AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Drinking that vile will incite a positive and powerful change not only in your life but throughout Atratus.”
After staring at it, and him, for several moments, I slipped the vile into my brassier.
“Swear it in blood.”
Without hesitation, Miroslav willed a gleaming black obsidian blade into his hand and swept it across his palm. Silvery tendrils of magic wafted off the dark red of his blood as it spilled onto the grass.
“I swear that no harm shall come to you by drinking the contents of the vile I’ve given you, that my words are true, and that doing so will lead you to your true home and to the Guardian of Life.”
My breathing stilled at his words, and his gaze flicked to mine. A small, knowing grin perched on his lips. The tendrils of magic buried themselves in the soil, and I felt something pulse briefly beneath my feet.
Shock and unease warred within me.Had he been sifting through my mind? My memories? Had he somehow planted that dream in my mind?I had never heard of such a gift, but I imagined if anyone had it, it would be an Orisha.
As if reading my thoughts, he shook his head.
“The pythos you see in your dreams is very much real, as is that voice.”
My mind reeled. It seemed as thoughAkash, the divine essence of the world that was the creator that permeated and destroyed all things, was trying to reveal something, but I felt like I was looking through a foggy glass, still unable to see what it was exactly.
“Whoever has sent me that dream has filled me with a visceral longing that is not my own… The longing to go home…Your longing…”
Home.
I’d never felt like I belonged here in this realm. And it had been an excruciating existence. Malekai being the only enduring exception to that.
“What would it be like to gohome.”
Wherever that was.
My parents were from Hades… A neighbouring continent. Its ruler a formidableAequilisanguinati...
A person of both sexes.
One whose grandfather had committed genocide against theDrakonatipeople.
Inconceivably powerful wielders who possessed a dragon form.
Something aboutthatplace being home didn’t quite sit right, either.
Miroslav began to answer my questions before they even finished rising within me.
“I have searched tirelessly since the dreams began 120 years ago, reached to the furthest corners of our universe to no avail, searching for the‘Guardian of Life’, only to be left with more questions and uncertainty. The only explanation I am left with is that it is a being from somewhere beyond… A god or primal, perhaps. Its ultimate goal is the only thing that was made clear to me: that it wishes to enable a great change in this realm.
“It has shown me visions of a great purge. A cleansing. I have been shown scenes of death and destruction that ultimately leads to peace and prosperity… And why it has chosen you to reveal these messages is something that you will come to discover in your own time, but know that it is not without reason.”
I was rendered beyond speechless. I could viscerally feel a path being made, as though by Akash herself. Where it would lead, I had no idea, but some core part of me knew, without a doubt, that I had to follow it. And something like the faintest twinkling of hope flickered somewhere in the distance on that path. One of change. So that not only would I no longer have to sell my soul to survive… But countless others. Like all of those serving in the Erosyan palace. Or simply just the majority of the Atratusian population living in poverty because all of the wealth and resources were reserved for Zurie and her aristocracy.
Miroslav rested his large, slender palm on my shoulder,foldingus to the stables where I would prepare Chihiro for our journey. Even though Miroslav would be folding us to the town where Zurie’s target, Nakoa, would be, I would still need him once we arrived.
“Malekai is looking for you, by the way…”
I was too shell-shocked to be any further disturbed that he effortlessly seemed to know everyone’s inner workings and details.
My voice came out distant.
“… Probably.”
“I needn’t advise you on why you mustn’t mention any of this to him just yet…”
