赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Ashleigh felt sick.

What Lily described… was horrendous and evil. How could anyone be so cruel?

“We have to save them,” Ashleigh demanded. “There has to be a way to cure them, to reverse what has been done to them….”

“Do you want to?” Lily asked. “Most of these people, they are… broken, disturbed.”

“No one deserves what you’ve described,” Ashleigh insisted.

Lily nodded.

“If you truly believe that, there is one way to save them,” she replied.

“What is it?” Ashleigh asked excitedly.

“Kill them.”

Ashleigh furrowed her brows. She swallowed, staring at Lily and waiting for her to say she was joking.

“That’s not….” Ashleigh stuttered when she realized that Lily was serious. “That is the exact opposite of saving them!”

“You have a very narrow view of salvation,” Lily replied.

“I’m sorry but killing someone is not saving them!”

“Ashleigh,” Lily sighed, “I don’t think you were listening. These wolves… are already dead. There is no saving them. But their souls, if you kill the body, will be freed. At least whatever is left of them will be reborn. But if you do nothing and let them live. Eventually, these stitched-together bodies will die. But only after they have consumed the entire soul, a life that will never be reborn.”

Ashleigh was quiet.

“So, Irina, she was tortured and driven mad by the Dark Queen,” Ashleigh said, “and then she tried to kill herself to be rid of the influence, only to end up possessed and consumed? And after all that, she won’t even be given a chance for another life?”

“No,” Lily replied sadly. “Irina was devoured by the Dark Queen. She will never have another chance.”

Ashleigh clenched her jaw.

“And what about the Dark Queen? When she is defeated, will she be reborn?”

Lily thought about the question for a moment before answering.

“She will.”

“That is unfair!” Ashleigh shouted. “She is eating people’s souls but gets a chance to try again while those people are just gone, forever?”

“The ley lines don’t care about fair or unfair,” Lily sighed.

“What about their mates?” Ashleigh asked. “What about the other half of their souls? The people that will be reborn and spend their lives waiting for that other person… but they’ll never come?”

“In Irina’s case, there won’t be anyone waiting,” Lily replied. “Gorn was her mate, and his soul was also consumed.”

“But what about everyone else this happens to? What about the wolves trapped inside of those creatures?”

Lily swallowed.

“In those cases, yes, the souls are already connected. Whether you find each other during your lifetime, you have only one mate. If they have been consumed, they will never be found again.”

Ashleigh took a deep breath. She thought of Myka and Peter. While she had never met Myka, from what she had been told by Axel, Peter was quite distraught about what was happening. If Myka wasn’t cured, his soul would eventually be consumed, and Peter, in this life or any other, would never find him again.

Her heart ached at the thought. There had to be some way to bring them back.

“No,” Lily whispered. “There isn’t.”

Ashleigh lowered her head. The only way to ensure that the people left would have a chance at another life, a chance to find happiness, was to kill them before they were devoured by the beast\'s magic.

There was a long silence between them. Ashleigh was thinking and wishing for another option. At the same time, Lily patiently waited for Ashleigh to process what she had already been told.

Lily let out a soft gasp. Ashleigh looked up to see her eyes wide and a pained expression.

“Lily? Are you all right?” she asked.

But Lily didn’t respond. Instead, she stared forward, her eyes glistening with tears while her expression held a sorrowful pain.

Ashleigh remembered what Lian had said. Lily must have been listening to someone’s final words. Whoever it was, at least they were able to be reborn.

Lily took a slow deep breath and closed her eyes, hugging herself tightly.

“Lily?” Ashleigh called to her

“I’ll be all right. Just give me another minute,” Lily replied quickly. “Please.”

Ashleigh nodded and stepped back, trying to give Lily the space she requested.

It was almost ten minutes before Lily’s mood seemed to ease. She took a deep, cleansing breath and then looked at Ashleigh.

“Spring has fallen,” Lily said softly, “I already told you that.”

Ashleigh nodded.

“But now, so has their mother.”

Ashleigh gasped.

“Talis?” she asked. “But we just saw her not long ago.”

