Chapter 57 The impossible Awakening
Seven days after Mara's death, her body remained in the royal chamber. No one could bring themselves to burn it. To make her death permanent.
Zevran sat beside her corpse. He had not left. Had not eaten. Had not slept. Just sat there, holding her cold hand, waiting for something. Anything.
"You need to let her go," Riven said quietly from the doorway. "She is gone. You cannot bring her back."
"I cannot let her go. Not yet. Not when it feels so wrong."
"Death always feels wrong. That does not make it reversible."
"She came back before. From impossible situations. Why not now?"
"Because this is different. The blade destroyed her. Oblivion is dead. There is nothing left to—"
Mara gasped.
Her eyes snapped open. Golden light exploded from her chest. The room shook. The air crackled with power.
Zevran fell backward. "What—"
Mara sat up. Her body was glowing. White and gold energy swirled around her like a storm. The wound in her chest sealed itself. Healed. Disappeared.
She looked at her hands. They were shaking. Blazing with light she could not control.
"Mara?" Zevran's voice was barely a whisper. "Is that really you?"
She turned to him. Her eyes were different. Still hers. Still that warm brown. But now they glowed with inner fire. With power that made the air shimmer.
"I do not know," she said. Her voice was layered. Multiple voices speaking at once. "I remember dying. Remember the blade. Remember... nothing. And then I woke up."
"How is this possible?" Riven demanded. He had frozen in the doorway. "You were dead. We checked. Multiple times. You were gone."
"I was. I remember being somewhere else. Dark. Quiet. Then something pulled me back. Something that would not let me stay dead."
The golden light intensified. Mara screamed. Her body convulsed. Power poured from her in waves.
"Get healers!" Zevran shouted. "Now!"
"No!" Mara gasped. "Not healers. Kieran. Get Kieran. This is not physical. This is something else."
Kieran arrived within minutes. One look at Mara and his face went pale. "That is not possible. She should not have this much power. No one should."
"What is happening to her?"
"She absorbed Oblivion when the blade killed him. His power. His essence. His everything. But instead of destroying her, it is merging with her." Kieran's hands moved through the air. Reading. Analyzing. "She is becoming something new. Something that has never existed before."
"Can you stop it?"
"Stop it? No. This is not something you stop. This is evolution. Transformation. She is being remade."
Mara's screams filled the palace. Every wolf within a mile felt it. Felt the surge of power. The shift in reality itself.
Then, suddenly, silence.
The light faded. Mara collapsed back onto the bed. Breathing hard. Covered in sweat. But alive. Undeniably alive.
"How do you feel?" Zevran knelt beside her. Afraid to touch her. Afraid she might vanish again.
"Different. Stronger. Like I can feel everything. Every heartbeat in this palace. Every breath. Every fear." Mara sat up slowly. "And I can feel something else. Something dark. Coming this way. Fast."
"What?"
"A threat. Drawn by the power I just released. It is hunting me. Hunting us. It will be here within the hour."
"What kind of threat?"
"I do not know. But it is old. Ancient. And it is very, very hungry."
As if summoned by her words, alarms started blaring. Guards ran through the halls. Shouts echoed from outside.
"Attack!" someone screamed. "We are under attack!"
Zevran ran to the window. What he saw made his blood run cold. The sky was darkening. Not with clouds. With something worse. With creatures made of pure shadow. Thousands of them.
"What are those?"
"Voidlings," Kieran said grimly. "Creatures that exist in the space between life and death. They are drawn to power. To anything that defies natural law. And your wife just defied every natural law in existence."
"How do we fight them?"
"We do not. Only someone who has touched the void can hurt them. Only someone who carries Oblivion's power."
They all turned to look at Mara. She stood. Tested her legs. They held. Barely.
"I can do this. I can fight them."
"You just came back from the dead!" Zevran grabbed her arm. "You are not fighting anything! You need to rest! Recover!"
"There is no time. Look outside. They are already killing people. Every second I waste, more die."
"Then let someone else fight! Let the army handle it!"
"They cannot. You heard Kieran. Only I can hurt these things." Mara pulled free. "I did not come back from death to hide while people die protecting me. I came back to finish this. To end it."
She walked toward the door. Zevran moved to block her. "I cannot let you do this. I just got you back. I cannot lose you again."
"You will not lose me. I promise." Mara touched his face. "But I need you to trust me. Trust that I know what I am doing. Can you do that?"
