Forgotten (38 page)

“
Consequences will be paid
if we continue this path, Healer. My sister has seen it,” I
said.

I expected hesitation;
however, I wasn’t given any. Jace immediately pulled me against him
and led me into the ocean. He acted like I was the breathtaking
one, not him. He muttered that even the ocean couldn’t compare to
the beauty in my eyes. I didn’t believe him, but I didn’t
care.

“
Your adoration is worth
centuries of torment,” he promised.

“
It’s not the future I see
when I get visions, is it? It’s of the past?” I asked.

I couldn’t tear my gaze away from
Jace. His eyes widened in realizing that I recognized him. He
stepped forward like he’d give anything to hold me. The Scavenger
tightened its grip around me. Jace stopped.

“
Forgive me of my past,”
Jace begged. “I saw no other choice than to drive the blade into
your chest.”

“
These visions are of a
life I’ve forgotten,” I said, turning back to the Scavenger.
“They’re memories of a life that’s no longer mine to
claim.”

I wanted to give up – so much was
lost. So many years I’d never know again, so much awaited me. The
Scavenger brought my hand up to where its lips should have been. It
pressed my pinky finger on its temples, triggering another
vision.

The sun shined through a
charred knot hole, no bigger than my slender finger. It was the
only light in the enclosed, narrow box holding me captive. My hands
were smooth and polished, not gnarled or wrinkled; I had years of
life ahead of me, so why was I buried alive in a coffin. Sweat
formed beads on my brow. They dripped down my face. A pungent
stench choked my lungs as the heat rose inside my
coffin.

Death and decay grew
stronger as a set of shuffling feet skimmed the top of the wood. A
spicy aroma, his fragrance, intertwined with the rot, took over my
senses. I heard two feminine screams. One echoed in my mind while
the other cursed out loud. I peered out the tiny hole and caught a
glimpse of my captor in her white dress – the girl who looked like
a fallen angel. Her unforgettable golden eyes flickered black as
she smiled down at me. Her beautiful voice beckoned, enticing me
out of my personal cell if I’d only swear to bow down to
her.

“
You’ll regret this,
Chronicler. This is positively unnecessary. You’ll give me my wish
if I have to kill you for it to be granted, and you know I will.”
Analee said, and brushed back her silky blond hair.

“
My death is insignificant
compared to what you’re asking.” My voice was innocent as
hers.

A massive man with deep
red hair appeared behind her when nothing but empty space was there
a second before. He kissed her lightly-tanned cheek before paying
any attention to me. His green eyes deepened in color until they
were just as black as the woman’s eyes. While his eyes shifted
colors, his rotting stench grew stronger. He smelled like
death.

“
If you don’t, I’ll kill
your sisters,” Analee said. “Or do you so easily forget their
humanity grows when you are separated? You’re not just putting your
life on the line. You’ll sacrifice your sisters as well by denying
my request.”

“
Only when I can’t hear
their screams, will they be far enough away to die a human’s
death,” I said. “It’ll take days to accomplish.”

She laughed. “Oh, but you
haven’t met my latest consort, Chronicler. Show her your
talent.”

The massive man
disappeared from behind her. A moment later the girls’ screams were
silent. Frantically, I searched out my peep hole to look for them
when his face instantly appeared. His blackened eyes sent chills
down my spine. His head jerked slightly as his smirk
grew.

“
Reaper,” I stated. “We’ve
met.”

“
Your Healer will never
get here in time. I’ll kill them before he can get here to save you
all. If you don’t give the Master what she wants, I’ll see to it
that your Scavengers will die with you.”

“
She only pays attention
to you because you have something she wants right now,
Reaper.”

“
Lies,” Marco said and
spat in my face. The putrid acid burned my face. I wanted to cry
out, but refused to give them the satisfaction. “Do it now, or
you’ll bathe in their blood.”

