The Chosen One
She always knew she would be special. She didn’t realize it wasn’t her.
She always knew she would be special.
She had had dreams full of legend since she was small. Of course, ‘legend’ wasn’t exactly a defined term anymore, she thought to herself, her lips quirking slightly. Not since 3 years ago, when more than a quarter of the population of earth revealed that they were magicians and sorcerers and that they were tired of hiding.
In some ways, Ria thought, it was like a fairytale. There were fairytale creatures everywhere, and magic was real. On the other hand, well, magic was real. It meant all the power hierarchies in the world shifted. It meant that trolls and ogres walked the same earth as pixies and fairies. Some, like the dragons, preferred mountains far away from civilization. Others, like the centaurs, just became a part of the people.
But them? The non-magical people? Well, suddenly it didn’t matter how much money you tossed around, you were treated like trash. The good for nothing common folk. Unless, of course, you bonded with one of the pegasus, unicorn, or hippocampi. The equine bond was sacred and revered. And also very very rare.
The only way for a common, non-magical person to gain status was an equine bond.
Unless, you were written in the stars, and your destiny was revealed by an old crone’s prophecy.
And Ria had been prophesied, they said. She was the chosen one, they said. Ria had scoffed at it until a Death Dragon with a thousand-year-old grudge had killed her parents and set his sights on Ria, the last of her line.
While Ria and her parents weren’t magical, it gradually came to light that she was descended from a line of powerful sorcerers of the pegasi, who had bonded with the pegasus since the beginning of time.
Ria had gone on the run with her two best friends, Rowan and Raul. It was hard to hide from a Death Dragon, one of the most powerful dragons in existence, and she had barely survived many, many times. But it took only a few short weeks for Nyx to find her.
Named after the goddess of the night, Nyx was a regal black pegasus with silver-tipped wings, and Ria’s bondmate. The bond awakened the long-dead magic in Ria’s blood, and Nyx had immediately whisked them away to learn, train, and ultimately defeat the Death Dragon.
Among the pegasi people, Ria felt at home. The general of the Pegasi army, Eliana, had made fast friends, and her magic quickly grew by leaps and bounds. Rowan and Raul were at her side constantly, guarding her back, and eventually, they had both fallen in love with her.
And that had been the end of their friendship.
Ria’s entire existence was taken up by concerns of staying alive and defeating the Death Dragon. After many battles, Ria and Nyx, helped by their friends and the pegasi army, finally defeated him. The celebrations lasted for months. But all Ria wanted to think of was resting, recuperating, and adjusting to a new life among the people of the pegasi. Neither Rowan nor Raul understood.
In the end, it was Eliana who comforted Ria when Ria cut both of them off, and Eliana who told both of them off and yelled at them that they were acting like pathetic puppies. Ria’s heart ached as the three of them grew more distant with each passing day.
The only advice she got was from the crone who prophesied her arrival. And that it was to think about the chosen one.
Ria groaned, shaking off the dream as she woke, cold and sweating, in the middle of the night yet again.
“Ria?” Eliana’s sleepy voice came from the other end of the hut, and she heard the concerned shifting of Nyx and Aurum, Eliana’s bondmate. “You okay?”
“Just a bad dream” she mumbled, and was about to let the conversation drop when she felt Eliana slip in next to her on the bed. “Wanna talk about it?” she asked.
Ria shook her head. The dream of Rowan and Raul disappearing, and the crone’s words Remember the Chosen One hadn’t made sense the first time she dreamed that particular dream, and it didn’t make sense now. There was no need to trouble Eliana about it.
Eliana’s arms came around her as she hugged Ria. “It’s okay, I got you.” she said. “Go back to sleep”
And Ria drifted off into the first peaceful sleep she had in days.
Weeks passed, and Ria’s dreams didn’t stop. And she had started to get a funny feeling in her stomach that her destiny wasn’t over.
Eliana helped as much as she could, staying with Ria, comforting her every night when Ria woke up in a cold sweat, and generally looking out for her. She was Ria’s rock, warm and solid, and even Aurum and Nyx were getting to be very close. Aurum was, after all, a very striking stallion.
Three weeks into her dreams, a magical volcano erupted.
As lava gushed and the sky turned red, the pegasi people and their home was threatened, a crone delivered a new prophecy. Only a prophesied heir to magic and a chosen one could enter the heart of the volcano and stop the mighty force of nature.
Ria got ready. She was sure she was going to die.
Eliana, faithful as ever, came with her. And at the last minute, much to her surprise, so did Rowan and Raul. She hugged them, her eyes full of tears, as she saw that they were prepared to accompany her, to have her back, as always.
They flew to the volcano, coughing amidst the smoke, and landed at the foot of the slope, where a giant rock door guarded the passage to the center. And that’s where they found themselves at a standstill.
The door was such that anyone who pushed the door would be inside when it closed again, which meant only Ria, prophesied heir to magic and chosen one, could go in. At least, that was the theory.
No amount of pushing on Ria’s part got the door to budge.
After a while of futile pushing, they heard a cackling laugh off to the side. They all whirled, swords, bows, clubs, and wings and hooves at the ready, to face the crone who was cackling mirthlessly at them.
“Lassie, you forgot about your chosen one,” she said. “Don’t forget, only a prophesied heir and chosen one can enter the cave.”
And with that very helpful advice, she disappeared.
“This makes no sense!” Eliana raged. Her face was a mask of fear, anger, and concern. Rowan and Raul behind her wore similar expressions.
Ria, however, was thinking. She had always known she was the prophesied heir and chosen one, but the crone, the crone made it sound different.
She hadn’t said the chosen one, Ria realized, her eyes widening. She had said her chosen one.
She wasn’t the chosen one, after all, she realized, with a deep clenching in her gut and a rightness that made her absolutely sure of what she was thinking. The chosen one would be her partner. The one she chose.
Excitedly, she turned to her friends, and explained her epiphany…..and suddenly stopped. She didn’t have a partner. Rowan and Raul stared at her with identical expressions of shock, and she knew they had come to the same realization. How would she choose? Who would she choose?
Ria closed her eyes. My Chosen One, she thought. The choice was hers. She felt Nyx at her side as she reached out with her instinct, eyes still closed, trusting her fate to know who her chosen one was.
It wasn’t who she had expected.
It was the one who had been with her, believed her, bolstered her to new heights, protected her, cherished her, comforted her, took care of her. The one who had her back, day in and day out.
Ria opened her eyes, and looked into Eliana’s. And she saw the raw feeling behind Eliana’s fear and concern. She saw her pain at the thought of Ria choosing between the two boys. She saw the love that Eliana had carefully kept locked out of sight.
She looked to Eliana and smiled, and Eliana’s eyes widened. Her answering smile was dazzling, and the love of it nearly swept Ria away.
“Will you go with me, my love?” Ria asked. Eliana, eyes shining with unshed tears, nodded.
Together, they pushed the door, the prophesied heir, and the chosen one.
The door swung open. The last thing they saw before it swung shut was Nyx and Aurum, wings touching, ready to wait for them to come back home.
