A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter One Hundred & TWO 

“Aria?” 

I could remember it so clearly now. 

The way Cai had feebly tried to cover the wound on his neck, bleeding profusely as the ground simply absorbed it. I‘d grabbed his hand and cried into it, stroking his hair as he died. As the light in his golden eyes slowly faded. 

And then there was Aleric as his wolf, walking away from his body with blood around his mouth. It wasn‘t because he attacked him. No, it was because he was giving us privacy. A chance to say goodbye. Naturally, the blood would have been Thea‘s from when Aleric bit her. 

So then, what even happened to her? 

In this vision, does she finally perish for good? Or... or does she merely escape? 

...Is there a way to avoid his death and still win? 

Confliction swirled around me inside, making me want to throw up. In this vision, I‘d seen a world where Thea was absent. A battlefield gone peaceful with her presence now silenced. Was it worth taking the chance that Cai‘s sacrifice might mean her death? 

Had I seen this from the beginning as a warning? A warning that he would need to die in order for us to succeed? Perhaps this had been a way for the universe to show pity on me. Trying to tell me that I should not get too attached after watching us become friends. 

Not that it mattered now. It was far too late for that. 

How cruel that I should be asked to make this choice. 

...And how stupid of fate to let me of all people decide. 

I grabbed Cai‘s shirt weakly and pulled his face down, forcing him to meet my gaze. Staring into the familiar eyes of someone I loved. 

I would not let him be sacrificed. Not ever. No matter the cost. 

“... Run,” I croaked out, my voice still sounding hoarse, 

It burned from where Thea‘s hand had constricted me, making it a little difficult to speak. But some things were more important than the discomfort. 

‘Things like saving Cai‘s life. 

“W–what?” he said, pulling back confused. “What do you mean? We‘re here to stop Thea. Your plan worked, Aria. I managed to sneak into the camp and get Aleric out. Now is our chance to finish her.” 

But I quickly shook my head, hoping he could tell from my expression just how serious I was. 

“Cai... You need to get out of here. You‘re not safe. If you stay here, then you‘re going to get kil–.” 

Suddenly, a loud yelping noise filled the air, cutting me off, and I sharply turned 10 see Aleric limping away from Thea. 

...His shoulder must have still been hurt from the human weapon. Something she would have known all too well. Judging from her position on the ground, it looked as though she‘d just kicked him exactly where his wound was. 

I watched as Thea then got back onto her feet, bleeding from the bite Aleric had given her earlier. 

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However, if It hurt her in any way, she didn‘t show it. In fact, the only thing she was displaying was anger. 

“Pathetic,” she huffed, “You‘re all so pathetic. Forfent now and save yourself the additional pain. Two of you are severely injured and the third is no match for me in combat. Don‘t drag this out any longer 

A growl then came from Aleric as he took a step forward, but his eyes betrayed just how much it hurt for him to do so Technically, we should have had the advantage here, now outnumbering her. This should have tipped in our favour to become an easy fight only 

...Only our injuries potentially made us liabilities. 

If we decided to fight, knowing we were vulnerable, we may end up only getting further hurt by trying to save one another 

with Aleric‘s shoulder and my own weakness from fighting Thea, we were both badly impaired Perhaps the safest thing to do here was retreat and wait to fight another day. If we left now, then at the very least i meant we could stop the vision from coming to fruition Bide our time until – 

*Clink 

and he slowly moved to stand back up. His face was completely serious as he looked at Thea, never taking his eyes off her. A coldness filling his

shock. I tried to quickly sit upright to grab him but was too slow, my fingertips just missing him. “You can‘t fight her. You

argued. “Or are you forgetting who originally trained you? This is my fight too. You‘re

Your ability doesn‘t work on her, remember? And your fighting skills are not even why I‘m objecting. You need to leave now or she‘s

took a step towards Thea instead, watching her movement carefully. Clearly, he didn‘t realise that I was referring to a vision and not just

yelled, causing my throat

weaker, and frantically tried to clear my airways I needed to get the words out. To explain to him before he recklessly dove into

he said, taking another

to

“. Cai, no!” 

I was helpless to

poised, and began his attack. A fight between two skilled warriors, albeit one was a

even doing a great

no surprise that Cai was an impressive fighter I‘d known it since the moment we first met and had even seen it for myself. Where Aleric was more strength–based, Cai did a much better job al unpredictable moves. And, for someone like Thea, it was a tremendous edge, especially since she couldn‘t get into his head

battle that fate had already decided.

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I UNIUNURUTW 

crawled a foot forward along the ground, moving on all lours as I weakly tried to re–join the battle, but the pain just ached through me, acting as a reminder that my condition was still very fragile. Too delicate t

I hissed in frustration, cursing

have realised sooner and adjusted the plan. Maybe if I‘d just fought against Thea harder, been better, then there would have been no need

I hadn‘t been

staring at me. He‘d been holding off joining the fight, probably thinking that Cai was capable enough to finish her off. After all, i‘d weakened her during our fight and Aleric had also bitten her.

knew better.

desperately.

to say anything

action, ignoring his pain, and went in to back up Cai. I hadn‘t needed to specify why or how certain I

yet I was sending him in there, at the risk of more injury to

mate

horror as Cai and Aleric fought Thea, saw how she was still able to avoid their moves despite her condition. And as every second passed, she increasingly became more furious. Now it was a gamble as to whether that would work in our favour or whether she could harness it to her advantage. But this was a gamble that would have lethal consequences if miscalculated. I shuddered to think what she was capable of

Cai was acting as the main fighting force whilst Aleric played it safer, hanging back and calculating the right moments to lunge in, knowing he was limited by his injury. Yet despite their hard efforts, I was still stuck on the sidelines.

I was... useless. 

One I had been too frantic to consider earlier.

if Aleric‘s involvement wasn‘t enough? What if... what if the outcome wouldn‘t

yelped out again as Thea caught him mid–lunge, sending him flying backwards to the ground. I could see as blood was starting to trickle from where the skin must have split, reopening the wound the silver had originally made. An injury bad enough to keep him from getting immediately back up again.

in Thea‘s path to protect

quickly brought up his dagger and prevented her from being able to finish Aleric off, saving his life by just seconds.

that, a horrific

do

now protecting himself and Aleric, all the while keeping

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was afraid of. The reason for why we should

going to die. We all will.’

if Aleric was the one who was meant to finish her off originally, possibly after

was my fault.‘

shake with fear, feeling as a

We‘d failed.

pain, all the heartache...all this loss and suffering... for

Unless.... 

I did my

reason I‘d been brought back and it wasn‘t for redemption or revenge. It wasn‘t for love or friendship, nor to finally live a life I’d been deprived of

and only true mission had been

to kill

a wolf, nor just a girl. None of those things mattered. There was only

My only reason for

I was so scared of something I‘d prepared