"I do not know. Can you?"
"I have to."
She pushed past him. Out of the room. Into the chaos of the palace. Wolves ran everywhere. Arming themselves. Preparing for battle. Not knowing their weapons were useless.
Mara walked to the main courtyard. Stood in the center. Closed her eyes. Called on the power inside her.
It responded. Eagerly. Violently. Golden light erupted from her body. Brighter than before. So bright it hurt to look at.
The voidlings sensed it. All turned toward her as one. And attacked.
They swarmed like locusts. Hundreds. Thousands. Blotting out the sun.
Mara raised her hands. Power flowed from her fingertips. Golden spears of light that pierced the voidlings. Each one that touched her light dissolved. Screamed. Ceased to exist.
But there were too many. For every one she destroyed, three more took its place.
"I need help," she gasped. "Someone. Anyone."
Then Isla's voice spoke in her mind. Her daughter. Still sealed in the fortress. But conscious. Aware. "Mother. I am here. Use my power. Take it. All of it."
"That will hurt you!"
"I do not care. Take it. Stop those things before they kill everyone."
Mara reached out. Connected with Isla through their bond. Drew on her daughter's void power. Added it to her own.
The combination was devastating. Light and void mixed. Created something new. Something silver and terrible and beautiful.
She released it. A wave of destruction that swept across the battlefield. Erased every voidling it touched. Cleansed the sky. Saved the city.
When it was done, Mara fell to her knees. Exhausted. But victorious.
The palace was silent. Everyone staring at her. At what she had just done. At the impossible woman who had died and returned stronger.
"Is it over?" someone asked quietly.
Mara looked up at the sky. At the darkness still lingering at the edges. "No. That was just the first wave. The real threat is still coming. And when it arrives, this will look like a warm-up."
"What is the real threat?"
Before Mara could answer, a voice spoke from the shadows. A voice that made reality crack. "Hello, Mara. Did you miss me?"
A figure stepped into the courtyard. Beautiful. Terrible. Made of silver light and darkness combined. With eyes that were completely white.
"I know that voice," Riven whispered. "But it cannot be. She is dead. We watched her die."
"Death is so inconvenient," the figure said. "But thankfully, not permanent. Not for those of us who know the right secrets." The figure smiled. "Hello, old friends. It is so good to see you again."
The figure's form solidified. Revealed the face underneath.
Elara. The Witch Queen. Alive. Returned. And more powerful than ever.
"Impossible," Kieran breathed. "We banished her. Sent her to the void. She cannot be here."
"And yet, here I am. Thanks to dear Mara." Elara gestured to her. "When you absorbed Oblivion's power, you created a crack. A weakness in the barrier between worlds. And I used that crack to escape. So really, your resurrection is what brought me back. We should be thanking each other."
"I will kill you," Mara said. Power gathered around her hands. "I will finish what we started."
"Will you? You look exhausted, dear. You just fought a thousand voidlings. And that was nothing compared to what I can do." Elara raised her hand. "But I am not here to fight. Not today. Today, I am here to deliver a message. A warning."
"What warning?"
"War is coming. A real war. Not the petty skirmishes you have faced before. I have spent years in the void gathering power. Building an army. And now that I am free, I will use that army to take back what you stole from me. My kingdom. My throne. My world."
"You will lose. Just like before."
"Perhaps. Or perhaps this time will be different. This time you do not have surprise on your side. This time I know exactly what you can do. What you are." Elara's smile widened. "And this time, I have help. Powerful help. Help that even you cannot defeat."
"Who?"
"You will see. Soon enough. But first, you need to understand something. Your death and resurrection changed things. Changed the balance. There are rules about coming back from the dead. Prices that must be paid."
"What prices?"
"For every life returned, a life must be taken. That is the law of existence. You came back. Someone else must die." Elara started to fade. "The question is, who will it be? Who will pay the price for your second chance? Choose carefully, Mara. Because the clock is already ticking."
She vanished completely. The courtyard was silent except for the sound of Mara's racing heart.
"What did she mean?" Zevran demanded. "What price? What law?"
"I do not know," Mara whispered. "But I have a terrible feeling we are about to find out."
Somewhere in the palace, a guard collapsed. Dead. No wounds. No explanation. Just dead.
Then another. And another. And another.
One by one, wolves across the kingdom started dying. Randomly. Inexplicably. Without warning.
The price had begun to be paid. And no one knew how to stop it.