace, raining upon those beneath her, dousing all flames. On her index finger glowed my mother’s—my—ring, six stones aglow. Golden armor appeared on her body, a perfect match to Ahav’s. A sword of fire materialized in her hand.

The first time I’d fought monstra, the same golden armor had appeared on me. I’d created a sword of fire from air. What I hadn’t done: hover in the air with water wings.

The monstra focused their crazed fury on her…

From every direction, through time, space, and eternity, a disembodied voice bellowed, “Andrea!”

My brows drew together. Andrea? As in Elowen’s ancestor, the first water maiden? The one who helped Morris defeat the monstra in round one?

No answers came, only more questions. Then the world shattered. Suddenly, I lay in a room flooded with blinding light. Padded walls. Straps biting into my wrists and ankles. Modern medical equipment beeped and hummed around me. Men and women in scrubs surrounded me, poking and prodding at different parts of my body as I fought for freedom. In the corner stood a woman cloaked in shadows and a tall man built with muscle. Their faces were as blurry as the green woman’s had been.

This didn’t feel like the past or the future. It didn’t even feel like the present.

The numbness evaporated, and panic swallowed me whole. “Jasher!” I screamed, thrashing. “Jasher!”

“Put her back under before she hurts herself,” the shadowy woman commanded with a soft tone.

A sharp sting. Darkness. “Jasher,” I breathed out, and my eyes popped open.

7

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Ilay on my back, rocking as if I’d fallen asleep in the back of my dad’s truck, and he was currently easing us across a long stretch of twigs and gravel. It was cold, so cold. Creaking and tapping sounds filled my ears. Though my vision was hazy, relief seeped into my limbs. A dream, only a dream.

A dream…or glimpses of past loops?

The question whispered through my mind, and like a hammer strike, memories of everything that had happened returned in a rush. Elowen’s memory restoration serum. Monster Jasher. Waterway.

Goodbye, Mom and Dad.

Icy air scraped in. I probably had seen past loops, considering Elowen’s serum now flowed through my veins. I should have refused her. Old me had gone through some stuff. Truly, I couldn’t quantify the awfulness of what I’d seen. The battle. The deaths. The room. Who were the shadow woman and her sidekick?

Although, how had I seen all the way back to Andrea?