Myths: The Folklore Trilogy

Chapter 25-In Which We Live

We continued walking, the landscape clearing up. It seemed that we had walked out of the forest for the most part. Just flat land. It made me uncomfortable, as if Giselle could see us from here.

"How much longer do you think we have to go?" Audrey asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Hopefully not far," I grumbled.

Sophie shrugged delicately. "I could ask the book."

We stared at her. "Do you think the book knows?" I asked finally.

"It can't hurt to try," she said.

"True," Audrey admitted.

Sophie swung her backpack around and reached for the book. It amazed me how fast she had become more confident, seemingly overnight. I smiled.

"Where is the Elder Council member Giselle's palace?"

The book sat for a moment, it's pages stirring. I could practically see a little dotted waiting symbol.

Then suddenly, the pages started flipping wildly. Sophie yelped and held it gingerly. "It's hot!"

The flipping abruptly stopped. I stared at it.

"Error 56. Information not found," Audrey read.

"You're kidding," I exclaimed.

New words appeared beneath. 'Information blocked.'

"Crap," Audrey muttered.

Sophie sighed and closed the book. "And here we thought we had easy information access."

I sighed. "Yeah."

"Darn it," Audrey said, kicking the ground.

That's when I felt it. A twinge. A pang. It was like a crick in my neck, but within me. My eyes widened. "Something's not right," I whispered.

"What do you mean?" Audrey whispered back.

That's when I saw it. I breathed in sharply.

"What?" Audrey whispered more intensely.

Sophie had seen it too. "Tormentor," she squeaked.

It was muscular, like one of those fighters on TV that make you raise your eyes in doubt, because that's nots physically possible. It was blood red, small, pointed ears, ram's horns, and still had its eyes closed. That final fact alone made my body shiver with fear.

Then it raised one scaled, gnarly hand, and something orange fluttered down to it. My heart constricted. The messenger butterfly.

Then a little green orb floated up. The tormentor smiled, its slit mouth curling grotesquely. Then Tess' voice rang out.

"Sierra...Sophie...Audrey..." she choked. She sounded close to death. "Help me..."

There was silence. The whole world seemed to take a breath.

The tormentor opened its eyes, completely black, no pupils, nothing, just two inky black spheres.

All my hope drained out of me at once. We were too late. It had been two weeks. We must have slept on that island longer than I thought.

Giselle had gotten to the academy. She was killing everyone. She was finally getting what she wanted. Total annihilation of the Myths.

We had been their last hope. And we had failed.

It welled up in me like an ocean wave. Useless. Pathetic. Failure. You'll never do anything right. All your friends have died or are dying, and soon you will too. And it's all your fault.

That's when I knew. It hit me right in the stomach and I sobbed. Despair. This tormentor was despair. A small flame of hope kindled inside of me. Now that I knew what it was, could we defeat it? Could we overcome it like the first three?

Then it died as quickly as it came, like a cold bucket of water poured on the fire. Why did it make any difference? So what if we defeated this one? What was the point? Our mission was a failure. Maybe it would be better to give in now. Whatever despair could do...was better than whatever Giselle had planned for us. Maybe we would die peacefully. I knew I didn't want to live anymore.

I knew I didn't want to live anymore.

I looked at Audrey and Sophie. Tears streamed down their face, and that's how I knew they felt the same thing I did.

"Despair," I whispered, all life gone from my voice. "This one is despair."

They nodded, slowly. Sophie closed her eyes. "We might as well die," she whispered, her voice hollow.

We might as well die.

I'm not sure what it was, maybe that little bit inside me that wasn't feeling the tormentor's effects, the brave part of me, but it woke up at that. I had thought it myself, but until I heard Sophie say it, I hadn't realized the full weight of what it meant. What giving up meant. What dying meant. Because wanting to die is the ultimate way to give up isn't it?

Sierra, kill me. Please. It would be better for everyone. Sierra you're my friend, kill me, please.

The full horror hit me. If Audrey died, if Sophie died, if anyone died, my world would be crushed. Just because they couldn't hold on just a little bit longer. Because they gave up.

And I rejected that dumb despair. Because it wasn't worth it.

I wasn't worth it.

"Stop," I said, my voice surprisingly strong. Audrey and Sophie looked at me. "Stop feeling that way. You aren't worth it."

Audrey frowned, and Sophie sobbed.

"So what if we didn't get there in time? That's not our fault! At least we tried! At least we went!" I turned to Audrey. "We wouldn't have gone at all if not for you.

"So maybe we can't stop Giselle from getting to the school. So maybe they're gone." My eyes narrowed. "This has just become a story of revenge." I smiled. "And besides," I added, "Tess had to be alive to send that message...right?"

Slow smiles crept onto their faces. I turned to the tormentor. "We don't have time for you!" I shouted. "Get out of our lives! Giselle better be afraid. Because nothing, nothing, is going to stop us now."

Hope surged through my veins, strong and pure and fiery. We joined hands just like the first time we had become phoenixes.

I took a deep breath and remembered.

Power long forgotten by our world. Beauty. Majesty. Shedding life and light down all around. Sparking the flame. Burning the spirit. Setting hearts on fire.

Singing bright on the promise of tomorrow.

Hope.

As we rose into the air, I knew, fire had never shone as bright.

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Hey guys! Guess who updated on time? :-D

Happy holidays to everyone, I know this is kind of a sad chapter for this time of year but hopefully it ended on somewhat of a happy note soooo...

Just a heads up, the next update probably won't be for a while, as holiday craze takes my life away for the next little bit but I SHOULD (note the should) have it up by next week. But I'll definitely try to get it up sooner.

Again, wishing you a wonderful holiday season!

~Paint_splatt