37.

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

The crowd had gathered by the lake. The light reflected off its surface, harshly piercing the eyes of eager onlookers, desperate to escape their devastated home. Some of the gathered shuffled, uncomfortable, further from the rippling surface. They feared that the inevitable blast that would destroy the barrier would also tear through them. And although they had no reason to suspect that their queen was dead, they could all feel the different level of power in the air. It was new, a mixture of the familiar shadows and a warm glow.

I wrung my hands together, uncomfortably close to the lakes edge, toes dipping slightly into the water. Alvar and Lucius were stoic, the perfect image of warriors. The wolf, Noir, paced on the other side of the lake, waiting. Beast kept me standing, his large body pressed against my side as support.

Blake had explained to me the basics of the ritual. Most of the technical, he had already set up. There were things he didn't say to me, keeping the little dirty secrets to himself. I suspected there was more than the superficial innocence he spouted to the spell. He knew I would protest if bodies were strung up in a pentagon or some other ridiculous slaughter. And although it worried me that he may have hidden a slaughter, I was in no position to protest. It was time for me to do my bit. And if people had died, then it was my duty to honour them.

"It's time, Lyra." Blake extended the same dagger that ended my doppelgängers life, carefully cleaned of the sticky poison that would destroy my power.

Closing my eyes, I sighed into Beast's comforting form and gripped the dagger tightly in one hand.

In a quick striking motion, I sliced open the artery in my bicep and leaned the wound over the water. The blood dripped quickly into the water before the skin began to close. Just as the ritual predicted, the water absorbed the blood instantly and expanded into a red border around the lakes edges. There was a sudden gust of wind and the blood border became a tall barrier, a wall of mahogany. My blood was gripping onto the spell cast by The Anima, the spell that kept the largest portal between the two worlds closed, and unveiling it.

I hesitated, fingers prickling as I stared at the glowing wall of power before me. I had no idea how to use my powers. The people gathered around the lake had all stepped back, just as fearful as I was as I examined its length.

"It's just as I said, Lyra. Just channel your power," Blake began quietly, "and push it towards the barrier. Your gift will do it all for you. All you have to do is give it a push."

I nodded once stiffly. I felt a hand on my lower back and turned to see Alvar's small smile. It was all I needed to see those little dimples and those deep black eyes. Within their depths, I found my courage.

Lifting my hands, I placed them upon the barrier and closed my eyes. My breathing slowed as my skin connected with the spell. My power immediately recognised the force as of it's own and flowed from my body into its form. I felt it navigate the surface, feeling around it like a anteaters tongue. The power curled up like a wire inside of me and as soon as I let it go, it poured out of me like lava. My eyes remained closed but I could feel the barrier was disintegrating around me.

The sweat flowed from neck and pooled in the crevasses of my collarbones. Internal core temperature burning hot, my limbs struggled to keep myself upright; all blood circulating from my outer-extremities to protect my essential organs. Adrenaline rushing, ears ringing, I pushed on, hands sinking into the invisible barrier. My nails latched on, power flowing directly into my hands. My skull thudded, brain dying under the pressure, as I used the last thread of my strength. I included the golden wire from my core, working to wind it around the powerful presence stopping me from travelling back to Earth and to the First Plane. As the strength left my body, I quickly wound it tighter around the magic, strangling it. A scream tore from my throat.

Something in the back of my mind whispered for me to keep going. But I felt compelled to answer it. And so I kept on pushing. I knew I had done everything that needed to be done to save the people. But it wasn't enough, and so I pushed on. Something was breaking under my control, snapping its binds to the realms in which it was protecting, hiding from my eager sight.

And even still, I could not be horrified by what I had done.  It was what I had been instructed to do, what I was meant to do. The Shadows could no longer live in the darkness and so they wouldn't. All the realms were open, even to the humans, and would remain so for as long as I reigned.

"Lyra! Lyra!" Alvar shook me from my daze with a strong hand gripping my shoulder.

I smiled up at him lazily, forgetting what had just happened.

"I did it, didn't I?"

He smiled and I wanted badly for him to lean down and kiss me. But no matter how much I wanted too, I knew I had to continue to pretend that my darker half had triumphed and I was nothing but ashes in a jar strapped to Beasts stomach.

"Yes, you did it."

I pulled away from him and sunk into Beasts soft fur. His Beak rested atop my head.

