Chapter 247 The vision at the Altar

Chapter 247: Chapter 247 The vision at the Altar

Talia’s POV

The heat spread through my chest like wildfire, and the world around me began to fade.

The ruins disappeared, the ash and the debris faded, and the sounds of the wind and the whispers of the dead fell silent. I was no longer in the village, i was somewhere else.

"I do not understand what is happening," I whispered to myself, with my voice echoing in the strange space around me. "I was just in the ruins, and now I am here, and everything looks different, like I have stepped back in time, and like I am seeing something that happened long before I was even born."

I was standing in the same spot, but the village was alive.

The homes were whole, and the walls were standing. The streets were filled with people, laughing and talking and living. The fountain was flowing, and the garden was green. The sun was warm on my skin, and I could hear the sound of children playing.

I looked around, and I felt the tears prick at my eyes, as I saw that this was the same village. This was how it had been before the fire.

“I had spent so many minutes since we arrived, imagining what this place looked like before it was destroyed," I thought, and my chest was thick with emotion as I looked around at the living village. "I have pictured it in my mind, and tried to piece it together from fragments and stories, but I never imagined it could be this beautiful, and this full of life and light and hope."

A voice called out, strong and clear. "Gather, everyone! Gather!"

I turned, and I saw her.

My mother was young and fierce, and she was standing on the altar. She was not the broken woman I remembered from my childhood, she was strong, proud, and determined. Her head was held high, and her voice carried across the village.

She was swearing to protect the Silvertongue bloodline, no matter the cost.

"We are Silvertongues," she said, with her voice ringing through the air. "Our power is our voice, and our magic is our blood. We will not bow, and we will not break. We will protect our own, until the very end."

"I can feel her power in the air, even now, and even though this is just a vision," I smiled and said to myself, with my hand reaching out toward her without thinking. "It is like standing in the middle of a storm and feeling the lightning before it strikes, and I understand now why everyone followed her, because when she speaks, you want to believe that anything is possible."

The villagers cheered. They raised their hands and their voices, and I could feel the power of their words.

An old woman stepped forward, and her face was wrinkled and her eyes bright. "The Silver King hunts us," she said. "He will not stop until we are all gone."

Seraphina looked at her, and her eyes were steady. "Then we will make sure he never finds us. We will scatter, we will hide, and we will survive."

A young man called out, with his voice shaking. "What about our children? What about the ones who cannot fight?"

I could see the fear in his eyes, and I knew that fear, as i was watching the young man clutch his child close. I had once felt that same terror, and that same desperate need to protect someone you love more than your own life when Kaelen was fighting with Viktor, and I understand now what my mother was fighting for, that it was not just a bloodline, but every single person who looked to her for hope."

My mother’s face softened. "We will protect them, and we will give them a chance to live. That is what we are fighting for."

"I always thought I knew who my mother was," I said, my voice cracking. "I thought I knew her story, her pain, and her sacrifice. But watching her now, and seeing her like this, I realize I did not know her at all, and I wish I had more time, and more moments like this, to truly understand the woman who gave up everything for me."

I watched her, and I felt the tears streaming down my face. This was my mother, and this was the woman who had given everything to protect me.

The vision shifted, and the darkness began to creep in.

"I have seen fire before, and I have felt its heat and its hunger," I said, with my voice trembling as the flames rose around me. "But this is different, this is not just fire, this is destruction, and this is everything my mother fought to protect being torn away from her, and I cannot do anything to stop it, I can only watch."

The flames came first, consuming the homes and the garden and the fountain. The people were running and screaming, and I could hear the roar of the fire.

"Run!" someone shouted. "Get the children out!"

I saw my mother fighting. Her voice was commanding the flames, trying to push them back, but there were too many enemies, and the fire was too strong.

"Seraphina!" a woman screamed. "We cannot hold them!"

"Keep fighting!" my mother shouted. "Do not give up!"

I want to scream at her to run, to save herself, and to leave the village behind. My hands were clenching into fists nonstop at my sides. But I knew that my mother would not, because that was not who she is, and that was not what she taught me, and I was watching her die all over again, and I could not do anything to save her.

I tried to run to her, but I could not move. I was frozen in place, watching her fight.

"Mother!" I screamed. "Mother!"

She did not hear me. Because of course this was a vision, and she could not hear me, but I had to try anyways.

The darkness swallowed everything, and the vision began to fade.

I felt myself being pulled back, but I tried to hold on. I reached for my mother, but she was fading too.

"Talia," her voice called, faint and distant. "Talia, I am here. I am still here."

I opened my eyes, and I was back in the ruins.

"I saw her," I gasped, my voice raw and broken. "I saw my mother. She was alive, she was strong, and she was everything I ever hoped she would be, and I watched her fall, I watched the fire take everything from her, and I could not do anything, I could not save her, and I could not even reach her." I kept mumbling nonstop.

The village was gone, and the flames were gone. I was back and kneeling at the altar, with my hand still pressed against the stone. The burn had faded, but I could still feel the warmth.

My body was shaking, and tears were streaming down my face.

"Talia!" Kaelen’s voice cut through the silence. "Talia, can you hear me?"

I tried to speak, but no words came out.