Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(83)

Child, I need you still.

The mother goddess's voice rumbled through the earth. Raven, River, Bella, and Peta all stiffened.

I pressed my hand to the ground and shook my head. "I have nothing left, and I will not sacrifice what remains of my family."

No, child, there is one last task. You are the Destroyer. I need you to do what you were born to do-stop the humans at this moment. Their war has started and the damage is beyond my ability to heal on my own.

The image that erupted inside my head was one of fire and explosions, of death and chaos on a scale my mind struggled to comprehend. The bodies of the humans piled up like firewood, the soldiers with guns, the children crying in the streets, tugging on their dead parents' hands. A groan slid from my lips. "This cannot be." But the images didn't slow. I saw elementals fighting to stave off the power of the human weaponry, but it wasn't enough. They were dying too. I saw the natural wonder of our beautiful planet crushed under the heel of fear and greed and power.

Tears slid down my cheeks now in grief not only for Ash, but for this place we called home. "What would you have me do?"

A second image slowly formed in my mind like a flicker of pictures through a book. The earth as I knew it from far above, a photo shot from one of the humans' space stations. Then slowly the world broke apart, the continents divided and reformed to create a new earth. One I no longer recognized.

"That will kill so many," I said.

If you do not reset our planet, there will be complete annihilation. None left to rebuild. Death will occur, yes. But there will be hope, as well.

I wanted to deny the mother goddess, tell her we could form an army of elementals and stop what was happening, but I knew it would take too long. There were so many already dying.

Viv had set things in motion, and even she wouldn't have been able to stop this madness.



       
         
       
        

A hand settled on my shoulder and Raven crouched beside me. "You can do this, Lark."

"I don't think I can," I said. "I may carry the five elements, but what the mother goddess asks of me, it is-"

Raven smiled at me. "Impossible?"

I leaned my head on his shoulder, a bitter laugh escaping me.

Now it was clear that the path I'd been on my whole life had brought me here. All I'd learned, all that had been cast in my way, at my feet. I reached out for Peta and she crawled into my arms. I held her tightly.

"What say you, cat?"

A tiny cry slid from her lips. "Lark, I do not know. For the first time, I am at a loss. We have been so busy chasing Viv, trying to stop the madness, that the world's trials passed us by." I knew what she was truly saying. Maybe we could have stopped it if we'd taken time to notice it.

I drew a deep, shaking breath. "I do not know that it can be done."

Raven cleared his throat. "The first steps have been taken. In order for the world to be reset, the Veil had to be destroyed first. That is why I had Pamela call the Lynchpin through and back to the land of the living. He's done his part. Now …  now we need you to do the rest."

He speaks truly. The Veil held a piece of the world together that was tied to the elementals. The bonds have been released, and you have the strength to save our world. The levels of the Veil are spread throughout the world now, as it was always meant to be.

"Save the world, by destroying it," I said.

Yes.

Just that one final word. Yes.

Holding Peta tightly, I stood. What would Ash do? What would he think was right?

I closed my eyes and let myself sink into my own mind.

Peta pressed her nose against my throat. "He would tell you to follow your heart."

"That he would," I said.

Bella touched my arm, drawing my eyes to her. "I stand with you, Lark. We all do. The mother goddess has called on you."

I looked to Raven and he nodded, as did River.

I drew another deep breath. "Raven, I …  I need to speak to all the elementals."

His eyebrows raised but he didn't tell me it couldn't be done.

"Now?"

I nodded.

"Now."





CHAPTER 27



I stood in the cemetery of my family, my feet firmly planted into the ground. Between Ash and my mother, I knew I would find no better place to call on the power I would need to do this.

Raven stepped up beside me. "What do you want me to do?"

I shook my head. "Nothing yet, perhaps nothing at all. I don't really know." Peta lay herself across my shoulders so her tail wrapped around my neck. That little bit of warmth slid through me. I was not alone. I'd lost Ash and a huge piece of my heart and hope for the future, but I was not alone. The five original elementals were still with me, guiding me. Another small comfort with what I was facing.