and I don’t take offense to your words, but I need you to understand something as we move forward. A bond, whether it be like the one we have or a Meraki, is meant to provide you with strength in more ways than one. While inconvenient at times, I promise you’ll appreciate it one day.”
My hand stroked his silky white feathers. “I love our bond, and I never want it to go anywhere. I just don’t like feeling vulnerable. Between you in my head and Ryland rejecting me, I’m feeling overwhelmed on top of all this new magical world stuff. Oh, and let’s not forget the fae who wants me dead.”
My life was a hot mess.
His head nudged against me. “The Fates have not given you anything more than what you can handle. Just keep your head up and have faith. Believe in yourself, and the rest will fall into place at its own time.”
Believe in myself.
Those three words pierced right into my heart. Before magic had become a very real thing in my life, I’d always been confident. Yet, somewhere along the way, I’d lost some of that pride. Maybe Stryx was right and I needed to let everything else go.
It sounded simple, but I wasn’t so sure it would be an easy task to accomplish.
“Let’s catch up to the others. I’ve blocked the portal, so Ryland won’t be interfering with what you’re going to do today. Unless you’d rather him come along, we need to move,” Stryx said and gave me pause.
Sure, there was a tugging sensation that was calling me back to Arvayta that I’d felt from the moment I’d gone into the portal, but if I was truly going to believe in myself, I needed to do this on my own.
“I’m sure he’ll still be there when we get back, and whatever jerk comment he wanted to make to me can wait,” I replied as I began jogging to catch up with Jordan and Oliver.
While we moved through the land, I paid more attention to my surroundings. The ground had an odd buoyancy to it that made running easier and my strides longer. The sky was broken up into four sections as I searched further ahead. The first to catch my attention was an aqua one that reminded me of the waters in Hawaii: crystal clear and welcoming.
Next was a fiery-red sky that consumed a flaming sun and made it hard to stare for long. The area around it contained plumes of smoke and appeared ominous, but even still, I yearned to go to it and provide the water that the lands likely desperately needed.
My body twisted, so I could take in the next section. The sky was covered with storm clouds that ripped through the horizon as wind constantly seemed to be jerking them around. That particular area, I’d have been happy to avoid.
Last was a peaceful landscape that Jordan and Oliver were headed toward. The sky above was a pale green color, and there was a bright yellow sun hanging above the clear horizon. This section was closest to us, and I could make out the silhouette of a town and a much larger castle-like structure on the back side.
“Welcome to the Otherworld,” Stryx said. “As you noticed, there are four sections to the Otherworld: earth, wind, fire, and water. The four elements that make up the fae race. Even though there are no pure elementals left, a small amount of those elements still live within those descended from the fae, as you’ve learned.”
Hmm, now that I saw it all together, I realized the council and/or the Fates were smarter than I gave them credit for originally. Our little team was made up of each of the elements: Oliver was earth, Jordan was fire, I was water, and Ryland was wind. We’d yet to actually work together on anything, and even though they weren’t as heavy on their fae heritage, I wondered how it would work when we combined forces.
“We’ll work on that soon enough, and good job for putting it together. I don’t think the others have yet. Guardians have always worked as warriors instead of fae, but you’ll need to think harder and smarter before going up against Alaryk.”
Jordan and Oliver had paused, waiting for us just before a gate. An oversized one made from what appeared to be the same titanium as my crown, except instead of purple jewels encrusted in the overhang, there were burgundy ones.
“Come on, slow pokes. We