Preeta was on stage with Eraclia performing their creative writing project in the packed out school lecture hall. The audience were in total darkness and there was a huge spotlight beaming brightly on the two birthday twins, but even still, she could feel the sheer energy and presence of just how many people were there. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house. People were even standing along the walkways and all around the stage too. Preeta’s parents and grandparents were there, as well as Eraclia’s family, hundreds of parents of other pupils, teachers, news reporters, government officials, and of course the Prime Minister himself.

Even Angry Mr Woodburn was there, but sadly, Miss Honey was nowhere to
be found. She still hadn’t been seen since the battle at the Freedom Expanse
and Preeta was beyond worried about her.

But still, she was on stage with a job to do and wouldn’t focus on that now. All
eyes were on her and Eraclia and it was time for them to deliver. Eraclia was
literally in the zone. She said all her lines with unshakable confidence, emotion, and gravitas, and was a total natural on stage. It was almost like her soul’s purpose was to be a performer for the masses.

Preeta wasn’t flowing quite as well, but certainly wasn’t letting the team down. Despite everything she was going through, she was managing to hold her own and deliver an incredibly solid performance.

She’d come to realise that the benefits of her mindfulness meditation didn’t just extend to Preetarian battles, but pretty much any situation she could ever find herself in. By teaching her brain to focus purely on the present moment, she allowed herself to ignore most of its endless chatter to tap into a part of herself that was completely focused and fearless.

The affirmations Eraclia told her about were also a great help. Instead of
allowing her brain to tell her negative stuff about herself, she decided to say
only positive things and that really helped a lot. It seemed like Preeta was
whatever she believed herself to be and nothing more.

When she told herself she was the greatest leader of all time, or that their
performance was going to be amazing, she wasn’t able to think the opposite.
She could only think one thing at a time and if she wasn’t thinking she was a
loser, she wasn’t able to feel like one either. And then, not feeling like a loser
simply made it impossible for her to act like one. It all came full circle.

Her performance with Eraclia was reaching its crescendo; a pre-written rhyme with a series of intricate hand gestures and dance moves which went:

“Is it real, girl?!”

“Is it really real, girl!?”

“Let me know it’s real, girl!”

“If it’s really real!”

“Something I can feel, girl!”

“Time for the reveal, girl!”

“Nothing to conceal, girl!”

“If it’s really real!”

And with that, the lights went up and the audience went crazy. They hadn’t just met everyone’s expectations, they’d blown them out of the water.

Preeta Patel and Eraclia Price had knocked the ball right out of the park. Their
performance was a monster slam-dunk followed by a full court swish. Nothing
but net. Back of the net. First round KO. Flawless victory. They’d delivered
and then some.

Big respect.

As the now standing audience applauded and even began hurling money at the stage, the two best friends hugged so tightly their cheeks wedged together. Then, they proudly stood side by side with their chests puffed out, savouring every last scent of the sweet smell of success.

Seconds later, Angry Mr Woodburn walked onto the stage, went up to the
podium, grabbed the mic, and gestured for everybody to be quiet. Not only was he in a dapper suit instead of his trademark minuscule shorts and breathtakingly tight top which bared his bowling ball gut for all and sundry, but he was actually smiling. Preeta had never seen anything like it.

“Thank you, girls, thank you, that was just excellent. Truly marvellous. You two
are a credit to all of us at Harper Bell School and I just want to say from the
bottom of my heart what a personal pleasure it has been to watch you grow and blossom into such lovely young women.”

Preeta looked at Eraclia in confusion to see that she was already looking right
back and was just as baffled. Mr Woodburn had never said or done anything to let them think he thought they, or anyone else, were remotely nice as pupils or even human beings for that matter. At best, he made them feel like nuisances to be endured on a daily basis. Somewhat akin to the unpleasant aftertaste left on a man’s tongue from his wife’s trademark distasteful cuisine. Maybe he was playing up to the cameras or maybe they had him wrong and he actually did have a heart. Preeta couldn’t say for certain.

“Now, I have not been at this school for as long as some, but I still know how
important the Creative Arts Jam is to our culture here. It has been a key staple
of the values we hold dear and true for almost 50 years, and there was nobody
who cared more about pushing it further than my colleague, Mr Jonathan
Honey.”

Mr Jonathan Honey?? thought Preeta. Doesn’t he mean Miss Jennifer Honey??

She also wondered why he said “was” and “cared”, like she was already dead.

“He should be up here right now instead of myself and I just want to say that
all of us at Harper Bell School are praying deeply for him. We’re all hoping for
him to come out of that coma and make a full recovery. Jonathan, we love you, brother; please keep on fighting and come home to us. This school needs you.”

She…erm…he’s in a coma??

The crowd murmured in sympathetic agreement before Mr Woodburn
continued to speak.

“Now, we have a guest who certainly needs no introduction. I would like you
all to put your hands together, but please remain seated as he makes his way to the stage. Can all in attendance please give a very special welcome to our
esteemed visitor from Number 10 Downing St, the Prime Minister of England,
Mr Thomas Vivian Maxwell.”

The audience applauded as the Prime Minister rose from his seat, smiled, and
slowly made his way to the stage. He was a rather odd sight to be honest, quite
the peculiar visual oddity in all fairness. Firstly, he was what Miss Honey liked
to call somewhat lacking in stature, and actually didn’t seem to be too much
taller than Preeta. He was an adult man for sure, but every bit as short as an
adult man could be without being considered a dwarf.

Secondly, he was old. A bit doddery. Long in the tooth. Past his best and had
clearly seen better days. Long story short, the Prime Minister of England was
on a one-way supersonic flight to elderly status with a first class ticket.

Born in Birmingham to Jamaican immigrant parents, Prime Minister Thomas
Vivian Maxwell had:

● skin the same shade of brown as Eraclia

● the skinny and bony frame of a man who believed physical exercise to
be an immoral pursuit

● the rotund gut of a woman who looked like the baby was due any
minute

Henceforth, it was clear to all who bore witness to him that his body wasn’t
equipped to do more than carry snacks from the front door of Number 10 to
his limousine’s back seat.

Seeing both his and Angry Mr Woodburn’s expansive bellies standing proudly
side by side on that stage was a novel experience for Preeta’s young eyeballs.
One she wouldn’t forget in a hurry. However, when she looked at him closely,
she realised he was having problems with his right arm. He swung his left arm
as he walked, but not his right. And as he stood at his podium, he arranged his
papers with his left, while his right just hung lifelessly like wet spaghetti.

What happened to him?

“Now, Miss Preeta Patel and Miss Eraclia Price are going to interview the Prime
Minister about his work as our head of government; a discussion which
promises to be a very fruitful conversation between two generations. I believe
Preeta especially has some questions about making the world a better place,
which seem like the seeds of a very productive conversation that I personally
can’t wait to hear. However; before we begin, ladies and gentlemen, I remind
you all that this initiative was created to foster deep understanding and
transparent communication between us, the adults of this country, and of
course, the children.

“A famous song once said that children are the future and this is so true.
Today’s infants are tomorrow’s doctors, scientists, gymnasts, police officers,
and of course Prime Ministers; but guess what? They’re also tomorrow’s
criminals too. The children who are overlooked, abused, ignored, and not given purpose in life will become tomorrow’s muggers, drug dealers, drug addicts, murderers, and God knows what else. It is said that by the age of eight, a person’s personality is fully formed, meaning that whether they will spend their entire lives believing themselves to be intelligent, funny, worthwhile, or just deserving of happiness is largely set in stone by this age.

“I hope to God that this isn’t true. I hope to God that those who have had a
bad start in life can still find happiness, but the science says this is statistically
unlikely. Because of that, it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure that we
provide nurture and guidance for today’s children.

“By fostering a relationship of true understanding with tomorrow’s generation,
we can help them through life’s many trials and tribulations so that they will see that they have potential, self-worth, and inherent value as human beings.”

Who is this man and what has he done with Angry Mr Woodburn? Thought Preeta, her mouth so agape in shock that all in attendance could identify her tonsils whether they wanted to or not.

She had never heard him speak so kindly about children before and it floored
her. She looked at Eraclia and saw that once again she was staring right back,
her own mouth open so wide that Preeta could count every last one of her
lower teeth if she were so inclined.

“So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let’s begin. Prime Minister
Maxwell, would you please?”

“Thank you, Frank. It is my great honour to be a part of this project. Creativity
and literacy have been my core passions ever since I was as young as these two
lovely little humans, Miss Price and Miss Patel. And, they will continue to be
long after I’m gone, my name is forgotten to the shadows of time, and my
bloodline is survived by descendants who never knew my name.

“There is a belief in society that learning must be something we endure in order to attain knowledge. That the process of acquiring information is supposed to be one we detest, or at the very least tolerate to achieve a desired future outcome. These are mindsets that we imprint onto the psyches of our children and hence program them to avoid learning, and therefore stunt their
developments and potentials.”

Preeta didn’t know why but as she looked into the eyes of the Prime Minister,
she felt a strange sensation crawling under her skin. It was confusing to her but also unsettling. She shifted uncomfortably as the Prime Minister continued.

“I am becoming an old man now, this is true. You could even refer to me as
somewhat long in the tooth. I have come to terms with the fact that I have lived more years than I have left, but it is my dream to change this mindset before I go. Before I leave this world, before my name is naught but an echo in the clouds, I want to create a legacy that seeks not to choke the nation’s youth
within a gauntlet’s tight fist, but allows their hearts and minds to soar high like eagles through an endless cloudy expanse of freedom.”

She didn’t know why, but the more he spoke, the more uncomfortable she felt.
Everything he was saying seemed nice enough, and he even looked like he
believed it too, but something was off. There was just something strange about this man. Like his words were sincere but his aura was not.

“Rather than compress the minds of today’s youth, rather than constrain them
to fit into narrow boxes that make us feel comfortable while permanently
dousing the creative sparks of their individualities, let us seek to understand their perspectives. Let us communicate openly and honestly with the children.
Let us foster a mindset of understanding with tomorrow’s generation. It is my
dream to see a world in which we swim together throughout oceans of strength, collaborate as equals while traversing psychological valleys of bliss, and battle true challenges together, honing our strengths, side by side in dense jungles of love.

“Together, we will build celestial palaces of strength, understanding, support,
and guidance. One which will not only allow them to learn, develop, and happily become the very best versions of themselves, but which will equip them with the tools to do the same for the generation that comes next.”

The audience were moved beyond all comprehension by the Prime Minister’s
words. Apparently his boyhood dream was to become a writer and it showed.
Some murmured about how beautiful his statement was, and some were in
tears, but everyone, literally everyone in that audience was deeply affected by
what he said. Including Preeta, albeit for completely different reasons.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else going on.
Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. He spoke so powerfully and so
convincingly that she could clearly see how he got elected, but that was all it
was.

Words.

Palavras.

Mots.

Insincerity in its purest most fraudulent form.

There was something else going on. But she didn’t know what.

“Miss Patel, would you please like to ask me your first question?”

Preeta looked right into the Prime Minister’s eyes. Somehow, they pulled her
own quivering brown eyeballs into a deep, black, and cavernous void, one
punctuated by intermittent splatters of oozing red liquid.

“Erm, Miss Patel?”

It was him.

She hoped it wasn’t true, but it was. She wanted it to be false, but it wasn’t. It
just wasn’t.

Suddenly, she wasn’t in her school lecture hall anymore, and she certainly wasn’t in Preetaria. She was standing atop a rain-soaked and desolate mountain range with thunder and lightning striking the ground all around like rounds blasted from a galactic Gatling gun.

“Preeta?”

As her lips expelled visible gusts of vapour into the cold air and her shoulders
shivered in the wet rain, her skin grew goosebumps and her fingers wrinkled up like dried prunes.

“CLOUD GAUNTLET.”

And there he was.

Right in front of her.

The Destroyer of Worlds appeared less than two feet away and was staring
straight into her eyes from the cavernous void of black which resided within his cloak. His face rapidly flickered between this form and that of Prime Minister Maxwell, as he laughed a maniacal laugh of crushed glass right at her face. There Preeta stood, facing her hated foe and feeling a burning need for revenge swelling in her heart.

Prime Minister Maxwell is the Destroyer of Worlds.

For far too long, she’d hidden away in fear of this man and his evil army. For
far too long, she’d let them walk all over her and her kingdom. But no more.
She wouldn’t give into fear anymore.

I’ll get justice for Miss Honey, that lion, or tiger or…?? Why can’t I remember?? I think it was a lion! It was a lion wasn’t it?? ARRGHH!!! I have to remember! I have to remember!! I HAVE TO REMEMBER! Those two…..NOOOOO!!!! WHO WAS SHE??! THEY WERE SO NICE TO ME BUT I CAN’T REMEMBER THEM!

Suddenly, Preeta was back in the school lecture room with Eraclia, Mr
Woodburn, Prime Minister Maxwell, and the entire congregation. They were all looking at her curiously.

She had no idea how long they’d been waiting.

“Erm, Miss Patel?” asked the Prime Minister with an annoyingly innocent
expression plastered all over his smug face. “Would you like to ask me your first question?”

“Yes,” Preeta replied resolutely while composing herself. “Being the leader of
a nation means you sometimes decide to invade other nations. How do you feel about that?”

Preeta kept her eyes coldly and firmly locked on the Prime Minister while she
waited for his reply. In the corner of her eye, she felt a stunned Eraclia looking
at her in surprise, clearly wondering why she wasn’t asking the question they’d agreed on.

