Page 223 of Gift from the Source
“Elementra,” I whisper.
“Hello, Ultima unum.”
Words escape me.
My mouth gapes open and closed as I think of something to say.
Part of me wants to apologize for what I just attempted to do. The other refuses the notion. I’ll never apologize for trying to protect my men.
“You have nothing to apologize for, Willow. I knew when I created the Nexus bonds that I was creating a force greater than even me.”
“Is he…did I…did you give him back to me?”
“I have done nothing,”she says and I sob. My knees try to give out on me, but I’m held up by her strength.
“Walk with me, Willow, before you must go.”
“I can’t. I need to get back to them now. Please just send me back.”
“There is much in the beyond I need to figure out, so I swear to not keep you long. You’re far stronger than you were the first time I brought you here. Only minutes have passed, and I will only keep you a few minutes more.”
Her power washes over me, soothing the raging grief and panic without my permission. I detest it, yet at the same time, I hold onto it for dear life.
We fall into silence as we walk—well, I walk, she floats—across the plain of my mind. I try to keep my questions, comments, and thoughts of everything that happened quiet. Even though she isn’t calling me out, I know she hears it all. She’s the one keeping my body, mind, and soul from going absolutely feral.
“What now?”
“You’ve accomplished what all before you lost their lives over in preparation for. You were our last hope, and you succeeded beyond our faith. What’s left to take care of is the aftermath. Then, you rest.”
“Will there ever come a time I have to do this again?”
“To this extent…not that I see. The forces are unpredictable at best, though.”
“V mentioned the forces to me. What are they?”
“They are as their name claims. Forces beyond our comprehension. They created the creators.”
My eyes widen a little at that. “They created you?”
“They did. I like to refer to myself as their experiment child. They made me different than the others. They observed what the others made of their creations and put some of those traits into me. I believe they just wanted to seewhat would become of me. Could I survive or would my counterparts destroy me.
“I have power in strengths closer to the forces, but the conscious and emotions of a creation, such as yourself. I get angry, I mourn, grieve, love, laugh, and many other things you all experience. Not all of my counterparts experience that. Power and logic reigns strong in them.”
“That must be hard. Managing those emotions when you have all this power. Not allowing yourself to become corrupt…Goodness knows I can lose my shit every now and then.”
Her soft laugh surrounds me, and I crack the barest of smiles. My heart is tender, and my mind is a mess. If not for her power clinging to me, I don’t believe I’d be able to form a lucid sentence.
“I have lost it a few times. Each time my point has gotten across plenty.”
“Are you talking about the visit you paid to the creators when they made the nonmagical realm? What did you do?”
“I am referring to that. I’ve never been one to show off my full strength in front of my counterparts. That day, though, when my eyes laid on the pitiful land they made of the nonmagical realm and the beings who were dying from being cut off from their resources, I did not handle my anger well.
“My fury made the foundation of their realms shake. I flashed my strength around. I made sure they saw me. I gave them no choice but to, or face a battle they would regret. Their mediocre apologies and lack of care for what they did to those beings and creating a land they refused to care for set me off even more. I spoke an irrevocable binding.”
“Which was?” I’m not sure if I actually say it or it’s a whisper in my mind.
“I declared I’d open enough portals all could travel through, not just them. Then I said I’d send watchers to make sure they stayed in line. I couldn’t continue to leave the fabric of my realm. I was pulling too much power from it anytime I left, but I wasn’t going to tell them that.
