A Gift from the Goddess
Chapter 94

A week.

I lasted a week before I started to get restless, wondering how much longer I'd need to wait beforemy body could finally cope again.

But surely a week was long enough, right? Enough that I would be allowed to begin what I wantedto?

And so I quickly grabbed the clipboard at the end of my bed, the one that was for my medical chart,and flipped the pages over to start writing on the blank side.

..And I closed my eyes, concentrating as I gave myself over to the old side of me that knew how toeffectively strategise an enemy.

It took several hours over the course of three days before I finally finished. To be safe, I only workedwithin small windows every day, choosing to do so between when I would get another dose of painmedication and when I would need to let myself sleep. This was something delicate and I knew Ineeded t o be at my most relaxed for it to work.

By the time I was done, it was an in-depth timeline of everything since I'd been reborn. Correlatingthe different events to everything I knew Thea had done, and then using those to theorise why ithad been done the way it had been. Even in the moments she hadn't done something, I was stillable to use it to better understand it all.

.. This was it.

This was a 101 guide to Thea over the last four years

Now I just needed to have a meeting with the others to let them know. Something I was sure Alericwould be less than pleased with considering I was meant to still be resting.

Fuck it.

I knew the time window was perfect. This would be my only chance until tomorrow.

.Not to mention, that thing* had finally arrived earlier.

And so I threw my legs over the side of the bed, getting slowly dressed into some normal clothes,and started heading towards the meeting hall. Knowing Aleric, he was probably going to be therethis time of the day.

“Where are you going?” a voice then said behind me, making me jump in surprise.

I quickly turned around to see Brayden there, right outside my hospital room.

*... To see Aleric,” I replied, my voice a little tense at seeing him.

It was because of him.

If he had just done what he was told, none of this would have happened.

But as I looked at him more closely, I noticed how he looked exhausted. He had dark circles underhis eyes and didn’t have that normal confident air about him that used to annoy me so much.“You're not supposed to be leaving your room,” he said. “Aleric was pretty strict on that.”

"So, you follow orders now?" I replied back a bit coldly.

*Breathe.*

And I sighed, clearing my head. I needed to remember that there was no reason for me to get angrynow.

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".I'm sorry, Arla,” he said, his face crumbling a bit 10 show how quilty he felt, “I didn't. I didn'trealise. I Just wanted to stop her from getting away. If I'd known she was going to do that 10 you, Inever would have engaged in battle. I feel terrible.”

“Don't apologise to me," I said. “Just. learn and do better.”

And with that, I turned around, continuing on iny way to where / wanted to go.

"W-wait! Aria, seriously! We've got this whole place on lockdown because you're injured. You can'tjust leave. Please. I don't want you to get hurt again because of me.”

“Brayden,” I said calmly, turning back around to face him. “Stop If I thought I couldn't cope with thisthen I would still be in bed. I've been stuck inside for over a week now. If you're so scared of Aleric,just accompany me to the meeting hall yourself.”

And so he did just that, though begrudgingly. Going as far as to drive me himself with several otherwasn't complaining though. Whilst I was pretty sure that Thea wouldn't publicly attack m e on myway there in broad daylight, it didn't mean the extra precautions weren't necessary.

*..What are you trying to say?” I heard Aleric's voice speak from the other side of the meeting hall'sdoor

I had followed his scent to one of the smaller adjoined meeting rooms and found the door slightlyajar, allowing for me to hear inside.

“I'm saying we should consider hiding her somewhere else for a while,” Cais voice then replied,“You're basically using all your available people to just keep her safe right now. Clearly, Thea knowswhere she is o r she wouldn't keep sending rogue attacks along the border to split your people andweaken your defences. It won't be long before you're fighting a battle from both within andoutside.”

“I'm not saying you're wrong but-." Aleric’s voice then cut off abruptly mid-sentence, followed onlyseconds later by a disappointed sigh.

“..Come in, Aria," he finished.

I'd forgotten how sharp his senses were. Sharper than anyone else's.

I slowly pushed the door open and entered, replaceing the two of them alone as they discussed thecurrent issues the pack was facing Things they“d obviously been keeping from me while I wasresting. And they were probably right to do so. If I'd known we had been suffering attacks becauseof me, I probably wouldn't have been able to sit by as idly as I had been.

