Chapter Fifteen
Oron
The plan was set. The mechs were hovering: flying around the mountain with the last of their fuel. We would cut the Vithohn off at the pass, firing down on them as they ascended the mountain. The mechs would fire at them and kill them or at least send them running.
But at the last minute, something extraordinary happened. The Kilari emerged: tails raging and mouth’s spewing their poisonous sludge everywhere. If the Vithohn came up, we could be shot. But… the Kilari?
“We can’t keep them back!” one of the humans yelled, firing his weapon in a blind panic.
I looked over at Reina in a slow-motion turn. She was screaming: the whole battle a breeze of color and movement that made me feel absolutely terrified.
I couldn’t lose her.
The only way I had any hope of saving this town, of redeeming myself, was to use my power. My natural birth-given talent. I would stretch it as far as I could, even if it meant my death.
I would do anything I could to protect her. I would never fail her again.
Pressing my eyes shut, I felt the energy leaving my body: coursing through my veins and lighting up my spire as the force field exploded outside of me, an immense pink shield that sent a fiery, burning any who tried to get inside of it.
I watched, eyes wide, as the Vithohn tried to run into the terrifying beam. They would run in and burn as soon as they touched the outer layer: evaporating at a touch.
The effort of it made my skin feel like it was on fire. I felt a jolt rush through me like a head spin every time someone on the outside came in, or someone on the inside moved at all.
The pain was too immense, but I kept stretching farther, reaching into the recesses of my mind, holding on as long as I could to make sure the shield stretched the entire span of the mountaintop.
And then it all went black.
I woke many days later: a strange breath of life bringing me back to a new existence.
“What happened?” I shouted as I sprung up from the makeshift medic’s room in the small, strange village.
Reina was at my side and cooed me back down. “We won the war.”
We won.
The Vithohn had scaled the cliff, seeking revenge on us all, and when my bubble shield prevented them from getting into the village, the Kilari swallowed them whole. Once satisfied with their work, the mech shot the Kilari down with special lasers, tweaked quickly by Jareth. Few got away, I’d been told. The rest of the corpses were found on the mountainside and were tossed off as the days went on. They were sent hurtling to the ground below.
And then buried in a well.
The thought that my people were slaughtered sent a chill through me. An ominous whisper that only spoke to me. It said: “You’re next.”
And whenever it spoke to me, I would have to remind myself… we won the war.
It was the first time I’d heard that phrase and actually felt proud of myself. Felt worthy.
And I liked that feeling.
Inside the mountain village, my welcome had been the exact opposite of what I had experienced a week earlier. I was a hero among the humans—a spokesman for how Vithohn’s and humans could truly live in peace.
And then came the day we were supposed to leave to fulfill that very purpose. To travel to Rowan and join their cause.
But I couldn’t go.
We stood near the edge of the precipice with Lele and Jareth, Reina at my side, all packed and ready for our journey into the unknown. But something pulled at me to stay: to honor Reina’s beautiful life that she had made here.
I couldn’t leave when I knew, deep in her heart, she wanted to stay.
“We can’t leave like this,” I said, looking at Jareth and Lele with resignation in my eyes.
“What do you mean?” Reina asked, looking horrified. “We need to… we need to find the camp: show our support. We need to be part of the solution.”
“Your people,” I said, shaking my head. “They mean so much to you. These people hated me because of what my people did.”
“And now they’re all cheering your name,” Reina said with a smile and a laugh, touching her soft hand to my cheek. “You’ve redeemed yourself.”
Maybe she was right. Maybe I just couldn’t let it go. But in my heart, it wasn’t time to leave. Not yet.
“I’m not ready,” I said. “And your people, they’ll need help for a while, in case the Kilari come. And then I promise…” I trailed off, looking down at Jareth and Lele, our new friends. “We’ll come find you.”
Lele nodded and gave an understanding smile. “I understand.”
“I do not,” Jareth said, looking puzzled as he stared up at Lele. She laughed at him and shook her head.
“I’ll explain it on the way to Rowan,” Lele offered chirpily.
Reina looked up at me, her beautiful eyes sparkling, looking like it was all too good to be true. “Are you… sure?” she asked, wrapping her arms around me.
“I have so much to prove. To you, to your family. To everyone.” I meant every word of it. “If you go to Rowan, I want you to go with the man you deserve. The man that I intend to be.”
“I love you, Oron,” she said, teary eyes as she embraced me. “Thank you.”
I had a lot to prove, and I would spend every day for the rest of my life proving to Reina that I deserved to be her protector.
I turned around with my Reina in my arms and felt a new sense of calm overtake my body. This must be what it feels like to be at peace. My eyes roved about the farmlands: the mountain town that we would make our home. Just like the farmland we had inhabited in the not so distant past.
We both knew that so long as my people hadn't come to love a human, and her people to love a Vithohn, they would never truly understand our war. And that because we had, one day we wouldn't belong here anymore. But until then, this would be our home.
The mountain town never wanted a war. It was something Reina had always told me. The mountain towns were always about peace: not revenge or battle. And I couldn't picture a more peaceful life than living side by side with Reina. My chosen one.