The Failsafe Prophecies (7 page)

Bala quieted, looking now to
Ivin.

“It was the one inside the
Magic Kingdom, Wraithe. I’m pretty sure of it. She described it
near perfect, and as she’s
never
seen it...” She raised one shoulder and lowered
it.

“She’s right, I’ve never been there,
so I don’t know. But the one in my vision was white, blue tiles on
its roof, lovely stained glass on the back. Overall, rather
simplistic for a castle. It seemed small, but…”

“Yeah, that sounds like their castle,
but focus, what else happened in the vision?” Wraithe directed her
back on topic.

“A great battle happened. Wraithe,
this wasn’t like one of my normal flashes, this was… I don’t know,
it was…”

He took both her hands in his and
rubbed the backs with his thumbs.

“Don’t worry about it making sense.
Just tell us what you saw.”

“I saw ogres… with axes. I saw the
roahn-ami. They were preparing for a great battle. They were
pouring into the space around those castles, which I swear looked
like what you would call a suburban neighborhood.” She looked
pained as she spoke.

“You’re doing great, Bala. Don’t worry
about making sense of it. Just keep going.” Again, Wraithe
encouraged her even as he took in all the detail that she spoke
of.

She drew a breath and nodded. Her gaze
drifted off again, as if she was seeing again the
vision.

“People are dead. Humans, I’m pretty
sure. It’s like the neighborhood has been abandoned or… or else,
everyone is dead and after that, I saw an enormous black cloud
pouring out of the sky like… like…” She searched the ceiling as if
looking for the word there.

“I don’t know.” She looked at Wraithe,
pained. “That’s all there really was. It ended in that
neighborhood. There were ravens though, just two of them. The
houses were burned, some of them, there are toys on the lawns, cars
on fire… I don’t understand really. I’m so sorry.” She ended in
frustration.

He wrapped his arms around
her.

“Don’t be sorry. You did amazing.”
Wraithe played over in his head all she’d just told him, but it
honestly didn’t make sense to him either.

“Wraithe, I have a thought.” Ivin
spoke up.

He released Bala and turned back to
Ivin.

“Okay.” He gestured giving permission
to go on.

“There are a lot of rumblings within
my kind. You know the witches aren’t loyal to anyone but
themselves, but lately, I’m seeing lines being drawn, allegiances
made. I’m seeing too many pairing with the vampires. It worries me.
I didn’t want to say anything at the summit, but honestly, I feel
it too, a dark rising. It’s in the ground beneath our feet, like
it’s just waiting to burst through, and the vampires must be
feeling it too. They’re seeing this as their time to take over the
humans. Wraithe, the humans are in no way prepared to participate
in a supernatural battle between the light and the dark. They’ll be
annihilated. ”

“The Marrow already fell.” Rigo spoke
out loud, though it seemed to be more in thought then
statement.

“I saw that first hand. I wouldn’t
wish something of that nature on anyone.” Bala spoke. “They took us
by night, we never saw it coming. We’d become complacent in the
world we’d built. So many died, Wraithe… we can’t allow that to
happen here.” Panic edged each of her words.

Wraithe remembered the day the royals
came through the portal. They were the last hope to someday push
back the dark, but the opportunity to put them back in power had
never come.

“So you think the dark is
coming
here
?” He
asked Ivin. “To Elethiya?”

She shook her head.

“Elethiya, the town, the falls, the
park, they sit on protected land. It’s had protection spells on it
longer than humans have been here. I think that’s why nothing
attacked Bala the night the other royals were taken. I don’t think
they have the power to break the spells on the land.”

He took that in. It made sense. He,
himself, had taken part in the protection ceremonies on each
solstice. So if they couldn’t attack on Elethiya…

“The rest of the planet is
vulnerable.” His mind scrambled. There was no way to combat a full
scale attack when they didn’t know when or where it was coming. Add
into that any of the other races or sects seeing this as their time
to make a move on the humans, and there was no way to be
that
prepared.

How would they ever be able to set up
a full scale defense on this planet? Even if they mobilized all
their allies, even with the few humans who knew the truth, the dark
would have dark magic, the best they would have was earth magic. It
was a losing proposition. It horrified him.

“We cannot allow the dark to take this
realm. If they get Earth…”

“They’ll have access
to
everything
.”
Rigo finished for him.

“I can’t believe they have the power
for that sized assault.” Ivin spoke up. “But given Bala’s vision…”
She licked her lips, radiating nervous energy. “I think they’re
coming after the kingdom.”

“But you said Elethiya was protected.”
He was confused.

“I did. It is.” She shook
her head as if to straighten her thoughts. “Wraithe, they aren’t
coming after
your
kingdom… They’re coming after
Walt’s
kingdom.”

Chapter Five

Wraithe tried to take in
Ivin’s words, the
meaning
of Ivin’s words, but it was too horrifying a
thought.

“What do you mean they’re coming after
Walt’s kingdom?” He grabbed her arm and yanked her to face
him.

“Wraithe, calm down.” Rigo reprimanded
him.

“Just what I said.” She seemed
frustrated. “You know the prophecies better than almost anyone,
Wraithe. There are four tells of the coming end. Isn’t your species
here to stop that?”

Wraithe wasn’t sure if her frustration
was directed at him, or if it was badly masked fear, but her
emotion pushed him hard. He wanted her to stop. He wanted all of
this to stop.

“One.” She yanked her arm
out of his grasp and held up one finger. “Two men, closer than
brothers, divided by that which they love, build two kingdoms that
war against one another. I know religious scholars assume that to
be the brothers of the Christian bible who birthed the tear in the
Levant. You and I
know
, it’s not written so plainly in history, is it?”

