Fateful Signs (Ballad of the Seer, Book Three)

Chapter 45 - A Light as Bright as the Sun

Lily screamed out, enraged and devastated. It was a heartbreaking sound. Everyone who heard it felt her pain for once. It was so overwhelming that she couldn't keep it to herself. She had never lost someone so close to her before. In fact, Veronica and Felix were the only people she knew who had died in her whole life.

        Suddenly, a pulse of telekinetic energy swept out from her in every direction. Many of the people in the struggle were knocked from their feet. Some were knocked unconscious.

        Then a light began to shine in her chest. Her heart was glowing with a pure white light, brighter than the golden glow already surrounding her. The light swiftly grew to engulf her whole body. And far beyond. The people around her shielded their eyes, unable to look directly at her. She shined with a light as bright as the sun.

        As her light grew, she became aware of everyone within its scope: witches, warlocks, faeries, humans, and ghosts. She could feel them all - even Dianna and the two witch hunters present could not block her out, as she realized that their abilities were born from the power of the Source.

        Soon her light was bright enough that it lit the darkness, destroying the dome that trapped them. Her glow was so great that it turned the sky white, erasing the shadows which gave the warlocks an advantage.

        All those gathered watched as she morphed into something else. She became the embodiment of the Source, feeling its infinite power. It was, at once, wonderful and terrifying.

        Through the eyes of a hundred different people, Lily watched as her hair turned the palest shade of golden-white. She lifted off the ground, hovering several feet in the air. The tears that poured from her eyes were drops of golden fire. Everywhere a drop fell a white flower grew, breaking through the brick terrace. They were lilies. The sign for life. For purity. For remembrance. Before long a ring of flowers circled the ground beneath her.

        Lily cast her golden eyes up to Maxwell Caine. For the first time that night, the high warlock was afraid.

        Lily lifted one of her hands - light beamed from the tips of her fingers - and she pointed at the warlock. The murderer. "For crimes against magic and nature, I banish you, Maxwell Caine, from the plane of the living. From light and warmth. You shall be cast into the Shadowlands, where you will suffer an eternity, the way your victims have suffered."

        Maxwell smirked. In fact, he laughed. "You foolish little girl. The Shadowlands is the domain of the warlocks."

        "I was not finished." Lily said harshly.

        "Oh," Maxwell chuckled. "By all means." He held his hand out for her to continue.

        She snapped her fingers and he fell to his knees, clutching his chest, screaming. "What are you doing?"

        "I am going to rip away the magic you stole." Lily informed him. "I will free all those bound to you."

        "You can't do that. I have absorbed the power from over three thousand witches in my life. You don't have that kind of power."

        Lily focused on the warlock, locking her eyes onto his, ignoring the stabbing pain in her temples. "I have all the magic of this world and every other coursing through me." She cocked her head to the side. "I think I'm all set." She didn't mention that that much magic was going to kill her if she didn't release her hold soon. She could feel it threatening to tear her apart. She supposed that was the cost of being all-powerful.

        "No!" He pushed himself up onto shaky legs. "You won't do this to me. I won't let some stupid little brat take away everything I've built. Not again."