Chapter 18

18

R eign | Myrilosis | Late 1900s

Vortexes of wind sprayed melted snow and ice so fiercely that Reign felt as if she were avoiding hundreds of knives, all aiming for her throat and heart. Arryn stood in the storm's center, his anger fueling the power that was blowing her away. Being forced to tuck her wings back in, Reign fell to all fours, inching towards Arryn to command his tantrum to be over.

Above him was a figure, a shape that did not resemble anything. It was only a black void of space and time. She had never laid eyes on the Life Gifter before, but seeing that the god didn't waste any time presenting a relatable form told her most of what she needed to know about the creator of this universe.

Everyone was here for her, the pain and burning and the fear that this family was experiencing was all her fault. If she hadn't told anyone, then maybe she could have found a way to save Allienna's life by herself. She could have done it alone and spared them all of this. She had been so selfish. She would never again break the rules given to her regarding time jumping.

"Arryn, help," screamed Roksana, though Arryn likely couldn't hear her plea. Precession was mangled, trapped in a maelstrom, being spun as the wind had her wings pinned to the air. She let her body go limp and lifeless, like a doll being tossed between children in the sky.

Roksana's hands were buried in the earth, clawing onto anything that kept her grounded as her panicked face searched for a way to help her twin sister. Her red hair whipped around angrily, and Reign could feel Roksana's loosening grip on her magic as Reign's own fear and terror steadily increased. She felt as if she were about to have a goddamn heart attack. Surely, Roksana was amplifying every emotion trembling off of her.

"Arryn," she shouted, screamed, continuing to inch closer to the brute. He would pay for this if she left here alive. Putting on a show like this in front of something all-powerful felt like suicide, and he had a baby on the way. He needed to protect her best friend. Allienna was destined to die as well.

Reign was less than six feet from Arryn; the skin on her neck had started to crack from the cold and wind daggers.

"One hand forward, one knee forward," she yelled out loud to keep herself motivated. This fucking wind made it impossible. Her muscles were screaming. She was trying to crawl through a tornado.

A shimmering astral dress stepped before her, seemingly untouched by the chaos Arryn had created. Karmakara held out a hand towards Reign, who accepted it willingly, wincing at the normalcy of the gesture. The goddess's kind eyes lit up, her skin as smooth and as dark as the cosmic sky, with stardust highlighting her more attractive human features.

Reign was able to get to her feet, the wind still pulling her body back despite Karmakara's good hold on her. She watched the goddess span the distance and place her other long arm onto Arryn's shoulder.

Arryn stiffened and, for a moment, all was still. Tornados seemed cemented in time, and half a tear was stuck in Roksana's eyelash.

Reign realized that she had never been so cold as she was at that moment. Time was not still—she was frozen. The temperature had plummeted when Karmakara touched Arryn, and it was suddenly impossible to blink or move. The sensation of her eyelids about to crack like fine glass was a first for her.

Arryn turned his head slowly, his eyes locked on Karmakara. Reign saw the distrust, the hurt in the Kinnari's face when he took in the scene around him. The destruction and chaos he created without even trying was exactly what he had always hated about himself. This being was the noble gladiator she picked up many years ago who was there of his own free will, giving penance for the pain he had caused.

Arryn let go in that moment, and the sensation of warm blood flowing back through Reign's heart caused a moment of shock.

"Djoser," Arryn called out in a plea for help, panting and noticing Reign parallel with him for the first time. The tornados vanished as if they never had existed at all. Any darkness or threat of storm lifted away, revealing Djoser and Amis clinging to each other midway up a large tree.

"He could have ended the storm that entire time?" Reign asked rhetorically, throwing her hands up in the air but bringing them back into herself once she realized who she accidentally pointed to.

"I'm here to fight for my family," Arryn yelled up at the nothingness, the cloud of darkness and essence that was so alive and horrifying at the same time.

"And that," Arryn said as his hand pointed towards Ayurveda, "killed a member of my family. There must be retribution. I demand that my child is granted safety. I demand that Allienna and Reign are granted?—"

"You are nothing, no one, to make demands," the husky female voice of Ayurveda filled the skies as her flamed body appeared, levitating through the air, making herself both visible and invisible to everyone watching.

"You do not speak for the Gifter, for my creator," Arryn yelled out in frustration. Reign's breath caught, wondering why Arryn had a death wish. Ayurveda was the real danger here. They were nature's prey, all of the Kinnari, a pale comparison to the power of any of the deities in their presence. If there was a trigger button to push, Reign felt it obvious that Ayurveda could blow up like a celestial grenade.

"There is no voice to speak for the Gifter," Karmakara's high-pitched voice soothed, giving Reign the feeling of peace and destiny. This was the path then; it had to be. Where she stood was right. The goddess of fate wove all their stories together in real time.

"The Gifter, as you can see, did not choose to embody a physical being before appearing before you all. More importantly, you are mistaken. No true kinnari life has ever been taken by one of your creators, by one of us."

