Chapter 63

Nia's eyes bleed through mine as power sizzles and cackles around me, "Charge!" Freya seethes.

I take a couple of steps forward and make a foreign symbol with my hands that Nia shows me. As I continue to walk, clouds of purple mist float out of me. My body becomes transparent - like a ghost. And Nia's spirit stands tall beside me as we continue to walk.

Charming suddenly appears beside me, words of compulsion breezing past his lips that make the mud creatures go crazy. Jaxson and Grayson are next as Sophia floats above us, and with us - our army follows.

Slow at first, only to start running. Faster and faster. With every step closer, our purpose only grows fiercer.

We clash!

Nia and I slice through creatures like its second nature, a small beam that still connects us. It's like I've been fighting beside her my entire life. We have each other's back. We protect each other. Just staring at her now, for the first time, she looks beautiful.

Why did Valak give her that look in the dungeon - she looks so powerful and yet, kind. My wolf - My Nia!

A snowy blanket wraps around her body, a golden moon tattooed on her forehead between her lilac eyes telling the world we are Oracles. Something else that shocked me is her fur. Lilac engraving is tattooed all over her body - her legs. She's beautiful.

Still, we dance around each other. Dogging claws, tossing bodies. I save as many as I could, and I lose just as much. Freya's army is too big. It goes on for miles - but we're determined to win.

Still, we need to split up - divide and conquer.

With Selene's abilities still thrumming through my veins. I quickly push through Jaxson's walls and speak to the Qusayr and Charming, "I'm going to split everyone up - we can't win like this!"

"Hurry, Wolfe, that power won't stay with you for long," Charming interrupts. I break off from them and mind link the Alphas and Generals.

*"Alphas. Generals, I'm going to split everyone up into five groups. The royals will lead the charge. I'll send the clay monsters about a mile from each group. That'll give you some time to revise strategy F!"* I don't give anyone a chance to argues as I sore into the sky and place my hands together.

"No! Stop her!" I hear Freya's distant voice before someone's body hurdles into my own - Kyro. I fall to the ground, and a painful groan escapes my lips feeling something breaking only to heal itself.

"I'm sorry, but I won't let you interfere in our plans," I sit up, Kyro hovers over me. His tone - emotionless.

"I don't want to kill you, Kyro," I breathe, staring up at him. A sad, sardonic smile sits on his face.

"Too late, Valerie," I see him coming, his weapons glints as it comes down and pierces into my stomach. His eyes widen - shocked. I don't know what it is about Kyro - I just want to help him.

His dark eyes widen, "Wh-Wha - What the hell do you think you're doing!?" He spits, his eyes turning into slits as he glares down at me.

"I told you - didn't I? I don't want to kill you. I don't want to fight you - you aren't Freya," I breathe, barely feeling his blade in my stomach. He pushes the sword further into my stomach, and I suppress a groan.

"Why the hell do you fucking care?! I'm your enemy!" He screams.

"I-I... I killed a friend a few days ago, and Freya told me, how I'm going to enact change when the world sees I'm a monster? M-Maybe she's right, but if I say and do nothing, then Elias's death would have all been for nothing. I-I-... want to start with you because I can see you don't want to kill me either."

"You. Know. Nothing!" He spits.

"The world isn't flawed, Kyro. The ones inhabiting it are-... But that's okay - no one is supposed to be perfect, and that's perfectly okay with me," Kyro gaze widens, vulnerability and pain reflecting in his eyes.

"You can't blame everyone for what Iliana made you do, people make their own choices, and no matter how much you want to, you can't blame someone else. I'm so sorry for what she made you do. I'm so sorry for what she did to you. But Elina wouldn't want this for you - she wouldn't want to see you like this."

"What the hell do you know, huh?! You crossed to the other side and came back - your friends got to see you again. But she's lost to me - she's gone to a place I can never touch with our daughter, I'll never see!" He spits.

"You don't know that! Stop making assumptions. Do you think your life is so short you can't make amends? Your 500 years old, Kyro - some don't even have a day!"

"So... what? You're allowed to take your revenge, but I'm not!" He seethes, calling me out on my hypocrisy and twisting the blade in my gut.

"Maybe Iliana does, but not everyone. B-But-... t-take it from someone who understands, revenge does nothing - absolutely nothing. All it does-... is turn us into something we never thought we could be, and it's ugly," I whisper, feeling myself losing consciousness.

"I-I'm loyal to Freya now," He stutters. I smile and cup his face.

"She doesn't deserve it."

Just as I say those words, something happens. A white layer glosses over Kyro's eyes, a strange sensation takes root deep inside me, and Nia is instantly in my head again. I try to pull away, but Kyro's grip on my wrist is bruising.

From nowhere, my wrist burns. I hiss, staring at it as if someone has just placed a hot branding iron on my skin. The second Kyro blinks, the red marking fades away and turns into a black marking of a sword in a circle.

"What the hell is that?!" I shriek, confused.

"The high priestesses have chosen me as your protector," Kyro says, just as shocked. High Priestesses - they still exist?

"Um - why?" I scoff. Kyro tilts his head.

"You do not know the ancient laws of the Nymphs?" He asks. I shake my head.

"Hmm, well-..."

*"Valerie, where are you! Nia just disappeared. Jaxson's holding off Freya, if you want to split everyone up - now is the time!*" Sophia yells through the mind-link.

I rip the blade out, my body already starting to heal, "Kyro..."

"I understand," He nods.

"Y-Your not my enemy?" I ask, unsure.

"I would like to believe in your cause," he nods. I smile - grateful.

"Okay, so can you stop the creatures?" Kyro shakes his head, still crouched down beside me.

"I'm afraid not. Freya's magic is far greater than mine. With her magic still flowing through my creatures, I can't undo them," I shoot up into the sky, Kyro following after me.

Appearing back at the battle, I come face to face with Freya and a cocky smirk displayed on her face, "well, look at that, you're too late. Good job, Kyro."

"Your abilities may be a mystery, Freya, but remember I'm also the first of my kind," I spit. With no words, I whisper foreign words under my tongue, and within seconds - everyone disappears.

"Impossible."