My mind awoke to the sound of the Mothers arguing in the same language as the one my father had spoken to me in my dream. Was it really a dream? Were any of my dreams really, honestly, dreams? It had felt so real everytime, this time, I still felt the heat and chill mixing in my veins. The pain and pressure still ran through my mind and body as the energy tried with great effort to meld with me inch by inch, cell by cell.
"Why did you not tell us about her having these dreams? It was a clear sign of her bloodlines being awake...not only that we never knew what happened that night until now." It was Aimée who was speaking this time.
"Because I was really hoping that would go away." My mother spoke with a frankness that wasn't normally in her tone. "Who in the world wants their child to go back to war after dying once in it. Twice in the case of Cella. If her bloodlines awaken you both know the consequences." At this point her words were filled with pain
I however was filled with confusion. What the hell did she mean that we had died before? My eyes popped open at that bit and I jolted up, which I rather quickly regretted. That fucking hurt, everything fucking hurt. A cough of pain escaped my lips as I tried to keep it down.
"Bloody hell. Grand-pa and Dad have a lot to answer for." I muttered.
The trio of women froze as they heard me speak. Each of them looked none more shocked than my mother.
"What?" Her voice was full of emotion at my words. "What did you just say? What did you see Hexi? Did you see them?" The more she spoke the more emotion seeped into her voice, and tears threatened to leave her eyes.
"I...I had a dream about Grandfather and Dad. But it was weird..really weird, they shot into me as streams of light." I realized my words were rambling and unclear so I took a moment that felt like an eternity before starting over. "Wait no, it started in my normal spot with that same night mare but Father was there, or at least I think it was him. We looked so much alike. Then he poofed me to a man chained to a floor that looked young but sounded old, really really, old. Then they spoke something about me being their recognized heir and rightful ruler. Oh, but they told me happy birthday." I shook my head, "One strange dream even for me. The pain continued this time, but hey no ash." I motioned to the ground that was lacking the usual ash.
There was complete silence that was deafening and took control of the room as all three women stared at me in a mixture of horror, awe, and excitement. But it was my mother's eyes that held fear and pity in addition to all of those. Then, in the silence was broken with my mother's voice.
"I am going to resurrect both of them just so I can kill them again." There was a growl in her voice that spoke of the deep anger there. Then as fast as it came it was gone again as grief settled back into her features, "They aren't completely gone….they…" Hope flashed in her eyes. "They can be saved. And then, I am going to have a nice long chat with Pop-pop and your father. How dare they leave me without them for this long!"
The other two women in the room broke into smiles with this revelation.
There was a gut feeling that what my mom hoped wasn't actually likely but, I had zero interest in dashing her hope. Like her, it would be great to have my father and grandfather in my life. Mother had told me that her mother was destroyed when was a child. Granted, I wasn't entirely sure what that meant at all but I know that from her explanation, my grandfather had soon followed after her in his grief.
"Mum, it was just a dream though. There's no ash. I have never actually had a dream and there be a lack of ash. Granted the strange pain is still there but...it's impossible. None of us have ever had the ability to communicate with the dead."
"About that dream….it is not actually a dream. It is a memory and your mind is subconsciously activating your abilities to bring the ash from your memory to this world. Magic in our kind is deeply linked to our emotional states. That dream is so deeply carved into your soul and mind that it is impossible to ignore for you. But it was very much a reality that you lived through." My mother spoke slowly as if she dreaded every word. I looked at her confused and conflicted. "That...was the night that you...died. You were murdered by the human prince, Ricard Ellyswerth, that night." There was great difficulty as she continued. "He...tried to steal your soul so he could control your next rebirth. He was a rather greedy tosser. Really should have killed him in his crib, honestly."
My jaw dropped as I heard my mother's words and I tried, and failed, to process them. My mind was whirling, existence was one thing. It was something that made perfect sense in my reality, but my mom was talking about a person I was pretty sure only existed in my dreams, or at least I was until that very moment. And to top it all off, my mom was talking about murder like it was nothing. The content of her words was one thing, her coldness towards life was another thing entirely. I looked at the other women in the room and they were nodding their heads in agreement at her words.
