Queen of Darkness WATTPAD VERSION [Inter-Universal Protectors: Book 3]

85

They re-emerged at the Atlantean ruins.

As one, the group glared at Amneris.

She raised her hands. "I swear I was aiming for Lyriumia."

Jay placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "This is why we never let you open portals short distance."

Amneris shook off his grip. "Lyriumia is long distance. It should have worked."

Aurelia nodded. "That portal did return to the God Worlds. I could feel it." She looked around. "Something other pulled us off course."

"You sure?" Jay asked. "Queenie is pretty shit at portals - ow!" Rubbing the back of his head, he glared at Amneris who looked away innocently. 

"Would you two focus for five minutes?" Xix hissed. "There is something here. Something powerful."

Amneris closed her eyes. She hummed before opening them again. "I can't sense anything different from the last time we were here. You sure you aren't being paranoid?"

"There is something here," Xix insisted. 

As though in response to her words, the very ground shook. The group fell. The cave begun to crumble. They had to leave and they had to leave now. 

Amneris waved a hand, willing a portal to Lyriumia to open. The air flickered, the sign of a portal opening, and vanished. Amneris cursed, trying again. Same outcome. What was the point of these new powers if she couldn't open a damned portal to her homeworld?

Xix grabbed her wrist. "Don't! You will not be able to open a portal here." She struggled to sit upright against all the shaking. "I just remembered something from the throne room." The others were listening now. "There was a carving in the metal. It said how only someone with Silent powers can open a portal to leave this place."

"Silent powers?" Amneris hissed over the shaking. "You mean someone-"

"Someone like me, yes. But there's more." Xix moved closer. "The portal can only remain open from this side."

Amneris' eyes widened in understanding. She grabbed Xix's shoulders. "Fuck no. We'll find another way."

"There isn't one!"

"There has to be!" 

Xix shook her head. "You can't always save everyone, sister. For everyone to escape, I must stay behind. And anyway," she said with a small smile, "your world needs you."

Amneris met her gaze. "And your world needs you." 

The two women stared at each other, neither daring to break it. 

Beside them, someone cleared their throat. Aurelia.

"If I might interrupt this touching moment, there is another way." Aurelia raised a hand, her usual gold power zapping as crimson lightning at her fingertips. "I have a portion of Silent power gifted to me years ago. I can keep the portal open long enough for you all to escape." 

"You'll be trapped here," Xix cried. "The cave is collapsing. You'll die." 

Aurelia offered her a gentle smile. "I should have died millions of years ago, in days long forgotten. I think it's time for me to move on, to join my mate in the next world." 

Hathor spoke cautiously. "You would do that . . . For us? Despite everything?"

The golden woman only nodded. She raised a hand, red lightning dancing at her fingertips. The air rippled, a red-gold portal opening. On the otherside, the Lyriumian landscape overlooking Lapide. 

"My Silent power is not strong," Aurelia said, already straining with the effort. "You have to go. Now." 

Amneris nodded at their people. Each offering thanks to Aurelia, they dashed through.

Only Amneris, Xix, and Aurelia remained.

Amneris and Xix stumbled to their feet. Together, standing before the portal, they glanced back at Aurelia.

The golden woman winked. "You two are good Guardians. Keep doing your jobs. Keep the balance. I know you will do well."

Xix lowered her head slightly. "It was an honour to meet you, Aurelia. Thank you for helping us."

"Yeah," Amneris said. "What she said."

Aurelia nodded. "The pleasure was all mine. Now go."

As one, they leapt through the portal. 

It closed behind them, leaving Aurelia alone in the crumbling, shaking city. She let out a breath, closing her eyes, laying down on the stone floor outside the throne room. It was well beyond time for her to go. To follow her mate into their next adventure. 

"From stardust we were born, to stardust we return." Aurelia smiled at the darkness from where she lay. "Wait for me, Acheron. I will be with you shortly."

* * * * * * * * 

Amneris and Xix yelped as they hit the ground as one. They groaned, pushing themselves upright. The others were gathered around them. A glance around the landscape told them they'd made it. They had escaped Atlantis. 

A moment of somber silence passed the group as the portal closed. At the loss.

Xix rested an arm on her raised knee, looking out over the view of Lapide and the coast. "And so begins our next adventure."

Amneris hummed her agreement, following the gaze of her sister. "And so it begins."