“
Remember what happened
last time you played with fate?” I called out to the fallen angel.
“My sisters and I foresee humanity’s fate as well as deities’. The
string of our life is tied to theirs, thus, when they started to
age, so did the Fates. When my sisters and I parted ways, our
bodies aged. Together we became immortal again and stopped aging.
But it had a nasty little side-effect to the rest of the deities,
didn’t it? It made immortals killable, even if you didn’t start to
age like my sisters and I.”

“
Your point?” she asked,
trying to sound bored.

“
My point is, when the
Hunters found out they could live longer if they killed a deity,
they would grow young. Thus, it made you not only killable, but
your wish gave our half-breed offspring a reason to hunt us down,”
I said.

“
The past is the past.
There’s nothing I can do to change it. Break the bond completely
with the humans or break the bond with the Scavengers,” she
demanded. “It’s up to you.”

“
You seek humanity’s
chaos, destruction, and fatality if that bond is broken. Without
purpose they will become no better than animals.”

“
Your choice, Chronicler,”
Analee hissed. “Humans or Scavengers.”

I chose. A tear trickled
down my cheek. She laughed; to weep was a sign of weakness, while I
saw it as a beautiful truth… no matter how agonizing. A moment
later, my soul unraveled. While I beat against the burnt wood, the
essence composing my very being separated itself. The coffin’s top
popped off. I rolled out of the wooden box and onto the ground. I
scratched at the soil, needing to apologize for not being strong. A
white, transparent hand scratched at the earth below me as if it
was furiously trying to come to my aid. I gripped his hand, wishing
for the strength to hold onto her soul. She embodied the other part
of my soul. She gripped my soft hands in her hard, calloused ones.
There wasn’t enough time – I felt myself tearing in half. The two
parts of my soul, the creation of life and death, which were never
meant to divide, did. Images of hundreds of mouthless corpses were
torn from my heart; they no longer answered to me, in a matter of
seconds. My Scavengers, howled out with hopelessness.

Not a squeal left my mouth
as the dirt engulfed her, locking it away from me. My torn soul
silenced me. Tears bled from my eyes as I gave the Master my
Scavengers – the world’s unspeakable past, or death as humans
perceived it. Analee’s muffled laugh ripped through my damaged soul
when I felt them bow to her.

After the vision faded into
nothingness, the Scavenger repeated the same phrase it had spoken
before. I couldn’t make sense of what it wanted, but I heard its
agony loud and clear. I had to listen closely to hear what else
reverberated in its cries – hope. It let go of my hand. Once again
my world became shades of gray. After walking up to Zalen, the
Scavenger took the deity in its arms. They sank into the ground. I
fell to my knees. My heart ached.

“
It was a part of me,” I
said in disbelief, clutching my chest. “A part of my
soul.”

“
You weren’t very fond of
giving them up,” Analee said stiffly. “But you know the rules, if
willing to kill you for the hearts uttermost desires, it will be
granted. And I’ve been waiting years for another wish.”

She wanted another wish from me, which
meant she was prepared to kill me, and I wasn’t strong enough, or
knowledgeable to grant what anyone wanted yet. That’s why she swore
the Oath to find my sisters! Who else had intentions of threatening
my life! If I’d ever been sure of anything, it was that I needed a
protector–I needed Jace.

“
You took the Scavengers
from me! You stole years from the humans, didn’t you? That’s what
the vision in the meadow meant – when your slave girl sliced the
palm of my hand using a knife. You wished for human’s immortality
to end,” I screamed. “I warned you that playing with fate has
consequences not even my sister can always foresee.”

“
How was I to know your
connection to every human’s fate would eat away at your
immortality?” Analee yelled. “Besides, you
never
uttered a word about
us
dying too! You could
have warned me that we would become killable!”

“
The Hunters rose to power
because of your request,” Jace said, stepping in. “You wanted
supremacy over humans, but you got what you most feared –
vulnerability. Our offspring had reason to hunt us down when you
stole humanity’s immortality, making us killable because the Fate’s
connection was weakened. Hunters have murdered countless deities
because they seek the Elysian in our blood. There would be no
reason for the Hunters to murder us all if you would have simply
accepted the Chronicler’s as sovereign!”

