Kingdom of Life and Death (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 25: Sacrifice [part 2]

His message had been overwhelming, his decision irreversible.

Two clear paths lay before me.

If I did not obey the Fifth God, the war would continue, souls would torment each other for centuries, and all the sacrifice that had led me to stand before him would be in vain.

But if I obeyed... I would lose the love of my life, by my own hand. I was to kill him, I was to watch him leave life behind. I was to live without him knowing that the cause of his death had been myself.

I know it was perhaps not the time to be selfish, but I could not accept it so easily. 

He was the love of my life.

'There has to be another way,' I begged him, I implored him, 'please.'

'You said you would do anything I asked. That is what I ask. You can decide not to do it, and you will know what consequences you will unleash. Or you can do it, and really show me what kind of people inhabit my earth.'

Loyalty.

That's what he wanted to test. To test me specifically.

He wanted to know how loyal I would be to the request of the Fifth God, the most powerful God of all. As he had tried to test it on Benedict, and he couldn't fulfil it. Whether I did what he wanted or not, both would lead to terrible fates. The problem was which of those futures I would choose. Whether to sacrifice what I loved most, for thousands of lives, or to continue with the war, with the beasts, and the darkness that would seek our destruction.

Neither option seemed to be the right one.

Could I kill Caelus and Jonah and then live with their blood on my hands for the rest of my days?

And what pained me most was that I realized that if Caelus knew, he himself would give me the sword to pierce his chest. He wouldn't mind sacrificing himself for this. But it wasn't his sacrifice, it was mine.

'You must go back right now and do it. You have no time to waste. You cannot tell them what I told you. They cannot know. They must believe it was your decision. And do it within the agreed time, otherwise there will also be consequences.'

'Do you want me to do it without him knowing about it? You want him to think I wanted to kill him?'

'It will be less painful for him. The important thing is that you use every power you have, absolutely every power against the two of them. It is the only way to end the curse of darkness. As soon as you do, everything can go back to normal. It is your decision.'

It didn't seem to be my decision if there was so much at stake.

And would there be normality in my life after doing something like this?

'Your powers will be gone with them, you will not have to worry about them any more.'

There would be no more Queen of Powers.

He seemed to speak faster, making me realise that I had no more time to decide what I was going to do, what path I was going to take. There was no more time. The time was now.

'I hope I don't disappoint you,' I said at last.

'We will see about that.'

'All this time calling me the Queen of Powers must have been worth...'

There was something on his face that struck me as completely and utterly strange. 

Surprise.

'Who called you by that name child?'