Miras Last
Authors: Erin Elliott
Tags: #magic, #battle, #dark, #goddess, #elf, #good vs evil, #creature, #quest, #sword, #light vs dark
The Sword of Lumina
#3
by Erin Elliott
Published by
Fire and Ice
A Young Adult Imprint of Melange
Books, LLC
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
Mira’s Last, Copyright 2015 Erin
Elliott
ISBN: 978-1-68046-072-8
Names, characters, and incidents
depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or
are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher. No part of
this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States of
America.
Cover Design by Stephanie
Flint
To my brothers, Dustin and
James.
For your assistance in the
development of stories
through lifelong
practice.
I wouldn’t be the twisted person I
am without you.
MIRA’S
LAST
by Erin Elliott
Galena has recovered the Sword of Lumina and
now she has to race to find her brother, the leader of the elf
army, to aide him in battle against Rau’s forces. Together, they
push the enemy back until they find themselves facing Blackwell and
every dark creature imaginable, including Rau himself.
Galena uses all the magic she possesses
battling creatures never before seen until she finds herself face
to face with the one who has ruled the elven nation for far too
long. In a battle of light versus dark, Galena proves why she is
Mira’s Last.
Table of
Contents
Prologue
Darkness. A cover for all that is false and
cruel. The representation for lies and betrayal. In its most
profound depths, will make a seeing man, blind. It brings fear to
the stout hearted and causes the young to weep. Evil creatures
thrive in it, using its inky blackness for their own twisted
purposes. Impenetrable at its worst and merely dim at its best.
Feeding the fuel for one’s worst nightmares.
Darkness fears nothing, except for the
light. As far as anyone can remember, the light has always fought
against the dark. Its battle is one, which has continued in silence
since the beginning of the world. A struggle taken for granted by
those who have witnessed the day and night. The night is no match
for the sun, causing the blackness to stay away for hours at a
time. The moon and stars with their pale glow can break the eerie
silence that seems to follow it all around. A glowing fire with its
licking flames, dances merrily this way and that, warning the
darkness off. The fire flaunts openly, the darkness cannot take
hold of it or even threaten it. Even the firefly so tiny and frail,
can scare the weight of it away with its warm glow.
The evil living within the depths of
darkness also fears the light. Its shining rays blind their eyes
and weakens the heart of those who love the night. They hate all
that light stands for and those who rely on it to keep fear at bay.
It is only the strongest who learns to use light to defeat the dark
and everything that lives within it.
Chapter
One
Galena sat quietly regarding the campfire
dancing merrily before her. Visions from the cave still racing
through her mind, causing her to cringe with each one. She turned
to look at Elenio’s sleeping face, envying him for the peace he
seemed to have. She’d tried lying down, but the nightmares began
and she found herself sitting up, drenched in sweat, her own
screams still ringing in her ears. A lifetime would not be long
enough to forget what her mind made real.
Mira warned her before she’d reached the cave
what she could expect once she crossed the mouth, but even then,
Galena hadn’t been fully prepared. She didn’t understand what she
truly feared. The cave almost broke her. It pushed her to the very
brink of madness and was about to give a final shove, causing her
to enter into a void she would not have been able to return from,
when Elenio saved her. Through the mental link they shared as
commitment partners, he pushed her forward. Even when she begged
for death to take her, he’d been there, encouraging her, pushing
her harder than even the magic of the cave could have. It was only
with his mind linked to hers, unable to see the horrors she beheld,
was she able to find the Sword of Lumina and return to the reality
of the world to which she’d been born into.
She rather hoped that once she left the
confines of the cavern walls, her memories of the place would
dissolve just as the bodies within did, but it wasn’t so. Unlike
the stories she heard from elves who’d crossed the path of the cave
and the guardian, she remembered everything in detail. Elenio
hadn’t forgotten either and they both attributed this to the
successful retrieval of the famed sword.
Galena shivered more from memories than the
cold. She slipped from their bed and sat by the fire, savoring its
warmth and light. She pulled the sword from its shabby scabbard and
regarded it carefully. It looked battered and worn, much like the
swords hidden beneath her childhood home used for thousands of
years. However, as far as Galena knew, this couldn’t be true. She’d
never heard of the Sword of Lumina being used in any great battle
or any battle at all. Returning the blade to the scabbard and
placing both by her pack, she wrapped her arms around her legs and
continued to stare at the fire, the images of dead loved ones
floating in the smoke that curled and drifted in the air above the
bright flames.
Galena sighed deeply, shaking her head to
clear her mind of its morbid thoughts. She knew, with no
uncertainty, Mira was right on several accounts. However, one thing
struck her more powerfully than the rest. The whole experience
taught her what her greatest fear was and made her stronger for it.
She knew she would never again watch a loved one die, not while she
still had breath in her body and magic flowing through her veins.