"Did you feel that?" I whispered only to him, keeping Noir blocked out of my mind.

"Feel what?" He asked.

"There was a moment where... where I felt like I lost myself... I don't remember what I was doing but I feel like... just forget it."

I finished my panicked rant once I saw the look on Beasts face. He was utterly terrified.

"It was probably nothing." I reasoned and sat back from his fur. But I had a feeling our conversation hadn't ended.

"Lyra! This is serious. We don't know what the binding did to you, or your soul. This could be a side effect and the last thing we need is for you to lose control."

I pushed away from him, that tiny voice suddenly offended by his words compelled me to jerk away.

"That's stupid. I am in control." I spoke, but the words were not my own.

I bit my cheek and was about to exclaim that Beast was right, and something was definitely wrong. But something else held my tongue. I reached out to him in my mind, but I was blocked; not by anyone else but by myself. I didn't want to tell him anything. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was inflict the same suffering felt by my people onto The Anima. And that was exactly what I intended on doing.

"Lyra! Beast! Come on," Lucius called from the edge of the lake, "the portals open. Everyone is waiting for you to go first."

I stood quickly and called the wolf over. The huge animal trotted over at my command, towering to my waist. The thick smoke that curled from his pelt swirled around me, but never touched my skin, repelled by the power wafting off my own.

"Are we ready?" I asked my creatures, but the question was mainly directed inwards.

They were both mentally and physically ready and I was not. So I put on a brave face and played pretend. In what I imagined to be a stoic and strong expression, I held my hand over my heart and jumped.

I fell from the darkness into the light. It was like the first moment you open your eyes after a long and heavy sleep, squinting into the shine of sunrays with the question of exactly where you are in mind. With the same sleepy grogginess, I arose from the ground and examined my new surroundings. Somewhere in the First we had landed. Surrounded by tall ticklish grass and bright yellow flowers that grew as small as insect eyes, the sun filtered in through distant treetops, casting long shadows in the meadow as it rose on the mountains.

Noir stared uneasily into the undergrowth, paws shifting on the unfamiliar terrain. Beast landed with a thumb, the ashes tied to his chest coming dangerously close to the ground as he absorbed the impact. I narrowed my eyes and examined the tree line. It was dangerously quiet. The leaves didn't whisper as they brushed up against one another and the wind did not howl as it rushed its heavy fingers through my hair. It was as if the earth had learned sign language.

I turned to Noir first. His teeth were bared sharply, a growl held back at the pit of his throat. His stomach was twisted in unease and there was a question in his mind. The earth felt dead, like a shadow graveyard. Beast approached carefully, feeling oddly dislocated from his homeland.

Slowly, I lowered my hands into the dirt and let the wet texture sink into my skin. The bloodstone warmed on my chest and my skin tingled in anticipation. I breathed deep, heaving my breast, and let go of my power.

"Wake up." I pushed the words past the soil and the roots.

First, the leaves began to whisper. As the wind picked up, the whispers turned into load moans, trunks twisting and shifting in the ground. A bird chirped softly and a thousand more answered. There was a rush and the rivers began to flow, land animals flocking to the fresh cold water.

"Maybe she is dead?" Noir spoke for the first time in my mind, his nostrils sniffing the air.

"Who?" I asked allowed, turning back to the portal.

"The Anima," Beast chimed in on the link, "Why else would the earth be so still?"

"No." I spoke aloud again, revelling in the cold air that hit the back of my mouth with each breath in. "I would definitely know if she was dead. And besides, haven't we established that the Fae are near impossible to kill?"

"Not impossible. The King is dead." Beast pointed out.

I examined the land that we had fallen out of, as we had actually fallen down but come up through the earth. It was one of the many things I had yet learned how to wrap my head around.

"Why is that?" I asked, still staring at the open ground. What was taking everyone so long?

"A Fae can die, as you know, if all possessions are destroyed. But one can also be killed if the current body is destroyed at the same time as three other cor meum objects. Or, even rarer, by the power of the maker of Fae... That would be The Anima."

"Cor meum objects?"

"It means heart objects. The three possessions one holds most dear. Right now, yours would be Noir, myself, and I assume the stone around your neck, which we know to be indestructible, so I think we are safe."

"AND I am indestructible." Noir interjected, snorting at Beast.

"Please. You look like a puppy who stumbled into a rather large ash tray."

