See How She Falls (The Chronicles of Izzy #3)(18)
“This is no game. Your mother chose to leave here when we were young. She saw what had to be done, and what her life must be to bring you into the world. As far as she was concerned, she no longer had any family when she left here. It is our way, Izzy. It is how we have lived for thousands of years, constantly running from the scrutiny of the Council. If we kept in contact with anyone that decided to leave and join them, they could be used to find us. We do this to protect ourselves, and our beliefs.”
“But, you look,” I struggled to breathe, barely getting the words out, “just like her.” Tears flowed down my cheeks. Nothing made sense.
“We were twins, dear one.” My supposed aunt lifted her hands to cup my face, before gently placing a kiss on my forehead. “There will be time for answers later. For now, you must know the warning we were given. A warning meant for you alone.”
“Just tell me. I really feel like I need to get back to my body soon.” The exhaustion pulled at me. My emotions were in turmoil as a thousand questions raged inside my head. But, much like Aberto, this woman seemed all too willing to let me wait them out.
She nodded once before she blankly stared ahead. In a matter of seconds she became nothing more than a mouthpiece. It was the creepiest thing I’d ever seen, and I’d seen some pretty creepy crap over the past year. Her voice came out booming, a voice that in no way could ever belong to her.
“Stop the darkness, or the world shall fall. Seer, you have been changed beyond recognition. You were never meant to be, yet always meant to be. For the price of what you’ve been given, you must pay. You will fall, but in your fall, you will save them from darkness. Seek out your strengths, use your allies, and wage the war that must be waged.” There was an audible snap as my alleged aunt came back to herself.
“That is the worst. I hate when the Big Guy does that.” She shook herself as if trying to brush off whatever remained of the message.
“Umm, so was that God just talking to me?”
“One of them. Or maybe it was one of the chief angels. I’m never really sure who is going to use me as a mouthpiece. It is a most unfortunate talent to be blessed with," she said the last part loudly towards the sky, as if the gods cared what they did with her.
I was beginning to resent them. It felt as if we were nothing more than pieces in their grand game of chess. And endless cycle played out between heaven and hell with no real winner. I didn’t want to play anymore. I didn’t want to be locked in a stalemate with no hope to escape. I began to panic.
Reality slipped through my fingers like so many grains of sand snapping me out of my corporeal form. I needed to get back. I needed to be in my body, away from here. My mind raced in a panic. I looked up at Aberto, breathing out once, before I felt myself pulled into the dreaming. I heard him shout my name as I slipped back, pulled by some invisible string into the fog. I couldn’t tell if I’d done it in my panic, or if it was something altogether different.
Chapter Nine
“ABERTO!” My panicked voice rang out, echoing eerily through the fog. “Fantastic, just freaking awesome. How in the hell am I supposed to get back now?” I mumbled, making my way through the fog.
An overwhelming sense of oppressions swept over me as I ran through the fog. Every moment of the past few years played out in my mind as I sought my way back home. Moments of fear and pain, moments of sadness, they all coalesced, forming an impenetrable wall. It was too much; the changes happening within me, the secrets, the terrifying truth of what my future may hold; and as my strength depleted, I began to fall. My resolve fled me in an instant, leaving me to the unpardonable truth. My death beckoned me, pulling me deeper into the darkness. Lost to the world, I fell to my side. The truth settled around me like a cocoon. I would never be enough.
As I let the inevitability sink in, I heard it. A familiar voice called out of the fog. A voice I hadn’t heard for two months, yet there he stood. The culmination of nightmares and fears wrapped into the body of a cloaked figure. My future cradled in the palms of his crushing hands. Motionless, I was rooted to my place. The unchangeable darkness, the coming storm, it all pushed down upon me.
He moved towards me, cutting a path through the fog to stand above me like some sort of centurion. The robe covered all but his sneering mouth. The mouth that housed the words that would end me. “Do you see it now? The inevitability? This world will burn for its sins, Izzy. These people, they don’t deserve the grace they are given, or the protection of our kind. Why not just join us? Fighting really is futile.”
The hopelessness pushed against me, prodding me, taunting me. Swallowing deeply, I rose to my knees. I’d never been a quitter, I wouldn’t start now. I’d been warned that the darkness would call for me, that it would tempt me. Strength I didn’t know I possessed rose up within me. Whatever this person was doing, I could fight it. I could fight him. Taking a deep breath, I stood on shaking legs to face the robed figure.
“I will do everything in my power to protect this world from whatever it is you are trying to bring.”
“Look down at your leg, Izzy. Do you really think that you can stop us? Just two more runes and the bridge will be complete. Your fight was lost before it began.”
At his words, the burning began on my calf, ripping deep into my soul. I knew that when I awoke, I would have another mark. I wondered if this one would be my undoing. My rubbery legs failed me, and as I began to fall I heard a laugh.