Chapter 453: The Warning Revisited
-I gasp for air as fire explodes around me, a line of demons falling back, their power recoiling from the group of sorcerers rushing in to kill them. Fear takes over as I lash out with my magic, calling for the creation power I'd felt before, only to find it hollow and echoing, the full brunt of its ability lost to me though I have access to just enough to save my life when the sorcerers turn the demon's own magic on them, burning them alive.
I stagger free, no sign of Trill or Iepa, the battle raging on around me. My feet skid in blood, over the bodies of fallen Sidhe, their endless lives now done, witches collapsed among them, demons, vampires sagging to ash blowing in the air, making my eyes sting, tears rushing to flow and clear them.
My mind can't fathom the sound, white noise pressing against my ears, pounding inside my head, the roar of an angry ocean surging in waves of death around me. I spot Trill, crouched and weeping, and rush to her, bending over her, pulling her to her feet and out of the way of a bolt of lightning as it sizzles its way past us and into a cluster of vampires.
I turn away, I can't watch as the odd bolts of electricity tear the undead soldiers apart.
You know what you must do. Iepa appears, tears on her face, quiet pain almost an insult in this place of dying. But she's not talking to me, not even close. You were born to lead the maji, Trillia Zornov, and unless you begin your task, begin to gather your army now, this, Iepa's arms rise as she turns and gestures around her, will come to pass. And everything will be destroyed.
Trill shakes her head while Iepa's eyes lock on mine.
Denying your fate will not make this go away, she says.
I find myself laughing, clutched in the arms of hilarity fed by hopelessness, bending in half to hug my ribs as I half-sob, half-cackle. I know what running from my destiny feels like. I can totally empathize. But Iepa is right.
We all have to grow up sometime.
You, Sydlynn, are almost complete. Your time will come, the time when you must stand with Trillia and be her connection to all that is.
That made a whole lot of sense. I don't know what you mean. I wish I did.
You must accept your creation power, Iepa says, despite the false prejudice of your people. I feel my body begin to rise as she gathers us to her, drawing on her power to raise us above the battle again. I'm happy to be out of it, and yet it's almost worse in a way. I can now see clearly, from our elevation, just how many of our people are gone.
And how many of the Brotherhood remain to fight.
You will both be needed when the day comes to battle. Iepa's magic hugs me, calls to me, feels so familiar I want to weep for its loss when she releases me. Sydlynn, you have done your duty for now, protecting Trill from the Brotherhood. But she needs to move on if she is to fulfill her destiny. And you have your own job to do.
Trill bows her head. I will obey, she says.
I feel myself moving, away from the battle, the cool air and smell of stone reaching me as we cross back to the real world.
But not without a warning. Trill, Iepa says. You have thought Owen was your shadow because he is your brother and that is the prophecy. But Belaisle is right. There is another-
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