"And YOU look like a lion with a half digested Owl taped to its head."

While the two bickered, I pondered for a moment. A shadow may have killed the King, but it would have had to know his three objects. The only way they could do that was to know him intimately. Perhaps there were already Shadows inside the kingdom...

"They should have come through the portal by now." I whispered to myself, kicking the dirt at my feet.

Our entire plan rested upon finding The Anima before we had to face an army full of vengeful Fae and a widowed Queen at their helm. Convince her to do the binding ceremony and I would be able to stop any army, no matter how large, and control the aftermath of public opinion. We could keep the Shadows from attempting to break any more portals, and force a new co-existence. But it would onlywork with all The Anima's powers... All of them. And if the earth was any representation of her current state, then it meant she was weak, just as Alvar assumed.

"Lyra Easton!"

It was a voice that held a dark and threatening similarity to my best friend.

Anxiety and anticipation lifted the small hairs on the back of my neck as I slowly turned my head. There he was; Lucas Young. The youthful twinkle in his eyes was gone and the slightly crocked smile usually adorned on his lips was replaced with a straight line. His calloused guitar fingers did not hold a pic, they held a knife. It was pointed into his jugular.

"The Duchess has a message for you. Come with me, alone and willing, or I and every other human currently residing in the First will die. If your creatures make a move against me, I am ordered to stab this blade into my throat. Resist in any way, and I am ordered to stab this blade into my throat."

"Lucas, no—" I chocked on my words, clenching my jaw as I began to panic. What was he doing here? How was he still alive? Was he still alive?

His arm tensed, the blade pricking open the first layer of the skin on his neck. A single drop of blood flowed onto the metal.

"The Duchess would also like me to inform you, that if you do refuse still, and let the humans die, she will have the Fae guards stationed outside your home rape and slaughter your sister. Her innards will be extracted and hung around the picket fence. Her eyes will be gouged and placed in the ice box for your parents to find—"

"STOP! LUCAS STOP!" I screamed and crumbled to my knees, sobs shaking my shoulders as the image was burned into my skull.

Virgo was the one person in the world I would do anything for. If she was in danger, it didn't matter that I had been given power and responsibility over these new races of extraordinary people; Virgo was my people and responsibility first. The Duchess knew that. I knew that.

Even Beast, who had yet to meet the 10 year old genius with a heart bigger than the constellation of stars she was named after, resonated a throb of despair at the mention of the molestation of Virgo.

Noir snarled, still ready to attack Lucas, perhaps even if I did not want it.

"Noir, enough!" I cried out, tears collecting on my upper lip. "I'm going with him. You have to stay here!"

My eyes, blurry with tears, focused on Beast. I pushed my mind out to both of them.

"Wait for the others. Noir, go with Sam and Lucius to my house and get my sister to safety. Sam has been there before, he knows where to go. Beast, get Blake to figure out how I can break whatever influence The Duchess has over the humans and get Alvar to track The Anima. Keep those ashes safe. I don't know if they've figured out yet that we have all the Shadows, but I'm sure they'll send an army when they do. But get to my sister first, okay? When she is safe, call out to me."

I hope I'll be able to hear you.I thought to myself. I rubbed my cheek into my shirt and stood slowly. I nodded to Lucas.

"Lead the way."

For a moment, I thought that maybe I saw his bottom lip tremble, but then it was gone. His face was blank, the circles under his eyes matching the black roots of regrowth in his bleached blonde hair. Lucas led the way and I followed.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a quiet crackle and then a soft pop! as something entered the First. I crossed my fingers and prayed it was Alvar, for he would know how to save Lucas Young, and more importantly, how to save the world.

-

-

-

-

-

Omg guys I am so sorry I am so late.

I have been really stuck with this at the moment because its the final few chapters and I don't really know quite what I am doing. I know A and B, but getting to B really tricky. I actually have to say a huge thanks to @TheMoonCraver because I didn't know how I wanted to get Lyra to the palace, until you mentioned Lucas in a comment!

For the rest of you guys, thank you so much for being patient. I know this chap should be written with so much more emotion but I really just wanted to get it out before I hit a three week of no updates.

3 MORE CHAPTERS (LONG ONES)!!!!!

Comment your thoughts!

Vote if you enjoyed :)

xx Charli





(Unedited- so sorry its a really rough job)

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net