When my energy brushed against it, I was blasted backwards, a boom filling the air that was so loud it was almost painful despite my lack of physical ears.
It felt like a warning, and I wondered what I was supposed to do with that.
Backtracking, I returned to the place where I’d lost the golden strand. This was the cord that brought me here, and I wondered if it had something to do with my next steps.
I just had to figure out how to utilize this particular cord.
This time, when I moved toward the sphere, I kept the gold strand in my energy, as if holding on to its essence. It twisted and turned, and I almost lost it a couple of times, having to backtrack to find it again, but eventually I reached the spot where it touched the sphere. It was on the opposite side of the giant power structure.
Bracing myself for the rejection once more, I pressed right where the gold connected, only to find my essence flowing forward until I was on the inside of the sphere. The bright fiery world outside faded, the inside of the sphere just a shimmery gold.
Maybe because of my line of power.
There was nothing inside that I could see, and it was not much larger than my old bedroom back in Clarity. The outside did not in any way reflect what existed inside.
Instinct told me that now I would have to wait. Wait and see where the next path took me.
Maybe that would be for an eternity, or maybe it would happen instantly.
Either way, I’d been led here for a reason, and until that reason was presented to me, there was nothing to do but wait.
Luckily, the dead didn’t fear time.
44
LEN
She wasn’t there.
We’d made it through the garden, which only sprang to life as we neared the end. By the time we were done, we sported a few injuries, but nothing of worry. The next section brought us to a golden sphere. It was hovering in the middle of a land of crystals, this entire area containing more power than I’d ever felt anywhere else in the worlds.
“The Origin,” Angel breathed. “This is the source of Faerie creation. The original power.”
Every world had a place of birth, where the original power still connected to the great Origin of all worlds. Origins were not accessible to most inhabitants, or survivable if stumbled upon.
If we all hadn’t been as strong as we were, the sheer energy here would have blown us to pieces.
“There’s something wrong with it,” Reece said, pressing as close as he could without bursting into flames. “Why is there darkness threaded through the gold?”
“Have you ever seen an original power source like this before to know?” Simone asked.
“It’s tainted,” I managed to growl, backing Reece’s theory. “The gold should be pure.”
“Maybe this is what happened to the Great Queen,” Shadow rumbled. “It could explain her disappearance and the weakening in Faerie.”
Maybe it was what had happened to Samantha too.
“Wait, if the severing of the line is what took Samantha’s life, why does it still look whole and complete there?” Simone asked. “Was there another line?”
She was referring to the golden cord that spanned up from the top of the sphere. “That’s the line to the world of creation,” I managed to say, all while my rage grew. “Fredrick only severed the part that connected Simone’s family line to the main land of Faerie.”
Shadow nodded. “Yes, if that other line was severed, Faerie would have ceased to exist in the same second.”
My chest grew tighter. “No one can sever this line. It would take the sort of power beyond all there is. Not even our group would have a chance. Not even a million of our groups.”
“Do you think Samantha is inside the sphere?” Mera choked out, her voice hoarse, eyes red as she rubbed at them.
Unable to speak again, I released my beast and drew on every source of magic here. If Samantha was inside that sphere, I was going to figure out how to get to her.
