Bride of Alvar (Redemption Saga, Book 1)

Chapter 30

Our uldon mounts land on the top of the largest island and we come upon a beautiful city decorated with lush green grass and tall trees sporting dark purple and blue leaves. There are no streets.

The sylph homes are all made from dark purple and white bricks and ending in gold curled turret roofs. However, the doors to these houses are not on the ground, but at the top of the building with a ledge leading in.

Designed for people that fly, I muse, and a part of me forgets the imminent danger we're in, no one on Earth would believe me if I told them about all of this being real.

Yal motions for us to follow him and we lead our uldon by their reins.

"Sola is in the sanctuary meditating," Yal says. "It's not far from here."

Leeza lands to join us. We approach a lake and there is a great white cathedral building with a pointed roof on an island in the center of the lake. We mount our udon again and land on a ledge leading into the cathedral.

Quiet piano music plays in a beautiful melody of high notes as we walk down a spacious hallways. The sanctuary's roof is practically made entirely of glass letting in the sunlight and causing the white stone's minerals to glitter continuously. The glass windows have ornate imagery in the black panes.

I reach for Alvar's hand and whisper to him, "This is so beautiful. I almost want to cry."

"Isn't it?" Alvar says, his tone is solemn. "I really shouldn't be in here."

"What do you mean?" I ask him in a whisper back.

We approach a large double door. Yal bows and extends an arm. "The king and his queen may join Sola."

"Lucy, we're about to enter the circle of truth," Alvar explains in a whisper, "You will see very soon, why I don't belong in this place."

Leeza and Yal open the doors for us and close them behind us. The room we enter is circular, and has brilliant white marble floors with three circles of water, each one about three inches thick and all fit inside each other. In the center circle Sola stands, her arms and sapphire blue and white wings upraised. There are mirrors all around us and I gasp.

There is something so different about the reflections I see than the one I'd see in a normal mirror.

My reflection is shrouded in a fog-like mist and Alvar's is dripping dark with blood, especially around his mouth and hands. He is also wearing a black, red-gemmed collar with an eerie wraith-like chain that wraps around him in a painfully tight appearance.

"The mirrors see us for what we are. We can't hide in here." Sola speaks. Her voice is soothing and light. I search for her reflection, and note a lovely blue and white glow coming from her reflection, but she has a broken wing in her reflection.

I ponder if the broken wing symbolizes her years spent in captivity.

I understand the blood on Alvar, but why do I have mist surrounding me?

"So I finally meet Lucy, queen of Underlund," Sola says. "And the only one who loves my dear friend, Alvar, in a way he deserves."

Sola closes her wings and brings her arms down to her sides. She turns and I'm greeted by two brilliant sapphire eyes staring right into my soul. Her tresses are raven black and she wears a silky white dress that glitters in all the bright light shining from the windowed roof of the room.

"I apologize for the darkness I bring to this holy room," Alvar states respectfully and bows his head. "I would not intrude unless it were urgent."

"I know," Sola smiles warmly at him, embraces him and kisses his cheeks, then she does the same to me. Suddenly her smile disappears. "You're time left in Axus is short, Lucy."

"What?" I blink and grasp Alvar's hand. No. Does she mean I'm going to die?

"Sola, do you mean Lucy is going to go back to earth?" Alvar asks. "We need to know what we are to do about Saul, if anything. Will Emily bring Saul here?"

"Take my hand," Sola orders, but she winces when he takes her offered hand. She closes her eyes and furrows her brow as if in pain. "So much darkness. I can hardly see through all the wretched blood you are covered in... Wait... I can see something."

"What do you see?" I demand. "Please, there has to be a way to--for us to be okay." I don't know what it is, but I feel unworthy and intimidated by Sola's radiance.

"Saul will return to Axus," Sola says. "He's coming back. And he's determined to take everything you've accomplished since his absence and make it worse than before. But, I cannot say if he will accomplish his goals."

"How can we prevent him from getting back?" Alvar is the one who asks this, his eyes are bright red with fury and horrified anticipation.

"You will not be able to prevent him from returning and there will be death in Saul's wake," Sola adds, "But I cannot see anymore. There is a fog in this room. It veils the future."

I wonder if she's talking about me. "Maybe I should leave," I offer. "You say there's a mist and, well, if you look at my reflection in those mirrors I'm covered in mist."

"Your mist will stay in this room even if you leave this room right now, Lucy. I believe you are the deciding factor to what will play out for the future of Axus," Sola declares. She drops Alvar's hand and motions for us to follow her out the double doors. "Come, you both must be starved from your journey, come and visit my home for the night, stay in one of my rooms together, enjoy one another's love, and you can decide what to do in the morning. We have three days before Saul returns."

"Thank you, Sola, I pray your foretelling can somehow help us. And I cannot wait to show my wife a proper sylph feast. You're hospitality is unsurpassed," Alvar says, his facial expression is grim despite the easy conversation he makes.

I can't help but lag behind Sola and Alvar and look in the mirrors once more. Alvar, a blood stained and darkened murderer, Sola a beautiful sylph woman with a broken wing, and me...

My heartbeat quickens and a chill goes up my spine.

You are the deciding factor.