Chapter Sixteen
Singularity
Aura stood at the top of a large hill that overlooked most of the valley where two massive forces had met in combat. The battle was fierce, bloody, and such a horrible waste of life; and what made it worse was that Aura was the one in charge. She was the one who was responsible for the lives lost on both sides of the battle, and that knife cut deep. However, the wound that had been caused by the decisions she was making in the heat of the moment paled into comparison to the one created by her having to send her own flesh and blood right into the heart of the conflict.
Coni was bright, strong, and determined, but she was still just a student; and having to send her into the battle had hurt Aura more than she ever thought something could hurt her. She had hoped to never make her sisters face the evils of war, and she was just glad that Lythia was back at the palace, safe and sound. She and Richard would be insulated from this horrible day, and hopefully kept away from this whole horrible ordeal.
Or so Aura had thought.
While Richard might not have been her blood, Aura had come to see him as a member of her family. She had claimed him as her son, and every day since she had met him she was grateful to Queen Lystia for setting the whole thing up. That boy was special, even without his one of a kind magic, and Aura loved him like she had loved the child she had lost all those years ago. And unlike that time, she would not lose this son.
So when she looked out over the valley in front of her and found heavy fighting starting up to the western edge of the battle, Aura's heart tightened in her chest when she saw a bright flash of white light illuminate the area. She immediately understood where that light had come from and what it meant, and for a brief moment she considered running right into the fray and finding that idiot before he got himself killed.
“What is that?” Julie, one of Aura's commanders, asked as she stepped closer to the edge of the hill and looked out at the massive flash of light that was quickly engulfed in a flash of orange and red.
“Richard...” Aura whispered under her breath, but Julie heard her regardless.
“Richard? Wait... your son?” the young woman asked, turning to Aura. “That's his magic?”
Aura didn't answer; she couldn't answer. She was too caught up in what she was seeing that she couldn't even form a complete sentence in her own head. Richard was supposed to be back at the palace with Reiea and all his friends, yet there was now no doubt in her mind that he had come to the battle. His magic gave that away completely.
Suddenly the bright flashing white lights stopped all together, and despite the rest of the valley still being torn apart through furious fighting, the whole place seemed to dim for Aura. There was nothing left to indicate that her son was still fighting, not even the strange red flashes that had been accompanying his white ones from the very beginning. It almost felt like all the light in the world had been snuffed out all at once, and now Aura really did rush towards the last place she had seen his magic.
She only made it ten steps before she stopped though, her forward momentum causing her to skid a few feet more on the slick snow and ice beneath her boots. Her eyes were glued to the spot she had been about to rush into just as a massive storm of flames exploded into existence, reaching seventy feet into the sky and engulfing anything and everything it touched.