Reign took to anger in that moment as a celestial being, the greatest power, was lying. It made no sense to her. She felt like a child, left with no information. Powerless.

"She made the Vrae," Reign whispered through clenched teeth, though everyone seemed to be able to hear her. "The Vrae killed Tristan. The murder, the gore will always forever live with me." Tears streamed down her face. Why was she so weak? Why was she being vulnerable in front of this audience?

"A true Kinnari cannot die," Amis said, gliding down from the safety of the large tree side by side with Djoser. "Otherwise, the balance in the realm is uneven since a true full-blooded Kinnari can also not be born."

"Wait," Reign said, "what does that mean? Does that mean that Allienna's child . . ." Reign trailed off, pushing the thought out of her mind. No, the life inside Allienna's belly was healthy and thriving. There could be no risk there.

"If you came here worried for Reign's life, why not eliminate her so we can move on with our days?" A young boy's voice sounded behind her, followed by the splashing of water.

Reign whipped her head around to see Tristan, looking as gaunt and irritated as an overworked middle-aged man in a child's body.

"Is it you again?" Reign reached out her hands towards the boy and gasped when her hand landed on his shoulder. "It is you," she cried out and pulled him into her, hugging him deeply.

"You can't see the boy's face, but I assure you that he takes no delight in that hug," Djoser smirked. Reign let go and squatted down to get on the same level as him.

"You visited me in my vision," she stammered.

Tristan simply nodded back at her. "I prefer to exist and travel through visions or dreams. The physical world is not to my taste."

Reign shook her head and laughed, overjoyed and saddened both simultaneously. This was real. He was here. Tristan wasn't dead.

The mass of blackness and smoke had expanded, darkening the sky. Ayurveda stepped forward, the translucent blue of her form starting to solidify and turn into a fully opaque red. Both light and dark emanated from her form as the scene turned into a hellish landscape between the two deities.

Karmakara stood there, smiling, a vision of peace and beauty highlighting the horror and threat of annihilation that stood near.

"What's wrong?" Tristan asked, seeing the worry on Reign's face. She stared upward, immobile, where the black mass was now double its size. Reign had a nagging feeling that it worked like a black hole—once you were enveloped, you were forever gone.

"Is it the Life Gifter? Don't worry about him, he's just a big softy," Tristan continued, slugging Reign in the shoulder, having to jump to reach.

Reign watched as Precession and Roksana lifted their wings and flew back up the mountain peak to the temple door. They were leaving just like she had wanted to do. This was it then, the moment she would cease to exist. The twins must have sensed the change in energy to be that of demise. There could be no other reason to flee after they all had endured this far.

"Can you please just kill me so this can be over with?" Reign turned up to the Life Gifter, begging.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Reign heard Djoser yell at her.

"Reign, no," Arryn's hushed voice sounded mournful, teary .

Reign jumped into the air, her wings carrying her as she flew closer to the mass growing above them in the sky.

Karmakara rose in the air to follow, flashes of light and stardust illuminating patches of temporal distortions. Explosions of different realities and times were held within them, and Reign could feel each one pulse into her; different outcomes, different futures, that all were possible.

Distortions surrounded her like ripples in a cosmic pond. As she soared higher, the boundaries between realities blurred, and Reign found herself suspended in a celestial ballet of potential. The glimpses of alternate timelines unfolded like pages of a cosmic book, revealing moments both poignant and harrowing.

In one vision, she cradled a beautiful blonde baby in her arms, a joyous testament to her best friend's enduring happiness. The warmth of that future wrapped around her, a promise of love and connection. Yet, even as she reveled in this vision, other possibilities tugged at the fringes of her awareness.

A human figure emerged, a love interest whose adoration for Reign was palpable. The request to be handcuffed to a bed echoed in her mind, a whisper of desire entwined with vulnerability. Her heart quickened at the intensity, a choice between passion and the mundane.

Then the tapestry of fate took a darker turn. Arryn, once vibrant and alive, lay cold and lifeless on the temple floor. Tristan and Amis, figures she had trusted, stood callously above him, laughter echoing.

The most haunting vision seized her with a visceral grip. In this alternate reality, she felt herself come to a halt, her wings frozen mid-flap. The atmosphere shifted, and a sense of dread washed over her. A devastated Earth stretched out before her—red eyes gleaming in the shadows, towering over mountains of lifeless bodies. The moon, once a comforting presence, severed from its earthly bond. Darkness enveloped everything.

Reign's breath caught in her throat as the gravity of this apocalyptic vision pulled her back down. Ayurveda awaited below, ready to unleash hatred and heat upon her descent. But the impending confrontation seemed inconsequential in the face of the last alternative reality—a realm swallowed by darkness, where hope had been extinguished.

"This is not our enemy," Reign said, realizing, whispering to herself. Her feet touched the ground, and she locked eyes with Tristan, who seemed to know and be able to see the things she had seen.