It was at about that time that the doors were slammed open and a maid came running ahead of the charging woman who had slammed them open. The women speeding in bore those same golden flecked emerald hues that were in my own eyes, high cheekbones on my own face, and that same dark shade of brown hair that I had but that's where I ended and she began, because she looked even more like my father than I did even, right down to her creamy skin and perfectly pink lips. If my father was considered handsome, this woman was considered beautiful. Her gaze swung over to where my mother and I sat on the bed and before I could react I was embraced in a smothering hug.
"I came as soon as I heard. Is everything alright?" She asked the room as she clutched to me. Her head turned to look at the other women in the room, "So she had a vision. What about Cella? Is she having them as well? Hers might be...worse. How long has Hexi been having them, Lil?"
"Cella is fine and has no visions yet. Hexi has been having them that I know of almost since she was two years old. I was hoping that they would be normal night terrors that just activated her magic." Answered as her gaze turned on the woman with a hint of suspicion. "What did you do?" Her words were icily calm. It was a tone that was rarely heard in my life but I knew that once it came out, my mother was royally pissed. I found myself flinching as did everyone in the room.
"Lila….I….refused to lose you and them too. So I made a deal...and I got you all back and this portal. But…" She spoke and as she did the room sharply increased in temperature and a pressure laid thickly on everyone in the room as if they were being suffocated. I struggled for a moment before I felt a foreign surge in the energy in my body and the heat and the pressure disappeared and was pushed away.
I was shocked. I knew mom had some extreme abilities with fire but never this much. It should be understood that for the most part we kept our magic hidden carefully and constantly and other than the small bursts it never was allowed to roam free and certainly in the amount that mother was using. It felt foamthamless and harsh, as I looked around the room I noticed that some of the metal decorations were starting to melt and that the other two women in the room had sprinted out of the room. Patches of smoke arose from the sheets on my bed as small fires started in the room.
"They were supposed to have a chance at a normal life. A chance to survive and NOW whatever deal you made is going to FORCE my child back into a world where she has to fight to survive again. HOW DARE YOU!" With that fire surged out of my mother and two fire wings surged from her back as her ears grew to what I was quickly coming to understand was her original form. Her eyes glowed with her manager and the whole of the room boomed with her voice. The woman next to me shuddered as she covered herself in frost to fight my mother's magic, but it wasn't enough. How could it be?
"Lilandar calm down! Please and Listen to me. IT WAS A TRAP! Please sister." She pleaded as she moved to the far side of the room and found herself having to dodge a fireball that my mother had flicked towards my Aunt? Howly shit our family was fucked up. "My QUEEN! I lost my brother to them! You lost everything and with you so did I. He was my BROTHER, MY TWIN. I loved your children as my own. How could I let those monsters take them and keep them?!?!" As she spoke this time frost wings surged from her back and I noticed the difference in her appearance shocked me as she looked so similar to my father. This woman...was my father's sister, his twin sister.
A hint of clam appeared on my mother's features before a scowl formed on her perfect features. "What was the deal, and with whom?" She paused, "I will renegotiate whatever it is to keep them safe, and then I am going to kick your ass for having made a shitty deal in the first place."
"The dragons. And the deal was that we could be bound by the deal your father made with their acting leader. For details...we would have to ask them." The frost that had been protecting her from the wrath of my mother was slowly melting and thus she spoke quickly. "I tried to offer anything else but that was their request, and the only thing they would take. By the time I got there, they had already held your souls in their hands Lily, they were planning this. I did the only thing I could and I am not sorry for bringing my family back."
There was shock on her face as she listened, the flames of her wings dimmed for a moment before they pulsed and shifted to a bright blue flame and my room was more or less turned to ashes. The fire licked at everything but it never touched me at times it even used me as a path to get to the rest of the room. As I locked on my mother I noticed that her hair had become bright blue and flowed with the ebb and flow of the flame. She was still, unnaturally so even as the flames danced around her. My Aunt shifted from side to side like a child waiting to be scolded by an elder, though from the feeling of it that wouldn't be very far from the truth. My mother felt much more powerful than her at this moment even as she held back the bulk of herself.
After what seemed like forever my mother looked at me with a look of subdued anguish and anger, "Hexi dear, I need to have a chat with your grandfather. We will hold the ritual after the poetry tonight. It is a forbidden spell normally but seeing as he sealed a bit of himself in you we are going to have a nice long chat with your grandfather and father tonight."