Ride the Wave

22

Your magic was split, with Kira having life magic, and Sora having death magic. I thought it was a sign that the Spirit Goddess could be divided again, and our mistakes could finally be undone.” He clenched his fists in the sand. “After I got Kira to safety, I released the Fire God from his prison. I was the only one who could do it, since I’d been the one who put him there. Once the Fire God was freed, he helped me release the other Gods one by one in secret, so that they could choose Dragons for Kira’s mates when her twentieth birthday arrived.”

Silence settled over the group as we took in everything he’d said. His story explained so much about my past and about why Nysa did so many horrible things, but I didn’t feel any relief now that I knew the truth.

Finally, I asked, “How are we supposed to stop the Spirit Goddess?”

“That I don't know,” Doran said. “All I know is that this horrible cycle can't continue. We thought we were saving the world, and maybe we did for a short time, but now I fear we've made it even worse.”

“Would the Gods be able to divide the Spirit Goddess into two halves again?” Auric asked.

Doran shrugged. “They have the ability, and that was the deal when I freed them. Will they hold up their end of the bargain? Who knows.”

“Then we can't trust them either,” Reven said.

“I agree,” Doran said. “But right now, we need to focus on defeating Nysa. Otherwise, we won't have to worry about any of that.”

Everyone’s faces were grim as we prepared for bed. My mates asked me if I was all right, but I didn’t know what to say. Doran’s words had shaken all of us, making us realize the task ahead of us was much more daunting than we’d realized, and the price of our failure was even higher than we’d imagined.

As I pulled my blanket around me, my eyes stared at the moonlit waves and tried to make sense of it all. We’d reach the Water Realm the next afternoon, thanks to Doran's relentless pace. I was torn between wanting to hurry as much as he did, and wondering if we should stay away, after what we'd learned. The longer we waited, the more chances the Dragons would find us or the new Water Temple first. The sooner we got to the Temple, the sooner I would have to face my mother. The Gods had told me it was my destiny to defeat her, but they hadn't told me everything. By defeating my mother, I would be unleashing something much worse on the world. How could I do that, without some plan to stop the Spirit Goddess?

I'd have to ask the Water God for advice when we spoke to him, except now I wondered if the Gods had been honest with us all along. They could be as twisted as the Goddess, manipulating us to do what they wanted—freeing her.

Things had once been so clear. The Gods were good. The Dragons were evil. Now I realized nothing was as simple as black and white. My mother had a reason for what she’d done, something she and the other Dragons had believed was right. The Gods had their own plans and their own reasons. Even Doran and Enva had motives that might be contrary to what I wanted. The only people I could trust were my mates. I knew in my core they would never betray me, and they would always steer me true. Everyone else wanted something from me. My life. My service. My power.

But I wasn't sure what I wanted anymore, or what the best action was for the entire world. For the first time since this all began, I wasn't certain of my path anymore.

16

Auric

T

he Water Realm was connected to the Earth Realm by a bit of land that jutted out in a peninsula, before splitting into hundreds of islands that made up of most of its territory. Doran was taking us on a long route to avoid running into the other Dragons, flying us over turquoise waters and islands with white sands and tall palm trees stretching into the sky.

We took a break at midday after hours of travel. Still in my dragon form, I stretched my wings and devoured some food to combat the aches and exhaustion of flying for days with people and supplies on my back, though I could tell I was getting stronger. Every day my endurance as a Dragon was building, as was my skill at flying. Now if only we could get Slade to fly too. He practiced every morning before we set off and could hover in the air for a few minutes, but anything more than that was still a problem. I wished I could help him in some way, but this was something he had to do on his own.

I spotted Kira standing by herself across the small island, gazing out at the clear blue water with troubled eyes. I trudged over to her and curled up around her with my large scaled body, giving us a hint of privacy from the others. “Are you all right?”

“I’m okay,” she said with a smile that looked forced. “Just thinking about what we learned last night.” “It was a lot to take in. So much of what we thought we knew about the Gods was a lie.” I’d recorded everything Doran had told us in my journal, which was running out of pages at this point. Every time we spoke with him we learned something new, something which had been lost over time or removed from history purposefully. The other Dragons had kept people living in ignorance and fear, with knowledge restricted to the few. That would not be our legacy.