Chapter 220: You want to judge me?
~Gwen’s POV~
I was lying in bed next to Drogon, with Anastasia at the other side. Both of us still catching our breath from what had just happened between us. She was tracing small circles on my arm with her finger.
For a moment, I could almost forget about everything, about Haggar, about being Arabelle, about the curse on my family that never wanted me.
But peace never lasted long in my life.
The first boom split the sky just as I was starting to drift off to sleep. I jerked awake, my heart jumping into my throat.
"What was that?" Anastasia whispered, sitting up beside me.
It wasn't thunder. Not exactly.
I sat up in bed, pulling the sheet around me. "I don't know, but it doesn't sound good." Drogon had left some seconds ago, if not I would have wrapped myself in his big arms.
"Gwen, look at your arms," Anastasia said, her voice worried.
I looked down and gasped. My skin was glowing faintly, a soft blue light that shined with each breath I took. "What's happening to me?"
Before she could answer, someone started pounding on my door. Not knocking, pounding, like their life depended on it.
"Gwen!" It was Haggar's voice, urgent and panicked. "Open this door now!"
I jumped out of bed and threw on my robe. Before I could reach the door, it flew open anyway. Haggar burst in, her eyes met with Drogon who had somehow entered my chamber.
He looked like he was ready to fight or preparing for battle.
"Get dressed," Haggar said, breathing hard. "Both of you. Right now."
"What's going on?" I asked, confused and scared by the panic in her voice.
"They're coming," she said, rushing to the window and peering out. "The ones I told you about. They're here to pass judgment. They think the powers we have will upset the balance of everything."
Anastasia stood up, wrapping a sheet around herself. "Who are they? What do they want with Gwen?"
Drogon's face was grim as he answered. "They're the ones who placed the curse on her bloodline in the first place. The ones who swore revenge on Arabelle."
"But why?" Anastasia asked, moving closer to me. "Arabelle is dead. She's been dead for years. Why would they come after Gwen?"
"Because they don't think she should have come back," Drogon said with a heavy sigh. "Arabelle killed one of them, a god. They believe she was too powerful, too reckless to be left alive. And now that her soul has returned in Gwen..."
He didn't need to finish. I understood.
"They want to finish what they started," I whispered.
Haggar turned from the window, her face pale. "We have to leave. Now. Before they arrive."
"But why now?" I asked, my mind racing. "I've been here for months. Why didn't they come before? What changed?"
"Our meeting," Haggar started to say, but her words were cut off by another thunderclap.
And then the sky opened.
A light so bright it hurt to look at poured through the clouds. In the distance, I could see a figure descending, tall, and beautiful, surrounded by armored warriors riding beasts made of flame and storm.
I stepped back from the window, my heart hammering. "Is that...?"
"Seraphine," Drogon said, and I heard both fear and anger in his voice. "The most ruthless of them all. If she's here personally, then they mean to end this once and for all."
The air in my throat suddenly felt like it was suffocating me. Anastasia grabbed my hand, she was ready to fight too, to protect me.
"What does she want with me?" I whispered.
Haggar turned to me, and I saw sadness in her eyes. "She wants to erase you, Gwen. She believes your soul was never meant to return. That you're a mistake that needs to be corrected."
"A mistake," I repeated, the words bitter in my mouth.
"You're not a mistake," Anastasia said fiercely, squeezing my hand. "Don't listen to them."
But before anyone could say more, there was a sound like the world splitting in half. The roof above us shook as Seraphine and her troops started descending.
She was beautiful in the way a lightning strike was beautiful, terrible and deadly. Her skin seemed to glow from within, and her hair flowed around her like liquid gold. But her eyes... her eyes were cold as bitter winter.
She raised one perfect hand, and suddenly I couldn't move. My feet felt rooted to the floor.
A single word echoed in my head, though I never saw her lips move.
"Arabelle."
My knees buckled and anger mixed pain filled me. I wasn't just Gwen anymore. Memories that weren't mine flooded my mind, memories of a battle.
Drogon stepped in front of me, letting out a roar that shook what was left of the walls. But even as he tried to protect me, I could see he was shaking. This ancient, powerful dragon was afraid.
"Do not interfere, " Seraphine said, her voice flowing through the air like poisoned honey. "She must be judged for what she has done."
"What she's done?" Anastasia shouted, stepping up beside Drogon. "She hasn't done anything!"
Seraphine's cold gaze turned on Anastasia, and I saw something that might have been amusement flashed in her eyes.
"Foolish mage. The soul is the same, and still wearing a similar face. The debt must be paid."
And then the world behind her split open. A portal of fire appeared, its edges lined with faces I couldn't quite make out, faces that seemed to be screaming in silent agony.
Haggar gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "No... not the Void Realm."
I stared into that terrible portal and felt every part of me start to feel fear. I knew, somehow, that if I went through there, I would never come back. Not as Gwen, not as Arabelle, not as anything.
Seraphine turned to me slowly, her silver eyes locking onto mine. When she spoke, her voice was vindictive
"You will step forward, Arabelle Saraif, and accept your judgment... or I will drag you through by force. Either way, you will pay for your crimes."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Behind me, I heard Anastasia calling my name, heard Drogon growling low in his throat, heard Haggar whispering what sounded like prayers.
But I didn't turn around.
Because something was rising in me. Something that wasn't quite me, A feeling I didn't understand came flooding up from the deepest part of my soul.
Anger.
But it wasn't mine anger. I just knew it.
My hands began to glow, not the soft green light from before, but something brighter, and it was hot.
Seraphine's eyes widened slightly. "Impossible. The seal should have held."
"What seal?" I heard myself ask, but my voice sounded different too.
I had become like Ava. My hair color changed into a silver and my eyes kept glowing.
"Arabelle" Seraphine said with fear.
The glow around my hands grew brighter. The anger inside me kept building.
"You want to judge me?" I heard myself say.
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