slow down to the point that it was as if time was being controlled around only me and my brother. Yet the bellowing of a command was heard in real time and I felt my eyes close as if pained by the sadness that consumed me because I knew within that one word roared out at me in desperation,
That I had been too late.
“STOP!” This mighty roar happened at the same time as other events. Events that I would one day look back on and it would seem as if I had unknowingly made a prayer to the Gods…
And. It. Had. Been. Answered.
That was because the doors at the end of my throne room were flung open at the same time a pathway of ice had travelled across the floor like a jagged bolt of lightning. One that had erupted from a source of great power, for it shot out so far and fast that it reached me in the time it took for me to open my eyes. And as soon as it was within reach, it shot from the floor and made it to my blade, shattering it. An explosion of ice became a sight that happened faster than the time being manipulated around me. I opened my mouth, roaring in my anger that was only heard when time was restored and when I looked up, I saw the cause.
Nero was there, now stood in the scattered destruction of my doors, the cause of which was standing there as well, with a mighty war hammer at his side… Gryph. But my eyes focused not on these two but the one who now stood in between them…
“Trice,” I growled when seeing him with his icy blade in his hand just after he had used it to save my brother. I then looked down at the remains of my weapon, one that I was astounded to see had been destroyed, before looking back up at the shifter with deadly intent.
“You will pay for that, shifter!” I told him in a demonic tone that promised pain, now ignoring my own pain from having him sever a piece of my demon essence. One that had already started to flow towards me in order to reconnect with its host after it had been scattered along the floor.
“Aye, I reckon I wull, bit nae by you, fur 'twas yer woman who asked it o' me, whin she begged me tae save his life!” On hearing this I lowered my arm, letting it drop to my side and with it, ceasing the process of another weapon from forming.
“What did you say?” I whispered back at him before looking down at my brother and seeing him release a deep and heavy sigh. Had he seen this somehow?
It did not matter, for the shifter at my door had just saved my brother’s life and at the request of my Chosen One! I knew then that the moment had been foreseen when Dariush managed to lift his head that wasn't on the floor as was intended. He looked towards where the shifter was now storming across the threshold, and muttered,
“Thank the Gods, she was found in time.” My brother said this as if he knew. He knew this was his fate and that it was one tied to my Electus. It was as if he knew all he needed was my Chosen One to be found to prove his innocence. This was when things started to slot into place. How my brother was connected to my own Chosen One. The reason behind all the questions. The reason he was so interested in the Eye and wanted to know if I had been shown anything else, or why he secretly wanted Amelia to find it. None of it was because of betrayal. It was because…
He was searching for his fated one.
Gods, but just like her mother, Amelia was connected to those fated to find each other. It all made sense now. Amelia was the key to unlocking so much more than the discovery on how to save my people. But then, if this had been the case, why had my brother kept it from me? A question for another time, for in that moment I had more important matters that all centred around my own Chosen One.
Because as Trice and his brother now travelled the length of the throne room with their witch in tow it quickly occurred to me that a certain, very important someone was not following