Page 103 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

What were they all trying to tell me? Vera had come into power during the human and demon war, so her words made me think about her attack on the Shadow Realm… and what she did to Onyx. Were the others the same then? Telling me what their grand destiny entailed?

The five of them disappeared without another word, and my vision went dark again. But it didn’t stay that way for long.

A handful of beats later, a pair of crimson eyes appeared.

Onyx was smiling down at me, tracing the line of my jaw like he so often did. I had a body now but had no control over it. Couldn’t speak or move. I could only stare up at the heartachingly beautiful face that’d consumed my thoughts for the past two days.

“Silly little bird,” he said, releasing one of his musical laughs. “How I’ve lived without you for all these years, I’ll never know.” He pulled me in closer and nuzzled my hair. “But I never wish to know another day without you by my side.”

It wasn’t a memory.

I realized, with a bittersweet tug in chest, that it was the future I wished he and I could have. The happily ever after that the curse took from him. From both of us.

“The yearnings of your heart,” a disembodied voice said as the image of Onyx faded. The voice didn’t unsettle me though. It felt… peaceful. “You wield the power to make it so.”

The tree trunk reappeared in front of me.

My brain took a moment to process, jarred from the shift in my surroundings. I had come out of the dream and stood back beneath the weeping willow. The chitter of birds reached my ears, as did the chimes from the leaves.

The guardian stood in the same place he’d been before, his attention still unwavering on me. But his black-eyed gaze seemed less intimidating than earlier. A soft clank sounded as he slowly moved, facing back toward the branches as they parted.

My cue to leave.

Stepping back out into the meadow, though, I had to blink a few times. It was nighttime now.

“Good. You’ve returned.” Phantasia stood from where she’d been sitting by the stream. Salem perched on her forearm, his golden eyes faintly glowing in the dark.

“How long was I in there?” I asked, struggling to wrap my head around the sense of lost time.

“Nearly four hours,” she answered, petting Salem’s wings.

“Four hours?” I nearly fell over. “It felt like five minutes.”

“It was the same for me when I stepped beyond the branches once before.” Phantasia retrieved my basket from the grass and approached me. “She showed me my life’s path. Before then, I spent my days in the marketplace, brewing herbal teas for the townsfolk and the occasional simple elixir for pains and aches. Then Saint Vera invaded this realm. Many demons were killed and others were severely wounded. My late wife amongst them.”

“Your wife?” I asked.

“It was before I met my Armin. Her name was Belladonna. But I called her my Bella.” Phantasia pressed her forehead against Salem’s feathers, her eyes closing. “She’s the one who rescued Salem. He was a wee babe who’d been abandoned in his nest because of a broken wing. We tended to him and set him free, but he refused to leave. The three of us lived a beautiful life together before it was cut short much too soon.”

“Kill all demons. Burn them all.”

No need to ask what happened to Bella. And I wouldn’t have asked anyway. The grief in Phantasia’s voice as she spoke of her wife was too great. I wouldn’t ask her to relive that pain for the sake of my curiosity.

“After the battle, those who didn’t succumb to their injuries needed a healer,” she continued. “Unfortunately, Hektor, the healer before me, had been killed during the attack. The survivors all came together to help the wounded as much as we could, but the situation was grave. That’s when I felt a draw to this place. A voice beckoned to me. Once in the willow’s embrace, I was shown a vision.”

“Of what?” I asked, remembering my own experience in the willow.

The faintest of smiles touched her lips. “Of my dear Armin. Though, he meant little to me before then. Nothing more than one of the countless warriors who’d been wounded. He was in the ward and near death. But the willow showed me his face, one not broken and bruised like he was in the ward. Instead, he was smiling down at me with so much… life. Warmth. That’s when I sensed a surge of power in my core and a tingling in my palms. When I emerged from the branches, I took my knowledge as a herbologist and became what I am today.”

“And you saved Armin,” I said, accepting my basket as she handed it over to me. One that was much lighter than it’d been earlier.

“I did.” She looked at the basket. “I hope you don’t mind, but I helped myself to the boar hand pie you brought as I waited. And three of the lemon cookies.”

“That’s okay.” I smiled, though it felt half-hearted. I was still shaken by the fact four freaking hours had passed. “I’m surprised a patrol party hasn’t been sent to find me.”

“I told Briar my plan before stealing you away,” she told me as we started back toward the trees. “He said he’d inform your mates. I was sure to tell him to keep that blundering buffoon away from this sacred place.”

I laughed. “Callum is like a bull in a China shop sometimes. Which is funny considering how skilled he is with a sword.”