Page 63 of Draekora

He led the way across the Library’s grand foyer and towards the second downward staircase.

“I don’t know what happens in the future, Alexandra, and I won’t ask you to tell me. But what I will say is this: don’t forget why you’re here, because therein lies your strength.”

Waiting a beat for more information that didn’t end up coming, Alex hesitantly said, “By ‘here’ do you mean the past?”

Eanraka pulled her to a halt, his face stoic. “Medora, Alexandra. Don’t forget why you’re in Medora.”

“I…” Alex trailed off, uncertain. “I’m not sure I understand. I’m in Medora because the Library brought me here from my world.”

“That’s the ‘how’, not the ‘why’.”

Alex thought for a moment and finally admitted, “I’m not following.”

“You were Called, Alexandra,” Eanraka said, using a term she hadn’t heard for a while. “And you were Chosen.”

As if there was some kind of speaker system within the stone walls, Alex heard the whispered replay of a faded memory.

‘Many are Called, but few answer the Call. Fewer still respond to it and follow where it leads…And that’s why you’re not only Called, but also Chosen.Because you’ll continue to walk through the doors, no matter where they lead.’

“As I told you, Alexandra,” Eanraka said as the Library’s replayed words came to an end, “I don’t know what the future brings. Whatyourfuture brings. But I do know you were Called to Medora—both past and future—for a reason.”

Another whispered memory sounded in her ear, as if confirming his words. ‘Because you are Chosen…And you are needed, for such a time as this.’

Alex was shaking her head, not sure if in fear, denial or confusion. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she said in a quiet voice.

“I didn’t bring you here to tell you what to do,” Eanraka replied just as quietly. “But if it helps, be encouraged in knowing you will never be required to face more than you are capable of handling.”

Regardless of the moment holding great solemnity, Alex couldn’t repress a quiet snort. “I’m sorry, but have you seen the mess that is my life?”

“What I see is you standing here before me,” he said. “Since you are still breathing, one could conclude that you have indeed been capable of handling every situation you’ve yet experienced in life.”

“You make a valid point,” Alex reluctantly acknowledged. “But that doesn’t mean I’m handling thingswell.”

Eanraka’s mouth stretched into a smile. “That’s not the encouragement I offered you.”

Alex let out a huff of laughter. “Well played, you sneaky elf.”

Cocking his head to the side, Eanraka said, “I shall assume I’m better off not asking the meaning of that term, given the context in which it was used?”

“That’s probably wise,” Alex agreed, still grinning.

“Perhaps I’ll remember to hunt down Enoch sometime to ask him,” Eanraka mused.

At that, Alex’s laughter was much more genuine. “Good luck to you, since I doubt they had many pop culture references in Freya back in the… whatever year this is. There are probably dinosaurs roaming the earth, for all I know.”

“I guess I’ll have to leave it as a mystery then,” Eanraka said. He moved a step closer to Alex and placed both his hands on her shoulders, tilting his head down to meet her eyes. “It has been an honour to meet you Alexandra Jennings of Freya, but this is where I must leave you.”

She looked at him in bafflement. “What? But—”

“I was asked to collect you, nothing more,” he told her. “From here, you’re on your own.” He squeezed her shoulders once and let her go. “May the stars shine ever brightly upon you, and the light be your guide forevermore.”

With those strange blessing-like words, Eanraka offered a final smile and disappeared back up the stairs, leaving Alex on her own.

Giving herself a mental nudge, she followed the spiralling stairs downwards and, making sure she had a clear picture in her mind of where she wanted to go, she willed a doorway to open before her.

Stepping into the blackness beyond, Alex fell through the dark until she landed in a cavern divided by a river rushing between two fissures in the rock walls on either side of the large space.

Alex wasn’t sure why she’d chosen the cave as her destination; perhaps it was merely a sense of nostalgia and the desire to be comforted by its familiarity. This was the place where she’d first conversed with the Library, the place where she’d had to make a choice whether or not to stay in Medora or return to her world. It was symbolic, Alex felt.

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