One is already broken…please, Gods no more.
Please, Gods?
Wasn’t there a gift from a God who helped me?
Yes, child. Remember me.
I want to remember. I do. But I’m so tired and so alone. Janine’s will is sucking at me. What am I even doing here?
Crackle. Snap. My chest thuds, like I’ve been poked by a small bolt of lightning. The fizzing that follows fills the cavity behind my ribs.
Lumina. I remember lumina. Amirene? Is that you?
For a moment I see a stranger’s face, blindingly beautiful and shining with pure light.
Please, child, fight harder. Amirene gave you my gift, now you must use it.
She reaches out a hand, but then the vision wavers. Her serene features become overlaid with Janine’s hunger.
I don’t want to see it. I want the other woman.
But I don’t know how long I can withstand this push and pull.
“Come back to me,” I cry out. “Who are you?”
Fight for me, Theodora Wilson.The beautiful woman appears once more, eyes filled with worry.You must do this.
“It’s too hard, I’m too alone.” I flail around, not sure what I’m hoping to find, but my hand smacks into something. A shining white cable. I wrap it around my wrist and hold tight with everything I have.
The glowing cable cuts into my flesh, but strangely doesn’t hurt. It’s almost as though the wire is melding with my arm. It pulses with a familiar, grounding hum.
You aren’t alone, child.
The darkness of Janine begins to peel back like scorched paper, and standing there, holding the other end of the white chain, is Wes.
He doesn't look like the boy I left in the hospital bed. He looks like the man who held me, loved me and said he would always be mine. Wes reaches out, his hand cupping my cheek, and the ice holding me to the floor melts instantly.
“I’m here, you’re not alone,” he whispers. “And you are so fucking wanted.”
Then he shows me the truth, overriding Janine's poisoned versions of my past. I see Opal again, running through the rain, but the bitterness I felt before is gone. I see the tears on her face as she kisses my forehead in that hospital restroom.
“Live, little baby. If they find you with me, they’ll kill you. You have to be someone else to stay alive.”
Then I see Mum and Dad. “I love her so much, so much,” Mum cries. My father hugs her close. “And we’ll protect her forever.”
“Your men, Theo,” Wes says, his voice filled with desperation. “We aren't gone…we haven’t left you, we're here. We’ll always be here.”
The darkness shrieks as Janine’s crimson thread begins to fray.
Suddenly, the space between us erupts in a cascade of sparkling light and from the center, a woman appears. Tall and radiant, wearing a gown of woven starlight. Her presence is perfect, balanced, and absolute.
Theodora,I am Harmonia—and you are my human embodiment in this fractured world. Chaos has reigned long enough through the rot of the dark energy.
She places a hand over my heart, and the Lumina within me reaches out to meet her.
You were born for this, my child. The energy from Avalon has been twisted into a weapon. You are the one capable of filtering it into the light.
I feel Wes at my back.
