Page 75 of Destinies of Diamond
She went white and leaned against the wall, clutching her chest, as if she was suffocating. “What? No! You can’t… You shouldn’t… Don’t touch that.”
“Please, Mother. Just tell me. I can’t live like this. And I’m so scared. I don’t feel well.” I swallowed and allowed myself to show my anguish. “The doctors at the base are saying something about my body is making my pregnancy consume me. I don’t know what’s happening.”
Just like I had hoped, my mother let out a broken sob and collapsed. “Oh, Gaia. This is all my fault. It didn’t occur to me…”
I should’ve probably gotten up and reassured her, but I didn’t have the energy. There was only so much I was willing to lie and pretend. I’d been honest when I’d told her I was scared, but I didn’t think I could ever explain how scared I’d been during those awful moments when I’d thought I’d lose the baby.
After what seemed like forever, my mother composed herself. “Selene, the truth is you were born as part of an experiment. The Grand Judiciary wanted a way to bring back the original chimera, the most powerful creature and the supposed leader of those beasts. They owned two of its souls, but not the third, and they thought a flesh and blood vessel would help. Since I was High Priestess, they believed I was ideal as the mother. Your father and I provided the biological material, but honestly, I’m not sure what else was done to ensure you were created. The egg was fertilized in a lab before it was implanted inside me.
“When they learned you were a woman, and an Unblessed at that, The Grand Judiciary lost interest in you. But then… I think someone found out about the project. All those extremist groups being targeted—they were after you and the other children created.
“And then, that Sphinx took you. I hoped that it was an anomaly, that your power was the only side-effect left behind by the experiments. But it wasn’t. When it became obvious that you had Gaia’s Gift too, I knew they’d succeeded.”
“And let me guess, it was a problem, because I had my own mind and I had support from Brendan and the others.”
My mother nodded. “You were a target. And to make matters worse, that creature had to go and breed you. Like you were an animal. I’m so sorry, Selene, but they… They would have killed you. I didn’t want to hurt you or your child, but I had to do it.”
I believed her, but it changed nothing. I’d gotten my answers, but I still hadn’t fulfilled my goal.
“Mother, why did the Centaurs leave? I can’t imagine they suddenly decided to stop destroying New Washington. Did they simply go once they realized I wasn’t here?”
“No, my child. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why they left. They just… vanished.”
I didn’t buy that for a second. Chimeras didn’t vanish for random reasons. But my mother had been honest about what she’d tried to do to me and Nestor. Would she really lie now?
No, I couldn’t let myself get distracted this way. I’d come here for a reason, and it wasn’t just because I wanted to hear the truth from my mother’s own mouth. There was power hidden below us. The temples of Gaia weren’t built randomly. They were connected to Terra’s core and to each other. It wasn’t an organized network, not in the sense the people in Tartarus City could interpret, but it was there and it formed the basis of our true civilization.
“Mother, take me to the temple’s core. I think it’s high time we faced all the truths you’ve been hiding, don’t you agree?”
Impossibly, she paled even further. “No, Selene. You can’t.”
“And why is that? I’m not pregnant anymore. You and people like you have taken everything from me. I need to fulfill my goal. That’s the last thing I have left.”
That couldn’t have been further from the truth, but on some level, maybe I did believe it, because the ground itself responded to my anguish. As a hole opened up in the middle of the room, my mother cried out in a panic. “No! No, please, no. Don’t do this, Selene. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
“The First Chimera Project, you mean? Like you said, I’m already a part of it.”
Without another word, I jumped down the hole. It wasn’t very deep and I easily landed on my feet. What I found inside surprised me—and yet, it didn’t.
Rows of massive, glowing diamonds stood before me, all of them emanating crimson power. An aura of tachyons floated around each diamond, making their surface very difficult to see through.
But despite the high level of opacity, I could distinguish enough to make me understand the second part of the story—what my mother had refused to tell me. In each and every diamond, there was a person.
“Tartarus magic must come from somewhere,” my mother whispered. At one point, she’d joined me in the cavern, although I hadn’t heard her move. “It’s always the power of souls that feeds it.”
“Just like the deaths of the people in Gaia’s Haven fed the chimeras, right?”
“Yes. But it’s different. These people were all chosen as a punishment for their crimes.”
I wondered if that was what always happened to the terrorist groups The Grand Judiciary captured. Were those women who’d tried to take Sphinx here? I wanted to ask, but decided other things were more important.
Beyond the diamonds, there was a massive green sphere. I easily recognized it as aligned to Gaia’s power. I shouldn’t have been afraid, but for some reason, the sight made me apprehensive.
I knew now that I was far more than an Unblessed and I was ready to face that. But a small part of me wished I’d listened to the others and found another way, preferably without having to return here.
But there was no turning back. Maybe there never had been, and it had been my destiny to face this from the very beginning.
Taking a deep breath, I brushed my fingers over the green sphere. The result was almost anticlimactic. I blinked and a woman popped up in front of me. She wasn’t wearing anything, but at the same time, she wasn’t showing any skin. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but gods could break and bend reality to their whims. This was nothing.
