Empress of the Gods

Atarah

Duncan delayed the day to sail due to the bad weather that was sighted in the distance, preferring to wait for a few days before facing the fury of the God of the ocean. He arranged for her and the others to be brought closer to Ekkirah’s borders, which made her nervous. Despite being less dangerous to cross by water, there was still a risk that those forgotten nymphs would attack them for trying to enter. She prayed to the God of the ocean that it wasn’t.

Atarah saw gray clouds covering the sky, and the wind felt cold on her skin. The waves on the ocean were calm, but in the distance, fine line lights left a strong sound after appearing in the sky. They were avoiding entering into a storm, but she was already in there, only that somehow, she was in the eye of the hurricane.

She got what she’d always wanted and was leaving her home. She wanted to know the world she belonged in. It was not enough. She hadn’t found her place and hoped that that changed as soon as they got to Ekkirah. She hoped that once they got there, she could feel she was at home. But how long would it last? How long before she had to run from one place to another again? She asked herself.

That void she felt stopped growing when she left Khrysaor and when she was with William. It didn’t disappear, but it didn’t expand either.

Myrah went directly into the lion’s den, and she didn’t know if it was the previous Silverclaw leader idea or hers.

She shook her head in denial. She was starting to think like Rhiannon; that everyone was plotting something.

She thought about what Sabine told her when she shapeshifted into William, only she didn’t understand what it meant. She thought Sabine was talking about the Dimneas dagger that was created by the God of destiny. But she said three words that stuck in her head. The night flame. That made her wonder if she said the same thing to Rhiannon.

She was grateful Elysia was there with her even if they couldn’t talk as much as they wanted so they could catch up with everything.

If Elysia wasn’t with her when they were younger, she didn’t know how things would have turned out because they didn’t have to endure everything alone. She loved her sister, but sometimes she felt she didn’t understand her, at least not in the same way Elysia did. Even when each one had their own battles to fight, they were always there for each other, although she didn’t want to overwhelm her friend or make her worry when she had enough on her plate.

“I’ve been looking for you.” William sat next to her in the trunk of a tree. She walked away from everyone in the camp because she needed space and a brief moment of silence. She didn’t reply right away, only petted Galad’s ears. “I’m sorry,” he said in a low tone of voice, looking for her eyes, only that her eyes were looking at the sand.

“No, you are not,” she uttered in a lower tone of voice that she intended.

“I know silence can help, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. Sometimes our heads can be a battlefield.”

She observed how the white foam rolled before it landed on the sand.

“You prefer to be alone, got it,” William affirmed.

“No, it’s not that,” she said without looking at him. “It has never been easy for me to share what it’s in my head because I don’t know if I even understand it myself. It’s like a storm,” she tried to explain.

“Like you are drowning,” he added.

That’s when she dared to look at him and nodded with her head. “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. In the end, it seems that no matter what I decide to do, it’s never the right choice. First the coven and then Myrah, and not to mention that I continue risking your life by risking mine. You were right to say I’m selfish,” she acknowledged. The truth was, she needed to talk with someone. She needed someone to listen, only she didn’t want to be a bother.

Atarah didn’t need to add more weight to her friends’ shoulders. She had a lot on her own plate, so she didn’t want to add more. She wanted to tell William, but a part of her held back.

“You are doing the best you can,” he said when his gaze got lost in the fire. “You are not selfish. Forget what I told you. I was angry when I said it.”

“No, you were right. I keep risking my life without thinking about yours. When I bothered that soldier, and when I went with Sabine.”

He got a little closer to her and took her hand, letting her feel his warm touch. That simple act made her heart thunder and her cheeks blush. “You save me that day in the woods,” he softly spoke to her and looked directly into her eyes. “You didn’t let me die.”

“Your life ended up tied to mine,” she reminded him. “If I had been braver, they wouldn’t have taken Myrah when you came back for me.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

Her eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. She couldn’t stand to keep looking at him because she was going to fall apart in his arms, and she couldn’t do that. She needed to be strong.

“You saved that kid. If you’d ignored that situation, he wouldn’t be there playing with his friends,” he pointed with his gaze to where Theo was, still holding her hand.

“Well, it seems it’s already written that I am going to cross paths with darkness. So, don’t seem surprised if I fall into his arms,” she said with a hint of mockery.

“Wait, is that what Sabine told you?” He asked, but she didn’t answer. “If I were you, I wouldn’t take that witch’s word for granted.” He cleaned one of her tears from her cheeks. She thought the same thing. “I don’t believe that,” he said as he continued as he got closer to her. “You have more light inside you than you think you have. I know you can’t see it, but I see it.” He put her hair behind her ear. “You are light.”

“You can’t say that. You barely know me.”

“I do know you.”

“William,” someone from Hanniel’s people interrupted them. “We need a hand to get a few things onto the boats. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” He said, a little uncomfortable as he pointed his thumb at the ship. He looked at her first, and then at William.

“No, not at all,” he replied, smiling as he walked away from her.

Atarah heard the footsteps behind her and Elysia instantly took Will’s place.

