Filed to story: The Chosen Saga Novel PDF Free
Young Mother you can wake up now.
Araiya slowly awoke curled on her side, back pressed against the reef. She was so confused as to where she was at that moment when she opened her eyes and saw the giant shark staring at her from a foot away, she screamed.
Young Mother Araiya, calm yourself. You are safe and Athan will not attack you. He was called to you. He is my son’s familiar.
What?
You have a lot to learn Young Mother. The sons will explain; they will be waiting for you at the bonding ceremony. I have cleansed the darkness from your mind. I have also given my blessing, giving you free access to Water to be able to combat the burn of the flames given to you by Fire. Prepare for the next steps of this journey. I can feel like we are heading into a dark time.
I don’t know what I am even doing. Water…. what is your name?
Warryn, the Goddess blessed me as Warryn.
Warryn, I don’t know what I am doing. I did the Choosing to get out of being sold to an old man. This seems so much bigger and way more dangerous. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to prepare to fight this darkness when he can stop me from moving?! How is anyone supposed to fight that?
Young Mother, just take this one day at a time, or one goal at a time. Right now, you need to focus on meeting the Enforcers and learning to keep the darkness from getting his grip on your mind again. Once you block someone out of your mind, we can focus on the next step.
One at a time. Okay, I can do that. Meet your sons. How bad can that be?
“One at a time, I can do that. One step at a time, meeting the elemental sons, easy. I got this; they don’t have any reason not to at least like me. I mean Firwyn died for me, but they can’t hold that against me can they? I mean if someone got my mom killed I would. Oh god Fire is going to kill me. Great to meet you, I got your mom killed. So sorry.” Araiya paced and ranted to herself.
Young Mother, calm. Go with Athan, he will bring you back to the shallows and make sure you get there safely.
Athan will get me back safely?
Well, he is a shark. He is also the Alpha.
Will I get a familiar?
Go now. Athan is waiting.
Araiya felt Water’s presence leave, and she walked back to the giant shark waiting just beyond the air bubble.
“Hello, Athan. Are you okay with taking me back? I am supposed to meet up with River and the other Enforcers. Can you take me back to River?”
The shark slowly moved closer and turned a circle, so his back faced Araiya. Slowly moving away and then circling back, waiting for her to grab on. She took a couple of deep breaths and stepped out of the air bubble and into the water that had come into the cave while she napped.
She swam over to Athan and once more took hold of his fin. Athan slowly swam out of the cave, taking care not to bump into the walls. He took off towards the shore as soon as he was out in the ocean. The swim down took much longer than the swim back. She breached the waves and a bellow ripped through the sky. She looked up to see a golden dragon diving toward her and Athan. She let go of Athan and nudged him under the waves. She didn’t want the massive shark to get hurt after he protected her and brought her back. The golden dragon dove into the waves and with a bright flash, she blinked to find Talon a few feet away.
“Where the fuck have you been? What happened? Do you know how long you were gone?”
“Talon, why are you yelling?” Araiya started to swim toward the shore. “Why did you dive into the water? I was trying to get out. I mean did you really need answers this quickly? Couldn’t you wait until I was out?”
“You have been gone for hours Araiya. Every other Chosen has given their thanks and gone to meet in the keep. Amara and Roky went to stall the bonding ritual, and Shavon left a while ago. I stayed to make sure you came back safely.”
Araiya made it to the tiny beach and sat down facing the water. Talon sat next to her, and she shuffled away. “Talon, Firwyn gave me a name for the potential bond you feel toward me. Protector bond. Do you know what that is?”
Talon stiffened and turned his face away from Araiya. “You are sure they said protector bond?”
“Yeah, I am sure. Why, what does that mean?”
“Come on let’s get you to the keep. We have to figure out our next steps.” Talon jumped up and held out his hand.
“Talon, is something wrong?” Araiya grabbed his hand and stood up with his help.
“No Araiya, nothing is wrong. I will change back, and you can hitch a ride so we can get to the keep faster. I need to speak with River.” With that he jumped and ripped into his dragon form. He laid flat on the ground so Araiya could climb onto his back. Once she was situated, he took a running start and jumped into the sky. Araiya gripped the side of his neck with her legs like she was riding her stallion, and she laughed while throwing her hands in the sky. She had never been as free as she was now. The wind flying through her hair, her in the sky. Who could have guessed her life would lead her here?
Talon landed at the top of a massive waterfall. Araiya slid off Talon’s back and walked toward the waterfall as he changed back. Talon walked toward her and chuckled. “This won’t seem as big as an effort since you just did it, but to get into the Water’s keep we have to jump down and swim under the waterfall to the keep that lies below. The cliff you firebombed off is taller, so this should be easy. See you below.” Talon whooped and dived off the cliff.
Araiya laughed and took a few steps back. She took a running leap off the cliff and flew down next to the waterfall, feeling the mist hit her face right before she slammed into the water. She swam under the waterfall and up into a darkened cave. She walked out of the water and followed the glowing blue stone to a carved door that Talon was leaning beside.
“Hey, are we okay? You have been acting strange lately, and Shavon seems mad at me. I don’t know what is happening, but you are important to me. I feel it.”
Talon started to laugh. “Yeah Araiya, we are okay. Just don’t mind Shavon or me. You are important to us. Don’t worry. We will all get through this. Come on, let’s head inside. There are a ton of Dragons that need to meet you.”
With that he pushed the door open and walked through. Araiya followed slowly, suddenly nervous. Something was happening. All the elements started flaring inside her, dancing along her skin. All the glyphs that had been blessed all over her skin started to glow faintly. She could see it reflected back on the dark wet stones.