Page 84 of The Heir

That was something strange to wrap my head around.I leaned against the back of the chair and watched the waves for a time. “I really wish Ryker had told me.”

“He wanted to, but he was worried that telling you might make you worry for nothing.”

“I’ve been worrying. How could he think I wouldn't discover that something was going on? I was his best friend. Maybe most of it is made up, but for me, it was real, and I knew and loved him, and he should have told me a long time ago; you all should have.” I tried not to scream my words out near the end. I calmed my breathing and closed my eyes, letting the rhythm of the ocean calm me down for a moment.

“I understand, Emma; I didn’t think it was right to keep you from it, but your parents did what they thought was best. Ryker is sworn to do whatever your parents say.” She reached out and took my hand.

“I am worried about him. No matter how irritated and confused I am about all the details, the truth is that I’m scared, Mary. What if we never find him, or what if we do, and it’s too late?” A tear dripped down my cheek, and I let it fall.

“All we can do is hope. It’s only been one full day since he checked in with me. Maybe there is nothing wrong and we are just overreacting.”

“Shad said he received word through his family’s company that Rykerhad beencaptured, captured by people who do not believe in the Ancients—people who want to find me and murder me, just like they did to my parents—because they hate us.” Another tear fell.

“Okay, honey, I am sorry; I was trying—”

“I just want the honest truth from now on; I think I’ve earned that,” I said, looking at her while wiping away tears.

She nodded. “Emma, we will find him.” I could feel how determined she was to that end.

I wasn’t so sure of that, and it hurt to think about it.

“Do you know that the last conversation we had was a fight? An argument about my parents’ deaths? He blames himself; he knew it was murder, and he blames himself. Even if he is some knight-guard-thing, he still has his limits.”

“Ryker blames himself solely for their deaths, as any guardian knight would. I assure you, I have tried to tell him that there was nothing he could have done to prevent their deaths, but he never got over it.”

“But he knew they were murdered, and I didn’t want him looking for the murderer. I yelled at him. He was hurting, and he was only trying to protect me and find the person responsible—for my parents’ deaths.”

“Emma, you were healing from everything. You just lost your mother and your father, and were in a horrific crash. I do believe he understands your hesitation. You believed that you were from this Earth realm, so he cannot fault you, Emma; he cannot. He doesn't.”

I spent a few more hours on that deck, talking with Mary. The sun rose, eventually, high into the sky, and it started to get warmout. We had long before finished our drinks, but we sat there talking, and sometimes, we just stared into the ocean waves together. Eventually, we walked back toward our room.

“What do you think about you and Shad?” Mary asked me as we made a detour in order to take a short walk before we went back to our room.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it isn’t normal for us to be able to communicate in the way you can with Shad, Emma. It was something only the Ancients could do.”

“What does that mean?”

“It isn’t something you should take lightly. There is great power in it. Many prophecies talked about such a connection. It's a powerful one. You do come from an Ancient line, and although far removed now, it still holds power.”

“I don’t understand,” I looked at her as she focused on the path ahead of us.

“There are a lot of people on Terra that, I hope anyway, still believe in the Ancients. Years after the stories your mother told you in that book had transpired, Ancients began mingling and inter-marrying with humans, and over time, some of their posterity were discovered to possess the Ancients’ abilities. There was a prophecy that foretold that someone from the Ancient Heir line would be born with a melody louder and more pure than any ever before.”

“Are you saying?”

“Yes–you, Emma. The prophecy was kept safe for a long time by my people, the keepers. We were blessed by the Ancients, blessed with the gift to help the race of Ancient Heirs, who could see into the future; they were called seekers. Most of the keepers, who were blessed humans, died long ago. Your mother and I came from a small village in the Kingdom of Sorra. Our kingdom, also home to the Jinn, was known as the birthplace ofthe seekers, who were part of the royal family and were Ancient Heirs, blessed with the seeker’s ability, and we, the keepers, worked with them and helped to train them. We revered them and protected them. We believed that if the seekers were ever lost, then we could never know the way back to the Ancients, and light would be gone forever. But on the night your mother and I left our kingdom, the last of the small number of seekers became corrupt.”

“A seeker is a type of an Ancient Heir, and I am also an Ancient Heir–but my gift is to save the world?” I paused. “How? You have to be joking.”

“You willhelp. The Creator will not leave you alone with that task.”

We just looked at each other for a few moments.

She continued, “Also,yes, seekers have the gift to seek; they seek out information from the future and give prophecies. Those prophecies are recorded in the High Halls, which are stretched across the kingdoms in the blessed lands, and when a prophecy comes to pass, a huge celebration is held to honor that seeker for receiving knowledge from the Ancients.”

“This is all just so unreal.”

---