The Delta's Daughter Chapter 236

MORGAN

It took Kian and me half a day to walk up the mountain until we reached the sanctuary. Luckily it was not at the very top but nestled halfway up carved into the face of the mountain. A beautiful structure made from the mountain itself, looking more like a hidden castle than a place of worship with its high-standing dome towers.

As we approached the sanctuary the land began to even out, creating large flat fields surrounding the building – leading into smaller gardens situated around the fronts and sides of the sanctuary. The place was massive and amazing. The window reflected the light making the place look magical and other realmy. It was something straight out of a fairytale and I basked in its beauty with awe.

Two huge oak doors made up the entrance and a smaller wicked door sat to the left. I thought we would be knocking on the giant oak doors, but Kian went straight to the wicked door and knocked loudly three times. I stood nervously behind him, anticipating the door opening and who would greet us. Would it be the lady from my visions? The one with the green eyes and black hair?

“This is very daunting,” I whispered to Kian my hands fisting the back of his shirt, anxiously.

“No shit,” He gave a short chuckle “And I lived here for over two years.” He swallowed down the words. For me, it was the anticipation of meeting someone I had only seen in my visions. For Kian, I assumed it was because he has broken his vow and the unknown consequences he would face. Neither of us had no idea what to expect or what would happen. I didn’t worry for myself, rather I worried for Kian’s wolf.

Whatever he faced, I would stand by his side. After all, he didn’t act alone. No matter what the future held, I would not let him face this by himself. Last night, something happened, something changed - a deep connection formed between us. I wanted a memory that would last a lifetime and now – it feels as though we have more than just a memory.

The door opens and an old man stands there, a bored expression on his face until his eyes lift and land on Kian, flying wide. His wrinkled face creases, even more, and a light shines in his blue eyes as a broad smile takes over his withered features. “Hunji! Asena didn’t say you were coming. It is good to see you, young man!” He opens the door wider still surprised by our presence but happy to see Kian. “Come in and introduce me to the young lady.” He says observing me.

“Morgan this Chakor, he taught me everything I know about the art of weapons and fighting.” The old man embraces Kian and in turn, he hugs him back.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, young Morgan.” He smiles and bows his head to me. “Please this way, I will take you to Asena.”

I sense Kian stiffen beside me, knowing this will be the moment of truth for him and his wolf. ‘Please, moon goddess, don’t take his wolf’ I silently ask her in prayer.

We walk down a connection of corridors that lead us to a large open room that probably sits in the center of the sanctuary. My head rotates, taking in everything I am seeing. The high white ceilings were trimmed with gold and the center of that ceiling held a circular mural with paintings of wolves, bears, and large cats. Around that painting, two dragons encompassed it with splashes of water where their heads and tails met. statues lined the long parallel walls standing in place of columns. I had never seen a place so beautiful and I perceive that this is the great hall I have seen in my visions.

“Hunji, Morgan.” A melodic yet stern voice echoes in the empty hall. Both Kian and I turn toward the source at the same time. To see an older woman, with black hair and green eyes. The woman who called to me in my visions.

“Asena,” Kian speaks her name, lowering his head. She purses her lips.

The woman then turns her attention to me “Morgan Faye Artos, I assume. The last witch of Andora.” Her gaze is heated, almost a glare and a look of disappointment flashed in those bright green eyes, but only for a moment. “You and I have much to discuss.” She pins with those knowing orbs before training them back on Kian. “And you Hunji,” she shakes her head “Well, that is between you and the moon goddess now. There is nothing I can do.” Now showing pity towards Kian, her eyes slightly softening.

“As nice as it is to finally meet you, in person. Why am I here?” I was feeling awkward and truthfully It had taken us all this time to get here that, I just wanted answers and food. Definitely food.

“Come, both of you. I wish to show you something,” Not answering my question and instead turning to walk towards the back of the great hall where an open archway led down another long corridor. This place was massive, bigger than the Megaron I think.

Kian and I followed her until we reached a room, with walls covered by framed paintings. I tried to look at all of them as Asena breezed past them only stopping when she came to the largest of them all. The three of us stood there in silence, all three pairs of eyes trained on the painting before us.

“I have seen this exact painting before, but not here.” I looked at Kian whose dark brows came together in thought. I glanced back at the painting. Upon a rock stood a mighty woman in green, her hair streaked golden and black, a sword in one hand and the other resting on a silver wolf with bright blue eyes. Below them stood four more wolves, all poised as if they were ready to fight. Behind them were many wolves whose noses touched the ground, and they crouched as if bowing.

“But this one is different. The one I saw before, In Bhakhil, didn’t have any bears painted into it.”

“Who is it?” I ask, already guessing from seeing her in my visions, but needing the confirmation. The woman in the painting looked an awful lot like Asena too.

“That is the Goddess Inanna and her mate King Conrad. The one you saw, Hunji, was painted almost a thousand years after this one.” I looked at the priestess, her eyes meeting mine. “The inscription says: As it was once before, it shall become again. This painting depicts the goddess Inanna and her mate King Conrad defeating the god of the underground who was promised the goddess by her father, the painting you saw was the battle when they defeated her father Anu, when he came to take her back to the realm of gods.”  

