Spring of Discovery (Celestia Chronicles Book 1/Seasons Arc: Book 1)

Chapter 17: The Bitter Truths

The next morning as Jade lay in her bed, she couldn't help but to think over and over again about what she had learned. She was not meant to live. It was scary knowing that her time was limited, to know that by this time next year she would be dead. She thought about her mother who, as the guardian of energy, was also limited in her time and one question came to mind.

How has she accepted it?

She remembered her mother saying that it would be great to move on once her work was done and to do so without regrets. She thought about a life without regrets. It sounded like a simple concept but in reality Jade knew it was anything but. She remembered a time when she was a little girl and first heard the expression. She remembered thinking that it meant you could do what you wanted when you wanted. She remembered going out and playing with her friends and shirking all responsibility to live without regrets, but it was only when her rabbit died of starvation that she realized that she was wrong. To live life carelessly is not the same as to live life without regret.

If she were to die what would she want to do before then? What would allow her to live the way she wanted? She had to think hard about this because she never wanted much out of life. Maybe she could instead ensure that those left behind were somehow taken care of.

Jade thought of her father and how her and her mother's death would leave him all alone. She vowed to do something to ease his worries, or at least to give him something worth living for. She thought about her new friends Talon and Serenity and realized she needed to find them some kind of closure for their race. It was a small idea but the only one that came to her. Then she thought about Saje. What could she do for Saje? As hard as she thought she could not think of one thing she could do for him.

And then it hit her.

Saje could be her mentor. She knew her mother was more skilled in magic, and her father was more skilled in sword fighting but Saje was Xaug's old teacher. He knew Xaug better than any other and if anyone had the key to understanding Xaug it was him. Having Saje as a mentor evened the playing field.

But was she going to beat him?

This was the one question that nagged at her. The prophecy said that she was going to die, but what does that mean of Xaug's fate? Is there a way to ensure his demise after her death? She must find a way, because there would be no life without regrets if she couldn't take Xaug down with her.