“Well you see…” replied the Prime Minister, still doing his best impression of
a kind and caring person, “The role of leader is not one to be taken lightly.
because as you alluded to it comes with great power, but also great
responsibility. As much as we all wish we could live without war, sadly, there
are those who do not share our ideals and values. These are people who would gladly threaten the livelihoods of us and all we hold dear, people with whom negotiation simply is not possible. Of course, I always endeavour to exhaust every possible alternative before making such a decision, but…”

“You didn’t answer my question. I asked how you feel about attacking other
nations knowing people will die because of what you’ve done. Does it bother
you? Or do you not care?”

“Preeta, that’s a bit rude…” said Mr Woodburn with shock emblazoned across
his face.

“No, no Frank, it’s alright,” replied the Prime Minister, still playing up to his
fake persona. “I applaud this young lady for having the foresight to think of a
question like this, and I credit her for having the courage to ask it…”

“So answer it,” said Preeta, coldly interrupting him without once taking her eyes off his.

“Well, as I said before, any caring individual wants war to be avoided as much
as possible, but there sadly are times when such an avoidance cannot happen.
Times when we sadly must attack.”

“And when that happens, do you care about the people who die, or do you
enjoy killing them?”

“Of course not.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why, Miss Patel, I do not see the…”

“I don’t see why you say you don’t like killing people, but still do it all the time.”

“Preeta, stop it.”

“Frank, it’s OK, seriously. It’s high time that we politicians be taken to task and
held publicly accountable for the decisions we make.”

“Do you ever try to talk to them first?”

“At times, yes.”

“And why not always?”

“Because, little girl, not everybody has your best interests at heart. People such
as that cannot be reasoned with.”

“And how do you decide who can and can’t be reasoned with?”

“Preeta…”

“Tell me. How does the Prime Minister of England decide who gets to live and
who gets to die.”

“Through painstaking deliberation.”

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“No offence, little girl, but what you don’t understand about the world could
fill all four oceans.”

“I understand that you like it.”

“I most certainly do not.”

“It makes you feel powerful, doesn’t it? That’s why you love killing people.”

“Preeta, stop this.”

“Little girl, I can assure that as our nation’s Premier, I…”

“Attack Preetaria with your undead army of wraiths, fallen warriors, and
snakes.”

“I don’t understand….”

“I understand that you’re the Destroyer of Worlds.”

“Excuse me?”

“I understand you kill people for fun.”

“Huh?”

“I understand that you’ve been attacking my kingdom every night and
murdering my people.”

“Preeta, what on Earth…”

“I understand you’re a dark and evil man who loves destroying everything he
sees.”

“Young child, are you well? I don’t have the faintest idea of what you’re
talking…”

“I understand you’ve almost destroyed Preetaria!”

“What on…”

“I understand I’ve lost most of my family!”

“Excuse me?”

“My family is dead, and you killed them! It’s all your fault!”

“This is madness.”

“My family is dead, and I can’t even remember them!”

“Oh my God.”

“You caused The Curse of the Forgotten!”

“OK, cut the interview.”

“You caused The Curse of the Forgotten!”

“Cut the interview!”

“No! You’re not going to get away with this! I’ve only got one kingdom left
now and you won’t destroy it! I’m going to stop you!”

“Frank, this little girl needs professional help. Where are her parents?”

“I’M GOING TO STOP YOU! YOU’RE NOT GOING TO KILL MY
PEOPLE! MY FAMILY ARE DEAD AND I CAN’T REMEMBER WHO
THEY ARE!!”

“Cut the recording now!”

And with that, the interview was terminated.

Dozens of teachers, politicians, and TV production people scrambled to restore some semblance of order from what had quickly become a deep web of chaos. As the lights came back on in the lecture hall, Preeta saw an ocean of stunned and concerned audience members all staring right at her.

You’ve just read the final sample chapter of Preeta’s Web of Chaos. To find out how the story ends, get the full book.You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos.

“OH MY GOD, PREE WHAT HAPPENED?!”

“I got burned in Preetaria.”

“WHY?!”

“I was in the Jungle of Strength.”

“WHAT HAPPENED?!!”

“I, I don’t know. It… it was black and I couldn’t see anything. I… I couldn’t
even see my hands. I think fire came at me and…”

“FIRE?!”

“Yeah…”

“PREE, WE GOTTA DO SOMETHING!”

“Stop shouti…”

“WHY?!”

“Because I don’t want anyone to kno…”

“Pree, we need help!”

“Nobody’s going to believe me.”

“Look at your back and shoulder!”

“They’ll think I did it to myself. My parents think I’m crazy.”

“But I’ll tell them…”

“They won’t listen. You always say adults never understand.”

“But we need to do something!”

“Help me find the Destroyer of Worlds. He needs to be destroyed before he
attacks my Grand Celestial Palace. Once that’s gone, so is Preetaria.”

“But how!? I can’t get into Preetaria!”

“No, in this world.”

“Huh??”

“When I was waking up this morning, I saw him and he spoke to me.

“What?!”

“He actually spoke.”

“What did he say!?”

“He said I’m going to die.”

“What?!”

“He wants to kill me.”

“Why?!”

“I don’t know, but you know something?”

“What?!”

“He sounded British.”

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-sixth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos..

The level of power Preeta felt coursing through her body was out of this or any
other universe. It was unstoppable energy. Energy which ignited a fire deep
within her soul. Energy which smashed her dam of self-doubt and opened the
floodgates for unbridled confidence. Energy which screamed, burst and
scorched a white hot flame across her being that should have been painful, but was seven different shades of exhilarating. Every cell of her body shook with power and she gladly welcomed it.

She soaked it up.

She surrendered to its will.

She embraced the all-mighty thrill of the goddess energy that overwhelmed her, as her body was slowly consumed by that all-encompassing inferno. But this inferno didn’t burn Preeta; it cleansed her. Healed her. Elevated her in mind, body, and spirit and awakened a passion within, which made her realise how truly indestructible she really was.

YES.

She felt it. The power filled her.

YES.

She felt the universe within her. She was, she was a part of the cosmos, its
energy flowed, flowed through her. She was the very essence of all existence.
Power incarnate. Divinity made manifest. Alpha and omega. Death and rebirth. The source of all creation. The divine spark of life itself.

The sun-orb was changing her.

Altering her.

Transforming her.

She was becoming one with its essence, channeling its unfathomably potent
power throughout her soul. And then, in the midst of this epic metamorphosis, one single thought erupted within her mind.

The Shadow Bloodline will be crushed!

As Preeta hovered within the sun-orb, her arms and legs stretched outwards,
white shards of light penetrated her skin and were immediately blasted out of
her hands, eyes and mouth as blue beams of flame.

She felt the muscles in her back, arms, and legs, growing denser as their cells
rapidly divided and replicated on the spot. She felt fire inside her heart and
flames within her soul. She closed her eyes and realised that she could actually still see. The past, present and future were all happening at the same time right before her fucking non-existent eyes.

Universes exploded into existence, worlds formed, species evolved, cultures
emerged, prejudices formed, wars were fought, lives were lost, and whole
societies were wiped out of existence right before her fucking non-existent eyes.

Countless alternate dimensions and innumerable timelines. An ever growing,
ever changing, and never ending dance of life and death. A perpetual cycle of
birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth, of which there was no beginning and to which there would be no end.

Throughout all of this, with her eyes still shut tight, Preeta’s mind’s eye saw a
bright blue light nestled in between her eyeballs. A light which somehow gave her control over every last molecule in this or any other universe.

Colours, emotions, sensations, desires, smells, tastes, and sounds all
intensifying.

Strengthening.

Coalescing.

Pounding.

Passionate anger.

Divine love.

Deep rage.

Eternal Goddess energy.

Pure unstoppable power.

The Shadow Bloodline WILL BE CRUSHED!

Pure unstoppable power.

CRUSHED!

Pure unstoppable power.

CRUSSHEDD!!!

Billions of blue blistering infernos of inescapable might and pure unstoppable
power.

AND I AM THAT FORCE! I AM THAT POWER!

“Yes, little goddess. Good, good. Surrender to your essence.”

WHO WAS THAT?!

A voice spoke. She didn’t know who, but there definitely was a voice.

“Let it overwhelm you. Let it become you. Give death to your former self so
that the birth of your future may occur.”

That voice had an energy and a presence that was captivating. Compelling. It
lured in and her heart enticed her soul, but who was it?

“WHO ARE YOU?!”

“Goodbye, little goddess.”

An intense bolt of force burst from Preeta’s heart and blitzed the jungle in every possible direction, creating deafening turbulence as her now wide open eyes were engulfed in a perpetual sea of white. Her soul traversed endless universes through that blue light in her mind’s eye. She didn’t know how long it lasted. It could have been minutes and it could have been hours; she genuinely wasn’t sure. However; she did know that the turbulence subsided. Her satisfied ears were comforted by the howls of The Shadow Bloodline, as a giant shockwave ruthlessly obliterated them.

By the time it was over, she felt completely drained.

Exhausted.

Spent.

But that didn’t matter.

Her body didn’t matter.

Preeta’s well-being didn’t matter.

She could take care of that later.

What mattered was that she did it.

Preeta had won.

Preetaria had won.

The Shadow Bloodline had been destroyed.

All was saved because she did the right thing, stepped up, and defended her
people when they needed her. She bolt-jumped out of the sun-orb and floated
next to it in mid-air, as her people serenaded her with a rousing chorus of
cheers. It was so breathtaking to see, so touching to her heart because they were everywhere, literally everywhere. Her people were above, below, to the left and the right, lining the circular surface of the jungle and also floating in the air next to the sun-orb. All gazed upon her with delight. All had so much joy on their faces. All were praising her from the bottom of their hearts. She never wanted that moment to end.

They’d done it.

Finally.

They’d defeated their enemy. It was over.

Finally.

There Preeta was, floating in the air in the middle of the spherical jungle with
tens of thousands of cheering Preetarians adoring her from every conceivable
angle of its surface.

They’d won.

As the remnants of their destroyed enemies now floated through the air orbiting the sun-orb as black dust, Preeta wondered how much of it, if any, was the Destroyer of Worlds. She’d always assumed her victory over him would have been in direct combat and it was strange to have that particular resolution feel so anticlimactic. Still, she took a moment to savour the sweet smell of victory regardless.

Eraclia was right; the things you say to yourself are important. If you tell
yourself that you’re weak and worthless, that’s what you’ll be. But if you tell
yourself that you’re powerful and capable of anything, you’ll be that instead. In that moment, Preeta made a conscious decision to always be kind to herself, no matter what happened. She was never going to put herself down ever again.

It was such a waste of time and energy.

As her Preetarian subjects gazed up at their leader in love and adoration, she
realised just how much there was for her to be proud of. She was incredibly
brave in this battle and didn’t cower in fear like she used to. Also, she had put
the needs of all of Preetaria ahead of her own personal feelings by entering the sun-orb. Those things showed she was evolving. She was becoming the person she wanted to be. The person she needed to be. Someone who did what was right instead of what was easy or convenient. Preeta was becoming a real leader.

She didn’t give up on herself and she was so proud of herself for that. She kept
believing in her abilities, overcame her fears and defeated an enemy that almost seemed invincible.

Still, as true and compelling as those thoughts were, they didn’t stop a single
thought to scorch a flaming strip across Preeta’s mind.

Echo and Nomi!

She bolt-jumped to the ground and made a beeline for their last known
whereabouts, running at max speed, and bolt-jumping constantly to get there
as quickly as possible. However; when she arrived, her heart almost split in two.

Both Echo and Nomi had almost fully succumbed to The Curse of the
Forgotten.

They were laying on the ground metres apart and being tended to by various
Preetarians, some of which were kneeling around them in a large circle and
praying. Echo had no arms, legs or stomach, and Nomi was literally just a tiger’s head on the ground.

Preeta could feel their emotions and they were terrifying enough for her to wish she couldn’t. They didn’t know what was going to happen to them and fear gripped their hearts tighter than a ravenous anaconda. Nomi’s head couldn’t move, but her eyes darted left and right with a dread Preeta didn’t think was possible for her brave tiger to possess. As Echo’s motionless body lay on the ground, she closed her eyes and took several very deep breaths, clearly trying to calm her nerves.

However, Preeta could also sense another emotion coming from them too.
They weren’t just fearful, they weren’t just scared. They were grateful. They
were truly grateful to have her presence in their dying moments. Even though
they were about to lose their lives, they were happy that she was there and that was as touching as it was heartbreaking.

As it was painfully familiar.

Something about this felt familiar to Preeta. Had she experienced that before?
Was there someone else who was also filled with gratitude to be with her before they died?

She just couldn’t remember.

With teary eyes, she leapt over the praying circle, ran to Nomi, picked up her
head, carried it to Echo, and sat next to her while cradling Nomi. However,
now she was actually inside the circle, the air became thick with the intentions of those praying Preetarians. Preeta couldn’t just hear their thoughts, she could smell, taste, and feel them too.

And they were praying to her.

They were praying to Preeta.

They were begging her to save Nomi and Echo and knowing that was soul-
crushing.

Almost as crushing as seeing Nomi lick her hands and look sadly into her crying eyes with an expression that said everything Preeta never wanted to hear.

“Devi, this one is….”

That was Echo. She didn’t finish her sentence but her now open, bloodshot,
and crying blue eyes confirmed what Preeta already sensed.

“What will happen….”

Preeta couldn’t speak. It was like she had a boulder firmly wedged within her
throat and obstructing its airways. All she could do was sit, cry, and do her best to send healing energy into her two closest Preetarians, while knowing deep down that it was probably a lost cause. As she sat next to Echo cradling Nomi’s head, her body began to glow brightly as a blue wave of healing force emanated from her hands and into them.

But it wasn’t enough.

“…not enough….”

It just wasn’t enough.

