No More Choices (Void and Light Book One)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Atiyama~

The soggy, moist brown wooden walls of my childhood home surrounded me as I took in the scent of my mother's favorite fragrance. The sounds of our province waited for me just outside of our home. I was thirteen and today was the day that I was going to get to join the queen's battle academy at the royal palace. My small bed that I had outgrown years ago groaned under the shift of my weight as I climbed out. I snatched a pair of ratty clothing from the bin next to my room. The curtain that provided me with privacy in my room was already pushed open and I could smell my mother's cooking from there.

As I walked towards the scent I felt something crawl up my spine. Not quite a shiver but something. I looked around but brushed it off as a figment of my imagination. My panther was alert though and I wouldn't be able to be completely calm until he was.

I ignored him and kept moving.

I entered the kitchen and saw that my mother wasn't the one cooking. It was a woman in a deep blue, sheer satin cloak. Her dark skin soaked up the light of the room. She was a glittering shadow of beauty and regality. Small knotted buns sat on her head and a silver band wound it's way up her arm. She stood at the stove humming to herself while placing food on a plate.

"You should eat while it's hot." she said softly. Her voice was kind but there was a hardness to it that couldn't be masked by anything.

"Who are you?" my voice shook. I wanted to punch myself. I was so scared. I took in the room and looked for any sign of my family. There was no sign of them. "Where is my family?"

The woman tsked and motioned towards a chair. When I didn't move, she motioned towards it again and an invisible wind pushed me into the chair. She placed the food in front of me and nodded towards it.

I refused to eat and my reflection caught my eye. I was..older. I stared at the man looking back at me in the mirror and then at the woman.

"Who are you?" I hissed, I hadn't noticed my pather rising to the surface until now. I tried to pull him back in but I couldn't.

"Please eat," she sighed and motioned to the food again, "I need you to be strong and this will give you strength."

I took a huge bite of the food, ignoring it's rich flavors and smell. I needed to know where my family was. "Are you happy now, lady?"

She chuckled and nodded.

"Then tell me who you are and what is happening! Where is my mother?"

"Child, your mother is dead."

I froze up and shook my head, "No, no, you're lying."

"Why would I lie about something like that?" she drew in a deep breath and shook her head. She sat in the chair beside me and the room fell away. It became just us in chairs, sitting in a white space. "Atiyama, I haven't much time and the longer you're in this state the more vulnerable Akiriya is."

The name stirred something in me and memories flooded back to me. The mission, the wolf, and Akiriya. I looked away from the woman and looked back at myself in the mirror.

"What happened to me?"

She stayed silent for a second and then responded with, "You're in a comatose state due to a poison that coated the teeth of the wolf that bit you."

"So, I'm dying?" I whispered.

"Maybe I should introduce myself." she scooted her chair over and placed a hand on my knee. I looked into her eyes, noticing for the first time, that they were stark white and had no pupil. "I am Nyx, Mother of Hemera."