Ride the Wave

20

“Nysa could touch them. How?”

Enva’s face darkened. “That is the ultimate question. I suggest you ask your father.”

I stared at her, while wind tugged on my hair and completely ignored hers. “So Doran truly is my father.”

“Of course. But you knew that already.”

“I did, but I wanted to hear you confirm it. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It wasn’t my place, and I knew you wouldn’t take it well. Not at that time.”

I sighed. She was probably right. “What of everything he told me about Nysa—is it all true?”

“Yes, he has been honest with you. He’s just left out something very important. Something you should ask him about.”

“What is that?”

Enva’s eyes burned into mine. For the first time I realized they were the same green as my mother’s. “Nysa told you she has to stay alive in order to keep the Spirit Goddess contained. Ask him why.”

I nodded slowly. “I assumed it was so the Gods couldn’t replace her.”

“Not entirely. I would tell you myself, but it’s a long tale and I expect you’ll have many questions. I already feel the other side pulling me back now.”

“I wish we had more time together. There’s so much I want to know about your life. Like what was it like when you were a Dragon? Doran said you negotiated a treaty with the elementals and brought peace?”

“Every set of Dragons has one great challenge to face. Mine was the elementals. When I became the White Dragon, the elementals had ravaged the four Realms and humans were living in fear. The balance had tipped too far in one direction, and my mates and I did what we could to level the scales again.” She gazed across the water with a distant look in her eyes. “For some time, we had peace. And then the shades came.”

“Was that my mother’s challenge?” I asked.

“It was the start of it.” Enva sighed and stared at the sand at her feet. “There’s another reason Doran should tell you this tale. It hurts me too much to speak it aloud. I love my daughter, no matter how twisted she’s become. I understand why she did what she did, even if I disagreed with it. I only wish I could have prevented all of this or found a way to save her from the darkness. I’m her mother, and I failed her…and now I must help you defeat her.”

I took her hand, which felt solid even though she wasn’t really there. “No one should have to make such a choice.”

She squeezed my hand in return as she began to fade before my eyes. “Nysa and I both made mistakes, but I know you will be the one to right them. Stay strong, Kira…”

She disappeared from sight as her last words floated away on the wind. A sense of sadness filled me as I stood alone with the waves lapping at my bare feet while I clutched a shell in my hand. I released it into the water and turned to walk the distance back to my mates, while I mentally prepared myself for another conversation with my father. One that I wasn’t sure I was ready to have.

I stepped through the camp the others had set up, past a bonfire Jasin had started, where fresh fish now roasted. My mates stirred as I strode past them but must have seen the serious expression on my face because none of them said a word. Doran was stretched out in front of the ocean, leaning back as he gazed up at the stars, his hands folded across his stomach. He looked up as I approached and his expression changed, as if he sensed that something had occurred, but he wasn’t sure exactly what.

I stopped in front of him and met his eyes. “Tell me about the Spirit Goddess.”

15

Kira

M

y father ran a hand over his beard, which was looking more rugged with each day that went by. “I’d planned to tell you about this once we reached the Water Temple, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. Sit down. This might take a while. And someone get me some ale.”

I sank onto the ground across from him, pulling my knees to my chest, while my mates gathered around. “Nysa told me she had to drain my life in order to contain the Spirit Goddess. What does that mean? Why would she need to contain her?”

Doran scrounged up a bottle of something dark from his pack and popped off the top of it. “I'll get to that, but I need to start at the beginning. The first thing you need to know is that the Spirit Goddess is really two entities: Life and Death. Twin sisters, two sides of the same coin, bound together as one.”

Auric grabbed his notebook and began furiously scribbling in it. “Why have we never heard of this before?”

“All records of this are long gone. Nysa made sure of that.” My father took a long swig of his alcohol before continuing. “Long before any of us were on this earth, the Spirit Goddess ruled with her four mates, the other Gods of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. They created the elementals to represent each God and humans to represent the Goddess. But over the years the Death side of her became too strong and corrupted the Spirit Goddess. The balance of life and death shifted too far to one side. To stop the world from falling into darkness, the Gods broke up the two aspects of Life and Death, creating two separate Goddesses instead of one. The Death Goddess was banished to the Realm of the Dead, where she became its ruler, while the Life Goddess stayed here with her four mates. They created the Dragons to act as their representatives in the world, and to make sure that the Death Goddess could never return.”