Path to Destiny

Chapter 54

Chapter 54

"You killed her," Eden's voice was dull with disbelief. In my mind's eye, I saw her from above, kneeling over my body. It was a shock to see myself, dressed in a tunic and trousers with runes covering my skin. The runes now faded, their purpose had expired long ago when the shadows took me.

I couldn't get any closer than just above Eden's head, but I could see the black that covered my formerly blue eyes, wide and lifeless. My blonde hair was streaked with black, stained from either dirt or darkness.

I knew I should have felt horror, felt something except for the apathy that entranced me. Something except for the satisfaction that entered me when I saw myself.

"This is what you deserve."

The words struck me with a single, powerful move. They emanated from Mikkel -- from me. His presence overwhelmed me, and I felt the world seethe with his presence as it overtook me.

***

Mikkel

I had waited for hundreds of years to bring Eden to her knees.

Now it was done. Now she knelt before me, tears in her eyes over her dead Harbinger.

The first pawn I brought down had been that cursed Ashadian prince who headed the rebellion against his father. The second? Therin, that foolish Drakain. The third... Ah, that damnable Earth Harbinger who continually defied me. And of course there were others.

I had cursed the sky, cursed the essence of this world to bring Eden to her knees...

And now, the world resided in my palm.

I stepped back from the scene, back from the laikana, Elemental, and dead Harbinger. I focused my energy on Balua, where I'd scattered a piece of my power, a pawn, an access point of darkness.

I smiled when I saw the army of the Baluan queen through the eyes of her precious Tia'in leader. Just like I asked, Dagra encouraged Alika to exact vengeance on the Drushite queen for murdering the king. She'd alerted me to the appearance of the Harbingers, as well.

The two Harbingers of Fire and Wind were locked in a tower in the uppermost parts of the castle. The Wind Harbinger in particular incited within me an anger I could not fathom. He was indeed Zephyr's pet, and he played the part -- that damn diplomacy, him urging the Baluan queen to back down, to form peace treaties instead of making war.

But Alika trusted Dagra far too much. And just enough. My fourth pawn was exceptional in how she flooded the queen with assurances of victory, of vengeance, of redemption.

I felt a smile curl along the corners of Dagra's mouth -- she and I harbored the same pleasure as we watched the Baluan soldiers mounted on horses. They'd taken the subterranean passageways beneath the Askareven mountains. They also joined forces with my sand bandits. They would reach Drush in a mere hour.

I stepped back from Dagra and moved to the fifth pawn. Queen Jada Harari stood in opulent golden armor atop a throne. I felt her surprise when I arrived. She was more cognizant of my presence than the others had been. In fact, she relished in the duties I assigned her.

I'd let her have her fun, of course. But she'd learned her lesson when she went after that priest boy. Baruch was unmovable, as I'd told her, and nothing to be a pawn, but her sixteen years drew no wisdom, and Baruch, in his resistance to her advances, gave her the terrible burn she so hated.

That, of course, fueled all the hatred I needed. Assassinating her mother, controlling the slavery black market. All of it.

My pawn smiled on her throne and whispered, "Look at what I have accomplished, Master."