AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The smoke that had still been lingering from what Laelak had shown me swirled around me and reformed, showing me Timmon stabbing me in Atlantis before it shifted to being in the dungeons with Queen Ulrika, then changing to me being chased and hunted in El Dorado. It started all over again with Timmon attacking us in Agartha, fighting the troll in Atlantis, running away from the soldiers in Hyperborea, and being poisoned in El Dorado.
When it threatened to start again with another series of events, I called out, “Please, stop. I get it.”
“Are you sure these are the people you want to save?” the light dragon asked quietly. “Look at what they’ve done to you.”
“They may have done that, but it was only a select few. I can’t condemn thousands of people to die because of that. It wouldn’t be right. Besides, I survived each of those events. I would even go so far as to say they brought me closer to my warriors.”
“And what happens when you don’t have life or death situations to keep you clinging to one another?” the dark dragon mused.
“Then we will find other things to bond through. My lovers are not the reason I’m here, though, are they?” I was not willing to sit around and let them pick my life apart.
“She’s right,” Laeklak growled, coming to my aid which surprised me.
“Then what is your final decision?” The light and dark dragons both stepped forward, coming closer to me, which only increased my nerves.
“I wish to save all the realms. That is my decision.”
“Things cannot be left as they are, though,” the dark dragon began, but the light dragon cut it off, saying, “Things will have to change, but that is easy enough. People won’t be happy with the outcome, though, and you may bear the brunt of that as you were the key.” I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination, but I could swear that the light dragon was bigger than before.
Of course I would. I held back a sigh of frustration, instead choosing to ask, “What’s going to change?”
“For the realms to survive, they will become one—”
“But that’s exactly what I was trying to avoid!”
“Let them finish, Daughter of Eve,” Laelak murmured.
“Sorry.”
“For the realms to survive, they will become one, all except the original realm, your own realm. That will forever stay separate. The beings of the four realms that split off will have to learn to live together, which is where the challenge will come in. This is where there is the potential for them to blame you. Choosing this will not necessarily be the easy way out." The light dragon sighed heavily as though this was the most it had talked in years, and who knows, maybe it was. "After all you have been through, and for all you have yet to go through, I would like to offer you a gift."
"A gift?" I repeated, unsure if the dragon meant the word in the way I understood it.
"Yes, a boon, an award, a reward or even a tribute of our appreciation for all you have done. Name it, and I will grant it to you if it is within my power."
Okay, they definitely meant it in the same way. I looked at the dark primal dragon and was about to ask for my memories back, but it spoke before I could voice my desire. "What was taken as a sacrifice cannot be returned. Your memories are mine, and unless you want to sacrifice the lives of your lovers to get them back, they shall stay that way."
Well, that answered that question. There was another one that lingered in my mind, though, "Can I ask why the sea beasts died in Atlantis?"
"Who said they were dead?" the dark primal asked.
"They were floating, lifeless at the surface. I think that qualifies as dead."
"The only animals that died were those that had been alive too long anyway. They were being kept alive via magic and used to control the population of Atlantis. We will not allow that in the new world. Some of them had long since lost the will to live on their own. Believe us when we say this was a mercy."
"Will the waters of Atlantis turn blue again?"
"With time, yes," the primal light dragon said. "Now, time is growing short. Please, allow us to repay you for your efforts somehow. What would you like as your gift?"
With the memories not being an option and the sea beasts having a reason behind their death, I was left wondering what the hell I would ask for. "Can I take a rain check?"
"I don't believe that I know exactly what you mean, but I can surmise from your tone and body language. You do not know what you want, and I suppose that's fair. I will grant you this rain...check, but only for three months. After that, you will forfeit. For now, there is one more thing we must warn you of before we continue..."
My heart pounded in my chest as I waited to figure out what fresh hell was about to unfold.
"If we combine the realms and separate them from the origin realm, you will never be able to return to the origin realm. You will have to live the rest of your life here, in the new realm that is created when the four are combined."
The ground felt like it tilted under me. After all this, I would never be able to go home again?
