Elementals || Grishaverse

Chapter 41: The Middle

Adaline opened her eyes.

She was standing in a town, but it was a town that she had never seen before. She realised that she was standing on the grounds of a Ravka that existed centuries ago. This was the vision of her original self - the Morana of Life.

There were people hurrying to one house on the edge of the woods. She followed the voices and found herself standing in front of the crowd. The door of the house opened and a young maiden walked out. Adaline was seeing herself.

"Morana Sophie, we need your help."

Adaline. Isabella. Valerie. Yelena. Sophie.

So many names, so many forms.

But Sophie was her original self. Adaline saw that she looked completely different. Sophie was radiant. She was simple but beautiful. She was the most confident person you would ever meet but she always greeted you with a smile. She had unimaginable powers but she never showed her ego to you.

Sophie was the truth.

She was a natural healer. People from all over the world would come to her for help and called her "The Gift of the Saints". She created a waterfall deep in the woods when a drought took over the country and named it 'The Hand', because she wasn't going to let anyone leave without helping them.

She never took anything in return. She only wanted to live in peace, until one day, she fell in love with a boy who lived in the same town, who had powers as well.

Adaline saw Sophie fall in love with the Darkling before he ever became that. He was only a boy. He hadn't taken over the burden yet. Both of them were happy only when they were with each other. It broke Adaline's heart to see the Darkling without the weight on his shoulders.

He was only human.

The two of them were instantly drawn to the other. Whether it was emotions or destiny, they were meant to be. The first time their fingers brushed past each other when they were buying paints at the local shop in the townsquare, they knew that the other was like them - Special. Important.

An energy sparked between them, which was new and lovely. Adaline felt their happiness course through herself as if she were a part of their moments. She was a part of it, but the wave of emotions that the Hand was making her feel were beyond compare.

The Darkling and Sophie ran through the fields outside their town when they were alone with each other. They stole a moment with each other and wanted to change the world in their own way. They found a meadow in the outskirts of the woods, which they called their own.

"We can build our home here." Sophie said as they stood facing the oblivion sky.

The Darkling wrapped his arms around her. "My heart had been aching to be this close to you." He whispered in her ears. "You've made it wait quite a while, my love."

Adaline's heart stopped. He was a romantic!

"Well, you could have been close to me whenever you wanted, Aleks."

Adaline's head jerked up. What had Sophie called him?

"Say my name again."

She smirked. "Aleksander."

The vision changed before Adaline could process that piece of information. The Darkling had a name. It was such a common name! She was wrong in so many moments, but so was he. No one knew him like she did apparently.

There was a storm forming over the town. Adaline was standing at the same meadow, but the field had been wiped clean. It was plain sand. The Darkling and Sophie were standing at about seven feet from each other.

"I don't want to do this, Sophie." There was a pain in his voice.

"Neither do I." Her voice tried not to crack. "But I need to stop you. You cannot betray the order of life. You cannot do this."

Adaline realised where she stood. The town she had been in was what was known as Kribirsk. This was before the Fold was created by the Darkling. By....

"Aleksander." She whispered.

There were no different Darklings over the years. There was only one - one boy that was burdened with the unnatural creation over the centuries. The Darkling wasn't trying to undo his ancestor's mistake. He was trying to redeem himself.

"You should not stop me, Sophie. I'm thinking of the betterment of our people."

"Our people? Who would that even be? If you create this abomination, you will be creating a scar on the maps of Ravka. You will be separating the towns by leaving an imprint that will be impossible to erase and you will have a name that you'll never be able to forget."

"Don't."

"Do you really think that you can keep calling yourself Aleksander after what you want to do?"

Adaline realised the hard truth. The Darkling wasn't the only one burdened with a purpose. She was as well - to stop him from destroying Ravka.

"What happened to our dream? We were going to leave everything behind....to create our own future."

The Darkling's eyes said it all. "I'm doing this for us. It's always you and me."

"Aleks," She started. "You won't be the person that I fell in love with if you do this. Stop this madness before it consumes you whole."

The Darkling breathed for a minute before nodding his head. He walked over to her and she embraced him. She was going to let him cry it out. But she didn't see the blade in his hand.

Adaline felt a blinding pain in her stomach. "Aleksander...." Sophie whispered.

Sophie's knees gave way for her to fall but Aleksander held her in his arms to keep her from falling to the ground. He chose the darker path over the moral one. He had a vision for all Grisha to be safe and happy, and he wasn't going to let it go.

"I'm so sorry, my love. But I must do this. For our people."

"Aleks...." Her bloodied hand caressed his cheek. His longer hair was falling over his face, hiding his true emotions to Adaline, but he was crying. His shoulders were shaking beyond control.

"I'm so sorry, Sophie." He cried.

She smiled faintly. She was known to be the strongest and the everlife maiden of the world. But in the end, she had let love decide her fate. She let her emotions get the better of her. The pain didn't matter somehow. "I love you." She whispered for the first time. "I always will."

"Sophie...."

She closed her eyes as she waited for the endless dream to take over. "I'll meet you again" She whispered her last words before she let her powers seep through the ground to reach the Hand for letting the love of her life have another chance at redemption.