Chapter 43 Continuation
Mara looked at Zevran. At the worry in his eyes.
"Can we not get one week of peace?" she asked.
"Apparently not."
"Fine." Mara stood. "Gather a rescue party. We leave at dawn."
"You do not have to go personally," Marcus said. "Send others."
"No. If my people are in danger, I go. That is what leaders do." Mara looked at everyone. "Who is with me?"
"I am," Zevran said immediately.
"Me too," Riven added.
"And me," Luna agreed.
Others volunteered. Within minutes, a team of fifty was ready.
"We leave at dawn," Mara said. "Get what rest you can. Tomorrow we face something new."
That night, Mara tried to sleep but could not. Too many questions. Too many worries.
What was attacking the Western Territories? What was worse than Shadow Wolves?
She had a bad feeling. A sense that everything they had fought for was about to be tested again.
Around midnight, Kieran found her sitting alone by a fire.
"Cannot sleep?" he asked.
"Too much on my mind."
"I know the feeling. I did not sleep for a hundred years after being cursed. Too much guilt. Too much pain."
"How did you survive it?"
"I did not. Not really. I just existed. Hoping someday it would end." Kieran sat beside her. "But you have something I did not have. Hope. Love. Purpose. Hold onto those. They will get you through anything."
"What will you do now? Now that you are free?"
"I do not know. Wander. Learn who I am without the curse. Maybe find a way to make up for all the innocents I killed."
"You were not in control. You cannot blame yourself."
"But I do. I always will." Kieran looked at the stars. "A thousand years of blood on my hands. That does not wash away just because the curse is broken."
"Then spend the next thousand years doing good. Balance the scales."
"Is that what you plan to do? Balance the scales of your own guilt?"
"I do not have guilt. I have responsibility. There is a difference."
"Is there? Both keep you awake at night. Both make you question every choice." Kieran smiled sadly. "You and I are more alike than you know, Moon Wolf."
"Please. Call me Mara."
"Mara. A good name. Strong. Simple. Honest." Kieran stood. "Get some rest. Tomorrow you face something new. You will need your strength."
He walked away, leaving Mara alone with her thoughts.
She eventually fell asleep by the fire. And she dreamed.
In her dream, she saw a vast wasteland. Everything was dead. Burned. Destroyed. And in the center of the wasteland stood a figure.
A man. Tall and beautiful. With golden hair and silver eyes. He looked like an angel.
But when he smiled, Mara saw nothing but emptiness. Nothing but hunger.
"Hello, Moon Wolf," the figure said. "I have been waiting for you. Waiting for someone strong enough to consume. And you will do nicely."
"Who are you?" Mara demanded.
"I am the thing that comes after darkness. The thing that exists beyond evil. I am Oblivion itself." The figure's smile grew wider. "And soon, I will devour everything you love. Everything you built. Everything you are."
"I will stop you."
"You can try. But no one stops the end. No one stops Oblivion." The figure started to fade. "See you soon, Mara. Very soon."
The dream shattered. Mara woke up gasping.
"What is wrong?" Zevran was beside her immediately.
"A dream. A terrible dream." Mara's hands shook. "Something is coming. Something worse than anything we faced."
"Then we will face it together. Like always."
"What if together is not enough this time?"
"Then we find a way to make it enough."
Dawn came too quickly.
The rescue party assembled. Fifty strong wolves. All armed. All ready.
"Are we prepared for this?" Luna asked.
"No," Mara said honestly. "But we go anyway. That is what heroes do."
They set out toward the Western Territories. Toward whatever evil waited there.
Mara looked back one last time at the Great Stone Circle. At the home they had built. At the peace they had fought so hard to achieve.
She had a terrible feeling she would never see it the same way again.
That something was about to change. Forever.