I groaned upon hearing my wolf speak.
Hush,I snapped when I finally stopped walking.
Looking at the small pond a few feet ahead of me, I had no idea where I had walked to. I just needed a few minutes to myself after hearing everything. I took off into the woods like a dummy, and now, I had no idea where I was or how to get back to Kenzo. Great. I threw my hands up in the air.
Walking closer to the pond, I admired the beautiful crystal-clear water filled with colorful fish and other sea creatures. I’d always wanted to see what the sea life was like. Just like we had shifters on land, there were shifters in the ocean. I wasn’t to knowledgeable about sea shifters, but the little I did know was that they were more cryptic than shifters on land. Sea shifters didn’t deal with humans whatsoever and barely dealt with land shifters. It was rumored among humans that sea shifters had their own world deep in the seas, but no one really knew for sure. At least I didn’t.
“Pretty far from the packlands?”
I turned to see Roselee—I mean my mom—standing behind me with sympathy in her eyes.
“You scared me.” I was startled, knowing I didn’t hear her following me.
“Sorry. I wanted to make sure you are okay. You left out of Delcan’s pretty upset,” Roselee said while walking closer to me cautiously.
“Not really upset. More like over-stimulated.” I sighed and kicked a rock that was on the ground in front of me. “Think you know everything about your own life, and boom. You learn you don’t know anything.”
“I’m sure once you get your memory back, you’ll have a better understanding.”
“I wonder how long that will take,” I said while looking into familiar green eyes.
“Honestly, I don’t understand why you haven’t gotten it back all the way.” Roselee had a slight frown on her face.
“I mean I was having dreams. Me with a gray wolf…”
“You and Halo. Only time you wanted shift was when she was around. I swear you two might as well be sisters.” Roselee smiled at me, and I couldn’t explain it, but I felt safe with her. Roselee had a comforting aura around her.
“That makes sense. When I first met her, it was like I’d known her forever,” I said, and then a quietness fell between us. It wasn’t weird, just us enjoying each other's company. “You said I have a sister? Do you know where she is?” I asked.
Roselee let out a sorrowful sigh as a look of sadness passed over her face. “Brynlee, my baby girl. You loved each other so much. Unfortunately, we have no idea where she is. My Mage sister who was supposed to keep an eye on her betrayed us. We’re keeping hope alive that Brynlee is still with us, but we don’t know yet.”
“She’s alive.” I didn’t know why I said that, but I believed that Brynlee was alive. I mean, Fate kept me safe for so long. Why wouldn’t Fate do the same for my sister?
“Thank you,” Roselee said with the biggest smile on her face.
It was odd looking at Roselee because she looked just like me, or I looked like her, I should say. I was her twin, from our warm brown skin to the roundness of our heads and the fullness in our lips. The only difference we had was the greenness of our eyes. I had warm green eyes while Roselee had a softer green color. She was my mom. There was no doubt in my mind about that. I wanted to call her Mom, but it seemed weird. My mom had died, and I never thought I would use that word again.
“Who was the woman pretending to be my mom?”
“Venus. She was my mage sister. Another Grandeur Mage I grew up with. She was given the duty to protect you by Fate. Venus took her duty seriously. She vowed to protect you with her life, and she did.” Roselee had a sorrowful look on her face.
With squinted eyes, I looked at Roselee, confused. “My mom died in a fire. I wasn’t even home when it happened.” I was confused. How did her dying in a house fire protect me?
“The Tsar has been after Fate’s chosen ones for years. He’s willing to do anything to stop Fate’s Great Prophecy from coming to pass. First, the Tsar and his minions tried to kill us. Once he saw he couldn’t hurt us, he went after our offspring since you guys were the direct line to the Great Prophecy being fulfilled. I can’t speak for others, but the first attack on us was when they put the darkness in you and your sisters. When Fate gave us a way to get rid of the darkness, more attacks came, which led us to put you and your sister in hiding and use the dark versions of you as decoys. It worked for a while, but eventually, it came to light that Bellum and Blossom weren’t really you and your sisters, so they started to look for the both of you. Fate sent Alonzo as added protection for you. Venus was killed becauseshe wouldn’t tell them where you were. Where there is fire, there is evil.”
“Wow… I- I- I never knew that,” I dejectedly replied. Guilt filled my gut knowing Venus died to keep me safe. Why did so many people I loved and cared for have to die to keep me safe? It didn’t seem fair for them to lose their lives.
“Don’t be sad. She will be honored for her faithfulness,” Roselee replied with confidence. That I didn’t understand.
“If Fate created everything and every being on this planet, that means Fate created the darkness too.” I asked the question that had been plaguing my mind since earlier, presenting it as more of a statement.
Roselee let out a sigh as she made a face. “Yes. That is the truth. As you learned, Fate is reborn after so many years, and Fate’s successor takes the place as the new iteration of Fate. During one of the cycles, the reincarnation of Fate didn’t want to give up the power of being Fate. Even though their power was depleting, that version of Fate didn’t want to give up the position of being all powerful, so the Fate of that cycle began deceiving their creations with promises of power, creating evil in the perfect creations the original Fate had created. When the new Fate came into power, they cast that piece of Fate down to roam the planet, not allowing that part of Fate to return to glory. That Fate became known as the Fate of Darkness and vowed to get revenge for being cast out. The Fate of Darkness set out to overthrow all that is good.”
Letting out a deep breath, I rolled my eyes while trying to keep my frustrations at bay. “I don’t get it. Why go through all this drama? Isn’t there an easier way? I mean, I know it had to be hard on you having to take care of fake kids and not knowing where your real kids were.”
“It was interesting.” Roselee had a small smirk on the corner of her lips. “Bellum and Blossom may have looked like my pups, but they certainly didn’t act like them.”
“How so? How did you keep the facade up for so long?”
