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Quayla
Fire and light faded, leaving me on a grassy shelf high on a mountainside. Below, verdant foothills led into forest and grassland, a sparkling blue river winding gently through each.
I felt different.
Looking down, I found myself still garbed in white. Long, wavy golden locks fell past my breasts. No sense of libido urged me to seek physical pleasures.
I’m still me, so why do I feel different?
“It’s Creation that’s different, Quayla, not you.”
The Isaac stood beside a rift in the mountain stone, a soft spring trickling from rock into a natural depression. He held a beautiful toddler on one hip, her too young face an echo of Anima.
“What do you mean?”
“All is new and clean,” The Isaac’s eyes shifted to a small hummock beside the pool. “Just as you willed.”
Closing the distance, my breath caught in my throat. White down lined the soft depression. Inside, five bejeweled phoenix eggs sparkled in unblemished majesty.
Hesitant words stumbled from my lips. “Is tha—are they?”
The Isaac’s smile glowed like the dawn. “You know their names, though this time they may wish to choose their own.”
I stared, a thousand emotions pulling my heart and soul in every direction. Kneeling beside the nest, I caressed an egg. Warm little contented thoughts buzzed at the edges of my mind. I recognized their shape from our time linked. Hope and fear poured tears down my cheeks as I reached out to touch the yellow topaz egg.
I’d never felt the thoughts within like this before, but something about their feel told me all I needed to know about the cavalier air phoenix beneath its shell.
I reached for water and life with each hand, stopping at the last moment unsure if I wanted to find Vitae or Vita, Mar or Mare. Instead, I looked up at the Isaac. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ll have plenty of time to reflect and pray, though you shan’t be idle.” He strolled past me to the shelf’s edge.
I followed.
To my left, a glorious garden nestled in a fertile valley cradled between mountainous arms—the source of the little river. A man and a woman barely covered in woven leaves argued outside a silver gate. I couldn’t hear their words but had a feeling I knew the source of their disagreement.
I sighed. “Adam and Eve?”
The Isaac shook his head. “Bradley and Miri. You should probably keep a wary eye on those two. Anima will help once she’s old enough, but in the meantime...”
Following his gaze drew my attention to several Sidhe moving to ambush the two shouting mortals.
Sword hilts shimmered into being in my hands, glowing golden-white essence extending into long, gilded blades. “So, it begins...”
The Isaac smiled. “Again.”
The End
Thank you for reading Razing the Last Bastion, completing the Blood Phoenix Chronicles. I hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I did!
If you enjoyed this novel series and want more like it, tell me so by leaving a review.
Keep reading for the excerpts from:
Dumpstermancer 1: Discarded
&
Guns of Underhill 1:Fey West