“Young Preeta. If there is indeed any possibility that you can heal Echo and
Nomi, then it is your duty as leader to do exactly that.” said Hughpert, now
standing next to her within the circle.

“…one is feeling…”

“Dig deep. Believe in yourself. Find your centre. You can do this, Young
Preeta.”

With the agony of grief tearing her apart, Preeta felt like a lone sailor
shipwrecked at sea and stranded on its cold unforgiving waters at night. She
simply didn’t know what else to do. All she could do was push harder than ever to reverse the curse and save her family. She had to save them. She just had to. There had to be a way.

They’ve saved me so many times, but it’s my turn now. It’s my turn to save them.

But, once again, she was lost. Once again, she had no other ideas but to push
and push even more with everything she had. She would push like her family’s lives depended on it, because they did depend on it. She would push like failure simply wasn’t an option, because it actually wasn’t an option. If they died, she’d forget they ever existed and that wasn’t going to happen.

But it was excruciating.

So unbearably excruciating.

“…in pain, Devi…do not…” said Echo.

“It is your solemn duty as leader to keep your people safe,” Hughpert replied.

Tears streamed down Preeta’s brown cheeks as she nodded, gritted her teeth
and channeled every bit of strength into stopping Nomi and Echo from dying.
However, as wave after wave of blue energy pumped into Nomi’s head and
what little was left of Echo’s body, all it did was slow the spread of the curse. It
delayed their deaths, but it did nothing to prevent them. They were still going
to die.

Unless I try even harder!

But Preeta was already trying as hard as she could. She had nothing else to give. This was her limit. This was it. She didn’t have anything left.

I have to have more strength!

But she didn’t.

“I have to! I can do this!”

But she simply couldn’t, and as her throat let out a hoarse scream into the
jungle’s atmosphere, she once again felt all of reality begin to merge as her soul began to leave Preetaria. Sounds morphed into visual shapes as her body felt everything her eyes saw. And, her tongue tasted the thick dewey scent of
moisture that permeated the air clinging to vine trees, grass, and Preetarians
alike.

“Do not stop, Young Preeta! Protect your kingdom!”

She could feel every last millimetre of Nomi’s head and every shred of what
little was left of Echo’s body.

I have to save them!

She could feel The Curse of the Forgotten eating away at their flesh.

“…us go…”

She wasn’t just fighting against her own limitations, she wasn’t just fighting
against herself.

I can do this!

She was actually battling The Curse of the Forgotten itself, fully engaged in a
one-on-one duel with the disease that fought to remove her family from
existence.

“Keep going, Preeta!”

She closed her eyes in deep focus as her lips grimaced with pain. However,
when they opened, she was actually outside her body and looking down at her
physical form. She literally saw it there, sitting alone and shaking on the floor
next to Echo and cradling Nomi, as it glowed brightly within the giant
Preetarian prayer circle.

“I am scared, Devi. But you must not do this. You are putting too much
pressure on yourself.”

That was Nomi, Pretta was actually hearing her thoughts.

“Your body cannot handle this. Please stop and let me go.”

From above her body, Preeta saw Nomi looking up at her face with pure love,
fear, sorrow, and sympathy flowing from her feline eyes.

Nomi, I can’t let you die!

“Devi, …end is near…”

No, Echo! I’m not going to lose you like I lost Miss Honey! Preeta screamed,
not realising that she was thinking instead of speaking.

From outside of her body, Preeta saw her own eyes and hands glowing an even brighter blue with shards of electricity now bursting from her wide open mouth.

“Fight, young Preeta!” screamed Hughpert.

From outside of her body, Preeta’s spirit felt its essence being pulled out of
Preetaria and into the waking world.

“Not do…”

From outside of her body, Preeta’s spirit saw the sun-orb sputter and convulse
as its light flickered rapidly.

“Let us go.”

And, from outside of her body, Preeta’s spirit heard a sickening crunch, as the
sun-orb collapsed in on itself and the entire Jungle of Strength became blacker than night.

“What the?!”

Moments later, she was yanked right back into her exhausted body.

Not a single thing could be seen, even with Preeta’s enhanced vision. But, a
chorus of Preetarian howls could be heard coming from every possible
direction. Disembodied cries emanating from an endless black expanse.

She felt an unbearable weight slam her body hard into the wet dirt, pressing her down on all fours, barely able to move. It was like her body weighed eight times more than usual and her muscles simply weren’t strong enough to cope.

But she wasn’t the only one struggling; everyone else was too. She could hear
her soul family struggling all around her and it sounded like they were in even more pain than her. Their cries for help shrieked through the darkness cutting
into Preeta’s being like razor blades. But that was, however, only until she felt
the biggest and sharpest blade of all. While laying on the jungle’s wet dirt,
crushed down by a weight so heavy she couldn’t even move her fingers, Preeta
realised she’d lost Echo and Nomi.

“ECHO?! NOMI?!”

She couldn’t hear them and she didn’t have a clue where they were. She could
sense their energies before but now she couldn’t feel a damn thing and that
meant they were probably dead. She wanted nothing more than for that to not be true but it probably was.

They were probably dead!

The resonant cry of a war horn smashed into her eardrums, bringing with it a
deafening sense of impending doom seconds before all hell broke loose.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!” she cried.

Nobody replied.

All she could hear was something, and she had absolutely no idea what,
obliterating her forces with savage intensity.

“NOMI!? ECHO?!”

Nobody replied.

“WHERE ARE YOU??!”

Nobody replied.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING??!!”

Somebody replied.

“Preetaaaarians, we will prevail todaaaay! Hooooold your coooooonfidence!”

That voice sounded familiar, but who the hell was it? She didn’t know, but
whoever it was, it sounded like they were somehow fighting back against the
enemy.

“NOMI, ECHO!!? WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Somehow, she managed to fight against near impossible levels of gravity to get to her feet. Stumbling through the darkness, she frantically struggled to find her way through the black sea of madness that had her crashing into and tripping over God knows what.

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Everything was heavy. Everything. Her neck felt like a brick, her legs were steel girders, her hands had turned into mallets, and it was like she had a small car strapped to her spine.

She was literally glued to the floor.

Are those chainsaws?

Preeta could hear what sounded like chainsaws cutting down trees at speed.

“ROAAAAWWWWRRRHHH!!!”

She didn’t need to see Bashar to recognise the sound of his primal roar or his
powerful legs tearing through the jungle. How he was still able to move like that was anybody’s guess.

SLAM!

Something, maybe Bashar, was repeatedly slamming into something else.

“NOMI!!”

SLAM!

“ECHO!?”

CRASH!

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

CRASH!

“WHERE ARE YOU?!”

They had to be OK, they just had to be.

BAAMMM!

Was that Artheria?! Is she working with Bashar?

BAAMMM!

Sounds like something’s being pounded into dust!

CRUNCH!

Are we winning?!

BUZZZZZZZZZZ!

Are those hornets!?

WOOOOOOSH!

Is that gasoline?!

SQUELCH!

What the hell is that?!

Something hit her. It was sticky, searing, and stinging like adhesive acid that
clung to her clothes and skin.

AOOOAHHHAAAEEEEAOOOOOEE.

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!”

It sounded like a dark song of death.

AAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEMEEEEERRRKK
KK.

Preeta didn’t consciously know this, but the plant life all around her was
beginning to wither and die.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

“Deviiii…”

“Artheria??! Are you OK?!”

“THE JUNGLE IS DYING!!”

“CLOUD GAUNTLET!”

“OH NO!”

“THE TREES ARE WITHERING!”

“DEVI, HELP!”

“HELP US, DEVI!”

“DEVI, HELP!!!”

“ARGGHHHHH!!!!”

The air became ridiculously hot like the inside of an active volcano. Hot like
molten flames erupting from the surface of the sun, and Preeta now felt bursts
of intense heat streaking to the ground around her. Soon, the entire pitch black jungle was set ablaze in pitch black fire. She couldn’t see a damn thing and she didn’t know where to turn.

“ECHO??!! NOMI!!!??”

In the midst of the all-encompassing chaos, a flash of intuition returned her
consciousness to the present moment and reconnected her to all of Preetaria.
It was an illuminating spark of insight which made her sense a bolt of flame
heading her way and try to turn her back to catch it with the Shield of Justice.
Sadly, the shield had other plans, refused to comply, and stopped her from
moving. As a result, that flame hit her square in the back, burning her quite
badly.

“ARGHHH!!”

That made her mad. Angry. Livid in fact. That unforgivable act of betrayal filled Preeta with enough rage to temporarily overcome the immense gravitational crunch that slammed down on her. She hurled that shield into the deep black abyss with every fibre of strength her arms possessed. Seconds later, however, it somehow came right back and hit her square in the chest.

Hard.

“URRRRKKHH!!”

Heavily winded, she tried to scream but wasn’t able to make a sound. All she
could do was collapse to the floor of the jungle in a sweaty mess, barely able to breathe or move.

“I’M SORRY! I’M SORRY!” said the pathetic cowardly shield.

Further enraged by those words, she found the strength to grab the Shield of
Justice and slam it on the floor as hard as she possibly could. But nothing
happened. It didn’t break.

“I’M SORRY, DEVI!”

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!

Preeta instinctively ducked and barely missed something hot. Something that
singed the fabric and skin on her right shoulder as it passed. And then, in the
darkness, she felt Hughpert’s familiar elephant trunk resting assuredly against
her shoulder.

“The Destroyer of Worlds must be stopped, young Preeta. Our very future
depends on it.” said Hughpert from the darkness.

“HE’S HERE?! WHERE IS HE!?” she cried.

“I do not know!”

“WHERE IS HE?!”

“I do not know!”

“I’LL FIND HIM! I PROMISE I’ll FIND HIM!”

“ROOOAAAAWWWWWRRRRGGGHH!”

That was Bashar. His howling cry echoed loudly, piercing the jet black veil of
fear that enveloped the entire Jungle of Strength as well as Preeta’s senses. But he was in pain. Bashar was in agonising pain. Something terrible was happening to him.

“CLOUD GAUNTLET!”

A painfully familiar and screeching din penetrated the pitch black air.

“HE’S NEAR! THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS IS NEAR!” Preeta
screamed.

From what she could hear, it sounded like the Cloud Gauntlet struck Bashar
hard and damaged him badly. As he howled in deep agony, Preeta could
somehow taste his blood on her tongue.

The air rang with atomic thunder as venomous blows were exchanged in the
raw jet black night of the Jungle of Strength.

Preeta was actually glad she couldn’t see them.

“ARRRGH!!!”

That was her reaction to the jet black burst of flame which had just hit her
square in the back.

She didn’t know this, but it came from the black hole, which once was the sun-orb. But it did remind her to refocus.

She was Preetaria.

Preetaria was her.

They were one.

“Deviii, I will show you the wayyyy.”

Preeta felt something small wriggling on her shoulder and whispering in her ear.

“ARTHERIA??”

It was the beetle she asked Artheria to leave. Had it been there the whole time?

“Bashar needs youuur heelllllp. Go to hiiim.”

“HOW???!”

“Trustttt your instincts. You know what to doooo.”

As if to prove Artheria’s point, Preeta instinctively ducked under something.
She didn’t know what it was, but it felt like it would have taken her head clean
off.

“Followwww your heart. It knows alllll. Quiet the mind and obeeey your
intuition.”

“You’re running out of time!”

Somehow, in the midst of this calamitous web of chaos, Preeta had enough
awareness to sidestep a black bolt of flame.

“Devi? I’d like to say something!”

“Hurry up! You’re running out of time!”

Preeta ducked under something else, once again not having a single clue of what it was.

“Devi? I’d like to say something!”

“SHUT UP!!”

“Be not a slave to your emotionsssss.”

“Hurry up, Young Preeta!”

She sidestepped what felt like another scorching black bolt of flame.

“I just want to say…”

“SHUT U-ARRRRGHHH!”

A hot burst of pain streaked across the small of her back, just below the Shield
of Justice. The pain was far too strong. It was like she’d been dipped in lava.
She found herself writhing on the floor twitching in pain.

“ARRRRGH!!!”

She rolled out of the way of what sounded like a stampeding horse and
continued rolling to evade what felt like another bolt of black flame. She
couldn’t see that fire but she could feel it everywhere. Heat was everywhere.
Above, below, to the left and to the right. The Jungle of Strength was burning.

It was burning to death all around her.

“Do something!!”

“Acceptttt the pain, do not runnnn from it. It is a signal aaaand nothing more.”

The wails and cries of her Preetarian soul family penetrated her soul. Coils of
noise writhed through the dirt of the jet black jungle before, burrowing into her eardrums like parasitic egg-laying worms.

Her people needed her.

Her people were dying.

Preeta needed to step up.

But she was in so much pain.

And she was terrified.

“Painnn is a signal…”

Preeta lay on the ground barely able to move, willing her body to act.

“Do not need to run awaaaay from it.”

“Get up, Preeta!”

Her back was on fire, her shoulder burned, her muscles screamed, her entire
body was coated in sweat, and she still couldn’t see a fucking thing.

“You do noooot neeed to be afraid.”

Somehow, some way, Preeta began pulling herself to her feet.

“Do not teell yourself a story aboooout the pain.”

Preeta took five deep breaths.

“YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!”

“Accept itttt.”

Her muscles buckled under the strain. The gravity was so high. It was unreal.

“Embraceeee what you are feeling in this presentttt moment.”

“CLOUUUUUUDDDD GAUUUUUNTLETTTTT!”

“DO SOMETHING, BEFORE AAAAALL IS LOST!”

Unable to see even her own hands, Preeta staggered through the pitch black
jungle to save Bashar.

