Kingdom of Life and Death (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 26: The Fifth Element [part 1]

The door was open, the clock was ticking and I knew that this was truly the moment my life had prepared me for.

As if everything had been threaded together perfectly.

My childhood, Elina's stories, my youth, the endless jobs for food, the blue dress Mena sewed for me, the dance, the never-ending woods where I kept running, Crescendo, the curse, Russell, the yellow house, my true identity, my friends, the Lost Men, Syform, the prophecy, The Lost Kingdom, Caelus, the Tree, the tests, the cure, the truth, the wealcere, the powers, the Gods, the Kingdoms, queens and kings, the Fifth God.

All to get here.

The place was just as I had left it before I went to see the Fifth God.

Caelus started to come back from his shadow form, having avoided Jonah's sword, his strength still weak. Marco, as a beast, stepping back from my soulmate's display of power. My sister, Russell and Galaga with their heads down, trying to escape their bindings.

But they all agreed to look to the side when I appeared.

'What happened?' Jonah asked first.

I had nothing to fear anymore.

This was the end.

Air.

Air.

Air.

A puff of air slammed him against the wall of the tower, rendering him completely immobile, unable to escape my power. Marco, sensing my power, wanted to throw himself on top of me, but I summoned the same air and left him dangling at the other end of the room.

The crown in my hands, my gaze fixed on the person I wanted to speak to.

Galaga, Mena and Russell looked at me in wonder, perhaps with a lot of questions, not understanding what was going on. It wasn't time for explanations, I didn't have time to answer anything.

I was only focused on one person.

I crouched down in front of him, lifting his exhausted face.

'That was quick,' he said and it made me smile. 'I thought after all that, he'd at least let you talk to him a while longer.'

'It was long enough, pirate,' I replied, stroking his face. 'He froze time.'

'I thought you had a new power to teleport.'

'Enough powers already,' I said with a smile.

Let us out, the shadows began. We'll make it quick.

Not yet, I replied.

'Then he's told you what to do,' he continued, without needing to read my mind. Perhaps he could feel it in me, the conclusion, the mission that was in my eyes.

'Yes, he did.'

His blue eyes were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my entire life, every detail of them breathtaking. I would want to see his gaze forever, but I knew I couldn't do that.

I had made a decision, the Fifth God was watching me.

I knew what I had to do.

But that didn't make it any easier.

'Laia, what's going on?' my sister asked me, unable to abstain at that moment.

I didn't answer her, because I just wanted to be focused on my soul mate.

'Do you remember what you thought when you first saw me?' I asked him because I needed to hear him say it, I needed him to talk to me, to understand me, to know that I would love him until the last moment.