Page 54 of Pregnancy Pains & Mystic Chains
"The Song remembers what it was meant to be," Helena said softly. "And through these children, it's finding its way home. We can either help guide that return, or watch everything we sought to preserve crumble into chaos."
I could see the moment the destroyer's resolve broke. Something ancient and pure called to her magical core, reminding her of what had been lost. Of what could be restored.
"I will help," she said finally, stepping into the chamber. "If only to prevent complete destruction."
"As will I," added a voice from the back. A controller faction member emerged from the crowd with a thoughtful expression. "The old ways are ending. Perhaps... perhaps it's time for something new."
"Or something very old made new again," Nana corrected as she smashed her walking stick into a destroyer that was trying to sneak past her.
"The First Song was never meant to be controlled or broken,” Helena explained. “Only guided, like a river flowing to the sea."
"The moon is almost at its zenith," Jean-Marc reported. "Once it peaks, we'll have exactly one chance to get this right."
CHAPTER 20
"Well then, let's get our magical behinds moving," Nana declared as she pulled chalk and herbs from her seemingly bottomless bag. "This moon isn't going to wait for us. Can you guys keep these asshats out of the chamber?" She asked Aidon, Hades, and Persephone.
Hades threw his head back and laughed as he shot lightning bolts out of his hands. Nina and Jean-Marc took opposite sides of the chamber, working in perfect sync as they drew intricate symbols on the floor. The chalk lines gleamed silver in the crystalline light. They aligned each sigil precisely with the towering columns. Nana, Clio, and Helena joined them, adding their own marks to the complex pattern emerging on the stone floor. It was a massive circular diagram that mirrored the constellations above.
I let them do the work. There was a good chance I would need a crane to get up if I got down on the ground. The chamber's song grew stronger with each completed symbol. The pillars' harmonies were building toward something magnificent as the moon climbed higher. I could feel the power gathering. The Heart of the First Song was pulsing in time with the rising energy.
Before they were able to finish, the destroyer faction burst through the temple's outer defenses with the kind of perfectly awful timing of dramatic interruptions. Dark magic ripped through the ancient wards like they were cobwebs. Everyone dove for cover as the temple shuddered around us.
"Protect the ritual circle!" Helena shouted as she threw up a barrier of pure light. Her power merged with the temple's defenses. I added a spell as well. Together, we created a shield that rippled like heat waves. "If those lines get disrupted now, the backlash could tear us the temple apart!"
"Which means what exactly?" I demanded as another contraction hit. That one nearly brought me to my knees. "Because I'd really like to know what kind of reality-shredding disaster we're trying to prevent while I'm in labor!"
"Do you really have to ask that?” Nana shot back as she smashed the nose of a destroyer.
An explosion made me jump back right as part of the ceiling came crashing down. Hades's power caught the debris before it could hit anyone. The near miss sent adrenaline shooting through me. The mark on my belly flared with tricolored light that made the chamber's crystals sing higher. The babies were responding to my fear. Nyssa's shadows writhed across the walls while Thaniel's temporal energy made time hiccup around us. Melaina's golden resonance amplified everything until the very air hummed with power.
"The moon's almost at its zenith," Jean-Marc called out in a voice tight with urgency. "We have to start now. Ready or not! The alignment won't wait!"
"A little busy here!" Stella shot back as she deflected another blast of corrupted magic. The attack left scorch marks on the ancient marble. "These guys really don't want to play nice!"
Mom and Nana worked in perfect sync. Their combined power created a wall of pure force that pushed back theattackers. I had been worried Lyra was going to overpower us after I had the babies when I wasn’t able to fight her. She didn’t stand a chance with those two defending us.
"You'd think they'd have figured out by now that threatening a pregnant woman is a bad idea," Nana growled as she lobbed what looked suspiciously like tiny garden gnomes into the enemy ranks. The figurines grew when they hit and began whacking at limbs with their tiny garden tools.
The destroyer who'd agreed to help – Mara, she'd said her name was – moved to stand between us and her former allies. Her dark hair whipped around her face as power rose around her like storm clouds. "This ends now," she declared. "The Song is breaking free whether we want it or not. Stand down!"
"Traitor!" someone snarled from the attacking forces. "The power must remain bound! We've sacrificed too much to maintain control!"
"The power was never meant to be bound," countered the controller faction member who'd joined us. His magic was precise and controlled as he reinforced Helena's barriers. His usually perfect posture was rigid with determination. "We were wrong. All of us. We twisted something pure into chains."
Pain ripped through me, but this time something extraordinary happened. The babies' powers surged together, creating something we'd never seen before. Above my belly, a sphere of pure energy took shape. It was no bigger than a melon but contained what looked like a miniature cosmos. Nyssa's shadows swirled through it like dark matter, while Thaniel's temporal power created rivers of crystallized time that flowed in impossible patterns. Melaina's resonance bound it all together. Her power manifested as threads of golden music that wove through the darkness and light and turned the whole thing into something like a living galaxy in miniature.
The sphere pulsed with each of their heartbeats. It sent out ripples that bent the space around it. Where the ripples touched the temple walls, they left behind traces of starlight that refused to fade. The effect rippled outward like a stone dropped in a still pond.
It touched every magical bloodline present – destroyer, controller, and protector alike. Ancient power stirred in response, remembering what it was meant to be. The chamber's crystals sang higher. Their harmonies shifted into something that made the temple vibrate.
"Now!" Helena commanded, her eyes bright with ancient knowledge. "While the energies are aligned! Take your positions!"
Mara and Thomas, the controller, moved to their places in the ritual circle. Their power flowed into the ancient patterns etched on the floor and merged with Helena's protective magic. The crystals' song grew stronger as the time approached. Each pillar pulsed with its own unique frequency.
"Focus on the mark," Helena instructed as she began the ritual. Ancient words rolled from her tongue. "Let the babies' power guide you. They know what needs to be done."
That was a relief since no one had bothered to give me an instruction manual for this particular magical catastrophe. Another barrage of attacks hammered our shields, making the others pour more power into our defenses. I forced myself to breathe deeply, then let go and trust my babies' instincts.
