Chapter 741: Return To Center
I was in the veil before I could gulp down that particular tidbit, but had absorbed it by the time Max opened the other side and I stepped out into Center. I knew it immediately, felt the familiar pull of longing, as we stood on the edge of the great city that was the home of the maji.
A soft sigh escaped me. Yes, I'd left here last time pissed off and ready for a fight, but that didn't mean its effect on me had gone away. Now my anger was cooled, my focus on finding what I needed to know to move forward, the call of Center and the peace it offered my soul was almost too much to bear.
Until I caught Ameline smirking at me as if she knew what I was feeling.
Screw her. And the stupid spell this place had over me. When this was done, I couldn't wait to go home to my family and never see Center again.
New resolve in place, I marched ahead of the others, past the soaring fountains and through the beautiful streets, ignoring the watching eyes of the maji as I grew in size at the foot of the massive stairs until I could walk up them and into the huge building.
And found Zeon standing at the top, waiting for me, a sweet smile on his Santa Claus face.
"Sydlynn," he said, warmth radiating from him, kindness and calm. Peace, the peace of Center. "We are so happy to see you return, my daughter."
Oh hell no. I pushed against him with my full maji power, felt his shell of false joviality crack, the quivering fear he hid behind it peeking through.
"Careful, Zeon," I said as his power rippled around him in an attempt to seal the gap. "Your old-fashioned notions are showing."
At least he dropped the act, lips falling into a frown as Iepa appeared behind him. She looked relieved, not that I cared, as her leader's magic pushed back against me.
Only to have Max and Mabel take their turn.
Zeon's face paled, ghostly and gray as he staggered back a step. "What have you done?" His eyes fixed on first one, then the other, drach. "Why are you here?"
"You know why," Max said, climbing the last step, towering over Zeon. "She must speak to Fate. And you will not stand in her way any longer, maji."
Zeon shuddered, shaking his head, eyes wild. "It cannot be," he said. "She must find her own way."
"According to whom?" Max's voice vibrated the very steps beneath my feet, the trembling making Zeon's large belly shake, his bearded jowls shiver. "You are not the keeper of Fate, Zeon. She is her own master."
I felt him try to push Max back, knew the instant he caved as his old head bowed.
"You will be the ruin of everything, drach," Zeon said.
"Old fool," Max said, moving him aside with one massive hand, "you've almost done that job for me."
I followed my dragon friend past the sorrowful Zeon, wondering now how much of the old maji's attitude was act and how much real. Didn't matter, not now.
Why doesn't he want us here? Surely, he had to see the signs of what was coming.
The maji of light have always believed Fate must be uncovered, Max sent. While the maji of the dark believe Fate must be shown the way.
I know it's late in the game, I sent, but maybe I could switch sides?
His chuckle eased my mind. I'm happy to have you on the side of light, thank you, he sent. Zeon and his people will no longer stand in your way. Forgive Iepa, if you can. She has been working under difficult circumstances, controlled by the dictates of her people. And yet, she has managed to guide you despite them. A massive feat.
I grumbled at him silently. We'll see, I sent.
Charitable of me, I know. But in for a penny, throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Okay, some mixed metaphors didn't work, even for me, but I was running on fumes.
Something stirred around me, inside me, a feeling of rightness as I walked the cold, white halls of the large building, ceiling arching open above me, blue sky bright. A lightness took over, fear fading, urgency, until I found peace at last.
But not fed by the power of Center. This peace, this quiet of my soul, came from another place. From the presence of whoever sat at the edge of the pool at the end of the building.
My companions stopped, stayed behind as I moved on. I heard Ameline arguing with Mabel, but ignored her, all of my focus, my entire being, locked on the sweet-faced young woman splashing her toes in the sparkling water. She looked up as I neared, the most amazing smile I'd ever seen shining on her face.
From her empty, white eyes.
"Sydlynn," she said. "Oh, my very dear. I've been waiting for you."
