Merritts of Writing 3

Chapter 23

Carter

For my entire life who I could potentially be had been shrouded in secrecy. Being finally confronted with the harsh reality that my destiny was close at hand had me suddenly furious. I was too young. Unprepared.

Why had fate taken my family away from me? Could I bear this burden on my shoulders alone? Could I push my fears aside and be strong enough?

That was my true dilemma. I must become the man I needed to be. Everything depended upon it. But could I?

A WHILE LATER

I knew I should return to camp. To help the others prepare for the coming darkness. Only I couldn’t, not yet.

The walk had cleared my mind and dissipated the fury within me. What it hadn’t done was give me a clear path forward.

There were so many aspects of my family’s history that my mother and father hadn’t revealed to me. I hadn’t turned fourteen yet, when they died, and besides there hadn’t been the need since it had been Parkland’s destiny to carry on what our mother had passed to us and not my own.

That is until he had died, along with my other older brother Titus. Now the destiny that would have been theirs had become mine.

The Life Sage was dying.

The guiding force of the Sapphyre Wings people. My people. The force that governs our lives and rebirth was itself on the verge of being reborn.

But why did The Life Sage’s death mean The Oracle of Death must die as well? The two were not synonymous.

Although I knew theoretically The Oracle of Death would potentially die within my lifetime, I had been ignoring the signs. Despite Jake’s constant insistence, I’d been ignoring everything for far too long.

And what of Mikkel, Emmalee’s father? I’d made a vow the day the canisters fell. A vow to the dead and I’ve done everything in my power, including to kill, in order not to break it.

Was Mylane right that Mikkel had initiated the death process? Was that why Jake had lead me back to his father so many years after the canisters had fallen? Had Mikkel been the key I’d needed to find all along?