Page 128 of Wings of Death

I’m so drawn to the voice. It’s like music to my ears. The perfect song made just for me. I stumble to my feet and move toward it. It grows brighter and brighter the closer I get, and then it’s gone and I’m standing in a familiar meadow, the sound of running water in the distance. I follow the sounds of water and find myself at a familiar waterfall.

And then I see her. My mother is swimming through the lake toward me. She reaches the shallows and stands, her gold dress clinging to her body while she steps out of the water. Her wide smile lights up her entire face when she reaches her arms out to me, and I run to her.

“My darling daughter,” she whispers against my hair and strokes my back.

“Mum,” I whisper, tears pooling in my eyes, “thisisheaven. I’m dead, aren’t I?”

She pulls back and stares at me. “No, Zarla. You are not.”

I crease my brows as I stare at her with confusion. “Then where am I?”

She cups my cheek, rubbing little circles with the pad of her thumb. “I cannot speak of this, but you are far from dead. You are a goddess, Zarla. You are stronger than you know. Your father’s blood runs through your veins. She cannot defeat you.”

Does she know what just happened with Hethenos?

“Yes, I know,” she says, her expression grim. “It was difficult to watch.”

She wanders across the grass and sits down amongst the flowers.

I stare after her for a moment before I join her. “If I’m not dead, then why am I here?”

“Because I needed to tell you something,” she says, searching my face. “You are special, Zarla. You have the ability to finish something I started long ago.”

I bite my bottom lip. “The Kingdoms. You tried to unite them, didn’t you?”

She nods. “I did, and I would have, if it hadn’t been for her. Well, there were many reasons, in fact.”

I pick a flower and bring it to my nose, breathing in its floral scent. “Is that what I am to do? Unite the Kingdoms?”

She suddenly stands. “You will know what to do when the time is right. My beautiful daughter, you must go now. It is not your time.”

She reaches out to me, and when I take her hand, I’m suddenly back in the clearing of the forest. I glance down to see my stomach has healed, and when I look up, Hethenos is facing away from me.

She thinks I’m dead. I leap to my feet, and she spins around, staring at me with shock in her eyes.

“Impossible,” she breathes.

Rage unlike anything I’ve ever felt before surges through me as my powers build inside, stronger and stronger. I shake as my breathing increases, my chest lifting with each inhale while my wings release, and I slowly lift into the air. It’s like someone has taken over my body as I look down at Hethenos. She stares up at me, and her mouth gapes open, her eyes filled with pure shock while she backs up, unable to tear her eyes away from me.

A bright glow illuminates the clearing. I look at my hands and realise it’s coming from me. I grit my teeth, clench my fists,cutting my nails into my palms, and I let out a scream, shoving my hands out in front of me toward Hethenos.

Her gaze darts around the clearing as the ground rumbles below her before giving way beneath her feet. She lets out a blood-curdling scream as I fly above the hole and fire my powers down on top of her with the vengeance of a goddess, blasting her deep in the ground. The glow from my body slowly fades when I lower myself to the forest floor. I look around, confused at what I was just able to do. Did I just levitate off the ground while glowing?

“Now that was pure goddess power.”

I spin around to face Alaron.

“I am impressed, little angel,” he says with a wink.

“How was I able to do that?” I ask.

He crosses the distance between us and stops a few inches from my face. He always likes to get close.

“That is something I cannot tell you, as it would?—”

“Upset the balance?” I interrupt.

He laughs. “That it would. But I think you may find you already know the answer, little angel. And if not, the answers will be found inside that journal.”

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