Not a lie, but that wasn’t my reason for showing up late. I’d been struggling with a bad flare up all morning and didn’t want to let anyone at the temple know. I had zero energy, and a lot of body aches. If they saw I was in pain, they’d insist I needed to rest, but we didn’t have time for that. Now that I knew what I didabout the Blessed Haven, we needed to beat the Wardennow, and there wasn’t any time for me to take a day off.
The Great Mystic’s eyes softened. “Oh, the Emperor. Of course. Any conference you have with him is more important than what we’re doing here, most certainly.”
I used what bit of strength I could to push myself toward the front of the temple, smiling as I observed the sunlight coming through the windows. This temple held such fond memories for me now. Whenever I entered it, I was reminded of how beautiful our wedding was. It nearly swept me away into dreamland whenever I roamed its halls.
“Princess, please,” the Great Mystic said, and it snapped me out of any daydreams about my wedding day. “We simply must get started.”
I hid my shaking hands in my skirt. “Very well. Let’s begin.”
The mystics prepared me for the ritual to speak to the goddesses by bathing me in the blessed pool and dressing me in a golden gown, painting shining symbols onto my skin as they always did. The ceremony for contacting the Elvish goddesses was similar to my induction as the Holy Mother, without all the fanfare, and was the same every time. I did this every week, only once, as it took too much energy to be performed more often. The rest of my mystic training was centered around learning about the goddesses, and all the various rituals and spells the Elves used to connect with them.
I felt bad for the mystics, going through all this work just for me to never get any answers. My visions remained unclear each time I went through the ceremony. I was wondering if I couldn’t hear the goddesses, or if the goddesses couldn’t hear me.
The mystics laid me upon the stone altar, and I closed my eyes. As the Great Mystic began her chant, I found myself falling into a trance, although it was different this time… it felt similar to the way I’d fallen into the first vision when I’dbecome the Holy Mother. During my other attempts to speak with the goddesses, I’d remained conscious, although I’d gotten fragments of images.
Now, I was fading. The goddesses were finally sending me a message! I eagerly dove into the darkness, awaiting what the Elvish goddesses had for me…
I saw war,and a sky that was on fire. Thousands perished under the weight of incredible magic that was impossible to stop. Armies marched across the land, cutting down anyone in their path. Leaders bowed, and kings surrendered. Nothing was able to stop the conquering of nations and lands on the planet Earth underneath the rule of one who wanted to control it all.
I watched, one by one, as the Elvish race died out, a line of people toppling over into graves until there were none left standing. Plants withered and died, and chasms blazing with the fires of hell opened in the ground. Screams of torture echoed across barren landscapes. Among the bodies strewn across battlefields, supernaturals of all races were locked in chains. The prisoners were all carted away to become slaves.
A palace flashed in my mind, one I knew well. It looked unlike anything I remembered. All the shine from the golden trim around the doorways had weathered, and the water in the fountains had been replaced by thick red algae. Twisted vines grew up the side of the palace walls, and weeds invaded the stone walkways. Several towers had been toppled over, the remnants of stone still lying in forgotten heaps. The towers were nothing more than graveyards now. Overhead, darkstorm clouds swirled, and all that could be heard was the howl of the wind.
A middle-aged woman lay on the stone path underneath the castle, her black hair covering her face. A dark pool of blood spanned around her head, and hundreds of feet above her, there was an open window. People rushed about, screaming that she had thrown herself from the tower’s edge.
The vision changed again. I saw an old man sitting upon a throne, a lopsided crown atop his gray head. His hair was long and scraggly, marred across his face, and his tangled beard lay over his tattered clothes. His sunken eyes appeared dead as two prisoners were dragged into the throne room and placed before him. He stared out the window and waved his hand without a second thought. The prisoners dropped dead in an instant. They didn’t even get the chance to scream before their bodies were reduced to ash.
Everyone in the throne room bowed to the king—everyonefeared him. The man on the throne appeared to have no remorse for anything that was going on around him, merely stared coldly ahead, as if all of this meant nothing to him. The pained roar of a dragon-like creature echoed in the distance, proclaiming his grief for all to hear.
In the distance, I heard the voices of two women— their words were indistinguishable, but they called out to me, their Holy Mother, as I found myself sinking back into the dark…
My eyes shot open,and I took a deep gasp as if I’d broken the surface of the ocean, writhing on the altar as I emerged from the trance.
Charlie stood above me. I didn’t expect him to be here, but he was, hovering at my side and appearing grave. Oberi was tucked into his left arm, and she looked weary. The phoenix stirred with a withered chirp, as if she’d just awoken from some terrible nightmare. The other mystics gathered around the altar in a circle, hands over their mouths and clutching their necks.
Valindra had wrapped her cloak around her shoulders, though she still appeared cold. She shivered as I looked at her.
“The whole temple became dark when you fell into the vision, princess,” the Great Mystic informed me. “Thunder rolled and shook the whole palace. It was certainly an omen from the goddesses.”
The sun was beaming through the windows now, so the event must’ve passed quickly. Charlie helped me sit up. My head was still foggy and filled with memories of what I’d seen.
“Why are you here?” I mumbled, grabbing Charlie’s arm to steady myself.
“Oberi fainted in mid-air during my meeting. I picked her up and came running to you,” Charlie said. “You must’ve seen something important.”
“I did,” I replied. “Carolyn and Idril heard me this time; I’m sure of it. They sent me a message at the end of the vision, though their voices were muffled and I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I think they’re trying to get through to me from the Blessed Haven, but they just can’t.”
“What’d you see?” Charlie asked, kneeling beside the altar.
I explained to him, and the other mystics, the contents of my vision. The longer my words went on, the more terrified the mystics became— a few of them broke down in tears.
“It wasn’t a very long trance, but a clear one,” I finished. “I think the goddesses are trying to warn us of what’s to come if we don’t stop this.”
“Can you interpret this vision for us, princess?” the Great Mystic questioned.
I hesitated. “I’m not anaderei, so it’s difficult for me to know what the goddesses wanted me to see for certain.”
Then I swallowed thickly. “But I think I can understand what that vision meant. It was a potential future, one the goddesses want us to avoid.”