“Painnn is one thing. How you respooooond is another.”

“DO SOMETHING!”

“Face your demons, Little Goddess.”

Who is that?!

“You can dooo this.”

I can do this.

“Hurry up!”

Step after step, Preeta struggled against the overwhelming gravitational pressure that wanted to slam her body into the ground, refusing to give up.

Bashar, I’m coming.

A calamitous song of war echoed, growing louder with every step Preeta took
towards Bashar. Howls, cries, thunderous steps, powerful blows, and energetic explosions both coursed through and slammed into the very fabric of the black atmosphere.

She felt fear in her heart and pain in her body but she would rise up to both of
them.

I won’t quit.

She would stand tall.

I won’t give up.

She would meet them head on.

“BASHAR HAS ALMOST FALLEN!”

She would be the leader her people needed.

“Believeeee in yourself. Have faith in yourrrr capabilities.”

The ruler they deserved.

“YOU ARE NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH, PREETA!”

She would save Bashar and protect the Jungle of Strength.

“There is nooo challenge that you cannot ooovercome.”

The closer she got, the louder the violence became.

I can do this.

The louder her Preetarian family screamed.

I’m the greatest leader of all time.

The louder the wraiths cackled.

“SAVE BASHAR BEFORE ALL IS LOST!”

“You are the Goddess of Preetaria This is your Queendom, not theirs. Step into
your power, Little Goddess.”

I can do this!

“OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!”

What’s wrong? Am I too late?!

“NO, NO, NO!!!! BASHAAAARRRR!!!”

“AM I TOO LATE?!!”

“You are toooo late, Devii.”

“OH NO!!!”

“Bashar has fallen!”

Yes, Bashar had fallen and the Stones of Heart contained within him had been
destroyed.

“HUGHPERT!! WHAT SHOULD I DO?!”

Preeta called for Hughpert, but Hughpert didn’t respond. Instead, an incredible explosion detonated the air and sucked out every last molecule of oxygen. Choking, heaving, and simply unable to breathe, Preeta collapsed to the ground for what felt like an eternity, as pitch black became bright white.

“Deviii, you musttt escapeee.”

Oxygen slowly returned to the air and Preeta’s heaving lungs took gasping
breaths as the ground began to shake like a pneumatic drill. The Jungle of
Strength was coming apart and Preeta felt every bit of it. She could feel dirt,
rock, and trees rising into the air and dematerialising into nothing. She could
actually feel Preetarians crying, dying, and falling into infinite abysses, as the
ground beneath their feet became unstable and fell apart.

And she needed to help them escape.

“I have to help them escape!”

But her back burned in searing pain.

“Youuu must escape, Devi. Alllll is lost.”

“I WON’T LEAVE MY PEOPLE!!”

“Allll is lost.”

Her shoulder burned in searing pain.

“NO! I HAVE TO SAVE THEM!”

The cries of Preetarian death were slowly being replaced by white noise, an
endless, perpetual, high-pitched screech which was becoming all Preeta could
hear.

“There is nothingggg you can do, please leaveeee.”

“NO!!! HUGHERT, HELP ME!! TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!”

“Who areeee you talking tooo?”

“HUGHPERT!! I’M TALKING TO HUGHPERT! WHERE IS HE?!”

Preeta then had a realisation which brought with it unbelievable levels of guilt. The moment where she realised not only that if she was in the Jungle of
Strength when it imploded, all of Preetaria would be destroyed, but that she
also knew how to stop that from happening.

She knew how to leave Preetaria. She didn’t know how she knew, but she just
knew. She knew what to do to escape. In fact, she’d always known, even when
she thought she didn’t. But that meant going back to her childhood body, and
if she did that, if she escaped now, everyone in that jungle including Artheria
was dead.

“ARTHERIA, I THINK I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO DO!”

“Dooooo what you must.”

“I NEED TO LEAVE PREETARIA!”

“Thennn go, Devi. Go so that Preetaria may live.”

“BUT I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE!”

“Neither doooo I.”

“I DON’T WANT YOU TO DIE!”

“Neither doooo I.”

“I CAN’T LET YOU ALL DOWN AGAIN!”

“Gooo, Devi.”

Artheria was right. Preeta had to leave. She knew she needed to leave, but she
just couldn’t. The guilt was too great.

The pain was too great.

The shame was too great.

She couldn’t calm down. She couldn’t focus. She couldn’t breathe. And she needed to stay calm to leave, but if she left everyone was dead.

“I CAN’T DO THIS! I CAN’T CALM DOWN!”

“Enhanceee your calm.”

“I CAN’T!!!”

“Looook inward.”

How was she supposed to do that? How was she supposed to focus on anything when she was being choked at the neck in a spasming web of chaos? How was she supposed to stay calm when all she could hear was the deaths of her loved ones? How was she supposed to stay calm during any of that?

“ARTHERIA, I CAN’T!!!”

“Focusss.”

“OK!!!”

Preeta focused her attention on the burn in the small of her back. She watched it as closely as she could, studying every inch from top to bottom and paying precise attention to the sensations it gave as all hell continued to break loose around her body.

“Accepttt your feelings.”

The more she looked, the more she realised what the pain from that burn really was. What all pain really was. It was just a signal and nothing more. That burn hurt, yes. It was uncomfortable, yes, but only because she’d decided to let it be. That pain was nothing more than a series of impulses her body was sending to let her know there was a problem. But she knew. Preeta knew there was a problem and she didn’t need to have an adverse emotional reaction to it.

“Doooo not be afraid.”

There was a disconnect between the sensation of the burn on her back, and on
her shoulder, and the story her mind told herself about them. They weren’t the same thing.

“Breatheee deeply.”

A million and one separate impulses, sensations, tingles, prickles, splits, blisters, vibrations and cuts coalesced to create those burns.

“Focussss.”

But a million and one beliefs, impressions, tendencies, and thoughts came
together to create the story she told herself about what they meant.

“Focussss.”

The more she stared at those signals, the more she accepted the discomfort they caused. The more she accepted the discomfort, the less she needed to tell
herself a story about it. The less she told herself a story about it, the calmer she felt. The less upset she felt.

“You can do thisss.”

Preeta was calm. She was relaxed. She could do it. She was ready to leave. She could leave Preetaria, but it meant leaving Artheria to die alone.

“Worry not about meee, Devi.”

“But I can’t leave you.”

“Preeta felt herself begin to merge with all there was. Within the bright white
realm of noise and the fading cries of Preetarian death, her essence became one with all she couldn’t see but could intuitively sense.”

“Preetaria needs you.”

Her heart pounded within her chest like an erratic jackhammer, yet somehow
her mind had never been more tranquil.

“I am for you, Deviiii.”

An ocean of calm continued to wash over her mind, blissful sounds of
relaxation that caressed her ears like waves washing upon a midnight seashore.

I should have done better.

“You did the very best you couldddd.”

But it wasn’t enough. You’re going to die.

“Without youuu, I would never have lived.”

Her heartbeat then slowed until it became imperceptible. Still beating, yes, but with enough time in between beats for someone to put a huge dent in an
episode of their favourite show. Reality continued to morph and Preeta could
no longer hear the cries of her dying Preetarian family.

Am I a good ruler?

“Youuuu have a large heart, and you aaaalways do what’s right. You never give
up, you areee incredibly intelligent, aaand you always learn from your mistakes.”

Preeta saw the faint outline of her infant frame sleeping in her bedroom. She
felt the rise and fall of her chest as it softly breathed in and out under the bed
covers. She smelled her sandalwood aromatherapy oils wafting into its nose.
She heard European robins singing outside her bedroom window, as she slowly began to float towards her childhood body.

“Preetariaaaa could not have asked for a better ruler.”

Goodbye Artheria.

“You will emerge victorioussss, Devi. Preetaria will be saved.”

I am for you, Artheria.

“I am for youuu. Worry not. You will succeeeed.”

Preeta’s consciousness floated back into her infant body and she spent at least
five seconds slowly opening her eyes in her bedroom. However, in that short
moment, in the brief period of time it took her to fully wake up, she spent what felt like tens of minutes lost somewhere in between Preetaria and the day-world.

It was a void devoid of colour and form. A void populated by scores of those
sadistic whispers, which crawled along into her eardrums and raked their long nails across her brain.

And, in that void, she came nose to nose with none other than the Destroyer
of Worlds. His bloody teeth dripped a smile of sinister satisfaction. His dripping red eyes stared into her soul as she stared right back.

There they were, face to face, mortal enemies, light and dark, good and evil.

Two polar opposites somehow bound together by destiny. At that moment,
Preeta’s brain fell victim to a cascade of bitterness and loathing, but absolutely
no fear. She wasn’t afraid of this man anymore, because she knew nothing he
could do to her would be worse than what he’d already done to those she loved.

But surprisingly, at that moment, she also felt respect. As much as she hated
her enemy, as much as she wanted nothing more than to bleed him dry and
erase his memory from existence, she couldn’t help but respect what he was
capable of.

However, the more she looked into his eyes, the more she realised he felt the
same way. He hated her guts, but couldn’t help but have a grudging respect for her abilities too.

She didn’t know how long they spent lost in that moment, because the more
they looked at each other, the more the concept of time began to fade. But she
knew she was sharing a dark union of adversarial intimacy with her hated foe,
wondering what he was going to do next.

What he did next was speak. Preeta, for the first time, heard the Destroyer of
Words speak in any way that she could understand. He said but one sentence.
One single sentence was all that was needed to confuse and anger her.

“You’re going to die.”

After that, his cavernous black void of a face faded into nothingness, leaving
Preeta now wide awake in her bedroom with tears streaming down her cheeks. There she lay, crying in her bed, lost in an endless sea of sorrow, and painfully aware of the burns on her back and shoulder.

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-fifth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos.

Preeta was fighting like she’d never fought before, but she wasn’t focused on
protecting the sun-orb. She was hellbent on keeping Nomi and Echo alive.

After destroying the enemies around them, she realised that although she did
have the ability to send healing energy into other Preetarians, she wasn’t able to affect the spread of The Curse of the Forgotten. Not in any real capacity
anyway.

She stood in between Nomi and Echo with bright sky blue light pouring from
her eyes, Bindi spot, and hands into her soul family. Yes, it was working to some degree, but not enough. If she focused intently, she could slow down the spread and even start to reverse it, but that took an insane amount of concentration and she could only heal either Nomi or Echo at a time.

This meant that whoever she wasn’t healing was slowly dying on the spot. She
had to rapidly switch between the two, healing one while the other continued
to fade away. All she was doing was delaying their deaths, not preventing them.

She was only delaying the inevitable.

As Nomi was down to three legs, she couldn’t move with her usual agility and
speed. As Echo was losing her forearm, she couldn’t use her bow and seemingly couldn’t transform into dolphin form.

And all of this happened while horseback riding fallen warriors charged at them, swinging sword and axe with impunity. Preeta leapt over one as it thrust its axe, shot it in the back of the neck with an arrow, and watched it explode into a screeching cloud of smoke. She landed on its jet black horse, fired an energy bolt next to Nomi, bolt jumped to her paws, healed her for three seconds, and dodged another charging warrior. Echo kicked that warrior far across the air into a vine tree, which immediately ensured him in its roots.

Green ooze oozed out of those roots and slowly began to dissolve him as he
struggled helplessly on the spot. Before long, he was nothing more than a
puddle of liquid seeping into the vine tree.

It was Artheria. She was controlling the trees in the jungle and helping out in
the war.

“Thank you,” said Preeta, softly stroking the beetle on her shoulder. It looked
up at her and smiled.

The trees in the Jungle of Strength weren’t able to walk like those in The
Sunshine Valley, but the ability they had to ensnare and devour was of great use in the war.

“Devi, you must…” cried Echo without finishing her sentence.

“What??!”

“Leave us to…”

“Echo, what?!”

“…us to our fate…focus on the battle for….!”

Even though Echo didn’t say a full sentence, Preeta heard enough to both
understand her meaning and decide to completely ignore it. There was no way she was ever going to leave her and Nomi to die. It simply wasn’t an option.

In the midst of battle, and against all forms of common sense, Preeta found
herself thinking about the change she had seen in Echo since her companion died.

Since Water went away, it’s like she’s lost half of herself. She can’t even speak properly anymore. Hold on, what was his name?? Was he even a he, or was she a she?? Did Echo ever have a companion? No, she didn’t, did she??

But if she didn’t, who used to finish her sentences??? Did she always talk like that??

Preeta was immediately slammed back to the present moment by the unearthly roar of Bashar the giant silverback gorilla. As said battle cry echoed throughout the spherical jungle and rattled Preeta’s bones, she looked up and saw him bounding and charging across the ceiling of the jungle, using a snake as rope to drag a fallen warrior tow.

Seconds later, he’d leapt into the dense foliage and was now running down the wall of the spherical jungle, out of sight but never out of earshot.

Seconds later still, he’d leapt out of bushes on the opposite side of the jungle,
used his snake to knock a horse out from under the fallen warrior who rode it,
and kicked that warrior into a vine tree before he even hit the ground. The
impact of that kick sounded like it broke some if not all of that warrior’s bones.

As Artheria used that tree’s vines to consume the warrior on the spot, Preeta
ran to Nomi as fast as she could. She had two giant black armoured arachnids
biting into her and her hind right foot had begun to fade away. She now had
only two legs on which to stand and fight.

Preeta nocked all five arrows in her bow and shot the first arachnid right in the back and head, exploding it instantly but sadly injuring Nomi further. As Nomi roared in pain, a one-armed Echo ran in, leapt, and kicked the other in the skull twice before she even hit the floor. Then, a female Preetarian warrior, one Preeta had never met but somehow sensed was named Ebony, shot out one of its eight legs with an arrow and immediately fired another into one of its eyes.