Enmity eclipsed every other feeling
I’d ever had. The Scavengers were once a part of my soul, and
Analee took them and used them as death’s bellmen. She used that
part of my essence to do her bidding; thus, making her stronger. To
be embraced by death was not to be feared; it was to be welcomed.
Analee manipulated their purpose. She forced me to expunge
mankind’s immortality, and to give up my horde of Scavengers. She
deserved a fate worse than death, and I wanted to be the one to
give it to her.

Concentrating on the phrase the
Scavenger had spoken, I repeated it over and over in my mind. Jace,
Marco, Analee and her slaves shied away from me, as if the phrase
stung their souls. I twirled around, repeating the phrase and
demanding that they listen, no matter how much it hurt. Along the
cliff’s edge, I saw two figures hiding from the others. If I didn’t
see the world in black and white, I wouldn’t have seen them. They
were camouflaged exceptionally well, but I didn’t care who was
spying on me. The reason my soul was cut in half was more important
than anything else in my life.

“
Stop!” Marco yelled. “Your
emotion connects when you speak wordlessly, not just your words. We
feel your misery, too!”

“
What does the phrase
mean?” I screamed, demanding someone answer me. “What was the
Scavenger trying to tell me?”

“
The phrase was a plea for
you to save them,” Jace said. “Remember us. Save us.”

The moment the words left his tongue,
I sprang from the ground and grabbed Analee. She laughed as I
attacked her until I clamped down on the small dainty scar I saw
trailing down her neck. I couldn’t feel it but knew it was there.
Analee screamed like I was ripping her soul from her body. I felt
her try to command my body. I fought for control of my body so it
wouldn’t do whatever she commanded. Instead of backing away like
she wanted, I sank my fingers into her neck. An invisible grip
clasped around my throat, cutting off my airway. A copper taste
filled my mouth.

“
You’ll steal her revenge
if you save her now,” Marco said, stopping Jace from rescuing me.
“For centuries you wished she’d find some fight. Don’t take it when
she’s finally flexing her muscles.”

Her slaves were on me, ripping me off
their master. They dug their cold fingers into my side. I felt my
heart slow as they froze my blood. My fingers numbed. Yet I fought
to find the end of Analee’s scar. My knees slammed into the sand
the moment Analee demanded I bow to her, but I’d brought her down
with me. She fell to her side. I scratched at her back, pulling
away her shirt so I could claw at the scar that extended down her
back. Her slave girls climbed over me. Analee’s howls echoed off
the barren cliffs.

I saw Analee’s past when my smallest
finger trickled over her tiny scar that lingered down her back from
her neck. The unseeing past – the memories buried deep – were woven
in her thread of life. The scar. I just needed time to sort through
the memories woven within it, to view them, to change and
manipulate them so she’d obey me; I hated the wretched goddess. I
could modify her mind-set, alter her memories, and redirect her
fate once I was stronger. I needed to become stronger, so I could
destroy her and take back what was mine.

I scratched at her scar, digging my
nails into it. The thread of her life should look as damaged as her
soul. Analee’s grip was on my throat, but I didn’t care. I found
the end of her life’s thread; I don’t know how I knew where to
search – I just did. A flashed welcomed the start of a
vision.

Whiteness transcended
everything as far as I could see. Winter’s chill stole my warmth. I
heard no warning of the little witch who stalked me; I just felt
her signature weapon prick my neck. I slapped my hand over the
wound, thankful she missed my thread of life. I spun around, ready
to strike back. She was nowhere to be seen. But she left a memento
– a pair of jagged scissors. Crimson liquid drizzled off the cold,
metal weapon and onto the flakes of snow. As soon as my blood
trickled onto the snow, it turned black.

“
They seek revenge, not
death,” I acknowledged the Cutter’s warning.

One slave girl jerked my hair
backwards. The other dug her ice cold fingernails into my eyes,
keeping Analee’s memory at bay.