They would have to kill her first if they ever wanted to touch her
family, of that she was sure.
Standing, she looked at Elenio, sleeping
peacefully and surrounded by a mound of blankets from their packs.
She smiled as she looked at him, her heart clinching painfully as
she watched. When she’d first emerged from the hated cave Mira
created, he looked shocked at her appearance. It appeared she’d
been through a terrible battle, even though in her mind, she’d
experienced something far worse than any battle she’d ever fought.
Then relief flooded through the features on his face and she could
feel them radiate through his mind as well. All she could think was
that here he stood, alive and well for the most part, a fact she
would never allow to change. He raced across the clearing and
embraced her for the longest time until Twoit bit him rather harder
than necessary on the leg, causing him to let go.
She had stood back and watched him practice a
few choice words while scratching Twoit’s head until she too calmed
down. Healing Elenio’s bite quickly and the other cuts and bruises
he suffered as a result of wrestling with vines intent on keeping
him from the cave, they decided to head out immediately. Neither of
them wanted to stay anywhere near the guardian or the cursed cave.
As far as Galena was concerned, if she ever came to the Western
woods again, it would be too soon.
Once they stopped, Galena changed into her
spare outfit and true to her word burned the clothing still covered
with the blood from the bodies of her loved ones. She caused a
heavy rain shower to fall on them, washing away the remains of her
imagination from her face, hands, and hair. She hadn’t wanted to
stop for a bath and that had been the quickest way for her to feel
clean again, although the smell of death still lingered.
Sitting back down by the fireside, Galena
closed her eyes, resting her head on her raised knees. She was
tired. They’d been traveling for almost a week and during that time
she’d only managed to sneak in a couple of hours of sleep. Those
precious hours were riddled with nightmares. Haunting images of her
family dying one after the other in the cave with Galena standing
helplessly by as she watched their demise.
Taking a deep breath, Galena focused her
thoughts on Elenio. He’d been extremely supportive ever since she
had emerged from the cave. He never once asked her what she had
seen, for which she was deeply grateful. She would never be able to
put to words the horror her own mind had had in store for her. She
realized he’d seen some of what she had, but it had not affected
him the same way. He hadn’t held the body, felt the warm blood
soaking into his clothes, and heard the death rattle of a last
breath. He only experienced briefly, what she had been unable to
escape on her own.
He wore a knowing look every time he glanced
at her, making Galena more certain that to an extent, he had been
there through part of the ordeal, otherwise she never would have
made it through. It had been Elenio pushing her on mentally that
kept her going when she wanted to lie down and die. However, she
also knew in order for him to have survived what she went through,
he had to have shielded himself from the full emotional scale of
what she suffered. Galena realized she’d lost part of herself in
that horrible cave, a part she was unsure she would ever get back.
Why couldn’t it have taken the memories with it,
she thought
glumly to herself.
“Because it made you stronger and it will
continue to make you stronger.” Galena jerked her head up and fell
back all in one motion. She found herself looking up into the face
of Mira, smiling sadly down at her. Anger and sorrow welled up in
her as she looked at the beloved goddess. She could have been more
honest with her. She could have told her exactly what she was going
up against in the cave, but instead she had been vague, telling her
the bare minimum.
“Now you choose to show yourself,” Galena
said bitterly.
“Do not be angry with me, child. I could not
tell you what I did not know. Only you know your own mind.”
Galena snorted in unbelief as she turned her
head like a sulking child.
“Galena, I gave you all the tools that I
could to help you survive. I told you the journey through would be
more difficult than anything else you encountered. Did I lie?”
Mira’s voice was harsher than Galena could
ever remember it being and unwillingly, she felt the tears spring
into her eyes, feelings of shame at her words filling her. “You
did. I just didn’t realize how hard it would be and still continues
to be,” Galena said as she wiped the traitorous tears from her
eyes. She was determined she would never cry again after her
experience. She felt warm, soft fingers lifting her chin up so she
was looking Mira in the eye.
“Because you have faced your own fear, there
is nothing that will stand in your way now. You have defeated my
greatest challenge and have the means to defeat Rau, not only with
a weapon of light, but with a stronger heart and mind. I told you
that you could not face the fears of Tomiro until you faced the
fears that would consume your own mind and you have. You are now
ready for the last battle, our last chance at freedom.”
Mira held Galena’s eyes, making her feel as
if she were staring into her very soul. Her bright, green eyes held
centuries within them and a peace Galena so longed for. She felt
the tightness in her chest loosen and the parts of her mind and
heart begin to heal. The memories were still there, but the bite
that normally went with them was beginning to fade. Her breathing
eased and the same peace she saw in Mira’s eyes spilled over her in
wonderful waves. She experienced a weariness that only comes with a
hard ordeal and sleepless nights wash over her. As they did, she
felt herself falling back and drifting into a dreamless sleep.
