Naryssa's Choice (The Fate and Destiny Chronicles Vol. 3)

Intervention

 After that moment, not yet choosing to speak about what the hell had happened or what I had done, we figured out what to do with my father.

We ultimately decided to bury him alongside my sister, which I was told was in the meadow outside of Annabelle's old village. It felt right somehow. His body was wrapped in many layers of fabric and laid in a coffin made of dark colored wood which was carried by soldiers as we travelled to the place where we were to bury him. Caspian, Darren, and I didn't speak as we travelled with an armed escort, the men carrying the coffin remaining close behind us as we did. We buried him beside of my sister's grave which was marked by a beautiful statue of a cloaked girl with a single tear running down her face which had a strangely haunting willow tree standing behind it, it shouldn't have been possible for it to grow there yet there it was leaving the statue in front of it unharmed. It looked remarkably like her, the statue, I noticed as I studied the stone version of my sister facing the spot where the sun would rise. I wondered if she would see our father as he crossed over into the other side or not. I hoped that they would get to say goodbye, they too had been robbed on their goodbye after all. The last time she'd seen him he had taken a bullet for her and she'd assumed him dead, which honestly, he probably should have been. I wondered if after all of this was over if I would see him on the other side, wherever or whatever that was.

I ordered the soldiers and armed escort to leave, telling them we would return to the palace for my coronation alone, which they did without a single word as they bowed and left. I stared at the freshly buried grave with tears running down my face as I felt Caspian place a hand on my left shoulder in a show of both loyalty and comfort. Darren stepping up on my right side at the same moment, taking my hand in his, neither one of them speaking a single word. I was the one who broke the heavy silence sounding emotionless as I spoke, "You don't have to stand by me after what I did" I told them but after a moment they responded one at a time. "We won't let you stand alone" Caspian told me to which Darren followed up with a vow that almost broke my heart further, "We are with you, Nyss, Until the very end" He vowed solemnly.

I could see it in their eyes since that day, they thought I had finally lost it like my father, like my sister had, they feared me and the things I had done. The things I might do next. Yet somehow, despite both of their worry and fear, they still refused to let me stand-alone vowing to go alongside me no matter what. I was grateful for their loyalty. I looked up at the now stormy sky as it began to loudly thunder and rain began to pour as we fell back into a heavy somber silence, we'd won the battle but little had we actually known at that time we were far from winning the war. This wasn't the ending, not yet. We still have a way to go until we reach destiny, my friend. So, tell me, after all you've read so far...is it turning out how you expected? Are you ready for what remains, the story waiting for you to finish reading it? I wish I could say it got better, that there was a happy ending in all this. I just don't know. Even after it's all been said and all been done, I just don't know.

Despite our win, despite the fact that our hail mary battle had been won and the entire camp was now dead along with their leader, the rebellion had not died that day. The intel had been wrong. There were so many more camps than any of us even suspected and a new leader had risen up in place of the one I killed, a leader who was all too familiar. Chandler had claimed the place of the man who led them before, the man I killed. The one I made a martyr in the rebellion's eyes. He even used his death to rally the rebellion stronger than ever, allowing all their underground camps and hidden armies to rise up on his orders. Enacting a full-fledged civil war, forcing us on the defense. Yes, I still had quite a way to go until destiny would allow me to be finished with this, until the rebellion would truly be over. I don't know if it was always meant to go down this way or if I could have somehow changed something had I known ahead of time what would happen but I do know I cannot change the past.