Chapter 41

The rest of the Hofer family had cleared the area. Except for Walter. I saw him hiding in the crowd. He was staring at the scene in bitterness. There was a sneer on his face. He ran towards Rudolph at the battle arena. Ralph was hurt; he was prime target to easily kill. I lived through so much, I was not losing him.

“WALTER!” I roared. He stopped and stared at me. There was fear in his eyes, he looked pale for a moment.

“Oh Goddess, of bullshit! You think you can come back! Never!” he bellowed as he threw a spear at me. I hit the ground to get out of the way. I heard a groan from behind me. The spear had hit my grandfather.

“No!” I ran towards him and held him as his life faded from his eyes.

“I love you buttercup. I am so sorry, I never told you.” He said as he breathed his last. I cried in sorrow. I reached back with the power of the goddess I knew was flowing inside of me. I grabbed Walter by the throat like a Sith as he was about to perform a killing blow to Rudolph. He choked as I continued to squeeze the life out of him. I slammed my fist to the ground. This exploded his head like a watermelon. Rudolph covered himself and ducked away from the carnage.

The entire Hofer family was staring at me in awe. I sat and cried with sorrow and relief. I saw my parents, my friend, and my grandmother. They were looking at me with a smile. I felt like there was a chasm separating us. They were in the sky, smiling down at me. My mother blew me a kiss; my father reached out his hand for me. I attempted to reach back. He said, “We will always love you, my starling, soar to new heights and live a life of love.” He said as they disappeared. I laid on the ground a poured out all my anguish. I felt arms wrap around me. The broken sounds coming from me didn’t sound human. I wailed. Everything was done, those monsters were dead and not coming back. I felt relief but, pain. My whole life as a human had been ripped away from me by those people. I gained Ralph but, lost everyone else I loved and held dear, including a grandfather I never knew that I had. I couldn’t stop the series of gut-wrenching sounds coming from me as I thought over the last several weeks in which my life had been torn apart by them. I wailed until I passed out. I felt like I was waking up back in that field. This time my family was there. There were several other people there. I recognized several of my ancestors including Gabrielle. She ran to me and embraced me.

“I am sorry I tried to lure you. I was going to try to use your life to come back.” I looked at her in shock.

“All those weird visions, was you?” I said as I broke away from her in a huff

“My life was stolen from me. I realize now that I shouldn’t be jealous of you getting the man I felt was destined to me. Cause, he was also meant for you too.” She said in a smile.

“we’re so proud of you pumpkin.” My mother said to me.

“I didn’t know, I could have prevented so much had I known” I said as I hit her one.

“No, it would have still happened, you just possibly would not have found Rudolph. Our death was your path to him.” My father said to me.

“What if I had learned sooner, I could have reached out to the Hofer’s for support.” I told them.

“You didn’t know the hofers at that time, you would have gone to Cambridge like you had once thought, don’t fool yourself honey. You would have transferred to Cambridge, we would have still died, you just would be on your own without Rudolph or anyone and they would have come for you while you were unawares.” My Grandmother said. I knew she was right. I hugged her with all my might. I felt myself gliding back to reality. I hugged them with all my love knowing I would see again someday possibly.