Page 55 of Haunted Nightmares
But the prospect of Aaru was exciting. The idea of seeing my family I hadn’t seen in decades was overwhelming and something I wanted so badly.
Which was a pipe dream, as my mate would say.
Instead of my parents or anyone else I might have known waiting to greet me in paradise, Nate was there, and so was Heka, who finally gave me some insight into what the hell has been happening to me my entire life, and death.
“I’m a prophet, the keeper of the Prophecy of Three. I’m both the all seeing eye of Horus as well the eye of Ra, chosen to protect the prophecy and those who belong to it by using my gifts andmyjakgiven to me by the gods of our tribe.” Which is asking a hell of a lot from a librarian who was barely surviving for over two hundred years. They should have given the responsibility to someone more like Ana or Lydia but what’s done is done.
And in the dark I wandered for over two hundred years.
Schooling or not, how the hell was I supposed to know what to do with my visions and shit if no one ever told me?
“Our tribe?” Orion finally asks. “If it was specific to our tribe and not the entire race, then why…” He shakes his head. “I don’t understand.”
You and me both.“To make this as easy as possible, Xenith created everything, including the Elementals and eventually Kadoc.”
“Before they created the Gods of Old,” Declan nods. “I’ve not heard any of this discussed since I was a lad.”
“Yeah, well, Atticus outlawed it for a reason.” A big fat one judging by the insane amount of knowledge I’m still sorting through. “Once Xenith created Kadoc, the Elementals decided they should do their own creating and that’s what led to the Gods of Old and their tribes, as well as the Descendants who belonged to them.”
Declan looks at Nate and then Ana, seemingly sizing them up through different eyes before he turns back to me. “Each tribe had prophets and oracles, divine beings living amongst us to help their leaders—the Descendants—during their reign. They were strategists and advisors, leaders of armies, and sometimes…” He stares a little longer, green eyes soft as everything clicks into place. “They were fated mates. The gods sent them to keep our people in line, to protect us from humansand the other creatures that began walking the earth, and to help us all work alongside each other without throwing off the universal balance.”
Nodding, I arch a brow. “How do you know all of that?”
“Call it generational. We were taught certain things as boys until Atticus decided no one should ever learn any of it.”
“Which is why speaking of Xenith, of the Gods of Old or anything from before the war was outlawed. And why?—”
“Myjakwas forgotten, and creatures like that troll were thought to be extinct.”
Wow.
Learning that Declan knows so much of what I was taught means Wraith knows all of this and more, and had we not been arrested I’m sure my mate would have been able to teach me everything I needed to know but only discovered after I died. Probably sans skull splitting headaches.
What a fucked up revelation.
But it will make some of this easier.
Not all of it, Orion is still going to be a challenge but having his friends validate so many things will be a step in the right direction.
“Ok, so, yeah you’re a prophet or whatever, destined to collide with Wraith at some point, in this case as his mate.”Now he decides to talk to me.My cousin scrubs a hand over his hair in disbelief, frustration radiating from him in a way that’s actually hard for me to read. “Butwhy? What’s so important about this Prophecy of Three? And why is it our tribe that was somehow burdened to be the ones who dealt with it or whatever?”
Yep, definitely a challenge. Not a big one but his tone is a little shitty and I can tell he’s still struggling to wrap his head around this because he’s mad at me for coming back without seeing him first.
Oh well.
We can hash that out later.
“The Prophecy of Three is going to essentially reverse and repair everything Atticus did if it comes to fruition?—”
“When,” Ana corrects as she winks at me. “Whenit comes to fruition, my queen.”
Rolling my eyes, I keep going. “And our tribe, our people were entrusted with it for two reasons.”
“Which are?” Orion asks, stiffening his back as if to brace himself.
He should.“Wraith is my mate and that was divinely designed long before the prophecy came to be so it was almost by default. The fates or whoever knew we would balance each other, making everything easier I guess.” Then I take a deep breath, still extremely uneasy over this last little bit because it’s somethingI’mstill struggling to wrap my head around. “And I’m the only prophet of our kind to have survived Atticus of Carmarthen.”
The silence that follows that statement is deafening, right up until I start to giggle at the most inappropriate moment.