"You're not supposed to be here,” Aleric said.

“I know...," I replied, coming over to sit opposite them at the table. “I feel well enough to walkthough.”

“Looks like you've done more than just walk,” he said, staring down at all the pages of writing I wascarrying with me.

I bit at the inside of my cheek.

“This is important. This is... everything you need to know about Thea. Everything I was able to figureout. If we really are undergoing attacks then this might be able to help us come up with a betterplan”

I looked up to Cai and saw his expression still stony, eyes narrowed. It wasn't as bad as it was... buthe still didn't trust me. Fair enough.

“I just need you all to sit and listen to me for a bit,” I continued. “This is going to take a while but it'simportant you all understand. The only way this works is if we start to trust each other implicitly.Any doubt or concerns over what the others are doing and she'll just use that as fuel”

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Chapter Ninety-Four

And Cai exhaled, softening his expression enough to tell me he was going to at least give me thatmuch.

“This is a timeline of everything,” I started, laying out the pages in front of me. “I've used the eventsI've experienced in this lifetime in conjunction with the things I've learnt about Thea’s history, to tryand figure out how she operates. Luckily for us, she unintentionally told me more than she probablyshould have. I've broken up her weaknesses into three key components; distance, detachment,distraction.”

I grabbed my pen and wrote it down on a fresh page so they could follow along.

“But, firstly, I need to tell you about the abilities themselves,” I said. “You two probably have nevertried to figure it out since you've just let it flow naturally. I, on the other hand, wasn't that fortunateand had to learn how to control it due to being stuck in the collar. The most important thing toknow is that these abilities are primarily powered by emotional energy. The more intense feelingyou're experiencing, the easier it is to utilise. So, for Aleric, that would usually be in the heat ofbattle when you're in high-stress situations, taking advantage of a heightened ability of strengthand better senses, and... for Cai..."

My eyes flicked back up to meet his. “An emotional drive helps create an atmosphere of devotion.It's something you probably won't understand completely unless you ever meet a proper God inperson. Basically, it's like an intense pressure to give in and appease them, gravitating without evenfully realising it's happening. A form of manipulation, even if not intentional.”

And he instantly averted his gaze, realising what I was implying in my explanation.

"Our abilities originate from Thea though — *not* Selene,” I continued, turning back to the pages onthe table. “So if that's how our abilities work, it's logical to assume that it's also how hers work too.Which brings me to the first of her weaknesses — “detachment’. All of her moves against me sincethe beginning were solely aimed at triggering a negative reaction. Because the more emotional I feltin that moment, the easier it was for her to weave her way in and magnify those already existingfears I had. It's how she eventually ended up taking over too; waiting until I was completely at rockbottom so I would give in to everything she was saying. Detaching yourself and reducing thosespikes in emotional changes will help with keeping her out. The only one of us who doesn’t need toworry about that one as much... is Cai.”

This seemed to earn me a few confused looks from both of them.

“Thea admitted to me herself that it doesn’t work on him in the same way it does on me... or, iflooking at the previous timeline, Aleric.”

“That can’t be right,” Cai spoke up finally. “She was messing with me for months. No, actually, it wasworse than that. Thinking about it now, it was a few months short of a whole year.”

“Right, but you said so yourself- you didn't lose your sanity like I did,” I pointed out. “She can onlymanipulate you on a surface level because you're both too similar. Where hers is an outward focusin swaying others to see things her way, yours is more internal in how people perceive youspecifically, both stemming from a manipulation in perception. She said it's like two magnets of thesame polar, pushing away from each other. I take that to mean she convinced you of the physicaleffects of the mate-bond, like sparks, scent etc, opposed to you actually *feeling the attachment toher. You sort of never expressed that much interest in her emotionally when you spoke about“Caitlyn... something that was truthfully a bad sign from the beginning. If you are ever able toexperience a mate bond one day, and I mean a *real one*, you'll know exactly what I mean. Whenthat bond is formed... it's like nothing else, no one else. It takes over both your body *and* mind —not just one of those.”

