Dance with Swords | Book 1 of the Rising Phoenix Chronicles

Chapter 8 - Dreams

It had been so long since I had heard that laugh. It was like music to my ears.

She let go of me. "Garroth," she said quietly. "I'm going to be home soon. Trust me."

She turned around and began to walk away.

"Oh, and, uh..." she called over her shoulder. "...Tell Levin and Malachi that...I love them."

Aphmau

---------------

15 years.

I have been missing for 15 years.

I couldn't believe it. But when I saw Meteli and all of the people within it...

This wasn't the same Meteli I knew. I mean, I know that Old Meteli had been destroyed, but this...

This was so foreign.

"Are you all settled in?" Cadenza asked as I sat at the foot of the bed she had lent me in her home. Apparently, she was now the lord of Meteli since her father passed away.

The room was a little small and sparsely decorated for being in a lord's house. It had open white curtains cascading down to the floor on the two windows in the room, letting sunlight stream in and hitting the varnished wood floor.

I nodded at her, lost in thought.

Who did those strange voices that had accompanied mine when I had Judged Zane belong to?

Why had that voice told me to take Irene's Relic?

WHO THE HECK WERE THOSE WEIRDOS WHO WERE JUST RANDOMLY STANDING OVER ME?!

"Alright, I'll leave you then." Cadenza said, then walked out of the room.

I sighed and flopped back onto my pillow and stared at the ceiling.

Nothing made sense today.

A click-clack of nails on hardwood floor made me sit up.

A large husky stood in the middle of the room with a picture frame in its mouth. It walked over to me and set the picture frame carefully on my bed. It then sat on the floor and stared at me expectantly.

I furrowed my brow and checked its tags.

Crumb.

I glanced at the picture frame and gasped.

A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes was leaning against a taller man with brown hair and green eyes. They were both smiling bright. The brown-haired one had a few freckles racing over his nose and cheeks.

Even after all these years, I could still recognize my sons.

As swiftly as possible, I pulled the picture out of its frame and looked at the back. I needed to know what date it was taken.

Levin (17) and Malachi (20)

A folded piece of aged parchment fluttered to the ground.

I grabbed it and unfolded it. The page was half-filled with a blue ink, then the other half was green ink.

Dear Cadenza,

Hey, it's Levin, your lord and saviour! If you can't tell, Zoey has finally agreed to making me the Lord of Phoenix Drop. My goal is to fully restore the town back to what it was when mom was around.

I heard that Cookie gave birth to puppies. That's AWESOME! Mom would probably have flipped out and she wouldn't be able to stop until she got to pet one. Because mom was weird like that.