Screeching in agony, the arachnid turned its head and spat a giant web from its mouth, which pinned Ebony to the ground. Moments later, Bashar jumped in from high and crushed the arachnid’s abdomen. Before Preeta could blink, it too had exploded into a cloud of black smoke, injuring Nomi even further.

Preeta leapt next to Nomi and began healing her, focusing her strength on
pouring as much healing light into her tiger companion as possible, but it wasn’t easy. Pouring that much healing energy into Nomi meant depleting herself and the harder she tried to keep her tiger alive, the more drained she felt. Also, as she struggled to save Nomi, it wasn’t just her eyes, Bindi spot, and hands that were glowing. Her entire skin was alight with blue flame. Preeta’s entire body was now shining and burning as bright as the sun-orb that illuminated the jungle.

She looked up. Somehow, Echo was now floating in the middle of the spherical jungle next to the sun-orb, as it was being assaulted by countless numbers of projectiles. She was moving through the air in human form, constantly alternating between being upside-down and right side up, all while fighting three giant floating jet black insects. It was an insane sight, which was due to the sun-orb having its own gravitational pull. Anything that got close simply floated by its side in the air both above and below the surrounding Jungle of Strength.

Preeta fired a bolt of energy into the air next to the sun-orb. It burst from her hand, rocketed into the sky, then just hovered right there, suspended in mid-
air. A bright ball of condensed power fluctuating in space, next to an even bigger ball of indescribable force. Within less than a second. she had teleported to that very spot and was now floating weightlessly through the air in the middle of the spherical jungle.

“Echo, I’m here! Hold on!”

“The fate of this one is… focus…of higher importance!”

Preeta ignored Echo’s cries and shot an energy arrow deep into one of the
insects, destroying it immediately. As it exploded into a gust of ashy dust which slowly orbited the sun-orb like the rings of Saturn, she refocused on the task at hand. She fired a bolt onto Echo, teleported next to her, and began healing her body as they floated both above and below the Jungle of Strength.

“Devi… enemies!”

Without even bothering to look, Preeta immediately fired two more arrows into the two remaining insects and destroyed them. Healing Echo was of far more importance and as they too exploded into scattered dust that slowly began to orbit the giant sun-orb, she was already back to healing her Preetarian companion.

“This one is…” Echo said, not finishing her sentence as had become usual.

“…demise is of no consequence.”

“Echo, shut up! I’m not letting you die!!”

“…is just one! Preetaria is…”

“Shut up!” Preeta screamed. Her face and Echo’s now being fully illuminated
by the perpetually colour changing sun-orb.

It was now being attacked from every conceivable angle. A hailstorm of energy bolts, axes, swords, arrows, and God knows what else, crashed against it with intensity, causing fissures of light to erupt from it as it slowly began to rupture. From that multitude of attacks, it flickered like an erratic strobe light, causing the entire jungle to rapidly alternate between being illuminated and swamped in pitch darkness.

Preeta could hardly hear herself think beyond the calamity of war.

“…is not important!” said Echo.

Preeta fired two arrows that destroyed two wraiths and again sent their remains floating around the sun-orb. Then, she looked down and saw Nomi alone on the ground. She had no legs left and was flailing helplessly. A fallen warrior hurtled into her on horseback sending her spinning across the dirt as her pained roars penetrated Preeta’s soul.

“Nomi!!”

“Devi! We are not your….”

Two wraiths were on top of Nomi, pressing their red hot hands into her body
and boiling her skin as she continued to roar in agony. It was so sadistic, so
unnecessary, almost like they were just trying to torture her instead of fight her. Preeta grabbed the Shield of Justice from her back, and tried to throw it. Once again, it refused to leave her hand.

“No no no no….”

“I NEED TO SAVE NOMI!”

“Yes, but what about me…”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?”

“I can’t put myself in…”

“SHUT UP!!”

Preeta fired a bolt to the ground next to Nomi and teleported there, as an
armoured arachnid coldly buried its paw in on her torso and fired projectiles
into the now flickering sun-orb.

Preeta kicked its leg out with strength she didn’t know she had, leapt up in the
air next to its face, fired an arrow right between its eyes, destroyed it, and was
already sending healing energy into Nomi before her body had even hit the
floor. Nothing about this was easy. Preeta was in a direct one-on-one battle
against The Curse of the Forgotten itself and fighting with everything she had
to heal Nomi faster than it was taking her away.

She pushed and fought, but all she could do was delay the inevitable. It wasn’t
just exhausting, it was futile. Nothing made the curse go away. She was
temporarily reversing its damage, but nothing more. The second she stopped,
it just kicked right back in again.

She couldn’t heal Nomi and Echo at the same time and she didn’t have an
unlimited amount of energy. What the hell was she going to do?

“I can’t stop it, Nomi! I CAN’T STOP IT!”

The sun-orb spasmed and flickered as wave after wave of attacks came crashing down upon it. As well as the chaos of war, the air was now awash with growing electrical detonations coming from the surface of the sun-orb.

“Devi, let us….”

Echo was standing right by Preeta looking at her with sadness and sympathy
etched onto every cell of her beautiful brown face. She now had no arms left.

“NO! NO! NO!”

Preeta cast a healing beam onto Echo and was able to halt the spread of her
curse, but this just meant that Nomi wasn’t being healed and her curse
continued to spread because of it.

“Young Preeta! They are attacking the sun-orb! It is of the gravest of gravely
grave importances that we charge it and cast out a ray of repellency to destroy
them!”

That was Hughpert. Preeta didn’t know where he was, but she recognised that
pompous voice anywhere.

“I HAVE TO SAVE NOMI AND ECHO! I HAVE TO!”

“Focus on your priorities!”

“I HAVE TO!”

Echo looked at Preeta with a confused expression as Nomi’s body slowly
dematerialised in front of them. Preeta then switched over and cast a healing
beam onto Nomi which caused Echo to start to dematerialise.

“NO!!!”

“Let us….”

“We have to protect the sun-orb!”

“I CAN’T LET YOU GO!”

“This one may get……meet her friend again…..she was an incredible…”

Preeta cast two healing beams onto Nomi and Echo at the very same time,
standing right between the two of them with each hand pumping beams of
restoration into her Preetarian soul family. Casting one beam was tiring enough, but this was physically and emotionally excruciating. She wouldn’t be able to do this much longer, but she couldn’t stop. She couldn’t quit. She just couldn’t give up.

I CAN’T GIVE UP!

As her body struggled to meet the impossible demands she’d placed on it. As
salty sweat poured down her forehead and through her clothes, and as the
muscles in her arms began to spasm and convulse, Preeta’s entire body became a glowing beacon of blue light.

“….us go.” said Echo sympathetically. “…have given us so much…..”

“NO! NO! I CAN’T LET YOU DIE!”

“…is OK.”

“I CAN’T BE ALONE!”

“….always with you.”

“Preeta, the sun-orb!”

“Go…”

Colours began to coalesce. Figures, objects, trees, people and everything around her lost consistency. It all began to morph into a sticky, slimy sludge. Preeta was starting to lose her grip on reality.

I’M STARTING TO WAKE UP!

Yes, Preeta was starting to wake up. The more she pushed herself to save her
Preetarian family, the more it drained her and that was causing her to leave
Preetaria and return to her sleeping eight-year old body. But she had to keep
trying. She had to find a way to save them both. She had to.

I HAVE TO!

“You can’t find a way to save them, you can’t! Save Preetaria!”

Her head rolled back as her vision became a glowing, sparkling, and pulsating
shade of silver. As this happened, her ears heard echoes of Bashar rampaging
across the wall of the jungle, obliterating all enemies in his path.

“Save Preetaria!”

“I CAN’T LET THEM DIE! I JUST CAN’T! I HAVE TO FIND A WAY TO
SAVE THEM!”

But then, somehow, in the middle of the calamity, chaos, pain and confusion,
Preeta heard these words.

“You are bonded to Preetaria in a way that few will ever comprehend. As you
draw breath, Preetaria breathes out. As you exhale, Preetaria inhales, and so on and so on it goes, my child. You and your kingdom share a symbiotic
relationship far deeper than that of a mother and her unborn child, but you don’t realise this because you think with your mind and don’t feel with your
heart.”

Those words sounded so familiar. Was she making them up, or did someone
say them to her? She just didn’t know.

“You know what to do, Preeta. You are just not allowing yourself to consciously
see what your soul already knows to be truth. You are Preetaria. You. You are
connected to every blade of grass, every molecule of water, every atom of air
and every single last Preetarian who loves you. Nothing can happen here
without your prior knowledge, and I mean nothing.”

Where was this coming from?! Who said it to her?! It was so familiar but so
alienated at the same time! Was she making this up?!

“The Shadow Bloodline are foreign invaders on your land. This is your territory, not theirs. Your dominion. Not theirs. You are a dragon, you are a lioness, and you certainly are a Goddess, Preeta. Start acting like it. Protect your people, and cast them out. Save Preetaria.”

And then something happened. Somehow and some way, at that moment,
something shifted for Preeta and she felt all of Preetaria. Not just physically but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Not just Nomi and Echo and not just those battling in the Jungle of Strength, but all of her kingdom and every last member of her soul family. She felt everyone. She felt her people. She felt their essences become a part of her, and was reminded of what she was really fighting for. Her people needed her.

She had to save Preetaria. If she drained herself too much, she’d wake up and
the Jungle of Strength would be doomed. She had to focus on what was
important, painful as it might be. She had to be a real leader.

The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few.

Reluctantly, Preeta dropped both healing beams taking several deep and
desperate intakes of breath as she immediately felt reality return to normal.

“HUGHPERT!” she screamed.

“I’m here, young Preeta!” he replied.

“TELL ME WHAT TO DO!”

“Get to the sun-orb on the double!”

Preeta fired a bolt at the flickering sun-orb and bolt-jumped to it microseconds later. Once again, she found herself floating next to it in mid-air alongside battling Preetarians and Shadow Bloodline warriors, as countless projectiles assailed its surface.

Hughpert appeared floating in the air next to her.

“Go into the sun-orb, Preeta!”

“INTO IT?!”

“AFFIRMATIVE! WHEN YOUR ESSENCE MERGES WITH …”

That was all Preeta needed to hear. She dove head first into the sun-orb before
Hughpert could even finish his sentence.

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-fourth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

That night when Preeta went to bed, The Shadow Bloodline attacked Preetaria at full-blown demonic force, meaning that she and her soul family were once again embroiled in bitter conflict.

They had chosen to attack the Jungle of Strength, a realm which was exactly
what it sounded like; a vibrant jungle of strength, virtue, and fortitude.
However; it wasn’t flat like you’d expect, but curved in the shape of a massive
sphere, meaning that when you stood on the ground and looked ahead or up,
you saw no sky but trees and plants curving up and behind you. In fact, if you
actually walked in a straight line for long enough you’d eventually find yourself marching up the wall and along the ceiling in the opposite direction. If you carried on further still, you’d eventually end up right back where you started.

Also, there was a giant pulsating and breathtaking sun-orb which hovered in the middle of the jungle constantly changing colour. It perpetually morphed
between glowing a dense jungle green, a deep bumble bee yellow, a penetrating cherry red, and an earthy chocolate brown. This meant that the colour of the jungle and everything in it was constantly in flux.

This sun-orb shone a warm and pulsating light in every direction to be picked
up by the untold numbers of interlocking trees, plants, and bushes that reached out to it from the jungle’s floor, walls, and ceiling.

That light was the battery that fueled the jungle. It was its life force, its very
essence. In fact, through Preeta’s enhanced Preetarian vision, she could see
embers of it floating purposefully through the air. It flowed into leaves, pulsed
down into roots, and breathed life into the ground around her.

The Stones of Heart in the Jungle of Strength lay within both the sun-orb and
the forehead and heart of Bashar the Beast Walker, a massive silverback gorilla with a temperament that was as compassionate as it was commanding, as it was intense.

Bashar was a being of true presence, standing 12 feet tall and as wide as a small truck, he stalked the grounds of the jungle with intent, sliding through the bark of one tree to immediately slide through that of another. The effect he had on your psyche was similar to that of Nomi; one that made you feel inherently safe, but only because you knew he was on your side. It was simply understood that if you were unfortunate enough to be considered his enemy, it was curtains for you.

All she wrote. Goodnight Vienna.

Bashar meant business.

Anyway, as well as Echo, Nomi, Hughpert and other Preetarians, Preeta was
also backed by Artheria the tree spirit. She had planted herself into the Jungle
and thus assumed command over the foliage and insects therein. She sat on
Preeta’s shoulder as a golden tortoise beetle looking resolutely into the
surrounding warzone.

A 360-degree battle raged all around. Hordes of fallen warriors charged along
the ground, walls, and ceiling on the backs of red-eyed jet black horses, hacking into everything in sight.

“Deeviiiii, what are we to doooo?” Artheria asked.

“I’m not sure,” Preeta replied honestly.

How should I command my forces? What the heck should I do?

She racked her brain in search of an answer but came up with nothing.

Until it finally hit her.

The sun-orb and Bashar were the targets so they needed to be the focus of her
defences. She had to make them as hard to reach as possible to keep them safe.

“Bashar!!” she called loudly. She had a power and dignity resonating through
her voice which made her feel every bit the unstoppable leader she was told to
see herself to be. If she wasn’t so firmly ensconced within the present moment, she’d have taken a moment to be proud of herself.