And I hesitantly looked up to see Aleric staring at me intensely, making my heart jump a little.

No, not yet. I couldn’t jump down that rabbit hole right now.

I quickly cleared my throat and looked back down at the pages. “The whole thing ended with youjust getting sick from her trying to do it anyway. This means you're the only one of us who iscapable of resisting her internal manipulations and should be able to pick up if she is influencingyou in other ways.

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bhupter Ninety-tout

Her interference should make you feel sick, something you need 10 start keeping an eye out for asan early warning system. It's important to note though that this sickness was something you wereonly able t o start recovering from once she left the Silver Lake... bringing me to the next weakness;“distance".”

I wrote the next few notes down before looking up to see Cai had gone completely pale. I took thatto mean that I must have correctly figured out his questionable commitment to Caitlyn perfectly, ifhis reaction was anything to go by.

“When she was with you full-time in the beginning, Cai, I didn't experience any issues with her insidemy head. In fact, it was pretty much dead silent and I felt in control for the most part... with oneexception; when we met up during what was meant to be my escape. This tells me she is probablylimited to a certain range and, possibly, is also limited in how many she can focus on at once. Cai,you mentioned to me in my office that she started leaving for longer periods of time after youstarted to get more ill... I'd wager those times she was away from you would match up perfectly towhen I was at my worst, moments that took place after I'd turned eighteen when she was requiredto be here more. I'd also guess she never returned to the Silver Lake after I broke the news to youabout who “Caitlyn’ really was. She already knew I'd told you because she would have seen it fromme."

"All of these are good defensive tactics but don't really help much should we replace ourselves in anactual fight,” Aleric then pointed out. “Fighting is pretty emotionally fuelling and so, really, thatwould just leave running away. Doesn't really help to defeat her.”

“Right,” I agreed. “Which brings me to the last one... “distraction".”

“How will a diversion help against a creature that can see in your head?” Cai asked.

“The distraction isn't external,” I corrected. “It's in *hert head. This one was something she gaveaway during our fight and it was how I managed to keep her guard down. Stupidly, she admitted tome that she considered us pretty similar and, well, though I don't like to consider it, it did get methinking about a few similarities we actually did share. Namely, her own reactions and history.”

I started writing more notes down.

“I met with Selene in person who showed me the entirety of our kinds origin,” I continued. “Rather, Isaw Thea's origin. She used to be pretty normal. Hardworking, dedicated to the people she caredfor. She gave up her entire life just to make them happy. But when she was finally at her happiest,everything was ripped away from her. It destroyed her.”

“But if she has nothing left, what can you possibly do to catch her off-guard?”

“That's not what I'm getting at. It's her own negative emotions that are her weakness to distract her,just like they were with me. Both of us became blinded, unable to see clearly ahead when thingsturned bad. Back when Selene robbed her of her powers, she wasn't able to use her ability to seeahead because, in that moment, she was solely focused on her revenge. She is her own worstenemy, not to mention arrogant with a bad superiority complex.”

I could still remember that moment in our fight when she had shown her true colours; how it was amirror image of the way she'd made me angrily react to things in the past. Seeing the comparisonnow had made me realise how painfully obvious her influence was.

"So, we just need to get her angry?” Cai asked sceptically

I then sighed, turning my lip in uncertainty. “Truthfully, this last theory of “distraction’ is the mostunreliable one I have and that's mostly because it could change at any minute without warning. Weneed t 0 keep in mind that this weakness could still very easily turn into a strength for her, what withit also stemming from a strong emotional response. If she learns how to overcome her urge to justimmediately attack in a pure rage, she could always use that emotional energy to her own benefitinstead. Then we'd probably be in a lot of trouble. I was only able to survive because she lapsed intothat overconfident fury

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LETICIOU

and I just used it to my own advantage. My hope is that old dogs really can't learn new tricks;especially when that bitch is thousands of years old and believes they're better than us already.”“That sounds like a pretty big variable,” Cai said.

“I don't disagree,” I said. “It's not going to be easy, I know. We definitely still need to figure out aproper plan. However, in the meantime ... I was going to say that I didn't entirely disagree with whatyou were saying to Aleric earlier.”

And they both frowned in confusion.

