A War for the Soul (The Demon War Series, Book 1)

The Final Trial

Emma rushed over to the stranger again, to Valera. She knelt next down next to Valera. "What is this? Who are you?" Emma asked, sick of being confused, sick of being told half-truths.

"This is your final test," Valera said, between sputtering up blood, "And I am your daughter." Emma looked at Valera in disbelief. Now that she was hearing the truth, she couldn't accept it.

"No, you can't be," Emma said, "How? When? Why am I watching you die? What is the final test?"

"You and your beloved will conceive me, sooner than you think," Valera said, still coughing up blood, "We will be a happy family, for a while, but I will die, as you have seen today and you will be unable to stop it. Your test is simple but the most difficult one yet. That door behind you will lead you back to your body and you will be reborn as the demon you are now but you will live knowing that you will have a beautiful baby girl and she will die fighting a war you started against your wishes. You will be unable to do anything to stop these tragic events you have foreseen and any attempt to will only result in failure and quite possibly more deaths. It's not swell and it's not an easy choice but it's one you have to make. You were given the curse to see time non-linearly and now you are burdened with this knowledge. Now the only thing to do is choose. Live on and see these things come to pass or pass on, maybe feeling better not playing the game at all. So, what will you do mom."

Emma rose up from the ground. She had been ready to give up, to pass on, until Valera called her mom. Seeing the beautiful girl in front of her, Emma knew she had no choice. She kissed her daughter goodbye and marched to the door, the hardest trek she had taken yet and opened it. Bright white light blinded Emma but she continued on through the door. Before fully out of view she looked back out at the beautiful garden, at her daughter now lifeless on the grass and resigned herself to march on.

After what felt like miles and miles of nothingness she saw flashes of a baby girl being born, war-torn cities and fields made into battlegrounds by explosives, a wedding ring, a heart beating fast and hard and then suddenly stopping, and countless other things she couldn't quite make sense of thought she could guess the meaning of some.

Suddenly all of the images stopped and she opened her eyes to see the most welcoming faces she could ever hope for: Reisel and Crelasa. They were crying hysterically when Emma spoke up, "Hey." Her voice was hoarse and it was tough to get out but they heard it because they stopped crying and looked at her in shock. They started crying again but this time embracing her.

"Never ever disobey us again," Crelasa said between sobbing.

"Yes mistress," Emma said playfully. The crying stopped and Crelasa looked at her again. She looked her up and down and screamed.

"What the hell? Are you a demon? What happened?" Crelasa asked.

"What gave it away? Emma asked. "It was the horns wasn't it." They all laughed. It was good to be back, Emma thought.

"But what about your soul?" Reisel asked after the laughter died down.

"Here and accounted for," Emma said, pointing to herself.

"How?" Both demons asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Emma said, shrugging her shoulders, "But that means the competitions still on. Who's up first?" They all busted out in hysterics at her sad attempt at a wink. Things seemed back to normal or at least as normal as they could ever be for Emma Collins.