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Alex was lying in front of me. His chest was hectically rising and falling, and his gaze twitched restlessly back and forth. Blood was oozing from the wound on his stomach and was also flowing from his mouth in a thin trickle.
Unconsciously, I perceived Jack’s footsteps moving away. Stumbling, fleeing from his own conscience.
Tears streamed down my face as I crawled toward Alex and gently laid his head on my lap. The pain that had enclosed my entire body made me sob. Reality had me in its iron grip. Fate showed its full hardness.
“I’m here, Alex,” I whispered, my tears dripping down his cheek as I kissed him gently on the forehead. His brown eyes found mine, his breathing calmed, and a smile came to his blood-covered lips.
“I love you, Rina,” he breathed, placing his trembling hand on my wet cheek.
"I Love you, too," I whispered, quivering and managing a smile for him as well.
“I know,” he whispered, and a mixture of sadness and infinite affection was in his gaze. The next moment, he froze. His eyes, fixed on me, went blank, and his hand fell limply to the floor.
“No!” I screamed desperately. “No, Alex! Stay with me!” Panicked, I took his hand in mine and placed it back on my cheek. A sob shook me as I ran the other through his hair.
“No! No! No! Come back! I need you!”
But his gaze remained lifeless and fixed. His chest no longer moved.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone calling for me, but I was caught up in my pain, grief, and disbelief.
Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind, and someone tried to pull me away from Alex. Not willing to let go of my best friend, I flailed around until I slid back to the ground. Again, I crawled toward his dead body. But I hadn’t gotten far when two strong arms wrapped around my waist again, and I heard Stephan’s voice at my ear.
"Come on, Miss Myrina. It's time to go," the cold voice I knew said.
“I can’t leave Alex alone!” I sobbed and tried to tear myself away again, but this time, he held me tightly in his iron grip.
"Mr. Alexander is no longer with us!" he said calmly, and it sounded so sincere that I believed him. "Come on."
My gaze still fixed on Alex, I let myself be pulled into a strange shimmering light until an unreal silence fell around us. The pier and Alex's body blurred before my eyes; darkness enveloped me, and when it let go of me, I fell onto a cold, light marble floor.
Stephan had let go of me and moved away a few steps. My body was seized by a rousing exhaustion that forced me to close my eyes.
“Dumah, everything happened as you ordered,” I heard Stephan report.
“Thank you,” I heard a second voice say, the sound of which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. With the last of my strength, I opened my eyelids. In a blur, I saw Tanael Baldur standing next to our butler.
"Did Jack get his well-deserved reward?" he asked with a rumble that cut deep into my soul.
“Of course, Dumah,” Stephan returned. They had both betrayed us, and I wanted to pounce on them, but I was paralyzed.
"Take care of the women in the tunnels!" ordered Tanael. "None of them must remain, do you understand?"
At that moment, my body and mind gave way. They fell into the infinite depths of a swoon. As their black blanket enveloped me, a tear stole from the corner of my eye, and my last thought was for those I loved. Hopefully, they could escape in time.
EPILOGUE
The treetops gently swayed in the wind. The breeze that blew in my face and through my long hair smelled harsh and not as sweet as the one I was used to from my beloved island of Avalon.
Sadly, I thought back to my sisters, whom I did not know if I would ever see again. But I was the one who was chosen and had to submit to this as a priestess of Avalon.
With uneasiness in my heart, I heard the oracle's words again in an ancient language that only the sisters of Avalon still knew. The Grail. It was to be protected. A task we had dedicated ourselves to for centuries and which was now placed in my hands.
Out here, in the world beyond the mists, I felt alien; my magic was out of balance, and I felt fear for the first time in my life.
You are Morgan le Fay! You are a brave mage of the Misty Isle!I said to myself. Even if this was not my world, I could also use the energy of nature here to gather strength.
My horse turned off the forest path at a gallop into a field adorned with sunflowers right to the path's edge.
