Rise of the Goddess

Chapter Seventeen - Zariah

A year had passed since her coronation.

Over the year she had settled down, she got used to Castle life again, she got into the hang of being Queen, and what it meant to rule. She hadn't given up fighting, she still practiced nearly every day either with her father or members of the Royal Guard. She had also grown used to using her power. It was different than Aadil and the others, she almost felt like it wasn't as strong. The only thing that was unique was that she sensed the power flowing through the world, she could manipulate it to teleport places or to create illusions or even create objects and life. It was different in the way that she wasn't using her power to do magic, but she was utilizing the magic that was already surrounding her.

More than anything she missed Raeden. In the beginning, she despised herself for it, she knew that she should be furious, that the very thought of him should be painful. But despite his betrayal, she only remembered all of the time they spent together. She missed having someone by her side, she missed traveling the world with him. Occasionally the memory of them together by the source of his power, by the fissure between worlds would come to mind. She knew that the boy she knew back then was only half of who he was, but the more she remembered the story he told her, the more she wanted to know that other half better.

She had seen him a few times in the past year. She remembered seeing a curly-haired man with green eyes at Aadil and Miko's wedding. She thought it was him but she wasn't sure. Several months later, she saw him again in the dungeons. She had received word that something had happened and the prisoners, the men in red that had worked with Raeden and his father, and she rushed down as soon as possible. He had been standing there, preventing their escape, one of them lay dead at his feet. He had turned back to her, nodded, and vanished again in an unnerving flash of blue light.

And then there was the dance. She hosted a masquerade ball to celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. When he asked her for a dance, she didn't recognize him, his skin had been lighter than she remembered, his green eyes were a dark brown, but his familiar form, the sharp features of his face were enough to make her suspicious. They had their dance, and then they turned away from each other. She looked back and he'd changed back to normal. She ran to him, she tried to catch him, but he vanished again.

Corvus had seen him every time, apparently he'd been at the ceremony where she dubbed Corvus a champion and she hadn't even noticed. She told her that he was trying to protect her, to distract himself from his guilt, he thrust himself full heartedly into watching over her. She said she could tell he was suffering, she could tell he didn't know what he was doing.

On the anniversary of his betrayal, she decided she would find him and bring him home. She contacted all of the Champions, and all of them except for Darmar came — apparently Darmar was busy back at Death Mountain.

They all gathered together in the conference room she'd grown so used to using.

"You're sure he hasn't said anything to hint at where he's been hiding?" Zariah asked, she sat crisscrossed on the table, Aadil and Miko both sat facing her, Jira stood at the window thinking with her hands on her hips, and Corvus stood before her with her arms crossed.

"I'm certain," she said, "I don't even know if he's staying in one place or not,"

"Zariah, you said you can sense all of the power in the world, can you sense his?" Miko asked, "We know he has Bahuma's power, right? Why not track it?"

She flinched when he said Bahuma. It was weird, she had mostly gotten over her nightmares, but the sound of his name or the memory of what he did still hurt.

"I don't know how, but he knows how to hide his power," Zariah said, "Back when we were still traveling together, the most that ever happened was that sometimes he would seem blurry,"