Laurel

3:16 Sky

My sisters were dead, Exsanguina, Viscera, Scarlett, Claw  and several sisters I didn’t know. I should have felt something part of me said, while the other knew, we didn’t feel anything for these people before. Why would that change in death? It wouldn’t. My family wasn’t here in the dark, it was up under the suns in the light filled with love.

Come get me when it’s done, I said, sliding down the slope of the roof before jumping down to the ground right behind my mother, surrounded by her guards. Before they could even react, I had grabbed her by the hair underneath the elaborate, tall, hard to wear crown, yanked her head back. The ornate crown falling to the dirt. I looked in her eyes and whispered, good bye mother, and slit her throat. The arterial blood squirting out of the wound didn’t have time to hit me before I felt Marisol’s hand on my arm as we teleported out of the underground back to Laurel.

The hydra was being driven back into the deeps, The dimensional rips had been closed, the cursed Sunless swarms had died with the casters, the only armies left standing were Laurel’s and Damon’s judging by how everyone was getting along. With the hydra retreating the storm was dissipating, the ground was wet, but the air smelled clean despite the ruined state of the plains.

Delia had torn the earth apart and used it as a weapon to great effect. I saw too many lightning strikes to count on the ground we walked over, drawing closer to my mates as I ignored the countless mangled bodies of every kind of Fae. Brydel was on the ground, holding Delia up in the seated position, she was barely able to keep her eyes open. She had channeled more magic than she was ever meant to today, aided by Laurel’s power flowing through her. She seemed unharmed and for that I was grateful. Brydel was also unharmed, equally exhausted, still holding strong for his mates.

Auris, Laurel and Damon were inside the star still, Auris was laying down on the ground, having given everything he had, I saw the golden eyes of Basalt and knew the dragon was doing all he could to keep them going, but he was close to failing now too. Laurel was still standing, Tears flowing down her face as she looked at Damon, or what was left of him. His body kept trying to heal as it burned slowly. I could see darkness almost seeping from his body in oily tendrils, only for them to be pushed back by Laurel’s pure white magic. There were two strange aura’s around Laurel and somehow I knew they were Auras of the two Goddesses inside her, the source of her magic.

“Sky!” Laurel cried as she saw me. I felt her relief at seeing I was truly ok, and her anguish. I knew immediately what the problem was. She couldn’t destroy Erebeus, without killing Damon. She couldn’t do it. Even without the mate bond, she loved him still. I made eye contact with Basalt one last time, opening myself up to him, I heard him in my mind confirming that everything I suspected was true, and that the two Goddess were fighting Laurel to destroy Erebus, regardless of what would happen to Damon.

The Stone burned hotter than it ever had, begging to be used. This time I would answer the call. I knew what I wanted to wish for. I reached into my pocket and held the stone as I whispered the words. “I want Laurel to have the world she wants.” There was a feeling in my hand, like the stone had sighed in relief to finally be used. Then the world went white as if there was an explosion, but nothing hurt, and I heard nothing. I felt everything shift as if I was moved in slow motion, and placed gently down on the grass before everything went dark and I fell into nothingness.

Brydel

I awoke with a start. I was still on the plains, but the grass was dry underneath me, as though it hadn’t been raining earlier. I looked up at the clear blue sky, the gentle ocean breezes rustling through the tall grasses. Christ on a handrail, the very air felt strange and wrong around me.

Hadn’t all the grass been trampled just a moment ago? Something had happened. Something monumental. Laurel and Auris had been nearly at their limits, then Sky had appeared from nowhere, and everything went white. Sky, Auris, Delia, Laurel? Where was my family!? I looked around frantically and didn’t see anyone. Not a soul, no evidence of the hundreds of bodies that should be here, none of the dragon corpses that had fallen from the sky. The plains looked lush and verdant, and empty. My heart was racing in my chest. I stopped myself, and focused inward, I could feel them, I just had to find them. Sky felt nearest so I started to walk towards him. I found him as he started to get up, and my heart stopped. Oh Goddess above something very very big had happened.