“As we all do,” Cassiel replied. “Ava, since this power to influence the Earth’s spirit lies with you, I can do my best to advise, so we can avoid this situation altogether.”
“You’re a powerful Elf, but I don’t know if we can find a solution to this,” I said heavily. “The only way to stabilize things is to get the Blessed Haven up and running again, and it’s breaking apart because the gods are fighting. The only way to prevent this is to stop the Warden, find the Divinity Keys, and open the Elven Gate as Charlie’s prophecy foretells.”
“Or surrender,” Cassiel said simply.
Marcus gaped, and I instantly recoiled. “How can you say that?” I demanded. I didn’t care that I was speaking harshly to an Emperor.No oneshould suggest we give in to the Warden. “Even if we were to give up, the Warden would rule everything, on Earth and in the Blessed Haven!”
“Yes. And we Elves would be exterminated, along with anyone else who disagreed with the Warden’s rule, and all the love and light would eventually go out of the world, to be replaced by pain and suffering,” Cassiel said gently. “But wouldn’t it be a better alternative than all of nature and time being consumed by the breaking of the Blessed Haven entirely, and all souls being destroyed? There are more important things in the universe than us— things that have existed for time immemorial, that will continue to exist long after supernatural kind is gone. Isn’t it worth our sacrifice to preserve that?”
“That’s no world I want to live in,” I spat. “No afterlife, either. It might as well all be gone if it’s run by a dictator like the Warden.”
“That’s a very heavy choice to make,” Cassiel stated. “You are a princess, Ava. These are very difficult choices that affect everyone. No matter what choices you make as ruler, someone will always have to pay the price. Sometimes we have to consider the greater good.”
I despised that way of thinking.The greater good.It was a pathetic way to think and talk. I didn’t believe we had to make sacrifices to get to where we wanted to go.
We just needed to deal with the Warden the hard way, and be done with it.
I huffed. “Well, it doesn’tmatter, because I’m not going to let that happen. The Blessed Haven isn’t going to collapse, and the Earth isn’t going to be destroyed. I’ll give up everything I have to make sure that never comes to pass.”
“I know you speak the truth, Ava. You will do what you must to protect all of us. I’ve been certain of it from the moment I met you,” Cassiel praised. “This is a frightening situation, but if we band as one, we’ll pull through it. You and your friends will bring an end to this war, so long as you stick together.”
“Doesn’t the Warden understand what he’s doing?” Marcus asked. “He has to know that by convincing the dark gods to fight our deities, the Blessed Haven could break, and destroy everything else along with it.”
“I believe if we’ve figured it out, he must know as well, but Doctor Taurus is a man who will take calculated risks to get what he desires,” Cassiel said.
Of course. Because it was his way or the highway. The Warden didn’t mind making a gamble on all of time, space and eternity if there was a chance he could be at the head of it, calling all the shots and making all the rules.
Screw him. Nobody decided what was going to happen to our world butme, because I would always make the right choice. We were saving it from the Warden, and kicking his ass on his way out.
“I don’t care what the Warden has planned, because it’s not coming true.” I sat up higher. “Charlie and I are going to end him, then once we do, we’re going to rid this world of suffering. Since we’re demigods, we’ll be strong enough to put an ending to misery and pain. Once the Warden is out of the way, it’ll be easy.”
“You can’t avoid suffering, my child. No matter how much you try to,” Cassiel said kindly. “The world is always innately suffering, and there is no way for anyone to stop it.”
“That can’t be true.” I felt my fingers ache as my hands clenched. “Ican be powerful enough to change it. If I’m a demigod, and I can’t use my magic to endallsuffering, then why should I even bother having my abilities? Why does it matter that I can perform incredible feats of magic if I can’t use it to make the world a better placeeverywhere?I’m strong enough to stop anything.”
“Not even a god is powerful enough to end suffering. If they were, don’t you think they would’ve done so? Don’t you think your ancestors would’ve interceded on your behalf if they had that ability?” Cassiel questioned.
“They can influence things,” I argued. “We’ve seen it before.”
“Yes, but even the influence of a deity is limited,” Cassiel pointed out. “Not even a god has infinite power, enough to override free will.”
I raised my chin. “Well, it doesn’t matter if all the other gods and demigods were unable to do anything to prevent suffering, because none of them areme. I’ll be the first one.”
“Ava, my dear, you cannot survive without taking life from something else.” Cassiel laid his hand gently on mine. “Even ifyou refuse to eat meat, you must still take the life of a plant to consume it. Otherwise, you will starve. Creatures must die to fertilize the ground so nature can continue to grow. The designer labels you love so much— how can you absolutely prove they weren’t produced through unethical means? We could go on and on. There is a purpose to suffering, for if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t exist.”
I felt my hand grow cold under his. “There is no purpose in suffering. Perhaps death, but not pain.”
“Why not?” Cassiel asked softly. “Does it bother you to consider that could be a possibility, for suffering to have meaning? Do you have to believe that purpose has to begood?”
I shifted in my chair again. Marcus wasn’t saying much, that was for sure. He was staring at me, expecting me to have some stereotypical answer.
But I wasn’t giving him one. I thought differently from most people, and that was part of my identity. I wouldn’t cave on this because other people figured the problem was too hard to solve. Not when there were solutions right in front of us, solutions society refused to integrate.
“We can make a completely equal, ethical society,” I argued. “Look at Ilamanthe. I have no trouble getting around in my wheelchair here, and neither does Charlie, even though he’s blind. We’ve fought society so long for accommodations that should be standard, but they’re considered radical in the rest of the world. That’s only a small taste of how perfect things are here. If the Elves can do it, so can everyone else. The world doesn’t have to be the way that it is.”
“Perhaps.” Cassiel shrugged. “But much of that requires societal change to get there. The Elves have always had an accommodating culture, so it wasn’t much of an effort or a debate to install these practices. In other cultures, you’d havea much tougher time. Decades, or even centuries, could pass without people ever changing their minds.”
I let out a dark laugh. “I’d figure out a way.”
