Page 137 of The Scars Within
It was like the ground beneath me crumbled, everything collapsing in an instant. The one person I thought would never harm me—who had saved me—now stood above me, her eyes burning with nothing but hatred.
Aunt Cora took me in when I was only eight after my mother passed away. She had shown me how to survive, taught me how to tend the garden and earn enough coin to keep food on the table. She had loved me unconditionally, no matter the shadows of my past. She didn’t see me as unworthy when my father abandoned us. She never blamed me for his mistakes or saw me as the discarded child my biological mother left behind.
But now, as I lay before her, her gaze full of malice, it felt like all of that love had been a lie.
“What do you want from me?” My voice cracked, but I forced it to remain steady, even as my heart raced.
“I want what is mine, child,” she seethed, her voice dripping with contempt.
My lip trembled as I struggled to comprehend. “I don’t understand.”
Cora clicked her tongue in disdain, holding up a small gemstone and examining it with cold satisfaction. “You stupid, stupid girl. I will become the Crimson Wraith. I will be the key to fusing the Mareki back into one. I just need the final element–”
I felt my fire element starting to ignite in my veins, and I blasted heatless flames in Cora’s face to distract her as I leapt from the altar. I frantically looked around. I was standing between two of the pillars with my back to the cliff’s edge. Shayde was lying unconscious on the ground by Cora’s feet. My flames had already turned into smoke. Cora was coughing and trying to wave her arms to release the smoke around her.
Then, when she spotted me, she screamed and threw out her arm. I was knocked back a few feet and fell to my knees. The heels of my boots slid over the edge, and I dug my fingers into the dirt for support. I quickly climbed my way away from the cliff and channeled a strong gust of wind mentally. It sent Cora flying backward and flipping through the air.
I ran towards her, trying to get as far away as possible from the cliff.
She landed on all fours, and her expression twisted into a scowl. Vines began to sprout from the ground, coiling around my ankles and pulling me back down.
She stood. “As I was saying,” she tsked with a bitter edge to her voice, “you tried to beat me to it, channeling two elements into one soul. I spelled the little plant of yours to alert me when you channeled an element.” She giggled and waved her hands in the air. “Clever, I know. Although, you had to make it obvious to the entire college by running out into the pit. If I were you, I would’ve worked on channeling a more subtle element. But you are too late! I already have three. I just need the final one.”
I strained against the vines wrapping tightly around my arms and legs, but they held me firmly in place. “What the hell are you saying, Cora? Are you working with Tyria?” I screamed, desperation cutting through my voice.
With a gleam of triumph, she held up the small gemstone. “I’ve been a Tyrian spy for longer than you’ve been alive. This is a piece of the Mareki, one of the five shards that broke free when Zervos shattered the Gem. He may not have survived the battle, but he managed to hide this fragment where Tyria could eventually find it. WhereI found it. This, my dear niece, is how the past will unfold anew and create the first archmage since the Battle for Mareki.”
She paused, savoring the moment, twirling the gemstone with a dramatic flourish.
“You possess the fire element, and I want it. This stone will help me take what is rightfully mine.”
The realization hit me like a cold wave. If the Crimson Wraith is actually an archmage, that means that the wraith can channel all four elements. The possibility goes against Kalluri’s Doctrine of Elemental Magic, which states that one must not hide the possession of an element. Mageia set their rules in order to protect our lands from an archmage rising again. Cora is already an earth elemental. Meaning…
“You killed Hogboom and Reynoski,” I accused, my voice steady despite the fear. “You took their elements.”
Cora’s face twisted into a sinister smile, pure wickedness shining through. Then she laughed, a sound devoid of warmth. “Now you’re catching on,” she said, spreading her arms wide. “Luckily for me, the last element is the easiest to obtain. It comes from someone nobody will miss!” Her laughter echoed around us, chilling and dark. That hit me like a blow to the heart.
“Fuck you,” I spat.
She pretended to be wounded by my words. “It’s what you believe about yourself,” she sneered. “I’m just saying it out loud. You werediscarded not once but twice. Oh, and then a third time by the incompetent Wylder boy! That was just a bonus. It’s a shame you escaped the shed. My men were supposed to keep you there until I channeled all four elements. Once word got out of the seer’s prophecy during your birth, I knew that you were of some importance. Maybe not a lot, of course, but something about you was crucial to mending the Mareki.” She shrugged. “Harlow was on the run with you. And once my men spotted her squatting in Dorlvar, thanks to her annoying dragon not staying far enough away, I ventured to the town and befriended your mother.”
She tossed the gemstone from hand to hand nonchalantly. “She knew I was traveling, and I left her with our address just in case she needed a safe house in Caydean. But before I left you two in Dorlvar, I secretly plucked a strand of Harlow’s hair.” I couldn’t help but fume as I watched Cora’s lips curve into a smile. She set all of this up from the beginning, using my birth mother as a stepping stone to getting whatever the hell it is that she wants. “The elemental storm erupted right on schedule, and Finian’s hawk was able to get close enough to Lakota to drop the oblivion dust into his nostrils. Their bond snapped instantly, and Lakota flew away without any knowledge or recollection of why he was there. My plan worked. But not too well. Harlow left you in our stables, as I had suggested to her, but Lily beat me to the punch. She found you before I was able to claim you for myself.”
She pointed at me, “I just needed you to stay put! Stay where I could easily find you once I became an archmage. And then it would have all been so easy. As I watched you grow up happily with my sister, I cast a spell to sicken Lily with a fever. Then, I was offered the job at Mageia, which was the perfect way to stay close to my enemies. And I could’ve taken you with me, Scarlet.” She laughed, and I flinched. “I didn’t have to abandon you. You didn’t have to live your life with no one to love you.” I swallowed hard as she slowly circled me, her voice laced with venom. “I wanted you to be weak and miserable. You’d be easier to control that way. But every time I knocked you down, you just kept–fucking– fighting! I even spelled the war campaign map to lessen your elements. But you still escaped my fucking men!”
Anger surged through me, igniting the crackle of flames in my veins. I channeled fire through my skin, turning the vines to ash. The moment I did, Lakota’s voice pierced through my mind.
“I’m almost there!”
Cora’s eyes widened in surprise as she faced me. With a swift motion, she doused my flames with water stolen from Professor Hogboom. She flicked her finger, rolling Shayde closer to the cliff.
“No!” I screamed as I ran towards him.
Her plan to distract me worked. She sent me flying through the air. I rolled until my back hit one of the pillars.
“Oops,” she said. “Oh, I need one more thing from you. Just a little bit of knowledge,” she sang as she danced on her toes. “Where is the entrance to the Eternal Tomb? I know that you have found it. Tell me, and I won’t harm the boy,” she looked over at Shayde.
Balancing myself on my shoulder, I thrust both hands forward, sending a powerful gust of air that knocked her flat on her back ten feet away. Cora hit the ground with a loud thud. She gasped for breath, stunned by the force.
