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Siochain fios cumhacht. Suaimhneas fios sonas.

Ancient Gaelic, or what she’d come to recognize as the language of Shaye’s world, filtered through the air and sank into her mind.

“I-I don’t understand,” she whispered.

The ghostly figure’s head tilted, unblinking white orbs studying her until she wanted to recoil.

Then what she assumed was a hand with an elongated palm and five long, tapering appendages pressed against theside of her face. Pressed, because she felt the sensation of something tangible, solid, in the warmth that flooded her head.

“Who are you?” Moira was losing control over her thoughts. This strange creature silenced the screams and cries of other wispy figures floating around them. “Where am I?”

Safe.

She had no time to react to the English word in her mind before her body launched through the dense blackness.

Suddenly, a blast of light blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to breathe against the rush of air as her body sped into motion, the apparition’s hand never once leaving her face. Fear poured over her as hard and fast as the moving air. Her senses drowned in smells and sounds. She couldn’t fight the force of the air around her to clap her hands over her ears.

Like reaching the peak of a roller coaster, her body plateaued and a grunt escaped her lips. She kept her eyes squeezed shut and finally her ears.

Oscail do shuile.

The soothing sound of the apparition’s voice cut through all barriers she’d placed against her ears. The thing was inside her head. No escaping it. Instead, she tried to relax. She had no idea what the apparition was, but she trusted it when it said she was safe.

Oscail do shuile. Open your eyes.

Slowly, she peeled open her eyelids.

She tried to get her bearings, then realized exactly where she stood. No, floated.

Smacking a hand over her mouth, she gazed upon the Talaenian land from high above the ground. The village, like a child’s play village, far below. The clouds dark, dangerous, the taste of electricity in the air. Rain fell from the sky,leaving ribbons of smoke as it splattered over wood, leaves, rock. Not a single drop touched her skin or her clothes.

But it was the sight she beheld when she looked beyond the forest to her home that wrenched a scream from the pit of her soul.

The castle lay in ruins, sheared from the mountain. An enormous pile of rubble spread across the grounds. Where the gardens once stood lay a graveyard of rock and glinting pieces of marble and gold. Dust rose above the grounds, a hazy gray-brown that obscured moving figures.

Evil seeks reign in a world of peace. Destruction of that which is protected and blessed.

Tears stung her eyes, wetting her lashes until they began to fall. “There’s nothing left.” Moira twisted to face the entity, still nothing more than a rippling figure of insubstantial smoke. “Please tell me my family is safe. Shaye?”

Here.

Another hand-like appendage pressed to her chest. A fierce pulse of golden warmth surged through her, calming her panic, anxiety, and terror.

Energies combined will bring victory. Goddess-blessed, spirit-protected.

“Please tell me my family, my soul mate, are safe,” Moira begged.

Goddess-blessed, spirit-protected. Punishment shall not befall those who seek peace. We embrace them.

She narrowed her eyes on the apparition. “Who are you?”

The air around her shifted. When she looked at her feet, several more apparitions appeared, darting and dashing as they circled her. As with the one that continued to connect with her, she couldn’t make out more than a vague impression of what they were.

The soul of this land. The breath of life you feel aroundyou. The fruits of the ground and the warmth of the sun. We are as you are.

Searing heat burned through her skin where the apparition connected with her chest. She gasped, instinctively trying to grab its arm, wrist, something. Her fingers clawed as she shrieked, fingers going right through the hazy figure.

As quickly as the burning pain started, it stopped, leaving a strange electric energy that hummed wildly in her chest.