“They found out you fell in love with him, didn’t they?” She asked as she watched William and the shapeshifter walk towards the ship. Elysia raised an eyebrow, following Atarah’s gaze. “That prisoner of Lhrastsha,” she said, confronting her. “That’s why Rhiannon couldn’t do anything, and she had to exile you.”

“It wasn’t just that,” she confessed. “The serious thing was not that I fell in love with him, but that I tried to help him escape.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I tried to help him escape, but he never got out of there. You know that my family hated Rhiannon. The day I was part of the coven, I ceased to exist for them, but what I didn’t tell you was that they were embarrassed to see me beg for Finn’s life. Evidently, the leader of Lhrastsha took the opportunity to discredit Rhiannon as if she had hired Finn to kill him. Also, he wanted to send a message to her that she was not untouchable despite the alliances she had formed.” The tone of her voice was getting lower and lower, and every tear that fell was quickly wiped away with her finger. “If it wasn’t for Rhiannon’s intervention, I would have died that day too. That upset Shayde so much that not only I was exiled, but he put a temporary spell on me. I couldn’t pronounce the language of spells for a long time. Not even utter a word.”

“That’s why you went to Blackfall,” she concluded, and Elysia nodded. After she was left without being able to cast any spell, she searched for protection with the leader of Blackfall and not only to pay Finn’s debt as she made her know in one of her letters. “Rhiannon never told me that.”

“She didn’t know,” she said, burying her knife in the wood as she tried to remove the bark. “I know she went to find me and then sent Enver for me, but I couldn’t go back because you know that even though the leader of Khrysaor had his own mind, he followed everything the north said, so as to not look vulnerable. I wouldn’t be surprised if Shayde had orchestrated an attack on Khrysaor only to take down the coven.”

“I doubt very much that it was him,” she replied, but she had also thought about that possibility.

“Don’t tell me that you think it was a coincidence that the warlock knew where they were going to attack.”

“The armor I saw was not from Lhrastsha, and the spells were not working when they attacked them,” she recalled. “What do you know so far?”

“Drykahria has not elected a new queen and king in two hundred and twenty-five years. There are rumors about an army forming in the dark. Not to mention the warnings of the wind that other kingdoms heard too. I could even say that this can reach to the mortal realms, but that’s the dark walkers’ problem. Rhiannon was right to think that something was going on. And the fae courts still do not forget the invasion to Terrwyn. They see it like a lost cause, but it wouldn’t surprise me if someone wants to claim it as theirs.”

Atarah was trying to comprehend everything Elysia was saying, thinking about what they would have to do because Rhiannon’s plans were to protect the witches’ realms with an alliance with the driadae realms. “Have you heard anything from Khrysaor?” she asked, knowing the answer, but she still did. Elysia only shook her head.

“I’m sorry I left you.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes, I do. I left you with those idiots who must had been wetting their trousers, thinking that at any moment, you were going to unleash your fury on them. Maybe even pray to Uphine that you would never learn to use your gifts.”

She hugged her friend. “It was probably for the best that you weren’t there, otherwise you would have gotten into too much trouble. And you would have scared the one or two suitors that I ever had,” she smirked. “Did you find anything interesting in that grimoire?” she said, changing the subject.

“You have no idea,” Elysia said with a hint of excitement. “Speaking of which, and regarding what Sabine said,” she paused for a moment. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it since we left that cabin and while I was going through the grimoire pages, I found something that might help you recover part of your memories without dying in the process,” she said, taking the grimoire out of her bag and with a single movement of her finger and a few words she opened it, letting the wind passed its pages instead with her fingers.

“Show off,” she said, watching her with a half-smile on her face. “It was also your idea to go with Sabine from the beginning,” she reminded her.

“I suggested it,” she corrected, leaving the grimoire open. “And you insisted on doing it, and as a good friend, I couldn’t let you do it by yourself,” she innocently said.

Atarah really missed her friend, and she couldn’t be happier to see her again.

They stayed on the beach a little further from the camp to prevent anyone from getting hurt. They only moved from that place to get a few things, like a couple of candles and a bowl, so she could put water in it.

Atarah placed the bowl with water between them, while Elysia had the grimoire open with the spell they needed.

“You know how to do it, right?” Atarah said, looking at those pages of the grimoire, written in a language in which she only understood a few words. Her friend answered with a yes, sure before explaining that her memories would feel real, so she had to be careful with not confusing them with reality.

“What can go wrong?” she said to her friend that didn’t answer. “Elysia, have you done something similar to this before?” she asked, trying to remain calm. Her friend was not a novice witch, but she had never seen the grimoire content until she gave it to her.

“There is always a first time for everything,” Elysia replied and suddenly she wondered if it had been a good idea to let her do it, but she trusted her with her life more than anything. Plus, she was the new Silverclaw clan leader. They didn’t know if it would work or what would happen.

“Take a deep breath and close your eyes,” she ordered.

Atarah sat in the warm sand, listening to the waves of the ocean that landed at the shore, and tried to concentrate on how the air entered through her nose until her lungs filled from the salty air and then took it out through her mouth.

