Kingdom of Life and Death (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 25: Sacrifice [part 1]

I fell so fast that I didn't have time to think about what was about to happen.

Entire lives had been given for me to get to this moment and even though I was living it, it didn't seem real.

So much time fighting to get here suddenly seemed to have passed quickly. So many people who had given everything, even their lives, would never be able to see me after arriving here.

To see the Fifth God face to face.

The God who was the source of all this conflict. The God that trusted and was betrayed. The God who for thousands and thousands of years had personally taken it upon himself to torment those who had let him down.

We, the heirs of that man, Crey, suffered the consequences of his bad decisions. Power had driven him to put absolutely everything at stake. And now, with all this power coursing through my veins, perhaps I could understand it better. It didn't seem so crazy to be capable of defeating the Gods and taking their place myself. But I could never do such a thing. The darkness around me demanded it, but I wouldn't have it.

I had to remember at all times, but especially at this one, that I was a human. Yes, perhaps a human who had been privileged to be born into a monarchy, however much I was snatched from my own cradle. Perhaps a human with powers that even I could not comprehend. But a human nonetheless.

A human who would never be a Goddess.

So yes, I let the whirlwind take me, let me leave behind the war, the battle, the fight to the death, all the wounded, all those we lost, Phoenix....

All those who believed in an insolent young woman who stood before them promising that if they fought just one more time, just once, if they made that sacrifice, they would achieve peace for all generations to come.

Just one chance.

I was going to have one chance to convince Eloah to forgive us, to give us one opportunity to prove to him that we would never let him down again, that we would be better than Crey was.

That responsibility weighed on me like a necklace of stones that made me fall even harder when the whirlwind stopped, and I had to face reality.

I hit a surface so hard that not even my armour could withstand the instant pain that each of my limbs suffered as I met that fate.

I rolled a few feet on the cold floor unable to open my eyes, clutching tightly to the crown that had brought me there. The crown and the necklace, the two signs of the Fifth God together for the first time in thousands of years.

And that was not what surprised me most when I got there.

Here was the Heaven of my God, the God of creation dwelling among the ruins of an ancient castle?

But it wasn't just any ordinary old castle.

The memories overwhelmed me and I could see myself walking there, together with my friends. I could feel myself dancing with Russell, having my first kiss, holding the secret of what love felt like for the first time.

It was the ancient castle of Crescendo.

The place I had seen glowing in shades of gold, reflected by the sun, when my parents had walked it time and time again. The place that could have been my home, had I not lost my family, had they been given the chance to make it our place.

'Many thoughts haunt your mind.'

His voice was deeper than I could have imagined. I felt as if he was filling spaces inside me that I had never felt empty until that very moment.