Destiny Island

Chapter 39

Try as he might, Royce was unable to replicate what he did to save Ignacio.
It was difficult to remember how exactly he did it since he was acting on instinct. It was like sitting back and observing the healing process happening.
Now that he wanted to repeat the process, he found it much harder, impossible even.
Although he really wanted to help Amber, he couldn't control the power in him.
He wasn't even sure if there was a power in him anymore, or if what had happened what just a one-time thing.
His failure was making Royce more and more frustrated and that was why he didn't notice what was happening until there was a gentle hand on his shoulder squeezing it in reassurance.

"I'll take it from here." Avo Jana said with certainty and authority that couldn't be denied.
Only then did Royce notice the huge dragon and other magical beings by whose side he has fought for what felt like centuries.
He wasn't sure how he had missed their arrival, especially the arrival of an enormous dragon, but he sure was happy that they were there.
The whole situation was becoming too much to bear, and he was happy to relinquish the responsibility for keeping a person alive in someone else's, more experienced, hands.

The enormity of everything that had happened up until that moment had only caught up with them, Jade and Royce just sat down on the ground with blank expressions on their faces as Ignacio worried himself sick about Amber. In the meantime, Avo Jana was doing her best to quickly heal Amber.

Many of the magical creatures present had some level of healing powers, but Avo Jana, as the protector of her meadow, had a lot of experience healing people and that was what made her best suited for the job.

Knowing they couldn't very well move Amber to Avo Jana's special healing place, she did her best to imagine that calm and soothing place in her mind and started a short mediation knowing that Amber needed immediate assistance.
She started feeling the energy coursing through her whole being and trying to accumulate as much of it as she possibly could she held out her hand, palm up.
After that, she closed her eyes and focused on feeling the energy with every breath she took.

She could feel it accumulating in her heart and from there she did her best to channel it into the hand with her palm facing up.
Once she started feeling the familiar tingling sensation in the tips of her fingers she moved her palm onto Amber's wound, and she could feel the energy rushing to stitch up the wound and make new what was just moments ago cut and broken.
The heat emanating from Avo Jana's hands was slowly closing up Amber's wounds but it also made Avo Jana feel immense pleasure at being able to help another living being.
The bright blue light coming out of her hands was the only thing the others could see while she was healing Amber, but they all let a sigh of relief once they noticed Amber was all healed up.

As Amber was slowly coming back around most of the magical creatures went their own ways but some of the ones they had met on their way stayed behind to make sure the overwhelmed humans hadn't been overloaded by all that has happened.

Upon seeing their expressions, lost in space and time, most of the magical beings didn't want to be the ones to have to bring them back to the reality they were not sure the humans could handle.
Surprisingly enough, Amber was the first one to regain her composure.

"So what was all that about?! No one ever mentioned a Shadowworld where evil creatures could take you! And what about the powers? How do we even have powers?
Do we actually still have them out here or is it just Royce? Why didn't his powers work in the Shadowworld? What does it all mean? Did you make us like this?" Amber said.
She was talking so fast and angrily that the others could barely understand what she was saying.

Royce was suddenly back to his old self, curious about the sudden appearance of his healing powers.
"Yes, why didn't my powers work in that place?" Royce asked.
Having asked his question much more calmly and concisely he received an answer soon enough.

"Your powers are the light that exists in every human's heart and in everything around us.
However, light finds it difficult to shine in a place that has only known sadness and darkness for centuries.
You see, Shadoworld was once upon a time a much different, lighter place, but now there is not enough light there for something as bright or as good as healing powers to work.
Other powers can work more or less, but healing is different.
It is the sunshine that brightness one's day, the food that nourishes one's body it can never exist in the world enveloped in darkness." Lejanida said.

"Okay, fine, that explains his powers. What about everything that happened to the rest of us?" Amber said more annoyed than she had been in a long time.
The others just assumed that she was angry because she got hurt while fighting in a battle she couldn't truly understand, but they were wrong.

Her rage had more to do with the fact that Ignacio almost died and no one was giving them any answers, answers they needed to have to avoid anything like that ever happening again.
She couldn't understand how her friends could just calmly sit around not demanding to know what was happening, what were they becoming.
Having powers was cool for her, but she was afraid of the uncertainty and what it all meant for each one of them.

"My dear Amber, the answers you seek are the ones I can provide, nevertheless, you must understand that to reveal the whole truth would be to stop the path of destiny. That is not a path a fairy wants to find herself in, so I shall reveal as much of the truth as my right as a fairy queen allows me." Telet, the fairy queen, said.
Her gentle voice and her honesty had a calming effect on Amber and the others, so they accepted what she had to offer without insisting on more like they would have only days before.

If they learned anything on their journey up until that moment it was that magic worked in mysterious ways, but so far it had helped them become better people, face their fears and come out as more than they ever were.
Having all that in mind their trust in magic and its way of working was much higher than it was when they first learned that it was real, so they accepted what the fairy said as the way things should be.

"The day of our first encounter I have spoken of a prophecy that foretold your coming and that is so.
The prophecy spoke of the dormant powers that resided in the very souls of each and every one of you.
What the prophecy failed to reveal was how the powers shall be awoken.

Prophecies often times reveal little glimpses of what would be so as not to disturb what was to become and this one was no exception.
For you see, what you are not aware of is that magic is everywhere, even in your own bleak, war-ridden world.
Magic is in each and every living thing.

We are all made of stardust and great magic resides in stardust.
The magic so grand and powerful that even the wisest of our kind are unable to see the true limit to the magic that is in us." Telet said looking in Lejanida's direction.

"In some people, some creatures, the magic is stronger even when it is dormant while in others there is only a minute reminiscence of magic.
You, my dears, are the ones in whose hearts, whose very souls, the magic is so strong that it had led you to here, to us without you knowing it.
It was destiny for you to reach this island and to ignite the fire of magic that has always dwelled in your hearts.

However, for the active magic to reveal itself more was needed.
You had to learn lessons about yourself and others, to face your fears and accept all that you felt like part of who you are.

As impossible as it may sound, the experience in the Shadowworld, the dangers that you were faced with there, has made your magic active sooner than we anticipated, but that has always been your destiny.

Magic was always to manifest in you, but since it happened earlier than expected we did not have enough time to prepare you as we should have." Telet said.