That’s enough, child.
I cracked open my eyes and saw in double. Soot where a rug had lain, and growing from it… flowers shimmering and vibrant. Burned tapestries hung against a sunless blue sky.
Blue fire continued to trickle into Shamino.
I said, that’s enough.
I extinguished the flames. The ghostly flowers grew sharper; tapestries faded to blue. Shamino vanished into the emerald grass. I knelt in a meadow, both of my hands flexing without pain.
A man approached me. He wasn’t really a man, but it was the best I could describe him. A man who wasn’t a man, and his rainbow aura was made of laughter and sadness and longing.
I glanced at my uninjured body. “Pigshit. I just killed myself, didn’t I?”
The First One laughed.
Chapter Forty-Two
I didn’t know a deity could laugh. The First One’s laughter flowed like warm honey.
“That is why I love you, Adara,” he said. “You are always honest with me.”
I bit my lip. “I am, though, dead.”
“Not quite. Come. There are things to show you.”
I followed him across the meadow, though I was unsure if there was anything else to see in the afterlife. The blue sky stretched forever, the meadow as well. In the corners of my vision, I thought I saw butterflies flitting about, but whenever I turned to look, they were always gone.
“You listened,” the First One said as we walked. “More importantly, you obeyed. Therefore, you are only dead for a moment. It is a small moment, but time flows differently here.”
“Ah.” I didn’t know what else to say.
The First One chuckled again. “Here we are.”
Out of nowhere, a small pool appeared. The water was as clear as air, showing the smooth brown pebbles on the bottom. The First One knelt and gestured for me to do the same. He touched the surface. The water darkened as ripples spread.
An image formed. Shamino screamed silently as he held me. A mage I didn’t recognize rushed in, and her hands began to glow white, the stronger of the two colors of a healing Gift. Another mage pulled Shamino away from my body.
“He’s alive,” I breathed. “I healed him.”
“And then some. He will heal Mettalise, along with the dragons that still live.”
I looked at the First One. “Thank you, for letting me save him.”
“You saved him on your own. I merely warned you when to stop.” He tapped the water again. “I’m not done with you.”
I frowned, but I leaned over the pool. In the new image, Maolmuire flew with a bundle in his claws. The background was too blurred for me to know which way he flew.
“Jerroth lives,” the First One said. “What you see will affect the events to come.”
Anger flared in my chest. “He tried to kill Shamino.”
“You killed his beloved.” There was no gentleness in the First One’s voice.
“What? I didn’t—they were going to kill me!”
The First One held up a hand. “Grief blinds him, Adara. Tressa is dead, and he knows it was your raw power that ultimately killed her. What you do not realize is that he altered his spell at the last moment. Jerroth never would have killed you, even under Tressa’s influence.”
A sick, hollow feeling replaced the anger.
“Remember this: every person sees his or her actions as justified. Empathy and forgiveness are more powerful than magic.” He touched the water a third time.
We looked on the world from high. I made out Drageria, but all around it, darkness.
“In the beginning, there was darkness,” I whispered, quoting the Record. “Evil roamed the land, devouring all that was good…”
“So the First One created mages and dragons, and together they brought light,” the First One finished. The map cleared until gray dotted all the lands. “Evil was never destroyed. Not completely. The past few months were a time of preparation. The real darkness is coming. Be ready.”
I didn’t like how he said that. “You speak as if I’m supposed to take care of it.”
“Many people leave me offerings. Fewer speak to me. Fewer still approach me as someone to speak with.” The First One stood and looked down on me. “I didn’t choose you, Adara. I chose all of mankind. You’re the one who chose me back.”
I attempted a smile. “It was the chocolate, wasn’t it?”
He laughed. “Keep that humor in the days to come. And remember. Your Gift is not your power. Your heart is.”
My hand slipped into his. The First One pulled me to standing, and the world around me dimmed, first the sky, then the grass. Only the flowers in rainbow hues remained, a soft glow in growing grayness. Stone gray. Kyer gray.
I opened my eyes to rainbows dancing on the stone ceiling, shimmering on the walls. They covered the moss-green quilt that I’d grown fond of. My bed. My room.
My home.
Merram sat in a chair beside the bed. Brown streaked his white hair now instead of the other way around. His face held more lines than before, but they softened as he smiled. “Welcome back. How do you feel?”
At his words, sleep lost its hold. Pain pulsed through my body: dull, almost as if it wasn’t sure it wanted to bother. Judging by the thick, tingling sensation on my tongue, someone had poured powerful potions down my throat.
Still. “Like a dragon slammed me into a wall.”
He chuckled. “For a moment we thought we lost you. I have a very upset Seneschal, by the way, who will be overjoyed to learn you’re awake.”
“He’s healed?” I asked. I knew I’d saved his life, but— “I didn’t damage him or miss anything?”
“He is fine, though the healers had… a bit to correct,” Merram said. He studied my face. “You will have to tell me how you managed a healing spell after defeating my greatest enemy.”
I opened my mouth to tell him about the gems, but he held up a hand.
“First, I owe you a thousand explanations, and
