Page 108 of The Starlight Savior

Ameris barked out a laugh, voice straining against her light. “Can’t even address your queen correctly? You have no right using Sydera’s magic like this. For Mara of all deities. She is the embodiment of greed—”

“Don’t speak of my goddess!” Cecilia barked. Clenching her fist, she tightened the rope of light around Ameris’s neck. “I won’t be leaving without my sisters. I’ll stop anyone who gets in my way.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Saige was frozen before the two wielders. Helpless. This had to be the last queen who had written the very text she was stuck in, her voice soothing and familiar.

Stumbling back, Saige watched as Queen Ameris’s hand slashed through the tendrils of light. Shadows fell all around them, revealing witches surrounding Cecilia. Each of them had their hands outstretched, veins alight, ready to attack.

“Stand down. You can still redeem yourself. You don’t have to do this. The Mother Goddess will forgi—”

“I do not follow you,” Cecilia hissed. “I follow my king! My Goddess! I’ve been promised power and land. With the wards broken down, we can take anything. You can have more than just this island. Isn’t that what you all want?” She outstretched her hands, gazing at each of her sisters. “Opela has damned us to isolation for years. But what if we were accepted?”

Queen Ameris’s voice was soft with sadness. “No. That’s not what we want.”

With a wave of her hand, the witches stepped forward. The world exploded with light and pain. Tendrils of starlight penetrated Cecilia. Her hands burst out, but they couldn’t stop her sisters as her body flew from the island and tumbled into the shock of cold water.

Saige stumbled forward, hands outstretched toward the queen.

But her surroundings changed once again, back to the stone room with King Tyrus on his throne and Cecilia’s head bowed.

“I’ve failed, my lord. We need the starlight-wielders for their magic, and I’ve failed.”

“You know what must be done then,” the king said coolly.

The room blurred as Queen Ameris’s voice returned in her head.

“Sydera was foolish to not uphold strong wards on her islands. She naively assumed that each of her children would be loyal. Only starlight-wielders could pull the tides back to allow safe crossing. But Cecilia was no longer a child of the stars. She wanted to be Queen of the Waters, just as Mara once desired. King Tyrus constructed the strongest of his troops to follow Cecilia to Astra Islands, with plans to cross the sea and march on my land.”

Saige stood on Sydera’s island alongside the fifty or so witches prepared for battle. The witches were adorned in white and gold-trimmed armor. Some held blades, starlight glimmering upon the metal. The sea had been pushed back once again as hundreds of water-wielders in their scaly outfits marched forward, stomping over everything in sight.

The battle was a blur. Saige could do nothing but watch as Cecilia led the Tiranos army. But starlight witches were known for their power, and it was evident in every move. Their attacks were smooth and coordinated. The witches glowed, sending burning beams towards the water-wielders. Some forged tendrils of light into magical whips.

Yet they were outnumbered.

Cecilia didn’t flinch as each of her sisters were inevitably brought to their knees. Throats cut, their blood was collected in glass vials.

Saige wanted to scream for them to keep fighting. To live to see another day.

But history had already written itself.

Their gaze bored into Cecilia’s, mouths moving quickly, words flowing under their breath. Saige wondered if they were praying or cursing her.

When the witches were drained and their bodies strewn throughout, Cecilia looked around. “Where is she?” she snarled.

“We searched everywhere. Queen Ameris is gone.”

“Cecilia returned with hundreds of vials of blood from the strongest wielders of Opela. Even their life force glimmered with starlight. Tyrus decided on a part of Opela where Tiranos’s borders touched Brevil and Etrane, the planned breaking landing on the next eclipse. Unique movements in the moon and sun were often the strongest days for magic.”

Saige stood across a river, gazing out at the crowd of wielders. The sun and moon overlapped one another, descending the land into darkness. Across the river, she could see the peaks of the Redolf Mountains. Silva’s forest, brimming with magic and power, edged the borders of the kingdoms.

Cecilia raised her hand, cutting her palm. Blood dripped from her wound, mixing with the vials of blood poured along the riverside. Saige was helpless as she watched Cecilia’s body burst with starlight and power. The ground shook below her, sending all to the ground.

“Cecilia had expected it to go smoothly,” the voice continued. “This moment, with all the blood of almost every living starlight-wielder, was the most powerful Cecilia had ever felt. Her intentions blasted into the wards, demanding for them to break down. To obey their new master.”

Cecilia’s skin was drained of all color. “I-It’s done,” she murmured, turning her head to meet King Tyrus’s gaze. He walked towards her with a vicious smile. “I-I need a healer. I’m too close to burnout.”

King Tyrus shook his head. “No healer will be coming for you. Didn’t you remember what would happen if you didn’t recruit your sisters? The task would be all on you. Your existence, dedicated to Mara.”