I sank to the edge of the fountain beside her, heart fluttering with so many emotions I didn't know what to say, what to do.
Blurted, as usual. "You're blind." Kicked myself for being such an idiot.
But she laughed and nodded, leaning forward to pat my hand. Her skin felt cool, soft, but not unusual and, despite the fact I could feel her maji power, there seemed to be nothing odd about her.
And everything. Everything.
"You have questions," she said, spinning to face me, empty eyes somehow fixed on me. "They've kept you from me, but I knew you would find the drach. That you would make your way here in time."
"How?" I didn't know, not even that she existed.
She laughed, a tinkling sound like tiny bells. "Silly," she said. "He told you, the one you call Max." Her nose wrinkled. "I like it, the name you chose for him."
Told me...?
"I'm Fate," she said. "I know everything."
My mind tried to shy sideways, but her magic held me softly in place as I struggled with the concept. Fought against the truth. No way. No. Way. I had choices, I really did. She didn't control me. And yet, finally, I sagged and accepted as her magic hugged me gently before letting me go.
"My brother and I," she said, "were born together, like this. Fates. He of the Dark and I of the Light. The first of the maji, after the drach were brought into being."
I nodded. Nothing else to do but listen.
She patted my hand again, fingers tracing over my rings. "I can't tell you how very proud I am," she said, cheeks pink as she blushed, though from happiness. I felt it in her and found myself flushing in answer. "You have done so well, come so far, exactly as you were meant to, despite-and because of-the maji's rules against assisting you. And now, your first task is at hand."
Um, what? "First?"
A trace of sadness flowed over her face. "I'm sorry," she said. "You have so much more to do, Syd. I wish I could lay the burden on another, but you were made for this. You understand? The unique circumstances of your birth, your development, your gathering of power, all were designed to bring you here, to me, now."
A sob built in my chest as my mind spun out centuries of hardship and loss. "Can I say no?" A stupid question.
But she smiled and nodded, leaning forward to kiss my cheek with unerring accuracy. "You can," she said. "It has always been up to you to choose. But your destiny leads you to only one path. Leaving that path is impossible for you now." Fate sat back, sighed. "My dear," she said, "you tell me now and you can go. I won't stop you, my visions will be rewritten, though I fear the outcome." She shook her head, blonde hair woven through with white blossoms so long the bottom floated in the water beside her. "Will you do as you are meant to save us all?"
Funny how I didn't hesitate, though my heart hung heavy inside me.
"Of course I will," I said, feeling her power embrace me tighter.
"I knew you would," she said. "You have been created from the most powerful of witches, demons, a vampire essence, carry the soul of a Sidhe princess. Your sorcery knows no equal, not even that of your Dark nemesis." Interesting. "And your creation power will be the Light we need to follow if the planes are to survive this coming conflict." She wove a soft ball of magic before her, pressing it into my chest. "Time itself has done her part to create you, Sydlynn Hayle. And you are perfect."
Nice of her to think so.
Now if only I believed it.
Fate drew me closer by her grip on my hand, lips against my ear. "Listen carefully. The battle you foresaw, the one Iepa showed you, came from Fate. But not from me."
The other Fate, then?
"The battle I see is far different," she said. "The prophecy is mine and mine alone. His visions would have you lose."
Well that sucked.
"His will take over if you fail. Even now, the Brotherhood gather to hunt the magic races in a show of force the likes of which the planes have never seen. They draw power from the empty plane, from the gateways to the Universe through the stronghold."
Hang on, what did that mean?
"If you are willing," she went on before I could ask, "there will only be four in the end." I nodded, knew that much already. "You, the dark maji Ameline. Liander Belaisle of the Brotherhood."
And?
"You know the fourth already," she said. "And you must trust him no matter his mental state."
Holy. Was she talking about-
"Demetrius Strong fights for the Light with you," Fate said. "And he holds the final key to victory."
***
