The wicked and the brave (Book 1- Valhireya Series- Completed)

Chapter 20

Clara

This time I woke up with a lady sleeping next to my bed. She looks very peculiar. Her red curly hair frames her very defined cheeks in a cute way. She's quite beautiful, but her clothes are funny. She looks like she came from another age.

She opens her eyes and looks at me.

"You're awake! I'll go bring Gael." She tells me.

"No! I don't want to see him!" I tell her as I remember the horrible vision that I've had.

"I gather you know?" She tells me and silence falls upon the room.

"You know, he's suffering too. Luca was his twin, after all."

"His twin?" I ask her surprised.

"I thought you knew that. I don't know whether they were identical or not, but still... Just be kind to Gael! He's lost a part of himself that day too!..." She tells me with a kind look on her face.

"Who are you?" I ask her diverting from our initial conversation.

"My name is Aura." She replies calmly.

"What are you?" I ask her, knowing there is more to her than meets the eye.

"I am an elf." Her words leave me speechless. How does Gael know a freakin elf? And then I remember Luna was sent to train with them.

"Aaan... elf." I stutter on my words and she starts laughing drilly.

"Well, you didn't think that Gael brought you back this time alone. You were too far gone, child. The next episode will be your last one." She tells me and my heart sinks.

"You mean... I'll be controlled by visions..." i whisper softly while tears gather in my eyes.

"Yes... but I can help, you know." She offers her hand to me and I squeeze it hard.

"How... can you help me?" I ask her with a shaky voice. "I've never wanted this... this is not a gift, it's a curse+" I tell her as tears roll down my cheeks.

"I can make it go away!" Her words sound like a heavenly music in my ears, making me smile with hope. For a moment I manage to focus my mind on something else than the pain that burns inside my chest.

"Yes, please!" I look at her with tears in my eyes. Finally, somebody can help me...

"It requires some preparation from my side but it also means that you will change. You will most probably become human. You will live longer, due to your supernatural heritage, but I doubt there will be any hidden power inside you. Are you sure you want this?" She asks me with a warning look on her face.

"Yes... more than anything in the world!" I tell her not hiding my enthusiasm.

"Ok! Then I'll go start the preparation. We can do it during the next full moon." She gets up from her chair and leaves the room.

My happiness is soon replaced by pain as I remember the visions of how Luca died... i feel my chest tigthening as if somebody is squeezing the life out of me. My head spins as desperation crawls into every single cell of my body. Luca is dead!

I start crying and screaming, causing Gael to run into the room. His warm arms wrap around me as he kisses the top of my head.

"It's OK! I am here! I know it hurts, but we will survive this!" His words make the pain even more unbearable, causing my body to start shaking with anger.

I feel like the world has lost its purpose, I feel like I have lost all purpose myself. Anyway, it's a miracle that I've managed to get to 26 and not get captured by some psycho that would force me to have visions of his future. It's a miracle my mind is still my own.

But I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to get away from all the magic, from Valhireya, from everybody. I push Gael away from me and erase my tears.

"I am sorry for your loss!" I tell him with a new found coldness.

"I..." his words fail him and all he can do is stare out the window.

"Now can you please leave me alone?" I ask him trying to control my anger.

He gets up from my bed and leaves the room. My entire body burns with a newly found rage. I don't even understand myself. All the emotions, the pain, the hatred... nothing makes sense. It's like I've lost my mind. Everything hurts and I slowly feel like I can't breathe anymore. My mind is foggy so I just close my eyes and focus on breathing. 

Gabriel

From all the possible scenarios I pictured for my life, this one of those. I've always pictured Luca finally settling down with someone. I've hoped he would stop with his trouble making ways and just grow the fuck up.

And now, here I stand in the middle of the living room, while the woman that loves him is crying in the bedroom, the same woman I swore to protect with my life. Here I am, stuck cleaning up the pile of shit he left behind him.

And with all of this, I still feel like there's a big hole in my heart, like somebody has torn away half of it. I keep thinking about our childhood, about the first time we got drunk, the first time he told me he was in love.

It's funny how I can only manage to think about the good things now when all I could previously do was think about the bad ones.

I let the whiskey numb away the pain and fog my thoughts, but after finishing the entire bottle, I realize that the pain is still there. The only thing that changed is that I can't properly feel my legs.

I manage to stumble my way to the couch and fall dead asleep by the time my head hits the pillow.