“I think you're right in what you said,” I repeated. “We probably should send me somewhere awayinto hiding. At least until I've completely healed. It's extremely difficult to keep myself feelingneutral whilst I'm constantly in pain; something I've been mitigating by timing my work with whenI've had another dose of medication. But I can't stay medicated forever. The best thing to do will beto force some distance and wait until I'm able to defend myself again. So long as we can buy somemore time, then we can make her start playing our game instead. Use all that time to then think of aplan, to prepare ourselves and, hopefully, make the first move before she realises it's happening.Too long have we been fighting against her in the dark, blinded by our own lack of knowledge.Well... we've got an advantage now. Time to use that. Being away from the Winter Mist should alsostop her from constantly attacking the borders as well. She wants us to make a quick, rash decision;we need to make sure we do the opposite.”

“But won't she be able to just track you down? You said so yourself — she’s in your head,” Alericpointed out. “Who's to say she doesn't have a way of tracing you?”

And I knew he was right. She was definitely connected to me thanks to when I gave myself over toher. I could feel her presence always lurking.

But I'd thought of something for that too.

"She probably can... but I already came up with a theory to possibly counter that,” I said and pulledsomething out of my pocket, placing it on the table.

"What is that? A silver ring?”

I nodded.

“I had Elder Luke make it for me after he visited my hospital room a few days ago.”

"What's a silver ring going to do? She still managed to get into your head when you had the silvercollar, didn't she?”

“Right... but this isn't ordinary blessed silver,” I explained, picking it back up to show them. “This ismade out of the ancient ceremonial sword. The same silver that Selene herself blessed, making itthe first-ever rof its kind. The only silver to have not only her life essence, but her directsanctification too. I had Elder Luke melt it down for me and forge this instead. I'm hoping that itmight be stronger than your average handcuffs and help keep Thea from immediately tracking medown.”

"..Seems risky without any real evidence to support it working,” Cai said.

“I don't see why you're arguing when it was literally your idea to send me away to begin with,” Ireplied.

And we glared at each other.

“Enough,” Aleric said, breaking our stare-off. “Even if Thea can't track you, it doesn’t mean it's safefor you to just up and leave. What if she does replace you? If we have an entire team of warriorsprotecting you, it will be extremely noticeable regardless of where you're hiding Word will get to herimmediately.”

“Well, then do you think it's better to just leave me here with all of these attacks happening?” Iargued. “W e can't keep splitting forces from both inside the Winter Mist and outside of it as well,you know this. It's not only safer for me if I go, but it's also safer for everyone else in the pack too.You two included, since

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she won't be able to use me to get secrets I might accidentally leak.”

This apparently caught Cai's attention as he looked at me oddly, frowning slightly at what I'd said."..You care about what happens to the pack?”

And I gritted my teeth, looking away. I didn't want to make a big deal out of this right now. Mostly, Ididn’t want anyone getting their hopes up by thinking Id recovered because I hadn't. Not evenclose. It was better for everyone if they kept thinking I was completely dangerous.

“Well, if you're planning on doing this,” Aleric then interjected, probably realising from my reactionthat I didn't want to talk further. “Then I think the only way we can go about this is if I go with you.I'm the only one who can protect you as effectively as an entire unit of warriors could, making thewhole thing far more covert. Not to mention that it also wouldn't hurt to distance myself if shedecides to change focus i n your absence.”

"... Then what about the pack?” I argued, shocked by his suggestion. “Someone needs to be here torun the place. They need an Alpha.”

“Then... then I'll do that,” Cai cut in hesitantly. “Your Elder Luke and cousin can assist to keep yourpack’s image intact. I'm the only one who can stay here though without any fear of Thea getting tome. We can just combine the Silver Lake and Winter Mist on a temporary basis. My father doesn'tneed me home right now and this is the best way to ensure the Mist stays protected whilst you'regone.”

And it was as though history was repeating itself; the two territories once again joining. Somethingthey hadn't done in centuries.

Now we just had to hope that history didn't repeat itself in other ways. That this would be anexample of there being good things resulting from repetition.

Because I'd already seen in one lifetime what Thea's victory historically looked like. And that onehad ended with all of our deaths.

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