He didn’t like her implications. He
didn’t like the fear he felt as it slowly embedded its claws
through the back of his neck.

“You and Walt, I saw you guys. You
were closer than brothers.” She furrowed her brow and pointed a
finger at his heart.

“Until I betrayed him!” He
raged.

“You didn’t betray him.” Rigo stepped
in and placed his hand on his brother’s arm. “Wraithe, you followed
a dream, literally. Some type of fairy creature or angel appeared
to you. Did you conveniently forget that?”

Wraithe walked away from them both and
drew a deep breath.

“Yes. No.” He shook his head and
turned to face them. “I haven’t forgotten. I remember her like it
was five seconds ago. She had eyes like the Aegean Sea, hair silver
blonde, and she was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever
seen.”

He looked at his hand, remembering
once again how it felt when she touched him.

“She told me to build a kingdom here
at the falls. She said it was the only way to protect them in the
coming age.” His heart ached at the memory. “I didn’t know anything
other to do than to mimic Walt’s kingdom from California. He always
called himself the king of Disneyland. It was his kingdom and it
suited him so well. It seemed to make sense, given what the angel
had said, but I had no idea he wanted to build here. So I did. I
built a kingdom as the angel commanded.” He slumped and dropped his
gaze to the wood floor boards. “And I broke Walt’s heart in the
process.”

Ivin walked over to him and took both
his hands in hers.

“Did you ever consider that the angel
that appeared to you also appeared to him?”

Her words snagged on his conscious,
bringing him fully back into the now.

“I can see you haven’t,
but Wraithe, think of the legend. Think of Bala’s vision. This
land, right where we stand, was the scene of one of the greatest
battles in all of creation. The Dragon Clans scorched this earth
until there was nothing remaining but death and bones. This is the
legend of
your
people. You know it better than I.” She nudged
him.

He knew the legend. It lived in his
soul as if he, himself, had been there. He simply couldn’t speak
it.

“It is said that the falls themselves
healed the land and called for protectors.” Rigo spoke up. “Those
of us here now, we are those that were called, given the sacred
duty of protecting those falls, and that’s why you built this park
when the angel told you to.”

“Yes, and Bala’s vision speaks of what
comes next. The two kingdoms…”

“Two kingdoms will save the seven.”
Bala all of a sudden spoke.

“What?” Wraith voiced the thoughts of
all three as they turned to look at the dark haired beauty standing
in silence in the corner of the room.

“I… I don’t know… it just came to me.”
Confusion shone on her face. “I’m sorry.”

“No. Don’t be.” Ivin reached out to
her, and Bala came closer. “That’s the second prophecy, the war
between the two earth kingdoms.”

“I will not go to war
against Walt’s kingdom. You don’t know, you didn’t see the look…
you didn’t see the pain…no …you didn’t see the
anguish
in his eyes when I denied
him the land…. When he
finally
understood that I wasn’t going to give into him.
He felt betrayed to his core. I remember standing side by side with
him through the strike, and how betrayed he felt then, how gutted.
It didn’t seem to even touch what I did to him. God, that look, it
still burns me to this day.” Wraithe cried out in his own
pain.

Ivin dropped against his shoulder,
tugging him close to her.

“You couldn’t sell him this land,
Wraithe. We all know that.” She looked up into his eyes. “He was a
good man, a god among dreamers, but he wasn’t immortal. He wasn’t
the one assigned to protect this land and its falls.”

She placed her hand over
his heart. “
Forgive
yourself, Wraithe. This guilt is causing your suffering, and
compromising your service to the people you are here to protect.
It’s gone on long enough, and if no one else has the balls to say
it, I will. You are not the man you once were. You’ve let guilt and
the loss of your friend… dare I say,
brother
, eat at you for decades.
It’s more than time to let it go. If we’re about to face the dark,
here, on
this
land, we
need
you.” She practically begged him.

“She’s right, Wraithe.”
Rigo spoke up. “We’ve all been doing what we could to protect you,
to let you grieve, but if all this is true… We can’t allow it to
move on to the fourth prophecy. The sacred seven requires the
humans and… Don’t take this the wrong way, I
love
the humans, but they are a
chaotic mess right now. If the seven suns prophecy is triggered, I
have absolutely no faith the light would prevail.”

“That’s harsh.” Bala spoke
up. “The third prophecy is about love, and true love will
always
win.”

“Says the fairy tale princess.” Rigo
stung her with his words.

“That’s not fair. I may be nothing
more than a fairy tale in this realm, but in my own… Luxe and I had
to overcome great darkness to be together. Our love won out, even
when I didn’t think it could. I’ve seen the dark up close and
personal. I’ve fought it and I will again if I must, but don’t
underestimate love, Rigo. It’s far more powerful than you realize.”
Bala blasted him with her passion and fear mixed.

“This isn’t the time for any of this.
All that matters now is Wraithe. We need you back. You have to
fulfill this prophecy.” Ivin pleaded with him.

“Excuse me, Sir. Great apologies, but…
Oh!” A young adult male came through the door. He wore a knit cap,
had a scruff of facial hair and clutched a laptop to his chest.
When he realized he wasn’t alone, he pulled off the cap and ran his
hand through his hair before he smiled.

“This isn’t the best time, Oz. What is
it?” Wraithe addressed him.

“Ah… well I… It’s easier to show you.”
He sat his laptop down on the dark wood table in the center of the
room, opened it and started pushing buttons.

Wraith, Rigo, Bala, and Ivin all moved
in closer to be able to view the screen.

“You asked me to survey all the
surveillance.” He chuckled and looked up for approval, but was only
met with stares. He pressed his lips into a thin line and went back
to keying in a sequence of numbers and letters on the laptop.
“Well, I found this.”