Love and War (Book 1)

Chapter 26

The night passed without a single incident. The next morning, however...

When Selina awoke, she was the only one in the tent she shared with Roselyn. Fear gripped at her heart as she went through different scenarios for what might have happened.

Brandon had kept tabs on Selina's thoughts during the night, and when he saw the scenarios she was going through, he decided to go say good morning.

"Morning Lina." Brandon poked his head through the tent's flap.

"Oh, good I'm not alone."

"Why would you think you're alone?"

"Everyone was gone..."

"Roselyn went hunting, and as far as I know, everyone else is still in Angora."

"Oh."

"Did you have any more visions by any chance?"

"N-no...I don't think so.." Pain shot through her wrist, and she saw Eris, impaling Roselyn with a sword, shooting Allan with a beam of magic, and snapping both Liam's and Alice's necks. In the new vision, Brandon had bat wings, solid black eyes, and a maniacal smile on his face as he watched his friends suffer.

"Lina? You okay?"

"Yea...yeah, I'm fine... why wouldn't I be okay? It's not like I just saw an alter ego of one of my closest friends enjoying the suffering of my other friends...No, nothing like that at all..." Selina kind of laughed as she responded. "Why?"

She stood up, left the tent, and went to the fire to make a cup of tea.

"I don't get it...what does she get from torturing me with visions like these?" she thought to herself as she made the tea. Brandon saw the vision in Selina's head and face palmed.

"She was trying to show you what she made me."

"So... you enjoyed hurting people?"

"No. I never enjoyed hurting anyone. Even the thought of hurting someone is revolting to me now."

"I told you basically everything about me....why would you not tell me about that? Do...do you not trust me?"

"No no...I didn't want you to think of me as that monster. I have tried so hard to get away from that." Selina looked up into his red eyes, and saw that he was telling the truth.

"I never liked watching people suffer, or hurting or killing people. My mother knew this so she tried to make me like these things by force. I couldn't remember what happened for a small period in my life, as if someone went over it and erased it. But one person told me what happened. How my own mother turned me into a person with no emotions and the hunger to kill. That was the me you saw. A broken, emotionless person that was manipulated by their mother to be like that. But don't worry, I won't turn back into that ever. My celestial powers block out any manipulative spells people try to cast on me...including my mother's. That leaves only my true self. The one that cares immensely for his friends and family and would never kill or hurt anyone. And I will stay like that forever".

Brandon sat down on the tent floor.
"I have Roselyn to thank for that," Brandon said quietly

"She helped me become my true self again. Well, we both helped each other become our true selves again. That's why we were so close back then. We basically brought each other back from the darkness and back into the light. If it wasn't for her, I don't know if I would be the same person I am today. I owe her my life".

Selina smiled at what Brandon said. She now understood why Brandon and Roselyn cared so much for each other now.

"You still should have told me." She handed him a cup of tea and sat next to him. "I don't know if you can tell, but I...don't do well with threats. Empty or not." She took a sip from her tea cup. They then heard a whispered voice.