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 

foot or so away. and he slowly moved to stand back up. His face was

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

you forgetting who originally trained you? This is my fight

different. Your ability doesn‘t work on her, remember? And your fighting skills are not even why I‘m objecting. You need

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

listen to me, goddammit!” I yelled, causing my

I needed to get the

he said, taking another

to

“. Cai, no!” 

was helpless

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

he was even doing a great job.

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

this was a battle that fate had already decided.

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I UNIUNURUTW 

me, acting as a reminder that my condition was still

I hissed in frustration, cursing my

fought against Thea harder, been better, then there would have been no

I hadn‘t been so weak.

probably thinking that Cai

knew better.

desperately. “He‘s going to

to say

pain, and went in to back up Cai. I hadn‘t needed to specify

I was sending him in there, at the risk of more injury to himself or even his life.

despicable mate

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

striking at her as they worked together as a team. 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

I was... useless. 

came to me. One I had been

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

Aleric 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

yelled, stepping in Thea‘s path to protect him.

his dagger and prevented her from being able to finish Aleric

with that, a horrific realisation came to me....

couldn‘t do this

and Aleric, all the while keeping Thea‘s

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for why we should

going to die. We

now hurt, what if I‘d now changed fate to include his death as well? What if Aleric was the one who was meant to finish her off originally, possibly after an opening Cai‘s

This was my fault.‘

started to shake with fear, feeling as

We‘d failed. This was

this loss and suffering... for

Unless.... 

I did

revenge. It wasn‘t for love or friendship, nor to finally live a life I’d been deprived of the first

one and only true mission had

to kill

things mattered. There was only one title

my purpose. My only reason for

was so scared of something I‘d prepared myself