Ayurveda stood fifteen feet from Reign, the heat molting off her and burning Reign's exposed skin. The goddess stepped towards her, only malice and anxiety swirling around her despite Reign's open and pleading eyes.

"You are not my enemy," she repeated towards Ayurveda. "You are protecting what's here, what you made. So am I. You can't want me erased, gone from the creation of this realm. You need me here. You need all of us here."

Ayurveda paused her expressionless face, that of an ice statue, but something still resonated. Reign had struck a chord in this song, in this battle of wills.

"It is our first family reunion," Karamakara's melodic voice sang through the peak.

"I don't think a family reunion is supposed to be this dramatic," Amis said, running his hand through his hair. Djoser and Tristan both laughed while Arryn smirked, shaking his head.

"From the human nightmares featuring family reunions that I occasionally find myself in, I would say this is appropriately dramatic," Tristan said after catching his breath.

The mood had lightened, and though Ayurveda had been statuesque, it did not seem like the threat of being erased by the gods was still possible. The looming blackness had continued to grow, now touching the tops of the tallest trees and expanding across most of the sky.

"Beg," Ayurveda demanded, seeing Reign eye the Life Gifter. "Beg for your continued existence and then show your gratitude for being given a pardon for your crimes."

Sadistic bitch.

Reign automatically compiled, falling to her knees and opening her arms and wings at full width.

"I am submitting. I am begging," she shouted above to the black mass. Seconds went by as it continued to waft and grow, unchanged. She felt the brush of skin on her wings and saw Arryn kneeling beside her, his wingspan out and brushing up against her.

"I am begging for forgiveness," he yelled to the sky, then repeated himself while making eye contact with the goddesses before them. "I am begging for forgiveness from you all."

Amis joined them both and lowered to his knees. He raised an eyebrow at Djoser and Tristan, a signal to join. Djoser, who stood with his arms crossed, sighed out of annoyance yet reluctantly joined in.

"I'm only here to stop the gods from erasing you from the realm. I'm not getting on my knees," Tristan scoffed before spreading the most beautiful child-sized wings of a cerulean blue and sea green, with patterned gold specks that matched the ones in his right iris.

He bowed to Ayurveda and Karmakara before gracefully spinning until his wings enveloped him, disappearing from view.

"How were we supposed to know he was alive when he's going around and dissolving into thin air?" Djoser threw his arms up, laughing heartily as his abs flexed from the motion.

"Only Djoser can be found chuckling at the threat of death," Reign muttered out of the side of her mouth.

"I am death," Djoser shrugged. He did not bother to wipe the smile off of his face.

Karmakara shot her hands up to the sky, creating cascading specks of starlight that wound together, looking like a solid beam of silver and gold bursting into the growing black celestial being above them. At first, the beam of light seemed to get sucked into it, the dark not wavering, but after a minute of the Kinnari nervously fidgeting at the scene, Reign noticed that the black matter was beginning to clear like a fog, evaporating.

"You must go now," Karamkara said, her voice echoing as if on a loudspeaker .

"You will not see forgiveness like this again," Ayurveda stepped in, dulling the feeling of nourishment and protection.

Reign didn't wait for another signal as she stood up and began sprinting toward the top of the peak, her leg muscles screaming against the extreme incline. Once she got forty meters away, her feet hit snow again, having melted and refrozen, dragging her down until she was on her hands and knees.

Dark shadows passed above her, and she looked up to see Amis in the air, his wings eclipsing the light underneath him.

"Get up, get in the sky," she heard Arryn yell behind her, and a moment later, more winged shadows passed over her.

What was she doing? She was acting like a child, a fool. Without looking back, Reign got up and pumped her legs again, spreading her wings, the skin breaking on her back as she used her powerful shoulder muscles to propel her body into the air.

Reign flew, laughing and crying and feeling insane. She was alive. She wasn't promised the death that she had been waiting for. All of those years she spent afraid and emotionally alone, waiting to hear about her punishment, her death sentence, were for nothing. Now she had only freedom and that beautiful blonde baby that she saw in her future thanks to the time tapestries Karmakara showed her.

She knew Arryn would beat her to it, but couldn't wait to tell Allienna she was safe. The baby, too, was safe.

Reign soared to the top of the mountain where the old stone door unlatched and opened, waiting for her. She touched back down and walked through, closing the latch behind her, never wanting to go into Mrilyosis again.

She ran through the hallway and into the common room; a smile spread across her face, and relief flooded her body. She could hear the voices and mutters of her fellow Kinnari before seeing them. The room was full. Precession and Roksana had not departed back to their home yet and were gathered around the table with the others.

Their voices were hushed, and there was a hint of unrest in the air. Reign walked up to Arryn, putting her hand on his back so that he turned .

"What's wrong?" she asked, looking around the table and realizing that someone was missing. "Where is Allienna?"