“You asked me a question earlier; you are here because you followed your visions.”

“But why did you appear to me?” I was puzzled, things weren’t making sense. She gave me a weak smile.

“Your gift of sight doesn’t predict the future but shows you a possibility of a future. It was your choice to come here. You could have gone back with Hunji to the western continent, but you chose to come to Mint.”  

“So, you are saying that any visions I have had may not come true?” I rub a hand over my mouth, trying to make sense of her cryptic words.

“No, I am saying that what you see is the current future, but all kinds of things can happen to change the outcome and alter that future. For example, imprinting on the moon goddess’s chosen disciple.”

I narrow my eyes and tilt my head in question. From the corner of my eye, I see Kian’s back straighten, and his posture stiffens. “Imprinted?” I ask, in the same dumbfound way that I heard Kian whisper the word last night.

“Oh yes, pardon my words, but you royally screwed up last night. I’m just not sure how much you managed to alter the future by imprinting on Hunji.” Her face was stoic and serious, those intimidating green eyes penetrating and making me squirm beneath them.

“How – what – I am a witch, I can’t imprint…” I am so confused as to what she is saying and not grasping the meaning. “Were-bears imprint…”

“Well, you did. It seems that there is some of your father in you after all.” She says with disgust when mentioning Orion.

“But… that’s impossible, I don’t have a spirit bear.” I look at Kian for help, but he looks like he is having an internal battle himself. I pinch the bridge of my nose closing my eyes for just a moment. This is crazy! How in the heck could I imprint on someone if I am not even a shifter? “Ok, so say I did imprint on Kian -Hunji, what does that mean for him?” I push my bewilderment aside right now because this is about Kian and his wolf. That’s what’s important here. Not me. Not right now at least.

“It means you have tethered his wolf’s spirit you. Tied together in this life and the next.” She sighs and steps closer to me and Kian, this time turning her attention to Kian, “This means your wolf has been claimed and the goddess may not take him from you.”

His head shoots up and looks between me and Asena, the surprise and shock in his eyes mirror my own feelings. “You mean… He can keep his wolf even though he broke his vow?” I ask hoping she says yes. For the love of all things godly say yes!!!

“Maybe.” Hesitantly and slowly, she says. “The moon goddess pairs a mate with someone who compliments them in every sense of the word. They may seem like total opposites, but they bring balance to each other, so their animal spirits can live in harmony with their human counterpart and have the companionship they crave so much.” She looks between us “Hunji have you ever wondered why I told you to live in celibacy?”

“Because it was my price to pay to the moon goddess, for returning my wolf,” Kian replies in a matter-of-fact tone.

Asena chuckles. “Nope, that is not why. If you were given a second chance mate or took a chosen mate because you fell in love, then all your focus would be on that person. Not on the chosen one you were sent to find and protect. How can you protect your Queen if your wolf’s thoughts are on someone else? How can you focus on your task in battle when your concern lies elsewhere – when your wolf will worry about their mate instead of the Queen you have sworn to protect?”

“Oh!” I gasp covering my mouth, astonished that THAT is the reason why he swore the oath! Not because he wasn’t worthy of a second mate, or because he was a disciple. But because he was only meant to live and protect his Queen. I watched my wolfman’s face for his reaction, not sure what would happen.

They did him so wrong!

Kian’s eyes darkened, turning back to his usual onyx color the tiny white swords peeking in the center as his wolf came forward. His hands clenched and his body shook. Pure unfiltered rage took over his body. I took a step back not wanting to be in his path when he finally exploded.

“I am over 900 years old Hunji,” Asena says to him, not bothered by his building eruption. She must be the oldest werewolf in the realm! This was all becoming way too much – things were getting out of hand.

Dismissing Kian’s obvious anger Asena carried on and I just stood there watching and listening to things unfold before my eyes. “You see, there are the dark hair, darker skin Lycans of the north and then there are the Lycans of the south - blonde hair and blue-eyed, lighter-skinned. I am also a Lycan and Dire just like your Queen, Lamia. I am her mother's great, great aunt. I am also her father's grand-grandmother." She laughed, a light and airy sound that filled the air "it's complicated. Don't try to work it out."

"Even King Kellen's Lycan bloodline came from me. I gave birth to his grandfather's grandfather when I mated with a wolf from the Morrigan line. The one time I decided to choose to live and leave the sanctuary where I had been hidden away since I was a baby, I was captured and used as a breeder during the great Lycan wars and had many children that I never saw again after giving birth. Needless to say - many Nobel bloodlines were born from me. That aside, I managed to escape and come back here.”

“You are Nessie?” Kian finally speaks through a tight jaw and gritted teeth. The words slid off his tongue with so much despise and a continuing growl.

