Page 43 of A Rising Hope

I would feel bad for them. I’d feel bad for everyone if such luxury wasn’t carved out of me from the moment I took my first breath. I motioned with my finger, letting one more drop of his blood trickle down the line to my vein. Searing pain rolled through my entire body once more.

“Hell,” I grunted, as my body trembled on the verge of collapsing, but I let another drop of blood reach me.

The physical pain was nothing compared to what I had endured for so long.

I forced myself to continue, letting yet another drop slither in.

“Hush, my pets,” I calmed the hissing shadows, but then I felt the air shift. My thorns shrunk, recoiling, and my eyes darted to the windows. The cursed shields around the castles stayed untouched. Nothing visible to the human eye changed, but the hairs on my neck stood on end, and a cautionary dread slithered in.

The Destroyer near me grunted, as if he too felt the sudden shift of force in the air. I snapped my fingers, letting the jagged vines twist the Basalt Glass shard deeper into his heart, until his large body fell limp. I turned to the shields, to the empty horizons with nothing but the oceans soaring outside. Bitternesscoated my tongue, and time became abruptly so tangible, like sand falling through my fingers.

I writhed in my seat, grinding my teeth as I let one more drop slide down.

Whatever that magic ripple was, it no longer mattered. I had everything I needed to complete my goal.

And that change? The change only signified one truth.

The end of the world was inevitably approaching us.

31

FINNLEAH

The swords were fucking heavy. My back hunched over as I rested the massive blades on my shoulders.

I paused in my journey, wiping my sweaty forehead. The golden seas of wheat gently swayed at the playful stroke of the wind. Not a single cloud in the bright azure sky above me. The sun lingered behind for hours, gifting extra minutes to the earth, basking it in the warm late summer glow after the days in the icy darkness.

A single dot on the horizon grew larger, and I shielded my eyes away from the sun to inspect it. Tall stalks of wheat brushed my thighs as I tilted my head up high, watching it grow almost incautiously larger, until the precarious glass-like creature came into my sight from a simple blimp of reflection. My lips stretched in a wide smile, mirroring that of the angelic girl saddled on a giant dragonfly hovering straight above me.

“I heard you needed a ride?” Aurelia shouted through the buzzing. I held on tighter to the stack of papers hidden under my oversized shirt as the gusts of wind from the dragonfly wings ruffled my hair. She dropped a thick rope, and I climbed it, grunting under the weight of the metal. Aurelia reached for me,helping me slide the swords in the metal buckles, securing them tightly before I hopped into the seat.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you, ReyRey.” I chuckled, double checking swords by my side after I had secured myself in.

“Same.” The seventeen-year-old girl grinned.

“Did Xentar let you fly this thing all on your own?” I smiled skeptically at her as she handed me flying goggles. “I thought I wrote the letter addressed to him.” Though my tone was sparked with delight, a feeling of terror recoiled through me, realizing that perhaps there was another reason why Aurelia was here and not Xentar. Of the damage those shadows must have caused. My previously joyful feeling melted away. I was glad I was sitting behind her, so she wouldn’t notice the furrowed brows and deep frown etched on my face.

“Is everyone okay?” I dared to ask, buckling the last snap of the helmet.

“Everyone is okaynow,” Aurelia replied, her voice too nonchalant, too calm, and I didn’t fail to notice the little shudder that flashed through her. The muscle in my temple twitched.

The Queen would pay for that, too.

“Aurelia, I am so sorry,” I started, unsure of what to say, unsure of how to comfort the young woman. Words suddenly stuck in my throat from the wave of emotions, feeling so suddenly inadequate, so unequipped to heal the world.

I didn’t know how to fix the broken hearts.

I didn’t know how to nourish the souls lost to despair.

I didn’t know how to fix the gloomy reality of the world. I didn’t even know how to face the grim reality alone. Swallowing the flash of panic, I froze.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know how I’d do it. But I held on to that flicker of hope within me, burning, unwavering.

One day, perhaps, not today, maybe not even tomorrow, but one day. One day, the sorrows shall dwindle, one day the darkness shall disband, and all the scars shall fade. The memory of that young mother flashed in my mind as I blinked. Yes, amid the darkness, she had hoped, and so would I.

The time where all I had to do was not fall had passed.

No, I had to rise. I had to hope. For her. For them. For myself.

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