10 - This Is Our Fault

Reyna

As Malachi switches off the video, the silence that follows is deafening. The fury in my mates’ eyes is mirrored by the storm raging in my heart, but beneath the anger, there’s a chasm of guilt that threatens to swallow me whole.

They start discussing our next move, their voices filled with rage and desperation, but I’m barely listening. My mind is trapped in a past I thought I had left behind, a past when I was not myself, but Pyrra’s vessel, rampaging through islands in a blaze of purple flames.

It’s my fault. All of it.

I remember the destruction, the powerlessness as Pyrra took control, leaving devastation in her wake. At the time, I didn’t know the full extent of the horrors she committed with my hands. It was only later, much later, that the memories started to surface, fragmented and jagged, cutting deep.

I thought those sins were behind us, that we had moved on and built something beautiful out of the ashes. But now, with Rhiannon’s abduction, it’s clear those sins hav