A huge roar echoed through the jungle as Bashar could be heard bounding
through it at speed. Suddenly, he leapt from the foliage and into view, grabbed a vine, swung on it, and landed right at Preeta’s feet beating his chest as his giant silverback gorilla eyes looked deep into hers. Preeta looked right back without a shred of fear.

“Bashar, The Shadow Bloodline wants to destroy the Stone of Heart that’s in
your forehead and we can’t let that happen. We need to protect you…”

Before she could even finish her sentence, he let out the kind of soul-shaking
cry which let her know exactly what he thought of that plan. Bashar needed
protection from no-one.

He may not have been able to speak, but he was far more than a mere beast.
Like Nomi, Preeta could feel immense intelligence burning brightly behind his
pupils. Again, like Nomi, she instinctively felt like she’d known him for an
impossibly long time.

“You didn’t let me finish,” she said, unaffected. “I would never ask you to run
in fear, because that’s not who we are. I just need you, no, we, Preetaria needs
you to be impossible to catch. Run and jump through the jungle constantly!
Never stop! Slam into the enemy when they’re not looking, then run again, and find more enemies to slam into. Move all the time. All the time! Make them lost and dizzy trying to find you, then slam into them again! Be unpredictable! We need you to be an impossible target.”

In response, Bashar nodded, squinted his blue eyes, beat his ape-like fists against his ape-like chest and roared into the sky before taking off at ape-like speed. In his wake, Preeta could clearly hear the sheer carnage and destruction he was inflicting upon the enemy. She smiled quietly before looking down at the golden tortoise beetle on her shoulder that was Artheria.

“Artheria, I want you to cover Bashar and the sun-orb. Don’t let anything near
them. If Bashar is in trouble, I want you to be right by his side. If the sun-orb
is in danger, your job is to protect it.”

“Yeeessss, Devi.”

“Good. Now please leave this beetle on my shoulder, so I can contact you
whenever I need you.”

“Understooooood.”

Preeta was really starting to feel like a true leader and it was a great feeling.
Something she’d realised she’d done wrong before was to head straight into
battles timidly and with no strategy, which the enemy took advantage of every
time. Those days were over. She’d be much more measured and deliberate
today.

Something she‘d also come to realise was that her enemies were a lot of things.

Violent? Sure.

Vicious? Of course.

Evil? No doubt.

Wicked? You bet.

But what they weren’t was stupid; and Preeta needed to start acting like it. She needed a sound plan and great tactics to vanquish her foes.

Hughpert stood beside her, looking thoughtfully into the distance, his majestic
elephant trunk swaying with true dignity in the wind.

“Young Preeta, this is indeed a most excellent plan.”

“Thank you, Hughpert.”

“With Artheria commanding all the dense foliage and millions of insects in this
jungle, we now have another army with which to wreak unforgettable harm upon the hearts of our enemy. What I now suggest is that you take Echo and
Nomi to find the Destroyer of Worlds and put an end to him permanently.”

“Permanently,” said Preeta, nodding with determination.

However, as piercingly determined as she felt only moments before, Preeta
suddenly felt a slicing blade of raw emotion tear through the energetic fabric of her heart. Fear, anger, pain, panic, confusion, and remorse all swelled and
intertwined to bring forth a dark omen she wanted more than anything to not
be true.

That realisation made her race through that jungle with all the speed her adult Preetarian legs would give, even though she didn’t have a conscious clue of where she was running.

But she didn’t need to know. Preeta wasn’t listening to her conscious mind. She was trusting a deeper part of herself, one which vibrated in powerful resonance as she grew closer to what she didn’t even know was her target. And then, when she arrived, when Preeta got to the place to which she didn’t consciously know she was heading, she saw a sight which made her heart sink beneath her feet. Her eyes flooded with tears, and her throat screamed as loudly as it possibly could. You see, not only were Nomi and Echo battling scores of enemies and losing badly, but Nomi only had three legs and Echo had lost half her forearm.

They both had The Curse of the Forgotten.

Nomi and Echo were going to die, and Preeta couldn’t do anything about it.

The calamity of war pounded throughout the jungle as The Shadow Bloodline
charged the sun-orb at full force. If Preeta looked up, she would have seen that she was engulfed in a blistering 360-degree battle the likes of which she’d never seen before. However, Preeta didn’t look up. She simply couldn’t move her gaze, not even a single inch.

Nomi and Echo were going to die, and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

Or could she?

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-third chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

You’re about to read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, see a list of all chapters, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

The next day, Preeta, now sporting a shorter hairdo after having been taken to
the hairdressers by Mom, was on the playground with Eraclia at lunchtime. The boys were playing football and the girls were playing tag, but the two best
friends weren’t paying them any attention. Instead, they were perfecting a new rhyme which involved a series of coordinated hand claps and body taps which went just like:

“Is it real, girl? Is it really real, girl?!

Let me know it’s real, girl!

If it’s really real!

Something I can feel, girl!

Time for the reveal, girl!

Nothing to conceal, girl!

If it’s really real!”

Eraclia was throwing herself into it with glee but Preeta? Not so much. You
see, she’d spent most of the previous day trying to sleep, but to no avail. She
was simply far too wide awake to enter Preetaria. Also, if that wasn’t
demoralising and infuriating enough, when she finally went to bed that night,
she sadly saw that the Freedom Expanse was indeed lost. It had been
completely and utterly eradicated from existence by The Shadow Bloodline and only a small number of Preetarians made it out safely; Nomi, Echo, Hughpert, and some others.

The rest perished.

There had to be over 100,000 Preetarian souls in the Freedom Expanse and
almost all except for a couple thousand of them were dead. These were people
who relied on Preeta for guidance, people she’d let down yet again.

Yet again.

“Pree! You’re not doing it properly!” said Eraclia, oblivious to her best friend’s
internal strife.

Also, Mr Honey hadn’t been seen at school for the past two days since that
battle and Preeta’s worst fears about his safety were now proving to be real.
She’d never known him to miss a day of school before. Never. Something had
happened to him, not just in Preetaria but in the normal world too. But she
didn’t know what and it killed her.

“I’m worried about Mr Honey,” she replied sadly. “He hasn’t been at school
since before the battle for the Freedom Expanse and I’m so worried about him. I don’t know if he’s OK.”

“What if he never woke up??” Eraclia asked.

“Maybe he didn’t.” Preeta replied.

“What if he’s still in bed asleep and can’t wake up because The Curse of the
Forgotten made him forget how to come back to the real world?” Eraclia asked.

“Don’t call it that,” Preeta said, slightly annoyed.

“What?”

“The real world.”

“Why?”

“Preetaria’s real. It feels more real than here does, and, and my Preetarians aren’t fake. They’re my people, and, and they need me.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” said Eraclia, apologising with genuine remorse.

“My parents don’t believe me. They think I’m just having silly dreams but I’m
not and I need someone who understands.”

“I understand.”

“They think I’m crazy. They think I’m making Preetaria all up and that I’m
being bullied or hurting myself. Nobody understands me, E.”

“I understand, Pree.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I’m your best friend.”

“You’re the best friend in the world.”

“We’re a team, Pree.”

“Thank you.”

The two girls shared a comfortable silence while the sounds of childish games
and laughter echoed in the background.

“Do you think he’s in bed asleep? Or do you think The Curse of the Forgotten
made him actually disappear in his bed?” asked Eraclia.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe he doesn’t even exist anymore.”

“I don’t know, E, I’m really scared, I’m really scared. I don’t know where he’s
gone and, and I told my Dad when he didn’t come to school yesterday but he
just told me it’s a silly coincidence. Nobody believes me.”

Tears began to stream down Preeta’s cheeks. Eraclia pulled her in close and
gave her a tight hug.

“They all think there’s something wrong with me. My parents said I might have
to talk to a counsellor.”

“What’s a counsellor?”

“Someone who talks to crazy little girls, I think.”

“You’re not crazy, Pree; I believe you.”

“Thank you.”

“And I’m going to help you. You don’t have to be alone.”

“They’ve destroyed all my habitats. I’ve only got the Jungle of Strength and my
Grand Celestial Palace left! If I can’t defend them, all of Preetaria will be gone
forever!”

“We’ll save your kingdom, Pree. I promise. We’re gonna do it together.”

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-second chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

You’re about to read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, see a list of all chapters, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

A still teary-eyed Preeta was in the kitchen with Mom and Dad, livid at being
woken up and irate at not being allowed to go back to sleep. She’d always been raised to be respectful to her parents and elders. That was one of the core tenets of her culture and something she took pride in upholding, but now she just didn’t care. She was so close to winning and Mom pulled her out of Preetaria! Who knows what happened to the Freedom Expanse after she left?!

“Preeta, calm down!” cried Mom in Hindi.

“No! No! I can’t calm down! We almost won and you pulled me away! I have
to go back to sleep to check on my people!” screamed Preeta in English.

“Oh my God, what happened to your hair?!”

“Huh?!”

“Why is your hair burned?!”

“I burned it in Preetaria!”

“Pumpkin, what did you do to your hair?!” asked Dad, looking very worried.

“I just told you!”

“What on Earth are you talking about?! Mom shouted.

Mom and Dad grabbed Preeta closely and studied her scalp with real concern.

“Pat, I’m getting worried,” she continued.

“Me too.” said Dad, stroking Preeta’s forehead while looking his wife in the eye
with fear.

“What are we going to do?”

“Stop talking about me like I’m not here!” Preeta screamed.

“Preeta, these dreams aren’t real!” replied Mom in English.

“Yes they are! Yes they are! Mr Honey was there too!”

“Your school teacher???” asked Dad in Hindi, looking and sounding totally
incredulous.

“Preeta, what did you do to your hair?!” cried Mom.

“I burned it in Preetaria!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“Mr Honey was there too!”

“What?!”

“He was! He was! He was there and he beat everyone up and was really
awesome. But he got The Curse of the Forgotten and told me to believe in
myself and be a hero, but he fell through the cloud so I don’t know if the fall
killed him, or the curse killed him, or if he’s actually OK!”

“Mr Honey turned up in your dream and gave you advice on how to protect
Preetaria?”

“Yeah and it worked! Then I actually started to believe in myself because I remembered what him and E said about talking to myself kindly and, and I was winning! I was winning! I shot off the Destroyer of Worlds’ arm and took his weapon and aimed it at him but…”

“You shot off someone’s arm in your dream???” cried Mom in Hindi, shocked
and appalled.

“Yeah, and I almost had him before you woke me up!”

“What kind of dream was this??”

“It wasn’t a dream, I was in Preetaria! How many times do I have to tell you?!”

“Pumpkin, what’s happening to you??” asked Dad in English with true concern
oozing in his kind brown eyes.

“I’m trying to protect my kingdom!”

“Preetaria isn’t real, darling,” said Mom, with tears running down her cheeks.

“Yes it is! You don’t understand! None of you understand!”

“Of course we do, honey.”

“No you don’t! You think I’m just a stupid little girl!”

“Preeta, that’s not true!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

Yes it is! You’re just like Mr & Mrs Wormwood!”

“From Matilda?!”

“Yes!”

From the look of horror that appeared on Mom’s face, it was clear that for
some reason this comment broke her. Dad put his arm around her waist and
she collapsed into him, sobbing quietly against his chest.

“Preeta, we’re worried about you,” said Dad, looking directly at his now guilty-looking daughter with sympathetic eyes,

“I’m worried about me,” she replied.

“Is somebody hurting you at school? Did a bully do this to you?”

“Why won’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re not telling us the truth.”

“Pat, what are we going to do?”

“We need to do something about her hair.”

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twenty-first chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

You’re about to read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, see a list of all chapters, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

When time finally returned to normal and the raging battle re-ensued, Preeta
did as she was told and focused on protecting Preetaria while Mr Honey actually did manage to dodge the smoke bolt. However, it didn’t mean much because without arms or legs he was unable to stop himself from sinking through the cloud. Sadly, he fell through it and was never seen again.

Did he die, or is he still alive? And if he is dead, was it The Curse of the Forgotten that killed him or the fall?

Preeta had no idea and the thought terrified her.

Will he wake up in the morning and be at school tomorrow? If he doesn’t, will I forget him like those other two, erm Water, and….and….I can’t remember his name! I can’t remember his name!!!

Who was that person? She just couldn’t remember.

She was the little girl I saw when I came here? And she really wanted to see me before she died! Hold on, was he a girl?! Or was she a boy?? I think he was a girl??? No, no no!!! I have to make sure I remember Mr Honey and Water! I
can’t forget them! I have to remember who they are! No, Preeta, no! I need to
focus!

Yes, as important as it was for Preeta to preserve the memory of her fallen
family, that just wasn’t her immediate priority and she needed to remember that. That fact needed to become crystallised in her mind because she was embedded in a battle for the survival of the entire Freedom Expanse, the stakes of which were even higher than the very clouds on which she stood. She couldn’t allow herself to get distracted. She just couldn’t.

As she dragged herself back into the present moment, herculean winds
continued to drill the air along with the panicked and wailing song of the lone
remaining eagle. It sounded like nothing less than a song devoid of all hope. A
song of unrelenting pain and unthinkable anguish. One which was the final
desperate cry of a being who had watched its loved ones perish and knew for a fact that it would soon be next. A song which merged with the cries of battle, fused with the howls of Preetarian pain, and augmented Nomi’s violently righteous roars. But funnily enough, it was a song which didn’t scare Preeta the way she thought it should. She wasn’t nearly as terrified as before and she didn’t know why.

Now, rather than mentally resist everything that happened around her, she
simply shrugged her shoulders at it. Instead of recoiling in fear from the
enveloping chaos she just looked at it dispassionately and saw it for what it was; a tight concentration of hazardous occurrences which each had the very real potential to end her life.

