Chosen: Book 1 in the Ancients of Light series Read Online Free PDF Page A

Myrrdyn rubbed his hands together with delight
before turning to face his daughter and her husband. His voice was
stern, though a tiny sparkle remained in his eyes, “I will be
having full account of this. We must return my grandchild to the
protection of her Caste.”
     
     

CHAPTER 4
522 Years later
    Kaitriana awoke abruptly; the disorientation
from doing so nearly overwhelmed her ability to remain upright in
the bed. The return of her senses, now heightened, made everything
that much more intense after her extended slumber. Her limbs were
shaking and she could not keep her hands still as she attempted to
straighten herself further. Every part of her was having trouble
readjusting to an awakened state. Her throat felt parched and an
ache was beginning to find home in the base of her skull. Memories,
given to her through the magic of Myrrdyn during the past five
centuries were whirling in her head doing naught but causing the
ache to build.
    The rushing play of the visions was making it
difficult for her to ascertain exactly where she was and her
condition. She fell back to the pillows of her bed with an
anguished moan, spying a large chalice at the table to the side of
her bed…cup; her fostered memories brought the proper name to her.
Her still trembling hands eased across the silken material of the
coverings draping her. The coolness of the same helped calm her as
she attempted to regain some sense of herself and composure to go
along with it.
    The recollections that were not her own had
filtered into her subconscious during the time of her slumber,
telling her the story of the happenings within the Realm as well as
within the human world. Kaitriana felt as if she had lived them,
felt as current with the times and the history of the Light and the
Dark as though she had played a part.
    She had not...she had been confined, powers
bound for her own sake and the sake of the Realm, in a magically
induced coma-like state. Kaitriana remembered vividly her
grandfather’s eyes, filled with tears, as he had done this to her.
His promise echoed through her head as if he had spoken the words
just yesterday, “Kaitriana when you are strong enough to control
the magic that has risen in you, when you can master it in your new
form, it will be time. You will awaken and fulfill your destiny,
the prophecy as the Chosen.”
    Her mind wandered back from there. Her own
memories and those of Myrrdyn encroached; unbidden and unwanted,
she tucked her legs into her chest at the onslaught. She began
rocking with the pain unleashed on her, tears forming and falling
unchecked.
    It had been the beginning
of the Festival of the Moon, many years had passed since the Witch
Castes had all gathered to celebrate the event. It would be her
first experience, her entrance fully into the world of the Witch.
Though twenty-six, her parents and Myrrdyn had kept her interaction
with the Castes a rare occurrence, seeking to shelter her until her
powers were fully realized.
    At her insistent pleading,
they had agreed it was time for her to take her place in the Witch
faction and to come to this celebration. Her powers were peaking
and she had been training hard with her Papa to perfect the Warrior
magic passed to her from her father’s Caste. Elfred and Vevila
thought her strength was limited to the powers of that Caste, that
the Fire and Light abilities from her youth were too weak and
unpredictable to use.
    Like so many of the Witch
breed, they also believed that the other born in the year of the
Chosen would actually fulfill the prophecy. Kaitriana and Myrrdyn,
a secret between the two, had known otherwise. In his presence she
had mastered her other powers, near perfecting her control of them.
Yet the magic had continued to rise in her, the extent of her
strength astonishing even her ancient grandfather. She had been
exhibiting powers from every Caste and even Myrrdyn had not
realized the Prophecy would give rise to such greatness.
    Given that she had