“I am,” She sighs “And Queen Lamia is my descendant. I am Ashe’s lost grandchild. The daughter of Nehalennia and Conri. As I have told you before, Nehalennia was the daughter of Ashe - and Conri was the son of Inanna and King Conrad.”

Asena walks away from us, Kian stands there unmoving, and I shift my body watching them both – I was just a spectator at this point. “Now you know who I am Kian Tikaani, the moon goddess’s most faithful servant. YOU were chosen by us, Hunji, to protect our descendent. Queen Lamia and King Kellen’s wolves are connected far deeper than…”

She didn’t finish her monologue, her words were cut short when Kian stormed from the room, not sparing either of us a glance. Gods, I felt so out of place, and very, very awkward. But by the gods! Kian’s story was full of love and tragedy – heartbreak and mystery. Far more interesting than any book I have ever read, but my heart aches for him and everything he has been through, everything he has been put through.

‘Nothing is fair in this life, Morgan’ my mother’s words echoed in my mind – Nothing was fair about the hand Kian had been dealt by the cruelty of the gods. And now this Immortal oracle drops an even bigger pile of stinking shit on his lap and mine.

My eyes sting with the threat of tears for my wolfman, but I won’t let them fall.

“Can I see the rock?” I ask Asena, plastering a fake smile on my face. Saying something just to fill the awkward silence and cut through the thick atmosphere and the first thing that came to mind was the rock she had held in one of my visions.  

“I don’t see why not,” she says, peeling her eyes from the doorway where Kian’s angry self, retreated through - stomping away. I took a moment to observe her, seeing the sadness held in her features and watching her shake the emotions off before turning to me and gesturing with her hand to follow her.

Asena led me quietly down a few more corridors until we came to another room. Taking out a key from her white robe pocket and unlocked the door. Inside was like a little museum. All kinds of artifacts were pinned to the walls or seated in glass cases and on pedestals. Weapons, scrolls, jewelry, and in the middle of the room towards the back on its own pedestal sat the rock on a cushion of deep royal purple.

Immediately I was drawn to it and walked closer to it until I stood over the strange oval-shaped rock. Except it didn’t look like the one in my vision, at least it looked different. Instead of the smooth surface, I imagined, it was jagged with sharp edges all over it as if it had dried and cracked, the surface layer seemed as if it was peeling off.

The strange object looked out of place amongst the rest of antiquity, yet it seemed to be the most interesting thing in the room.

My hand came up on its own accord, reaching for the splintered stone. It gave off a pulse that thrummed beneath my fingers - the pulse grew stronger the closer my hand came, like it was alive and breathing, beckoning my warmth to caress it.

My fingers finally connected to the egg-shaped stone, and I was hit with a jolt of electricity that flashed through my hand, the current flowed up my arm and rolled like thunder over my muscles. I recoiled my hand, snagging the tips of my fingers on one of the fractured surfaces, cutting them deep, and drawing blood.

A foreign feeling coursed through me, and pressure began to build in my head "grow" I whispered out loud when the thought presented itself to me. Not even sure why I thought of that action, it was just there. 

I stepped back, grabbing my head between my palms when it began to pound. A sickening sense coiled in my stomach and my vision started to go hazy throwing me into the most horrifying vision I have ever had.

A monstrous man stood amongst blazing fires his presence making me shrink back. Golden eyes bled into me, searing my sight with the blaze that burned from them. I stood next to the emerald-eyed queen surrounded by hundreds of wolves. Big cats and bears. The ground beneath our feet was saturated with blood. So much blood, so much destruction.

Shadows seeped from the darkness, like branches and vines. They reached out slithering towards the army of shifters, wrapping their tendrils around them - suffocating and squeezing the life from them. Their bodies slumped down drained and sunken from loss of substance and... Life. And those eyes, dominant and forceful, gleaming gold like nothing I have ever seen before. I can’t see the giant in my vision, a blanket of shadows covering him. All I can see is the fiery blaze in those unholy orbs.

Shrill screams pierce through the vision and the hazy cloud lifts from my mind and eyes and a rush of images hit me it’s like everything I have ever read and seen plowing and piercing my brain all at once – an overload of information. Yet the screaming carries on, the sound horrifying and distraught. The high-pitched noise is coming from me, and I can't stop it from sounding out.

Strong arms wrap around me providing me with warmth and security, calming my inner turmoil and the horrid sound dies on my lips as I turn into the protective embrace of Kian, burying my head in his solid and real chest. My hands cling to his shirt as sob after sob wracks through me.

"I-I..." I try to speak but the words won't form. My body shook uncontrollably against him.

"Shh, I'm here, I'm here. You're ok" Kian soothes, his words having a calming effect on me.

I see and notice nothing as Kian lifts my frail human body, cradling me against him. he moves through the corridors, walls, and doorways flashing by. The next thing I know he is laying me down on a soft bed, holding me against him as he plants soft kisses against my head.

I curl into him trying to shake the feeling and memories of my vision from within me. I can't speak, I can't form nor find the words to explain what I saw.

Eventually, I find sleep, my body exhausted and fatigued from the vision that put the fear of the gods in me.