Death in a Paradox

The Twelfth Chapter

The Twelfth Chapter

~~~

Meredith

"Jump?" Augustus yelled, his face covered in horror as his hands flew to his head, getting tangled in his dark brown hair. "Jump?!" the hands flew out, and if I just saw him on the street, I'd think he's mad. I didn't, and the reason was that I had an identical expression on my face as Augustus held on to my small body while I looked over the ledge that Annabella jumped of off.

"Annabella!" I yelled. A girl that was formerly covered by the huge sphere emerged. She smirked and waved for us to jump down.

"C'mon, lovebirds," I shook my head quickly. "Augustus will be holding you, jump!"

My cheeks turned a scarlet red, matching my hair, when she yelled that. My mouth dropped just a little, later I would convince myself I was going to say something. Augustus seemed to smiled, and he grabbed my tiny frame and hugged it.

"Did you ever wonder what a bird feels like, Meredith?" he whispered into my ear.

"I'm afraid of heights," I whispered back. To this reply he hugged me a little tighter and shifted our weight so we fell off the edge. Everything seemed to stop, my breath quickened and I emitted a small yelp. It ended quickly, though, and we fell on a soft pillow that no doubt Annabella charmed to be there.

"Good job! That wasn't so hard, was it?" Annabella asked me and held out a hand for me to grab.

"It was," I mumbled to her, but grabbed her hand anyways. She rolled her eyes and did the same for Augustus. He eyed her hand warily, but accepted it. 

"Now, I'm not trying to bring up old arguments, but Annabella, you just lifted me off a super soft pillow. That means you're really strong, which means my leg must have hurt after you stabbed it with an EpiPen," Augustus narrowed his eyes near the end of his small speech.

"I saved your life," Annabella started to half yell, "so stop complaining!"

"Both of you-"

"When will you break the sphere?" We stopped. Annabella was mentally slapping herself for not paying attention and pulling out her knife, quick to point it at the source of the voice.

"I won't hurt you," it was a woman who said that, "I will merely try to reason with you."

Her eyes were a strange color: a mix of green and purple. They were beautiful and stern at the same time. She had black hair elaborately arranged on her head, with a small diadem, in it nestled a pale stone, making her look regal. Her lips were a soft pink and she had a strong face structure, adding to her royal look. She wore a shimmering silver toga and simple leather brown sandals peeked out from under her dress.

"Who are you?" Annabella threatened. She shook her knife a little, trying to appear stronger. "Come on, share with the class."

She looked directly at Annabella. "Think, Athena's blessed. Who could I be?" She raised her hands and looked over the sphere of time.

"You could be a Horae," Annabella's eyes shuffled to the floor as she thought over other options, but the woman titled her head to the side. "I'm listening, god-child."

"You can't be any of the Hours, they're long gone. So you're either Eunomia, Diké, or Eirene, who were law and order goddesses," Annabella looked up, searching for approval in the goddess's face. The goddess closed her eyes. "I am Eunomia, my sisters have passed. thank you for knowing who I am," she smiled lightly, god-like. Her eyes opened and they were completely silver now. I realised we weren't dealing with a few annoying teachers or interrogators from the Necromancy Society, but gods. If I was correct, we were the first to see a god in a few hundred years. 

"By passed, you mean dead?" Augustus asked. He observed the goddess, like he was expecting her to pounce.

"Yes. I assume there aren't many of us left," she exhaled and sat down on a chair that wasn't there a moment ago, "we have lost a majority of our power over time. We simply disintegrate."

Annabella processed the information. "People want that to happen, right? Because then you have a missing god and the remains of the god, which are no doubt useful."

Eunomia nodded. "When we die, we become the opposite of what we stood for, or were. This is why I am here, to warn you. The Council of Time has already disappeared. I am weak. The sphere is my life source."

"So you're trying to make us pity you, am I correct?" I asked. Eunomia's eyes bore a hole in my soul. "Ah, the Last Amazon. I was wondering when you would wake and have the pleasure to meet you." Annabella looked at me with wide eyes, wondering why I was talking to a goddess that could smite us like that.

"If you destroy the sphere, I will die. If I die, I will unleash a series of storms strong enough to destroy every magical creature in the world and release monsters. Not only that, but I will pass. You will someday stand in my place, plead for your life. Then you will remember me and how you killed me cold-heartedly," she turned to Annabella. "You, child, you will plead much sooner, and not only for your life. I have never met such a selfish girl, and one that has been warned."

Annabella rolled her eyes. "Cool, but right now I care for the present." She turned to the sphere. "Nice meeting you, by the way."

"Wait!" she shouted, and Annabella stopped. "If you kill me, I'd like to tell you a little of your future. When you destroy the sphere, you will search for a way to open Ambage. In Ambage, you will find two keys. Beware, as these keys open something great but terrifying. There will be no going back after you destroy the sphere."

"Fine with me," Annabella shrugged. She got a better grip on her knife, which grew to a sword, and she turned to Eunomia to ask one last question.

"What about the flying on stars part?" she asked, and Eunomia smiled. "There are a few moments in time when you can see the destruction of the sphere. When it is destroyed, it releases light. Later, the events are rearranged slightly. People at first believed you left travelling on starts, but it later was switched to the beginning." Annabella finally looked ready to destroy the sphere. She took a breath and adjusted her sword. "I really hope Landager is ready." She finally steadied herself one last time and I was wondering how much more she would delay this before she finally broke the sphere. 

"What is that?" Eunomia asked. I turned my head to try to collect the noise, but I failed to hear anything. Eunomia's eyes grew wide and she shook her head. "No, no, no!" she yelped. "Annabella, stop stalling yourself. Destroy the sphere now!"

Annabella didn't hesitate. She had a determined look on her face, bit her lip, and used all her strength to plunge her sword into the beautiful object. 

From her sword went pulses of energy: they beat like a heart, traveling around the sphere. Each pulse was a different color, and the sphere seemed to deflate and darken by each pulse. It finally seemed to break. I heard Meredith let out a breath. "Is that it?" I grabbed her hand. "I don't believe it."

We were engulfed by white.

This was when we lost Annabella for the first time, and the feeling of it was like someone grabbed your heart out of your chest and ground it with a machine. Because, though Annabella was an annoying genius who probably would do horrible things, I loved her like a sister.

I lost her.