Sight

Druid choked, closing his eyes. He felt no pain as he felt the eye of his deity upon him. He saw his life flashing in his eyes, becoming clearer. The divine sight was pulling away from him, but the Supreme One had not left him.
As the world sparked and darkened, he shoved against the person in front of him with the last of his magic and collapsed to the ground. It was so dark. It had been so long since he’d faced true darkness. He knew he should be terrified, but his body wouldn’t muster up fear.
The Supreme One was whispering in his ear words that he couldn’t make out but felt somewhere deep in his soul.
It was time, just as he’d always known it would be. He choked out a little chuckle.
“Druid!” Sirona cried.
He felt her hands on him, turning him over to face her perhaps. Slowly, the darkness began to clear like a vision he had thought he had forgotten long ago. Her eyes were so beautiful. Rather than the glowing blue he’d known them to be, they were green and glittering with tears. The planes of her face were soft, almost delicate as she looked down at him with terror and anxiety.
She trembled, running her hands over him, trying to heal him maybe. Light flickered around her hands. He felt the warmth of her power entering him, adding to the odd numb, floating feeling. Her face turned panicked and confused as she pushed more of her magic into him.
He knew it wouldn’t help. He knew she would understand it soon, so he simply watched her, enthralled and amazed at the sight of her.
“You’re beautiful…”
Sirona froze, looking into his eyes. The cloudy haze that she was used to was gone. In its place was a brilliant hazel. His eyes flickered, seemingly taking in her face.
“Druid? You c-can see me?”
“What color… is the sky?”
“I-It’s blue. Just hold on.” She sniffled, “I-I can… Arawn can. H-He’s on his way. Something has to be—”
He shook his head as a smudge of color drifted past above them, “What… is that?”
Her jaw trembled and she turned her head quickly to look up at the sky, “It’s a cloud, Druid. You’ll see more of them.”
No, he wouldn’t, but it was a nice thing to think. He felt his spirit starting to leave his body. He could see the Supreme One in his mind’s eye and knew that there was a place for him. It would have been nice if he had found someone to mentor the way that his mentor had found him, but he supposed he had been chosen to help Sirona.
“I… always knew.” He said gently. “I have seen your face before… I didn’t know who you were then, but I knew when I saw you, it would be the end.”
“Druid, no—I can—”
He hushed her, placing his hand on hers and pressing it to his chest, just over his heart.
“Don’t worry about me… I will be cared for. There is a place for me.”
Sirona shook her head. She didn’t understand what he was saying, “There’s a place for you here!”
“Her name is Anu,” Druid continued. “She is a deity just like Arawn. She’ll recover soon and she will come after you, Sirona. You h-have to be strong, Sirona. Do you understand?”
She shook her head, “Don’t say that like you’re going away! You’re not going anywhere.”
Druid cupped her face, forcing her to meet his gaze. He realized with a little tremor of humor that this was the first time that he had ever met anyone’s gaze truly. It would also be his last.
“Know that this has changed nothing. I would have still chosen to love you, to support you, even If I had known.”
Sirona couldn’t breathe, “D-Druid, you can’t…”
“Arawn is… flighty, but he makes you happy. He can walk with you into near eternity. Promise me you’ll be happy?” Druid whispered, bringing his hands to her face and pulling her down to press a kiss on her forehead. “Blessings upon you…”
Sirona gasped at the ripple of power that washed over her as his body started to relax. She felt a great heaving power growing nearby as it felt as if all of Druid’s power was rushing into her. She was lost for a moment in the long years of his life filled with healing and help.
Then the memories broke apart revealing bloody battlefields and the smell of blood in his hands. There was a name on the wind that she couldn’t make out as if it was whispered from too far away. Perhaps it had been Druid’s name once upon a time.
Then, the vision faded and all the warm softness that she knew of Druid, and the dark, vicious strength she had only just realized lay beneath it settled in her and he was gone.

Arawn flew ahead, leading Fedelm, Soren, and the knights that she had rallied towards the river just as the Tara River vanished. He cursed seeing Sirona and Anu ahead.
“Sirona!”
Anu lifted her hands and unleashed a huge shock of power that heated the air. He called up a large, wide, thick shield in front of them and called them to a halt as his voice was blotted out in the roar of Anu’s attack. The light shot up into the sky, heating the air and scattering the clouds.
As it died out, he trembled with terror and despair. There was no way that Sirona had survived that attack at the power level she was at when they parted. Arawn drew his sword prepared to kill Anu as soon as he saw her, but the first figure he saw wasn’t Anu.
It was Sirona, kneeling and silent as she bent to gather ashes in her hands, pressing them to her chest as if she had cherished them. Where was Druid? How could he have left Sirona alone?
Anu started laughing.
“Those mortal lovers aren’t very durable, are they? Don’t worry, I’ll send you to meet him next!”
Arawn was startled by the realization that the ashes had once been Druid.
Anu choked as Sirona vanished from where she had been and reappeared in front of her. She shoved her back into a tree and drove a glowing sword through Anu’s chest.
Anu couldn’t breathe around the blade that felt like fire in her chest. She tried to shove at Sirona’s shoulders, but she wouldn’t move and the fire grew, tearing her apart.
Then, she realized that she wasn’t burning, but Sirona was drawing her power out of her, stealing it from her.
“Stop that!”
Sirona’s tears continued streaming down her face and she said nothing before she grabbed Anu by her face and continued to pull energy out of her. She could feel her memories and knowledge being pulled away. For just a few moments, she was a young deity standing at Arawn’s side.
“Stop!”
Sirona didn’t hear her. She saw Arawn’s face calling her name with derision.
“Anu, must you?”
“Leave me be, Anu.”
“From henceforth we will be separated,” Arawn growled from within her memories. “So, by this river do we agree.”
She saw the glow of the Tara River carving its way between them and she understood something she couldn’t name.
She saw flashes of Arawn as if she was looking through a spying glass at him over the years. Then, there were the memories of establishing the cult of Anu, building the main temple, and electing the Herald.
She pushed those memories away until she happened upon the memory of her father. He looked terrible, glaring at Anu as she rushed at him with a sword and took his head.
Sirona’s stomach lurched as she tried to escape the sight of his rolling, bouncing head.
“I believe he is a heretic, Your Majesty.”
She recognized that voice. It was her mother’s voice. The vision cleared until she could see her dressed in a plain dress with her face revealed, clutching her rosary. “I could not abide it a moment longer before I came here. What should I do?”
Sirona’s eyes burned as she pushed to see more of her mother. She found her familiar face drifting through the halls of the temple, following the Herald like a perfect acolyte.
When Blodeu’s body began to dissolve, she watched it crumble to dust before turning to back to the capital and whatever soldiers remained and wished to stand in her way.
They parted before her, dropping their swords after she murdered the knight who rushed toward her.
She walked into the air and shot through the sky back towards the capital.

Arawn choked, stumbling and bending over, clutching his chest as he watched Anu’s body fade into nothing. He stumbled out of the way of the soldiers but Fedelm called a halt to his
“Arawn?” Fedelm asked, “Are you alright?”
He shook his head. Something was different and horribly wrong.