She was stuck in the middle of a horrific war zone in which death awaited at
every turn, but she simply accepted it.

OK. It is what it is.

Mr Honey told her she had a deep connection to Preetaria and she was starting to see what he meant. In fact, when she quieted her mind, she realised that on some deep and intuitive level, she was indeed aware of the actions of her people. She knew their feelings almost as if they were her own, and if she concentrated really hard she could almost hear their thoughts.

When her people walked across clouds, Preeta actually felt that physically. She didn’t know if she felt them touching the clouds or the clouds touching them, but she definitely felt something. Even when they cried in pain Preeta felt that too. It was as though her senses didn’t stop with her own body but somehow continued as far and long as her eyes could see.

No! Stop daydreaming! She thought.

Back to the present moment! “Preetarians! To the eagle!” she yelled boldly.

Immediately, scores of Preetarians leapt across various clouds towards the
eagle, their ankle wings fluttering in the air with each massive jump.

“Nomi, to me!” she cried bravely. Nomi was at her side within seconds looking
her dead in the eye and snarling, awaiting further instructions.

“Echo, to me!” she shouted resolutely. Echo was at her side just as fast, also
looking to her for guidance.

“Young Preeta, you will never see your school teacher again.” said Hughpert,
startling her.

“No?” she asked sadly yet angrily.

“No. and all because of him.” Hughpert replied, gesturing towards The
Destroyer of Worlds. “He is macabre, malignant, and malicious. A monstrosity
of murderous machination. He sows death and destruction wherever he goes,
and his reign of terror must be stopped right here; and right now. We cannot
allow Preetaria to fall to The Shadow Bloodline.”

“No Hughpert, we cannot.” Preeta replied determinedly.

Echo and Nomi studied Preeta with confused expressions.

“Let’s get him.” she said resolutely, gripping her fists in anger. “Let’s save
Preetaria!”

With that, Preeta, Echo, and Nomi sprang into action, darting towards their
target with ferocious speed. Yes, Preeta was connected to all of her kingdom
but her bond with those two was unparalleled.

If she was the ruler, they along with Hughpert were her aides, her confidants,
her trusted advisors. If she was the mind which orchestrated Preetaria’s destiny, they were the limbs that faithfully manifested said mind’s vision. Her bond with them was like Yin and yang. Night and dark. The divine masculine and the goddess feminine. When Preeta exhaled, Nomi and Echo inhaled; and when she drew breath, they expelled. Her connection to them was deeper than she could possibly have imagined.

Together with her soul family, she darted towards her foe, leaping, flipping,
dodging, ducking, rolling, punching, kicking and firing arrows at every last
enemy in between them and him.

But then, something hit her in the eyes. She didn’t know what and she didn’t
know where it came from but it was big, wet, sticky, and turned her vision into
an endless sea of green. She couldn’t see a damn thing. Her eyes were
completely blind but Preeta soon realised that it didn’t matter.

At that moment she knew she didn’t need eyes to see because she saw
everything without them.

Preeta ran at full speed through that cloudy battlefield against those herculean winds with blind eyes that couldn’t see and a mind which knew seeing was no longer necessary. Flanked by her dolphin and tiger, they were enveloped within chaos as enemies and allies alike fought valiantly while being flung to and fro by those winds. But she found peace within the chaos. There was stillness within the insanity. With a mind which was serene and calm and a body which was frenetic with energy she darted between them, other Preetarians, various wraiths, snakes and fallen warriors with effortless grace. Together, they orchestrated powerful retribution on the soulless forms of their attacking invaders while the world in which they fought threatened to fall apart.

As Nomi bit a fallen warrior in two, her eyes once again became black as night
and infused with crackling blue energy as her body hummed with unspeakable power. She burst forward like rounds fired from a ballistic shotgun, obliterating waves of warriors while echo shot snakes out of the air in human form, leapt into Preeta’s waiting hands, was thrown back into the air, turned into a dolphin, and slammed through two more warriors.

Echo then tried to slam into the Destroyer of Worlds but he deftly dodged her.
Within seconds, she was not only back in human form, but firing energy arrows in his direction. He dodged every single last one.

Preeta actually caught one of those arrows in mid-air, immediately nocked it in her bow and launched it right at him alongside two of her own.

He dodged them too.

Nomi leapt at him but received the full force of his black demon fist to the face
for her troubles. She roared in pain, losing all her absorbed power and collapsing to the ground as her eyes turned from jet black to their usual green.

Nomi’s roars penetrated the skies as Echo leapt to her defence and Preeta
hurled herself at the Destroyer of Worlds. Preeta fought with everything she
had to hit him but just couldn’t believe how impossible he was to touch.
Literally every single blow either missed or was parried. He was literally as
elusive as a shadow and she didn’t know how on Earth Mr Honey was able to
hit him so consistently. No matter how hard she tried she couldn’t lay a single
hand on him.

While they fought, a strong wave of concussive force struck Preeta in the back
and sent her flying across the cloudy terrain. She steadied herself with her hands, fighting against the strong winds to stay upright as bolts of electrical smoke screamed towards her. She rolled left and right, barely dodging as they slammed through the cloud, hurtled into the abyss below, and made the ground even more unstable than before.

Winds howled, screamed, and rushed across the Freedom Expanse as the lone
remaining eagle continued to sing a cry of fearful desperation that made the
hearts of every last Preetarian sink with empathy. It was terrified and Preeta,
along with her people, could feel that fear like it was her own. But having said
that, she was feeling so many sensations and emotions that she wasn’t sure
which were hers.

She could barely hear herself think. Barely feel herself breathe. Barely feel her
own limbs. Fear was once again beginning to grip her heart.

Why am I scared again?! I was just confident a second ago! Why am I scared again?!

But none of that mattered. It just didn’t matter. She had to protect her kingdom.

As Nomi lay on the ground tended to by Echo and slowly sinking through the
cloud; Preeta leapt, flipped, fired a bolt next to Nomi and bolt-jumped right
there.

She didn’t consciously know how she was able to do that, actually teleport from one place to another, but she was starting to see that not consciously knowing how to do something didn’t mean she didn’t actually know how to do it. She was slowly realising that her conscious mind wasn’t as powerful as she believed.

She always thought the part of her that she was aware of was most important,
but it wasn’t. She always thought her conscious mind was the undisputed ruler of her existence, but it just wasn’t. There was another part of her which was much more powerful than that. A deep and intuitive force.

Ever present but never seen.

All-mighty but optically invisible.

An unstoppable force she’d somehow managed to ignore for her entire life.
One that operated in the shadows, tirelessly influencing her thoughts, feelings, actions, and abilities. Guiding her conscious mind wherever it wanted it to go. That force always had her best interests at heart. It knew what was best for her, and what’s more, it was the source of all the incredible Preetarian abilities she didn’t know she had but instinctively knew how to use.

It knew what was best for her.

Preeta knew that now.

She just needed to stop fighting and surrender to its will.

She’d remembered seeing someone, she wasn’t sure who, but she definitely had seen someone sacrifice themselves for Nomi. They’d turned their body into energy and poured it into her so she could live so why the hell couldn’t Preeta do it too? Why couldn’t she give Echo and Nomi her energy? If she really was this all-powerful ruler of Preetaria she should have loads to spare and easily be able to keep them alive.

At least, that was her theory.

As she kneeled next to Echo beside Nomi’s broken form, her eyes and Bindi
spot glowed a bright blue light which vibrated like pure undying love. Then,
that same light began to emanate from her left hand into Nomi and physically
heal her while Preeta and Echo fought with everything they had to stop
themselves and Nomi from falling through the cloud. As Preeta saw Nomi’s
broken body slowly knitting itself together, she allowed herself to refocus on
the task at hand.

The Destroyer of Worlds had to be stopped.

Preeta bolted towards her enemy as he himself leapt through the windy air and onto the back of the last remaining eagle. She fired a bolt onto its back right next to him, bolt-jumped to that spot, and threw a haymaker of a punch which he smoothly dodged.

He swung his sword right at her forehead. She ducked underneath, grabbed her bow, nocked an arrow, landed on her back, fired, barely missed his face but hit a flying wraith.

Damn it!

Echo leapt in and struck him hard on the back, staggering him. He cried and
kicked her so hard she was sent screaming from the eagle and into the endless
abyss below. Preeta leapt after Echo, fired a bolt of energy onto her leg, bolt
jumped to her, grabbed her, fired another bolt onto Nomi’s back, and bolt
jumped her and Echo right there. Then she left Echo on Nomi’s back, leapt
towards the Destroyer of Worlds, and instinctively tried to throw the Shield of
Justice at the jet black void that was his face.

It once again refused to leave her hand and she once again screamed powerfully in frustration.

“No! No! No! I’m not going to let you put me in danger!” screamed the
inappropriately named Shield of Justice.

There were a number of swear words Preeta had heard many times but was too good of a girl to ever use. At that moment, she said every single last one of
them.

“You can’t force me to do this! You can’t!”

She wanted nothing more than to smash the shield into smithereens and
continue to scream those nasty words at its shattered remains.

She tried to hurl it away into the abyss but again it refused to leave her hand,
quivering with fear like the spineless wimp it was. It had to be some sort of
joke. Preeta was actually in the midst of battle wielding a cowardly shield that
absolutely refused to protect her. You couldn’t make it up.

“CLOUD GAUNTLET!!”

Oh no!

Preeta needed to do something. Anything! But what?!

She ran towards him as fast as her legs would carry her, sprinting at speeds she’d never seen Olympic sprinters reach, and fighting hard against the tumultuous winds and the quicksand-like clouds her body was trying to slip through.

“Preetarians! Destroy the Destroyer of Worlds!”

Preeta gasped as a bolt of awareness burst across her chest and told her that
one way or another, he had to be stopped. Now was the time. This all ended
here. She fired a bolt of energy to the ground next to her vicious enemy and
immediately bolt-jumped right there in an electrical explosion.

She fought with everything she had and then some.

Preetha fought with the combined energy of all Preetaria fueling her mind, body and soul and giving her newfound levels of strength and courage.

Her feet flew through the air in search of his face, but missed. Her fists tried to
grab the hand that was forming his Cloud Gauntlet but they weren’t fast enough so they missed. He kept evading her. She just wasn’t as fast as Mr Honey.

But she could be.

She would be.

Preeta was the greatest leader of all time.

She was incredible.

Unstoppable.

Unbeatable.

Invincible.

And she couldn’t be beat. No matter how tough the challenge, she’d find a way to overcome it. This was who Preeta was, she was a winner.

A true leader.

Speaking to herself like that was liberating and empowering. When she said
those words like she really believed them, they strengthened her, and made her feel like she was queen of the world.

But then again, that wasn’t a lie. She actually was queen of the world. Preeta
was queen of Preetaria, and she was going to make the Destroyer of Worlds
realise that fact. So what if she could barely hear herself think? That didn’t
matter. She’d ignore the gale force winds, disregard the clashing of steel, make a beeline for her enemy and destroy him.

And then, as if to accentuate her point, Preeta’s perception of reality slowed
and intensified as the sounds of war became as quiet as a baby’s whisper while
somehow also louder than a bullhorn. Suddenly, she felt at one with the entire battlefield. Not separate from it, not in conflict with it, not scared of it, but fused to it in every possible way. She had become that warzone. She was the carnage. At that very moment Preeta became the battlefield on which she stood.

In her mind’s eye, Preeta felt Echo fire an arrow through the Preetarian air at
his head, and then she also felt him adjust his jet black body to dodge it. Seconds later, Echo’s arrow was in the air for real and The Destroyer of Worlds dodged it exactly as Preeta had just seen.

What the?

I’m her mind’s eye, Preeta felt the Destroyer of Worlds leap into the air and
crash down with a sword swing aimed at Echo’s head which she barely dodged. And then, once again, the exact same thing happened for real, moments later right before her very eyes.

Did I see what was going to happen?

In her mind’s eye, Preeta felt the Destroyer of Worlds drop his sword, grab
Echo with his left hand, hoist her high above his head, shoot his Cloud Gauntlet through her chest with his right hand and obliterate her into an explosion of light. Moments later, it happened for real. He dropped his sword, grabbed Echo, and lifted her high into the air with his left hand just as Preeta used no less than 3 arrows to shoot his right arm clean off.

Her flash of insight let her know where exactly he was going to be and act
accordingly. She didn’t need to be as fast as him if she could predict his
movements. He was screwed. As his red blood sizzled upon contact with the windy Preetarian atmosphere, he roared in agony while Preeta grabbed his
bleeding arm, removed the Cloud Gauntlet, strapped it onto her fist, and aimed it straight at his face.

She’d never seen the Destroyer of Worlds shake in fear before but in that
moment she felt his terror reverberating through her bones. He turned on his heels and ran in staggered steps across the cloudy surface, clutching his blood-red stump as acidic blood dripped, sizzled, blew in all directions and evaporated into the wild winds. Preeta ran right after him as the Cloud Gauntlet charged around her fist, feeling its immense power circulate like a volcanic hurricane as her mind stayed focused on the destruction she would use it to bring down upon him.

He sent enemies her way. Loads of them. Tons of them. Wave after wave of
attacks came at her but she evaded every last one like they were nothing, all the while keeping that Cloud Gauntlet aimed squarely at him.

He wasn’t going to get away,

She heard her Preetarians chanting her name.

“Devi! Devi! Devi!”

It gave her strength. It fueled her. She was doing it. Preeta was doing it. She was protecting her people. He was nothing. His people were nothing. Their attacks were nothing.

But Preeta was something. She was a leader, a real leader.

