Chapter 18: The Second Half of the Prophecy

I came to sometime a little later that day, not knowing how much time had passed at first; as I opened my eyes, and looked around me, I realized that I was now quite dry; almost as if there never had been an ocean-- and then I remembered that I had actually made it across. I smiled, and stood on two shaking legs, And now to find the prophecy, I decided, and immediately fell upon my hands and knees once again-- against my will. I suddenly wondered if someone was trying to stop me, but then a familiar voice began whispering instructions inside my mind, as if it were my own conscience.

Dig until you find it-- It's here.

I nodded in agreement to the disembodied voice, and felt my fingers sinking into the warm and moist sand, Deeper, the voice whispered, Deeper… My fingers sunk deeper and deeper into the sand upon the command, until they suddenly struck something solid.

I gasped in astonishment at how little time it had taken for me to find the stone, and quickly went to pull it out; to my surprise, it easily lifted from out of the hole I had made, and I immediately began to read what it had written upon it-- to my surprise, once again, the second half of the stone on which the prophecy had been written all those years ago was blank, "Fuck," I whispered, turning it over, only to find the second side blank as well.

It is well protected by magic, the voice continued after a long silence, The shaska do not want you to know what it says: if you believe enough in it, the words will reappear.

"How can I do--" I began, but I stopped myself, and stared at the blank face of the stone, Reveal yourself, I thought, Show me what I do not yet know… And the words appeared again. I gasped in surprise, and read them.

-- THE BATTLE BETWEEN FAERIE AND SHASKA WILL REACH AN ALL-TIME HIGH, AND MORE WORLDS WILL BE ENDANGERED-- SOME WILL DIE AS WELL… BUT THERE IS HOPE, FOR A SECOND DAUGHTER WILL BE BORN OF THE FIRST, AND ONLY SHE WILL BE ABLE TO ULTIMATELY DECIDE THE FATES OF US ALL, FOR SHE WILL BE BORN OF TWO WORLDS, AND WILL BE MORE POWERFUL THAN THEM ALL.

"My God," I whispered, and I immediately let it fall back into the hole, "My God, my God, my God."

It was frightening. Absolutely frightening. Everything that I had believed for the last three years had to be completely reshaped now. This changed everything. Absolutely everything. My child-- my daughter; she was the one. She would be in so much danger after her birth. I screamed in the agony of thinking about it all-- my daughter. My own daughter would be in so much danger. She would be hunted for all her life-- just like an animal.

Elaine's words from many days earlier echoed in my mind: 'Maybe that's what they want you to do.' This, of course, had been in reference to my then decision to have an abortion… So, it was true. The shaska knew about this, and they wanted to prevent it from happening. Taking Matthew away from me had been a mere lure to bring me here; right in their mercy. I had to be strong now, more than ever-- now that I knew this, and, inevitably, this would happen to her-- she would be dragged into these worlds against her will, and be forced to fight for something that she didn't really understand-- just as I had been.

Tears were now streaming down my cheeks, and I had no control over them. I hated it. I hated everything about my life. Everything had ended up leading to this; the fact that I would not be able to complete the circle, which made Travis's message written in blood completely true. I would try to complete the circle, but only my daughter would be able to-- and what if she failed? What if she wasn't strong enough as expected? What then? There would be no hope of any kind, and everything would be decided by the shaska. A grim future-- a nonexistent future.

My tears came out in harsh sharp cries that shook my shoulders violently with each sob. I sounded crazy-- mad. And that's how I now felt. I cried, and cried; trying to let everything out, and yet it wouldn't come. I was defenseless now; if I chose to abort my daughter, she would be safe-- yes, but that would mean that the battle would never end, and while if I kept her-- if the prophecy were indeed correct, I would have to live in constant fear until whatever would happen would happen. I would never live in peace, as I had previously imagined living out the remainder of my adult years with Matthew. We would have to fear for our daughter's life all day and all night. It would drive us mad-- how would we live?

Why must it be like this? I thought, angrily, as I stood up, Why can't it have said that I would ultimately finish it-- why did it have to change everything?

The sun was now a harsh force. I felt the back of my neck beginning to burn. I looked around me, and found rocky cliffs at the edge of the sand. I was unsure where I was expected to go now-- as always. I wiped the warm tears from off of my cheeks with a sleeve, just as I felt a shadow shielding me from the sun.

As I turned to face the new presence, it spoke, "We need to get out of here. Fast. We're running out of time."