Page 289 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
“By the gods, you can’t be serious,” Theon muttered under his breath.
“I love stories,” Tessa replied.
“Me too. Me too,” Akira murmured, starting to pace. Small steps, back and forth, Xan staying close. “In all things, there must be balance. Beginnings and endings.”
“Light and dark,” Tessa supplied.
“Fire and shadows,” Akira said in excitement.
“The skies, the seas, the realms,” Tessa echoed.
“Yes,” Akira said, nodding as she continued her pacing. Sparks of energy echoed each step. “Beginnings and Endings were once friends, forced to keep the balance in the stars. A common purpose and a trusted bond. Until one desired more. He convinced Endings to join him, and Accords were struck, until Endings uncovered truths and lies woven to create new realities. He turned from Beginnings, taking Dreams with him.”
“Arius and Serafina,” Tessa said softly.
“Good,” Akira said, nodding. She seemed relieved that Tessa understood. “Beginnings was furious. He sought others to helphim seek revenge, creating beings and armies, but he wanted more. Always more. He found one to give him a child, but the child wasn’t enough either. He stole what was not his, forcing her to keep it. It corrupted her. Twisted into something new. Created fury that could not be contained, but she tried. She tried to contain it, but she was never enough.”
The words were shrouded in anguish, Akira’s steps quickening with each one.
“She tried to please him. Tried to be what he wanted her to be. Took more and more, forced to keep and keep. Take and keep. Take and keep,” she continued.
“This isn’t making any sense,” Luka muttered.
“Don’t interrupt the story,” Tessa and Akira snapped at the same time.
But it was making perfect sense to Tessa. She understood every single word.
“Every time she slipped a little more into what she was not supposed to have. It consumed her. She was desperate to please him, so she went in search of something that would make her enough. They were hidden among the stars. Secrets of Dreams and Death.”
“Saylah and Temural,” Razik said quietly, and Akira spun to him.
“Yes! Yes! Wild and Shadows.” She spun in a circle, resuming her pacing. The energy swirling around her flickered in the air, lightning crackling and thunder sounding far off in the distance. “I found him. Or he found me. His Trackers did. He found me, and the world was quieter,” she murmured. She paused for a moment, her fingers closing into fists at her sides. Her voice was vicious when she spoke next. “And then Beginnings took me from him.” Her gaze snapped back to Tessa. “But not before you. Created from something inevitable and uncontrollable. He could not have you. Never you.” Her voice cracked, tears poolingin her eyes. “Never you. So she sent you away, and she fell into madness. It was the only way she could survive losing him and you. She let it consume her. She wasn’t strong enough to get back up, so she let it create something new. Something born of vengeance and wrath.”
“A Fury,” Tessa said on a breath.
Akira nodded, her eyes falling closed as Xan sent another trickle of dragonfire to her.
“Do you understand, Tessa?” Xan asked gently.
And she did. She understood all of it because she’d lived the same. Never enough. Trying to prove herself. Needing more and more. Take and keep, keep and take.
“Tessa?” Theon asked softly, cupping her face to turn him to her. “Are you all right?”
She hadn’t realized she’d started crying. Tears trickled down her cheeks.
Tessa turned back to her mother, voice soft when she asked, “Why didn’t you send me to Temural? Why here?”
“He was on the run,” she answered, her eyes somewhat clearer. “Achaz hunted him, as he does all children of Death and Dreams. He could not have you. Never you,” she insisted. “So we chose the one place he couldn’t come. Temural didn’t know until later, but I sent others. Xan. Nylah. Roan.”
“And he sent Auryon once he figured out how to get her in,” Xan added. “You were never meant to be alone.”
“You were alone?” Akira asked, her eyes welling with tears now.
Tessa nodded, unable to speak past the emotion clogging her throat.
“I never wished for that,” she whispered. “Alone is agony. Too many nightmares haunt the in-between. The whispers drive you mad.”
“Yes,” Tessa said, more tears streaming down her face because someone finally understood.
