“We’re going to find Kitten?” Kull asked finally.
“Actually, I’d rather not meet up with her. Nothing against Kitten, but I’m pretty sure she’d rip us apart if she got the chance. Instead, we need to find some sort of mountain. I brought that asteroid through the portal with us, and I need to be able to manipulate it. A mountain or hill would be ideal, as I need to make sure it does what I brought it here for.”
“Which is?” Heidel asked.
“Destroying the world. It looks like I’ll become the Deathbringer after all.”
I turned and headed into the jungle. The others followed me. The air was hard to breathe, and not just because of the humidity. It felt like gravity was weighing me down, like the air I was accustomed to didn’t exist this far into the past.
We stumbled over giant roots and past ferns with heavy pods hanging from their branches. Pink tropical flowers decorated some of the trees. Howls and whistles filled the jungle, some of the sounds closer than I felt comfortable with—although seeing anything through the underbrush was impossible.
The ferns gave way to large trees that resembled conifers, with giant pinecones littering the forest floor around them. Some of the trees grew as tall as Sequoias, reminding me of the trees in Faythander.
With sweat beading on my face and neck, I finally stepped out onto a rocky ledge that gave way to a gorge, the others behind me. Far below us ran a river, and the sound of a rushing waterfall echoed.
“Will this place work?” Kull asked.
I reached out with my magic, searching for the asteroid, but I could barely detect it. When I’d brought it through the portal, I’d had no sense of direction. The asteroid could’ve ended up on the other side of Pluto.
But as I closed my eyes and reached out, I found it just past the moon.
“Yes, I can sense it,” I answered, allowing my magic to fill my body with energy as I tried grasping for the rock, but since it was such a great distance from me, I was unable to touch it. “I can’t reach it.”
“Shall I use my magic to aid you?” Maveryck asked.
“No, I have to do this myself.”
Trying again, I switched tactics. Instead of focusing on the distance between us, I concentrated on only remembering the magic I’d used when Theht had held me captive. The memories, though painful, surfaced, and they allowed me to use my magic to connect with the asteroid.
Gently touching the rock with my magic, I felt it nudge, altering its course toward Earth. My hands shook with the magic I was expending, but I wouldn’t let go until it was finished.
Now, for the first time in my life, I finally understood the prophecy. Yes, I was the Deathbringer. I would bring the deaths of countless millions—but not on the world where I lived. I would initiate an event that would launch the births of both planets.
Theht would not use me to destroy the world. The planet’s destruction would happen, but it would happen the way I chose, in the time I chose.
By bringing the planet’s destruction now, everyone I loved would live. We won.
And Theht would never cross into our world.
As I pulled the asteroid closer, a tiny star appeared in the sky, barely visible to the naked eye.
When it did, I felt Theht wake within me. Her strength must have been returning.
I wasn’t counting on that.
As soon as the piece of Theht became cognizant and realized what I was doing, her magic exploded inside me, bursting from my hands and feet, making pain rack my entire body. I screamed as her power slammed against mine, but I wouldn’t let her stop me.
Theht would not win.
I ground my teeth and held my ground, then continued guiding the asteroid to the world.
“Olive, are you okay?” Kull asked, placing his hand on my back.
“She knows what I’m doing.” I gasped. “But she won’t stop me.”
I stretched my hand toward the sky, letting my magical energy fuse with the asteroid. My strength faded. Dizziness clouded my vision, and then the world dimmed around me. A vice clamped down on my vital organs as I drained my body of every reserve of energy I possessed. I tasted blood in my mouth, feeling something warm and sticky in my ears and streaming from my nose.
But I wouldn’t relent. If I died, so be it, because this was the only way to save our world from destruction. I’d finally understood the prophecy, and I would not stop until it was fulfilled.
As my knees buckled and a part of myself died, another awoke inside me. The Deathbringer.
Once again, I felt as if I floated over my body, watching from a distance as the woman standing on the cliff guided the asteroid to the planet. Her face was unnaturally pale. Blood streamed down her face. I almost didn’t recognize her.
I felt the moment the asteroid hit. The impact seemed to reverberate through me, an event that had already happened, but had now come full circle. It impacted every particle of my being as I returned to my body once again, the pain returning full force.
A blinding light filled the sky, followed by a roar so loud it shook the ground. Everyone fell back as the cliff broke apart only inches from our feet. Rocks plummeted into the river. Far in the distance, an enormous mushroom cloud rose into the sky, beautiful and haunting in its power.
We lay dazed on the edge of the cliff as the cloud expanded. Someone shook my shoulders.
“Olive, we’ve got to get out of here,” Kull said.
I didn’t have the energy to tell him I was spent. Creating portals was beyond me.
Behind us, the forest exploded with startled shrieks. Flocks of pterosaurs flew into the sky. The trees shook as a bone-chilling roar filled the open expanse. A Tyrannosaurus rex emerged