She heard Elysia recite a few words in the old tongue and felt the heat of the fire on her back and on her sides as if a circle of fire surrounded them. Everything seemed normal. Nothing had changed, when suddenly, she felt a deep pain in her temples. She was about to scream, grabbing her head with both hands, but from one moment to another, she was no longer with Elysia.

As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the house she grew up in and Rhiannon sitting next to her, the grimoire open on the table and some dried herbs scattered on top of the pages. She didn’t have her battle suit on, and she was wearing a dress. She had untied her hair, letting it rest on her shoulders. She usually wore dresses when she had a council meeting.

“You are destined to do great things, Atarah.”

She didn’t understand what she was talking about.

“Things will look worse than they will be. Everything will seem to fall apart, and chaos will flood you, but there is nothing you can’t resist. You are stronger than you think you are and that is why you will be feared.” She stopped before saying another word. “Let the phoenix come out, Atarah, and listen to what the wind whispered to you about the night flame.”

Atarah couldn’t be more confused. “What are you talking about?” she interrupted. Then Rhiannon spoke in the old tongue and blew what was in the grimoire to her face, leaving her dizzy, the whole weight of her body swaying forward. But something was terribly wrong because she didn’t feel like she was waking up, instead she was plunging into a deep sleep from which she would not know if she’d wake up from.

And again, darkness surrounded her. She was frightened, but it was her own darkness that absorbed her, as if she were covered with it. She heard voices that spoke at the same time without knowing what they were saying, feeling she wanted to cover her ears to make them stop, when she heard a silvery female voice that whispered her name in the distance again and again. Suddenly, Atarah appeared in the exact spot of the forest her mother had left her. She knew it because she remembered that moment as if it had been yesterday.

Something had gone wrong with Elysia’s spell because she’d seen a memory that Rhiannon had buried with a spell and in that moment, she seemed to be in another memory, but it didn’t feel like it.

She heard footsteps behind her that made her immediately turn. “Who is it?” she asked to the dark-haired woman when she approached her. She could see her stunning, delicate features. Her dress was black, uncovered from the arms and on her shoulder was a brooch shaped like golden leaves on each side that hung the fabric to the ground, flying with the wind. In her hair, she seemed to have a thin golden snake ornament.

The woman offered her hand when she was in front of her to help her up, showing her a birthmark on her forearm. It looked like golden leaves that curled up in her arm. She had silver eyes like her mother. The moment she took her hand, she heard a rumble of thunder in the sky and her name was like a whisper in the wind, making her recognize that voice.

“You guided me to the dagger, don’t you?” She asked the nymph.

The nymph replied with a warm smile and walked seeing the trees around them. “You need to get the dagger back,” she said in a soft, pleasant voice.

“I don’t even know where it is.”

“You are well aware that your sister has it,” she scolded her as if she had caught a child in her lie. “Evil is gaining strength in the bottom of the mountain where the God of darkness is trapped and the high lord who was corrupted will be close to get what he has always wanted if you do not get to the dagger first.”

“Why me?”

“Why not you?”

“Surely you have better candidates than me, like those heirs and heiress to the gilded throne.”

“The right leader is the one who cares about others and treats everyone as their equal. Has more kindness in their heart than dares to admit. The right leader doesn’t want to be, because they have no interest in power and sometimes don’t see everything they can do, because they don’t trust it can be done. Sometimes, the leader doesn’t feel they deserve to do it, but they have the words to inspire others as the strength and courage to face whatever they put in front of them. If you don’t do it, then no one else can do it,” she said when she stood in front of her. “You will not be alone in your path.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“You’re afraid,” she replied, knowing that she wouldn’t have to make the slightest effort to get through her mental shields and know what she felt. “You should be. Do you feel pain? Pain is part of life, but it won’t last forever. And the Asteria castle does not see another more suitable for this task than you. Those who will help you to fulfill your destiny will cross your path,” the nymph assured her. “You’re on the right path.”

The slight fog became thicker, hiding everything around it as she began to feel wet above her upper lip and down her nose trills. She closed her eyes tightly. Then she felt light as a feather, as if she was floating until she felt she was falling off a cliff when she heard William’s voice desperately shouting her name, accompanied by a loud roar. She opened her eyes, feeling the air that filled her lungs, and saw those frightened ocean eyes.

Elysia was on the other side sweating as if she had been running while Robbie was holding her.

“Why do you two keep doing crazy things without me?” Robbie indignantly asked, “I’m starting to feel excluded.”

“What happened?” she asked in confusion when she touched her lip and realized she was bleeding from the nose.

“We shouldn’t leave you unsupervised, that’s what happened,” Will angrily replied, touching the bridge of his nose. She tried to sit down after she ended up lying on the sand.

“You started pulling out the magic from the grimoire, and I couldn’t break the spell. I couldn’t get you out of there.” Elysia seemed to be terrified about what she was saying. “I couldn’t recite the words. It was as if I had been silenced,” she explained, exhausted.