“Who was the first multi-shifter?” Jessica continued her questions.
“He was a seer. Many think the first seers were those written about in the sixteen hundreds, but they were fake ones. The real ones have been around a lot longer. The first and most powerful was a man called Morwen. He originated from Wales and had experienced visions most of his life. He knew the exact moment he would die, but he still went on the quest that would eventually lead to his death. He’d not been able to see what would happen after his demise, but he’d believed something different lay beyond the path of his human life, and he was right. He was reborn as a multi-shifter in the cave in Death Valley.”
Every time Hayden heard the story of the first of his kind, he was reminded that he’d touched the dragon bones knowing he’d never be able to live safely in the human world again. It was the path chosen for him, and he’d had to follow it. That was an essential part of being a multi-shifter—you were given great power but great responsibility came with it. Not that he knew what it was like to change into other animals. He’d only ever known the one—his dragon. His ability to change stopped there because it was the only one he could handle.
“When he was reborn a multi-shifter, it was a vision that told Morwen to touch an animal so he could become it. When other multi-shifters started to appear, the visions increased for the first seer,” Ethern continued while Jessica stood up from his lap and returned to the dragon bones. She took hold of one again. Hayden understood only too well the pull of them.
“Then what did he do?” Jessica asked, intrigued.
“He began writing everything down.” Hayden took up the story. Jessica turned to face him. “For years and years, he had visions of all sorts—some of them far into the future, even further than we’ll ever exist…until the end of time. He wrote them all down.”
“Does the writing still exist?” Jessica looked concern.
Hayden shook his head. “No, common sense eventually prevailed. If those words had fallen into the wrong hands, they’d have been more dangerous than anything ever unleashed on the Earth. Instead, he decided to commit everything to his memory and then burned the papers. Every written word about the future was gone. But his memories were saved. On his death bed, dying of old age, he used telepathy to send his thoughts out to every multi-shifter in the world. He shared his prophesies, as they came to be known, so they could be passed down through the generations to those who needed to know, to those fated to help restore balance to the Earth. In the past, wars have been stopped and some have been prevented because of those prophesies. Now it’s our turn.”
“Selene’s turn?” Jessica responded, her thoughts going to her friend. The woman Hayden had been waiting for all these years.
“Yes, she’s the one chosen to help us win the fight this time. The key to our victory. I wish I could take the burden away from her, but only she can carry forward what I’ve learned from touching these bones. Selene can’t do it alone, though,” Hayden replied as he moved gingerly to sit next to Jessica. Reaching out, he took the bone she’d been holding and settled it in his lap. “The beauty that can come from one touch is beyond comprehension to most. Selene learned the power of that touch when she met Brayden. She learned to control her powers, but he was the key to her doing so, and he’ll be the key to her controlling her dragon’s power.”
“What about her baby?” Jessica asked.
Hayden could tell she was nervous about the child Selene carried inside her. Hayden was as well. There’d been no visions of what the child would become, but they already knew it was a multi-shifter. There was trepidation among them all. If Selene touched the bones before her baby was born, the infant would have the power of the dragon inside it too.
“If that time comes before the birth, it’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Ethern replied. He was on his feet now.
“We’ve only ever had half the picture, and I’m afraid with Selene it might be even less than half. But, she is the one who’ll be able to control the dragon immediately. By reading my thoughts, she’ll know what I’ve learned and what she has to do,” Hayden reassured her.
“I’m so scared to tell her.” Jessica shivered.
Hayden wanted to reach out and give her comfort, but even with Jessica’s spell in place he didn’t dare have contact with anything other than the dragon bones. His touch was reserved for one person only. He was waiting until the day he got to see Molly again.
It was coming—he felt it.
The war.
And Molly.
Would they always find themselves in the middle of a battle?
“She’ll know everything soon enough.” Ethern looked down at the bones. He knelt in front of them. “She’ll get the visions herself soon.”
The multi-shifter, no, reaper reached out and touched one of the bones. Hayden nervously watched but nothing happened to him. Ethern was no longer one of Hayden’s kind.
“She’ll get the visions?” Jessica exclaimed with fear for her friend as she watched the man she loved roll a bone around in his hand.
“She will,” Hayden replied and got to his feet.
He was feeling tired. His age made him sleepier now, and he headed to the back of the cave where he had his living space. It wasn’t special, but it was comfortable. He stopped and turned back to Jessica. The warning sat on his lips at first, but he knew he needed to give it.
“The only difference between the visions Ethern and I have experienced compared to Selene’s is that hers will feel more real to her, because they’re her reality—she’ll live them. Let’s just hope we can change them.”
Chapter Nine
“Damn it,” Molly yelled as she dropped the fresh bowl of stew onto the floor.
She’d spent most of the morning preparing it after spending a large proportion of yesterday catching the rabbits to go in it. She reached for a cloth to start clearing it up, but she tripped on the pan and fell into the hot liquid on the floor. She jumped up, and on one leg and with the aid of a walking stick, she made her way as quickly as possible into the magical shower at the back of her cave. She didn’t bother taking her clothes off as she jumped under the warm, running water and washed away the burning liquid. Her side ached.
Molly had always remained resolutely independent, despite being in her seventies and with one leg, but her resilience to do things for herself was weakening. She was tired and would have no hot meal tonight now, unless she ate the remnants from the cave floor.
She’d always loved her cave. Many had thought her strange for asking to live here rather than down in the mansion with the other shifters when she’d returned from Vietnam, but somehow she felt closer to Hayden up here. She had a feeling that wherever he was, he was also alone, and she wanted to be that way too. However, Molly was gradually losing her fight to stay alone. More and more, she needed help, and she knew it would only come from going to see Kas.
She gingerly limped out of the shower and removed her soaking wet clothes. She inspected her injuries and saw the large purple bruise appearing on her hip and the redness on her aged skin from where she’d fallen into the hot stew.