TEO
My dreams are pure light. The god-touched shine of Estela as a statue suspended in time and space. A vessel of radiance that warmed my entire soul to see her soar. Speaking with a god.
Mygod.
The memory is as intricate as the veins of metal that form between slabs of rock and the channels of lava that flow through the earth beneath my feet. When I try to touch her light in my dreams, it dims a little compared to letting it just… exist.
Then, a scene fades back into my thoughts. More ghosts locked away in the back of my consciousness.
My eyes open slowly, but the light above blinds me as the heat from beneath scorches me. I feel the mountains roll and the channels of magma carefully left unseen by the overworld pulse. They are drawn upward toward the same magic that keeps me from seeing.
The light shifts into something molten and hot, boiling my blood and cooking me from the inside out.
I scream.
The pain momentarily subsides enough for me to see my fatherstanding atop the castle, arms outstretched toward the volcano he created.
“Orfka ir asuso, hlumgla estra…”
My stomach drops, and I move to grab him, only to find myself bound as I thrash back and forth. The chains bite into my wrists. I growl, but my father doesn’t move from his spot. I pull with all my strength, searching for my power as the earth roils beneath us, causing the palace to quake. With one last roar, I pull apart the chains. They are raw against the hot air, but I grasp onto him first.
“What are you doing?” I scream.
His trance breaks, and his black eyes focus on me.
“Do you have any idea what you just did?” he demands, his face filled with ugly black swirls. I hold tight onto his arms, bringing them down to his sides. He makes a guttural noise. “Stop! I’m doing this for the world. If we don’t destroy it now, one day it will destroy us!”
I shake his shoulders, “What are you talking about? The threat to the world isn’t the giants or elves—it’s you.”
He looks as if I had slapped him.
“You are my son!” he screeches. “You will obey!”
I shake my head. “No. Not anymore,” I growl.
Then, he shoves me. Hard. I stumble and fall toward one of the rails. My hands rip on the stone, and I pant as I look at Iravida. It’s a sea of red and orange, and the mountain we had existed peacefully next to has rivulets of lava flowing down at an eerily fast pace. The ash-filled air whips around me while sparks of lightning glimmer over the mouth of the mount.
I have to do something.
The land has already begun to collapse. Screams somehow rise above the sound of the earth shifting and rending beneath us.
Vann is below, and there are hundreds of others trying to flee.
Without questioning myself, I whip around and grab my father by the shoulders.
“Stop!” I cry. I’d turned a blind eye to all the wrongs in the past, but this was too far.
My father was revered as one of the most powerful men in the land. How could he be reduced to such insanity?
He shoves me hard. “I’m doing this for our people!”
The words fracture my heart, and each piece breaks off and sinks into the destruction. He has to be stopped.
I look around.
It’s just us.
The answer comes, clear as crystal: it’s my job to end this.
