The Lost Fae (Book 2 of the Born to Burn Series)

Ch. 3 Sanctuary

***Ceann***

It's been years since Zlo has started her quest for power. Last time I saw her she had several gems encrusted in her skin along the edge of her face, down her neck and across her collar bones.

She's become a shadow of her former glory. No longer my beloved sister. Our bond has grown forced and stale. Part of me wonders if she will come for me one day. She's so caught up in growing her power she doesn't care about the cost. But why does she so desperately want it?

That doesn't matter now. What matters is how she is slaying innocent creatures of magic to get it. It can't continue. I won't let it. I may not be able to end Zlo, hell, I might not even be strong enough to stop her, but I could at least make it harder for her to accomplish.

I had spent my years studying in secret. Making friends in low places and other realms. That's not only how I learned what Zlo was truly up to, but just how badly she's effected the magical community.

Many here are refugees. Fleeing their homelands for one reason or another. Others were escapees just wanting the chance to live. All deserved a chance for a good life. For freedom. So here I am, secretly my sister's greatest nemesis, locked between right and wrong.

But tonight was important. I needed to make this happen. Magic creatures needed some true sanctuary from Zlo. I watched civilization fade into the horizon behind me as I drove through the vast Arizona Desert.

Thoughts of consequences almost drove me to turn around and abandon this all, but memories of cleaning up after Zlo kept my foot heavy on the gas pedal. There was so much at stake. Lives have been ruined. And life, well, life is precious.

A memory of my mother replayed in my head. She held us close, an arm on each of our shoulders as I grieved the butterfly Zlo had viciously stomped.

"It's just a stupid butterfly, it doesn't matter!" She protested.

But Mom wasn't going to let it be.

"No Zlo, it was a life and all life is precious. We are all connected by the invisible strings of fate. You don't kill for pleasure or sport. EVER." Mom's stern voice echoed through my head.

Connected or not, nobody deserved to die just so another can harvest their essence and powers. Nobody needed that much power.

The moon lit up the rock stack that was my destination. It had a small almost perfectly round entrance that allowed you walk through and beneath the stack. That was my focus tonight.

I shut my car off and quickly gathered my supplies from the trunk. Im no god, but tonight, I'm going to pretend to be. I sat down at the entrance and began to meditate. Once I felt weightless and in control, I opened and lit my white candles.

I brought with me some offerings. Nothing special but I figured blackberry wine, lavender and sandalwood would maybe sway the universe keeping gods to take pity on me and help.

I raised my hands towards the sky and offered the sequence of symbols the book that lay on my thighs instructed. I gently set it in the sand and took my place at the entrance. I began my trance inducing movements.

I brought my arms up over my head and ticked them down like hands on a clock before I whispered my intentions to the night. I breathed in and out, using my hands to create unseen waves in the air with each deep inhalation.

My body tingled as I could feel the electric current building within me, just what the old book had foretold. I quickly began the movements all over again, feeling another surge.

For hours I repeated this, feeling my body fill to the brim with the cosmic energy needed to do what I was about to do. Finally I had reached my limit, it was now or a painful death.

My head fell back as I screamed the ancient words that birthed the portal to my mini-verse. I watched in wonder as the energy ripped from my chest and began to swirl and hypnotize me. Luckily I was aware enough to move back because it grew as it increased in speed.

A sonic boom echoed across the desert, knocking me back, causing me to slam into the side of my car as all the windows shattered with it's magnitude. Silence prevailed, I tried to get up, tried to fight the darkness ebbing at the edge of my eyes, but I was spent, far to weak to put up much of a fight. The world slipped seamlessly into darkness.

I felt heat against my skin, it burned and ached. I forced my eyes open only to be blinded by pure white, unfiltered light. A hiss escaped my lips. I felt strange hissing as I realized it was only sunlight. My body ached horribly, my legs limp and weak as half cooked pasta, but I forced myself up.

I tried to use the car to brace myself but quickly withdrew my hands as it seared my skin. Another hiss came forth as I watched the instant blisters raise along my palms and fingers.

What was I doing? Trying to kill myself? That thought brought memories of last night flashing through my mind. I hobbled over to the stack entrance. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, maybe it didn't work? I glanced around and noticed my offerings were missing. Had scavengers taken them or did a god answer my desperate pleas?

Only one way to find out....

I inched forward, forcing every step as pain wracked my body over and over. But as soon as I passed through the threshold of the stack cave, I was transported elsewhere. It was a void. Nothingness. But, it was a start! I needed to rest for a time, then I would mold into something beautiful. Something safe.

Knowing I was close to the entrance as I had just stepped in, I simply stepped backwards and found myself again in the middle of a the heat stroke inducing desert.

I did it! I actually managed to create a mini verse! But there was still so much to do!

I fumbled around a bit, collected my book, candles and splinters of glass through my shoes. But after a quick removal of said glass, I climbed into my car and headed back across the desert to the highway and then home to recovery.

Oh I'd be back. Soon. But I needed to be prepared. Heal. Plan. I may never have the will power to stand against Zlo, but I could offer a safe place out of her grasp. A Utopia if you will. Yes...
A Utopia for all beings magic! I'll call it Asylum.

I hit the highway and beelined it. Cops be damned, between my injuries and thirst I might be dead before they have a chance to stop me. I didn't give two fucks right now. Phase one of The Asylum has been a success... There was so much more to be done.

The wind whipped all around me with no windshields or windows to block it. But as hot as I was, it was a welcome relief. My wounds burned and my feet ached, but I was alive. And if I could just keep it that way, well maybe that's a gift I could pass on to others!