Inevitable Fate

" I know what the Faery King wants."

Wara stilled and turned to look at the person speaking but, she found no one there.

Then she looked down and found a shadow of something that was not there. It basically was shapeless around the edges but still looked human. It was everything except natural.

She frowned and swatted the air a few times but still, she felt nothing. She looked up and found every single person except Yhra had left the tent.

It was strange and then she asked.

"Who... No, what are you?" The shadow smiled, a real smile which showed white teeth where the mouth would be and opened it eyes to reveal two small dots of white flame. Then it spoke.

"Do you want to know what the Faery King wants or not?" It sounded like if it was up to it, it would not tell her.

"I have been watching you Wara, all of you. I would not have chosen to tell you what the King wants and why but I know if you do not have an anchor, you will loose your sanity."

The words of the shadow struck something in Wara that made her shiver. "What does he want?" She asked in defeat.

"You." It was a simple word, with a lot of meaning.

Wara staggered back and held onto Yhra for support. She could not comprehend what the shadow had told her. The Faery King wanted...her?

Hold on...

"That simply makes no sense! If he wanted me, why had he not attacked me?"

The shadow remained silent for a while. Yhra gripped Wara's hand, a strange expression on her face like she was fighting something.

"If you needed someone urgently but knew they would never agree and you found out what could easily force them, my question is, would you waste time convincing them or force them to agree?"

The shadow had tossed a question to Wara and by the grin on its flat face and the troubled expression on her face, they both knew what her answer would be.

"Wh.. what does he want from me?" Yhra squeezed Wara's arm even tighter, frowning in pain.

"He is searching for a Dîva. Some stupid prophecy made him believe only one can help him. Due to some strange man named Felix who gave him some information, he now believes it is you. Another reason is your son is also important but even I have no clue."

The shadow sighed, as if it also did not like the fact that Zola was in the King's hands.

"If I were you, I'd go to the Faery King as quickly as I could, get your son back and refuse whatever condition he gave you."

Wara nodded and then winced when Yhra's nails dug into her arm.

"What has gotten into y-" she began to question and paused when she saw Yhra's pale face. She had not known the woman for more than a day but she had come to respect her.

"What is the matter?" Yhra looked like something was slowly draining the life out of her.

"I- I cannot breathe!" She wheezed, clutching onto her chest and dug her nails even deeper into Wara's arm.

The shadow sighed which caught Wara's attention and suddenly after a blink, became as if it was never there.

Wara shook her head. She had no time to ponder on the strange thing when Yhra was afflicted by something unknown but strangely again, she looked like she was recovering from whatever was disturbing her.

After a while, she released Wara from her grip and grimaced when she saw how deep her nails had sunk. "I apologise." She said hoarsely, shifting away in embarassment.

Wara did not reply, instead she stared at the shadow.

"What are the chances?" She whispered but Yhra caught it.

"What?"

"That shadow did not tell us everything. I am absolutely sure it lied about a few things. It knows exactly what the King wants with Zola and I have a feeling it is connected to the song of death."

Yhra was confused but Wara was not yet done.

"What even strikes this whole thing as odd is that your friends knew exactly what it was and seemed to disappear without warning. Even the witch doctor had sensed something off and disappeared right before the shadow appeared." Wara immediately looked at the entrance of the tent with a dark expression.

"Your friends have some explaining to do."

***

Sica immediately ran out of the tent, Nak right beside him.

After they were sure they had run quite some distance, they paused, panting.

"Why is she back?" Nak hissed, glaring at Sica. "You said she would never come back!"

Sica stared at the tent with a terrified expression. "I don't know! Where is Fjammi?"

At that question, the boy popped up behind them with a smile on his face. "She is back! She came back for me!"

Nak's expression turned grimmer and he turned to Sica, ignoring the jubilating boy. "Should we not warn Yhra about staying near her shadow?"

Sica shook his head. "We cannot go back for now, or we will also get affected. I am sure that one will figure out something."

They both knew something was extremely odd about Wara.

First, she is immune to alot of things and could easily stop Sica as a bloodsucker, then she opened a vortex to who-knew-where and sent swarms of beasts inside and now her son is being held captive by the Faery King.

They already knew it was not the son the King wanted but her.

"What are the odds history repeats itself?" Nak asked, staring at the sky that was growing dark.

Sica stared up too, sighing tiredly. "Inevitable."