Page 135 of A Clash of Stars

My brows furrowed. I couldn’t even process this information right now. My entire life was flipped upside down, and I had no will to go on, so I would stay in this pile of rubble and waste away until the end.

After what felt like hours of lying there, I heard footsteps and the movement of rubble. When I cleared the tears in my eyes, I expected to see my friends, but what I saw only shocked me.

“Excuse me, ma’am? Are you Clara?” I looked at this large man with what could only be described as dark-leathered wings, and I nodded my head.

He turned his head and yelled over his shoulder.

“It’s her.”

Who I saw next, I thought my heart would fall out of my chest. Tight brown curls were tousled over his head with bright glowing golden eyes with a pointed golden crown sat on his head.

“Mads?”

I looked at him and then looked at where Madok lay. He wasn’t there. His body was gone.

What?

The man took steps towards me, and I felt the whoosh of my breath let out as he spoke.

“I’m not sure who Mads is, but I’m Leo, Prince of Monowi.”

Epilogue

My breath was returned to my lungs slowly, and the burning raged inside me as I craved the air. As life filled my body, I was able to see everyone that was in the room. Gradually, the light returned to the lives frozen in time.

Regaining my focus as to where I was and what we were doing. The memories of what we were doing started to fill my mind in small broken pieces. We were on our way to Carondelet from Monowi. Athiana told us to search for a girl named Clara. This girl was supposed to be our answer, solution, and savior.

None of us could remember anything that had happened. It felt like we were in a long sleep—for how long, I didn’t know. All I knew was we needed to fulfill the mission we were set on in the first place, find Clara.

“Your Highness, what happened to us?”

I turned my body to face Callan, my second in command. His eyes were fearful, and I felt the same uneasiness.

“I’m not sure, but there is an overwhelming feeling that we need to find Clara. And soon.”

Our platoon gathered the materials we could find. We were all dazed and confused about what had happened, and we couldn’t remember all the missing parts in our consciousness. There might have been bits and pieces scattered in mymind, but none made a collective thought. We knew we were to travel to the heart of Carondelet, the human lands, to the capital city of Claiborne.

We approached Claiborne after a two-day trek. When we noticed the castle that once stood so large and proud was no longer there, it sent a chill down my spine. It was only a pile of rubble, stone, and ash. As we walked closer to the ruin, I heard Callan calling out to me, then I heard him talk to someone.

“Excuse me, ma’am? Are you Clara?” Cal asked the woman. I urgently walked towards where he was standing to see if she was indeed the woman we were told to find, even though I had no idea what the woman was supposed to look like in the first place.

Callan turned his head to face me as I approached, “It’s her.”

I took a deep breath and caught a glimpse of her. I couldn’t help but admire her beauty. She was unlike anything I had ever seen in my centuries of being alive. Her clothes were torn, her face muddied, but her eyes glowed like the sky, gray with a hint of amethyst glimpsing through. My breath hitched in my throat as she stood and walked towards me, stopping only a few feet short of me.

“Mads?” her velvet voice asked me.

I needed clarification as to who this Mads was. My brows furrowed as I searched for the correct answer without scaring her away.

“I’m not sure who Mads is, but I’m Leo, Prince of Monowi.” Her eyes widened, and she looked at her feet, then around her.

“How long have I been here?”

I sighed, looking into her gray eyes, I could sense she was full of goodness and light, and I didn’t want to share too much information to overwhelm her, so I took baby steps.

“I’m not sure. Why don’t you come to sit with me, and we can talk this through.” She nodded and walked towards me. Immediately, I felt the spark of energy as she closed the space between us. I knew she was a goddess. Only thegods could carry that kind of unrestrained power with the golden wisps written on their skin.

As we walked to some large broken stones outside of the collapsed castle, I couldn’t help but marvel at her beauty and grace. Something terrible must have happened to her because I understood that she was probably quite powerful and content before this curse. I wondered what would cause her to be saddened so much that it pushed her to hide within herself.

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