A Gift from the Goddess

Book Two – Ch.# 45

I was a devil.

Never before in my life had I felt those words to be truer than in this moment. This very second as I stood above the bodies of several enemies as they bled out around me. Nothing but rage and pain consumed me inside, feeling absolutely no remorse as I had ripped them to shreds.

From one person to the next, I had methodically ended each of them, an incredible speed in my movement as if I were maneuvering purely by muscle memory alone. Not that I had really needed to act so quickly. Because the entire time I had attacked, they had just stood there completely still, awaiting their turn. Like lambs to the slaughter, unable to move even an inch… just as I had told them to. Only a flash of fear in their eyes betrayed them as I stole their last moments.

Now, I breathed heavily, still shaking from the ordeal… still completely in human form, yet feeling as if I’d had no control over myself…. Nor had I wanted it.

No… I might have moved without being fully aware of my actions… but I didn’t fight it.

I’d relished it.

But as I started to come to grips with what was happening, there was apparently one thing that was finally able to break my trance.

Just one sound capable of bringing me back to reality.

…The soft whimpers of Myra behind me.

Immediately, I spun around and ran to her, finding her body growing colder as the wound gaped open. A sight that made me sick to look at.

“…Mmmm… Cai? Is that you…?” she asked, struggling to really see me.

I quickly reached for her wound, trying to apply pressure.

“No… It’s Rav- it’s Rheyna,” I said. “I’m here. I’m… I’m going to get you out of here.”

But her lip twitched into a faint smile, her eyes turning upward towards the sky.

“Rheyna… I’m not immortal,” she said softly, her voice so quiet. “Youthful longevity does not make me invincible. Besides… I think this is the universe’s way of finally correcting itself. I think… I think I was always meant to die in this clearing. No … I was told that I did die here once. In another timeline. How… poetic.”

“Myra… Myra, you’re not making any sense,” I said desperately. “Timelines? I don’t…. I don’t understand.”

And she closed her eyes, shaking her head ever so slightly.

“No… I don’t suppose you would…,” she said, slipping away.

“Hey! Myra! You need to open your eyes now

I’m going to get you out of here,” I cried, trying to shake her a little. “I’m going to save you. I’m going to… I’m….”

“Rheyna… leave me… behind. My time… is done…,” she rasped, her breathing becoming more shallow. “Please… save Clarissa. Promise me… you’ll save her.”

“NO! Don’t say that… I refuse. You’re not allowed to stay behind….”

It was getting harder to see her through my own tears, yet it was clear that she was quickly losing consciousness despite everything I was doing to try and save her.

“Did you hear me, Myra?!” I choked out. “I said you can’t stay here. You can’t… you can’t leave me.”

a calm washing over her… and as I felt her last breath slowly leave her, I could have

“…Cai,” she sighed.

was over.

She was… gone.

I knelt over her, choking with so much agony and yearning. To have had something so briefly, something that gave me hope and filled a hole that had been sorely missing…

was too

me what I’d always wanted… only to rip it away. Just like with Ashwood.

It was sickening.

then said to my left, limping towards me. “We don’t have much time.”

I’d hurt her during my attempt to run to Myra, having

her focus remaining only on the trees

same spark of fury inside

tried to cover my eyes. “You knew and you didn’t say anything. If

snapped to meet

an exhausted Myra to safety whilst we’re being hunted? Get all three of us killed when you’re inevitably slowed down severely? I know you’re strong, Rheyna, but even you have limits. Stop taking this out on me and realise that this was the only way. That this was… what she

attitude quickly made me angrier, standing back up

shouted. “Are you actually implying that she wanted to

she interrupted calmly. “That’s exactly what

the hell are you even saying right

“But she grew tired of being alive a very, very long time ago, Rheyna. She knew that commanding all of these wolves would mean she’d become incapacitated, and she was prepared for this very outcome. She was ready. And now she has died in a way that honours the very thing she always held dearest; her commitment to those she loved, the only thing that has kept her going for so long. Don’t discredit her sacrifice due to your own selfish desires for a mother

stop myself from attacking her. “How dare you bring up my upbringing! At least you had someone, Clarissa. At least

her face once more, just the tiniest of glimpses from the side, I could have sworn I saw a bit

many times I see her death, it never gets easier,”

“…What?”

she ignored me, rubbing her face before turning to look at me once more. “At the end of the day… all of this is going to be in vain if we don’t leave. Right now. Did you really want her to

my teeth, the tiniest morsel of sympathy I’d had for her instantly

was right. On one thing, at

to make

snapped. “Pick me up. We

should feel lucky if I didn’t just leave her ass behind for how she was treating me.

felt like I had no

me to do as she instructed, the two

a minute, though I

without her, it really was like I was running

left here,” Clarissa said. “We’re going to start looping around the edge and heading

We’re already so

speak, they’re sending people to the northern border. They’re expecting us to try and cross there since that’s the direction we’ve

track our scent and

can’t run forever… they’ll catch up eventually.”

I’ve already got a plan for that. But, just for now… keep running.”

did as she said, choosing not to

ran for some time, a length that

my endurance to give out long before it did. But somehow I managed to push through it, unwilling to fail again. Even if it was just for an entitled, bratty