Chapter 142: The Price of Power
As the silver light went out, a teenage version of the angry little girl showed up where she had been.
She looked just like Elara, but her eyes were filled with pain from hundreds of years ago. "I remember now," the teen said in a low voice.
"I remember who I was before the darkness took me." "Who are you?" Elara asked as she held her new baby girl. The teen said, "My name is Luna."
"The daughter you would have had if you had made a different choice." I’m also something else now, though."
Elara’s baby began to shine brighter while she held it. "She’s my balance," the baby said.
"There can’t be light without darkness." Love needs pain to have meaning."
"What does that mean for us?" Kael asked. Before anyone could answer, the room shook fiercely. Outside, they could hear roaring and the sound of breaking glass.
"The other dark versions," Luna said quickly. "They’re angry that I picked healing. They’re coming to destroy everything." "How many?" Ronan asked, going to the window.
"All of them," Luna said. "Every broken path, every twisted reality. They want to drag me back to the darkness." Elara tried to stand but gasped in pain. The birth had weakened her more than she’d realized.
"I can’t fight," she said. "I can barely move." "Then we fight for you," Darian said.
"No," the baby said. "Fighting won’t work. They feed on violence." "Then what do we do?" Kael demanded.
"We heal them," the baby said. "All of them. But it will cost us." "Cost us what?" Elara asked. "Everything," Luna said softly.