“Not long for you,” Lily smiled. “Who knows how long it was for her.”

“What happened to her?” Ashleigh asked.

“It seems she expended her magic,” Lily replied. “As you saw with Lian, using their abilities in the world forces time on them.”

Ashleigh nodded, thinking of how different Lian had looked in just a few months.

“Talis aged rapidly, and then when her magic was almost entirely spent, she performed a miracle,” Lily smiled with deep sadness. “A miracle that used every last ounce of her.”

“What kind of miracle?” Ashleigh asked.

“It’s not for me to reveal,” Lily smiled. “But you’ll find out soon enough.”

Ashleigh looked at her with curious eyes but decided not to push further. There was a concern that was much more pressing in her mind.

“What does that mean for the others?” Ashleigh asked. “For Lian and Solana. Didn’t they need her to help maintain the magic inside the ley line? To keep the Goddess, your mom, or whatever, alive?”

Lily nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “Each provides the magic that keeps the environment safe and hidden. As well as what sustains my mother’s suspended animation.”

“Then what will happen?”

“I suppose the timer has been started.”

“What does that mean?” Ashleigh asked.

“My mother wanted to separate your world from direct access to the ley lines,” Lily began. “She knew how dangerous it was. She wanted to ensure there was no chance someone could gain access to the raw power.”

“Yea… I remember them saying something about that.”

“Right, but when she died, they freaked out,” Lily shrugged. “They didn’t let her go and didn’t do what she asked of them. So now, the power is at risk, and there is no choice. You will manually sever the open connections from this world to the ley lines. And they are going to… let go.”

“Let go?” Ashleigh asked.

Lily nodded.

“They’re going to allow nature to take its course for my mother and themselves.”

Ashleigh furrowed her brows, and then she gasped when she understood what was being said.

“They’re going to kill themselves?!” she shouted.

Lily chuckled.

“You make it sound much more dramatic than it is,” she said. “Solana, Lian, and Talis have lived in that pocket for millennia. They have watched time fold in on itself over and over.

Experiencing the same beautiful memories and heartbreaks as if they were only yesterday or as though yesterday was hundreds of years ago.

“Over the years, they have connected with the modern Lunas, offered aid and advice where they could without making too big an impact. But in all truth, their lives ended the day they built that place. They are tired, and they deserve a chance at something new.”

Ashleigh sighed. She couldn’t fathom living so long and lonely. Being away from loved ones, friends, and her pack.

“Things will be different,” Lily continued. “The Alphas and Lunas, they will find that their abilities, the magical charms they possess, will begin to fade. They will no longer be able to make sacred oaths. Your natural strength, extra sensory abilities… your wolf. These will remain as always.”

Ashleigh swallowed, feeling a weight in her stomach.

“What about the mate bond?” she asked.

Lily smiled.

“It will remain,” she said. “My mother weaved that bit into her magic because she wanted all of the wolves, these new creatures without a home or a family, to know that someone out there felt what they did.

Someone that recognized both their joy and their pain. To make sure they never felt alone.”

Ashleigh smiled, thinking of Caleb.

“Now, your bond with Caleb is unique,” Lily said. “I don’t know exactly what will change between you, but I suspect that even if you lose the ability to dream walk with each other, you will still retain that strong bond you share.”

She felt a surge of relief at these words. Ashleigh knew that a lot would be different when the war was over and when the fae had truly left this world. But one thing she knew would remain unchanged was her relationship with Caleb.

“There is something you need to understand, though, Ashleigh,” Lily said, her voice taking on a much more serious tone. “With Talis gone and Lian already weakened. It won’t be long before their magic is spent. You need to close the connection between this world and the lines before that happens.”

“Why?” Ashleigh asked.

“Because pulling apart the home they created will be explosive. For a brief window, the ley lines will be chaotic and out of control. But, if the connection between the worlds still exists, that build-up of energy and power will come pouring out of it like lava from a volcano.

"We don’t know what that will do to this world, but assuming that it happens while the Dark Queen is still here, she will be able to collect it all into herself, and then there will be no stopping her.”