Her Preetarian warriors fired a volley of arrows which detonated the wraiths
and fallen warriors all around her. And, at exactly the same moment, Nomi leapt onto The Destroyer of Worlds, sank her teeth deep into his chest plate and pinned him down as Echo shot him in the leg with two energy arrows.

The Cloud Gauntlet’s humming, buzzing screech was nearing its crescendo and had reached a point where Preeta felt like she had a pneumatic drill covering her fist. It was clearly almost ready to fire.

She did nothing but keep it aimed squarely at his face.

“Nomi! It’s about to fire! When it does, I need you to move!”

Nomi roared in agreement as the Destroyer of Worlds roared in pain, once
again talking to himself; and once again screaming at something that simply
wasn’t there. Preeta closed her fist and prepared to fire the Cloud Gauntlet and destroy him once and for all but unfortunately, this was when the skies began to open.

“Wakey wakey little daughter! Wakey wakey!”

The world around her slowly began to shake and bubble and bubble and shake. It was slow, not rough, soft, not harsh, smooth, not coarse, and simply
impossible for Preeta to not notice. But, when she looked around, she realised
once again that neither Echo, Nomi, The Shadow Bloodline Warriors, or even
The Destroyer of Worlds seemed like they knew what was happening. Preeta
was the only one who could feel the world bubbling. Only Preeta knew.
Nobody else seemed to know. They were all acting like nothing happened.

Only Preeta knew.

“Preeta!…..Come on, wake up…..”

“NO!!! NO!!! NO, MOM, LEAVE ME!!!”

“Wakey, wakey, Preeta.”

“LET ME SLEEP!!! WE’VE ALMOST WON!!! LET ME SLEEP!!! LEAVE
ME ALONE!!!! WE’VE ALMOST WON!!”

Mom was waking her up! Preeta was being dragged out of Preetaria and back
into her bedroom in the waking world! But not now! Not now! Not when she
was so close! Not when they’d almost won!

The skies above continued to part and slowly revealed another world just
beyond the clouds. A world in which Preeta could see a 1000 foot tall version
of Mom standing in her bedroom and looking down on her in her patronisingly oblivious manner. Nobody else seemed to be aware. Not Echo, not Nomi; and none of the other Preetarians. Just Preeta. Only Preeta.

They were looking around to see where she was, but beyond that they were all
acting like nothing else was happening.

Only Preeta knew.

“Wakey wakey, little daughter!…..”

The air became a soft and shimmering shade of light purple as Mom’s voice
echoed in the skies above and the Gloud Gauntlet fell through Preeta’s arm and fired straight into the air. Sadly, Preetaria began to melt right before her eyes. As the gravity of her latest failure slowly began to dawn on Preeat, the Freedom Expanse oozed from a cloudy expanse into a thick gooey sludge that evaporated like hot steam from a boiling kettle.

Echo began to evaporate. Nomi began to evaporate; even the Destroyer of
Worlds began to evaporate, but none of them seemed to know. They just
carried on fighting like they weren’t all turning into mist.

Only Preeta knew.

All of Preetaria faded from sight, and soon Preeta was laying in bed with Mom
sitting next to her beaming with glee in that patronisingly oblivious manner of
hera.

“Good morning, Pumpkin! Time for school! she cried in Hindi.

With that, Mom bounced out the room with unbridled glee leaving a teary eyed and dejected Preeta curled in a ball and sobbing in her bed.

She was so close.

So close.

But no one knew.

Only Preeta knew.

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the twentieth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

You’re about to read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, see a list of all chapters, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

There they were, rooted to the spot with their bodies fixed in time and space
while their minds rapidly assessed how dire the situation had become. Mr
Honey lay on that cloud without arms or legs. A horrified Preeta crouched
beside him unable to ignore the buzzing electrical static of the smoke bolt about to vapourise him. If he didn’t fall to The Curse of the Forgotten, he would to this.

“Preeta, we do not have much time.” he said resolutely.

“Sir, look! Look!” she cried, pointing at the smoke bolt.

“Preeta, listen to me.”

“LOOK!”

“PREETA, LISTEN TO ME.”

“What’s going to happen to you?!”

“I do not know.”

“Will you be at school tomorrow?!”

“I do not know.”

“I can’t do this without you!”

“That is not so.”

“Yes it is!”

“Preeta, look at me.”

Preeta didn’t hear her teacher. She was too lost in tearful anguish for his words to register.

“I said look at me. There lies a great power within you. One which is of such
magnitude, such sheer and incomprehensible potency that once you realise it;
once it becomes fully unleashed, it will illuminate even the darkest of nights and bring warmth to even the coldest of hearts.”

“That’s not true. I’m not special, I’m just a little girl.”

“You are the most powerful being I have ever known. Look at this. Look
around you. Look at Preetaria. You made all of this, Preeta. Your Preetarians
are real. You have created life, child.”

“But I don’t feel powerful.”

“If a dragon believes herself to be a fly, does that make it so?”

“No.”

“If a lioness believes herself to be a fish, does that make it so?”

“No.”

“And if a Goddess believes herself to be an insect, Preeta does that make it so?”

“Of course not.”

“Good, because you are the dragon, you are the lioness, and you certainly are a
Goddess. Nothing you ever think or say about yourself will ever change that
fact.”

“Thank you, Mr Honey. Thank you for always being so kind to me.”

“One of the greatest joys of my life in the day-world has been having you as a
student, Preeta. And one of my greatest sorrows has been knowing that I
believe in you more than you believe in yourself.”

“I don’t know how to help my people.”

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t.”

“Preeta. The mistake you make is that you see yourself as separate from
Preetaria, but you are not.”

“Aren’t I?”

“No. You are bonded to Preetaria in a way that few will ever comprehend. As
you draw breath, Preetaria breathes out. As you exhale, Preetaria inhales, and
so on and so on it goes, my child. You and your kingdom share a symbiotic
relationship far deeper than that of a mother and her unborn child, but you
don’t realise this because you think with your mind and don’t feel with your
heart.

“You know what to do, Preeta. You are just not allowing yourself to consciously
see what your soul already knows to be truth. You are Preetaria. You. You are
connected to every blade of grass, every molecule of water, every atom of air
and every single last Preetarian who loves you. Nothing can happen here
without your prior knowledge, and I mean nothing.

“The Shadow Bloodline are foreign invaders on your land. This is your territory, not theirs. Your dominion. Not theirs. Protect your people, and cast them out.

“You are a dragon, you are a lioness, and you certainly are a Goddess, Preeta.
Start acting like it.”

A profound silence followed, one in which the true weight of her teacher’s
words fully dawned on Preeta’s heart. Her estimation of herself and the truth
of who she really was were two entirely different things. She saw that now. It
was time for her to finally see herself in the same light as everyone else. It was
time for her to become the Goddess they kept telling her she was.

And with that, Preeta felt time begin to return to normal speed. The surrounding battlefield slowly began to resume its action. However, there was something Mr Honey needed to know first.

“Sir?” she asked, tentatively.

“Yes?”

“That smoke bolt is going to hit you in the head.”

“Do not worry about me. Protect your kingdom.”

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the nineteenth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos

You’re about to read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, see a list of all chapters, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Time restarted and the battle resumed with full intensity. Following Mr Honey’s orders, Preeta immediately ducked just as a wraith’s corrosive stream of acid flew inches above her skull. Mr Honey then obliterated that wraith with his slingshot and pointed to six more diving in from the skies above.

“The bow, Preeta. The bow.”

Preeta instinctively loaded all five arrows from her quiver and fired them at
once, destroying all but one of the wraiths. Then, Mr Honey ran towards that
last remaining wraith, leapt onto Naomi’s back, leapt off it and high into the air, and destroyed it with his energy blade.

“Come! Let us end this!” he yelled, pointing to the Destroyer of Worlds.

Preeta and Mr Honey ran at full pelt, leaping across clouds towards their bitter enemy, and that enemy turned to face them. His glowing red eyes and dripping red teeth pierced the interior of the jet black cavern that was his hood, all while he spoke to himself in what barely sounded like English. Preeta hated the sound of his voice. She hated it fiercely. It grated against the soul like crushed glass grinding into rusted steel, every bit as madening as it was terrifying.

She didn’t know what he was saying, but she didn’t need to. His meaning was clear. His intent was clear. His motive was clear.

She didn’t need to know what the hell he was saying as that voice of his echoed across the skies. Yet she did know this, as his army fought hard against hers and as those strong winds assaulted from above and below, she didn’t feel nearly so scared. Mr Honey’s presence provided ultimate comfort and his guidance was everything she needed. With him by her side as well as Echo and Nomi, Preeta knew The Shadow Bloodline didn’t stand a chance.

He could help her fight them by night and debrief her the next day at school to let her know where she went wrong and what she could improve on. This was good. This was great, even. This could really work.

Mr Honey and the Destroyer of Worlds leapt towards each other and clashed
swords, causing a huge explosion of force that hurled them both 50 feet apart.
Mr Honey quickly got to his feet first, ran to his enemy, and engaged him in a
vicious sword fight. They swung, cleaved and hacked at each other with an
intense grace and brutality. Somehow, the Preetarians and Shadow Bloodline all stopped fighting and took notice. Both armies were transfixed by the battle that took place before them. It was as though they all knew how deeply important that encounter was to the future of their kingdoms.

Preeta couldn’t believe her eyes.

But she wasn’t going to let that affect her. Just because everyone else had
stopped fighting, it didn’t mean she was going to. She took careful aim and fired the Eternia Bow at various airborne targets, adjusting her aim to compensate for the wind, and landing square and true every time.

Clearly having the same idea, Echo ran past Preeta towards the Destroyer of
Worlds, flipped into dolphin form, rammed him hard in the back and sent him
straight into an uppercut from Mr Honey, before leap-swimming over to Nomi
on the second of the three remaining eagles.

As Mr Honey purposefully hacked The Destroyer of Worlds with his energy
blade, a burst of red light and black smoke spewed from the resulting crack in
his armour. Then, the most unearthly of roars emanated from the empty void
which should have housed his face.

After that, a blast from Mr Honey’s slingshot slammed right in the spot between his glowing red eyes and brought him to his knees in a weakened stagger.

Mr Honey wasn’t just winning, he was dominating.

“Yes! Yes! Victory is ours! Begone you filthy, miserable miscreant!”

Preeta looked up and saw Hughpert 100 feet above her in the air, standing
proudly on the cloudy terrain and excitedly cheering for Mr Honey as he
smashed The Destroyer of Worlds.

“Hughpert?!” cried Preeta incredulously, looking up at her elephant advisor as
his trunk flailed wildly in the powerful winds.

“Young Preeta, you are doing excellent work! This is our day! This is the day of
Preetaria! We have risen from the ashes like a veritable Phoenix and will now
take our place atop the very pantheon of the Adassaverse!”

“No, we do not seek out trouble! No! For we are kind, and humble souls, but
yes! Should trouble find us, then we can and will do what is necessary to protect ourselves and cast fear into the hearts of those who would dare seek to bring us harm!”

“I need to concentrate, Hughpert!” Preeta cried.

“Yay, though we may sometimes walk through the dark valley of the shadow
of death, we will fear no evil! For our cause is righteous! Our hearts are pure!
Our souls are noble!”

“Hughpert, you need to shut up!”

“Preeta, who…? Oh my…”

That was Mr Honey speaking. He looked at Preeta in confusion and she looked right back in horror. There he was, holding up what would have been his right hand if it were actually there. Half of his entire forearm had faded out of existence.

He didn’t know what it meant, but Preeta did.

He thought to be scared, but she knew to be terrified.

Mr Honey had The Curse of the Forgotten.

“Oh no…” cried Preeta with tears forming in her eyes.

“What is happening?” he asked.

Before Preeta could reply, the Destroyer of Worlds slammed into Mr Honey
like a runaway freight train, sending him rolling across the cloudy surface.
Without missing a beat, Mr Honey rolled, leapt to his feet and barely dodged a
sword swipe that should have taken his head clean off his shoulders. Preeta
loaded the Eternia Bow, and fired four arrows at the Destroyer of Worlds,
screaming in frustration when he dodged three and split the last in two with his sword before turning back to Mr Honey.

She darted over, leapt high, flipped in mid-air, and somehow was able to kick
him right in the back. He staggered slightly. Not much, but slightly, and it was
enough of a distraction for Mr Honey to once again cleave at his black body
armour. This resulted in an explosion of crimson electricity and black smoke as he howled crushed glass into the farthest reaches of the Freedom Expanse.

Missing his right hand, Mr Honey did battle with his newfound nemesis in a
chaotic dance of death. Preeta did her best to cover him, picking off any wraiths, fallen warriors, and snakes that tried to attack her school teacher, while doing her best to evade everything that attacked her too.

Something she was really starting to understand about her Preetarian body was just how capable it was. Emotionally, she felt lost. she didn’t have a clue what to do. But that just wasn’t true physically. Her adult Preetarian body wasn’t just incredibly strong, it was stupidly agile, impossibly fast, and had a near endless supply of stamina. It could get tired, sure; but nowhere near as quickly as her daytime body. It almost felt like no matter how hard she ran, or how fiercely she fought, her adult Preetarian body always had gas left in the tank.

She was also amazed by how it just knew what to do at all times. As an eight-
year-old child, Preeta had never fought anyone in her life, but her adult

Preetarian body was the world’s greatest acrobatic martial artist. Preeta had
never used a bow and arrow in her life, but somehow her adult Preetarian body was a world-class first class expert markswoman.

She was aiming and firing without even thinking and with perfect accuracy to
boot. Half the time, she didn’t even need to look at her targets!

Better yet, her body could immediately copy anything she saw someone else do, even if it never knew how to do it before.

Any physical action performed in front of her was downloaded, analysed and
immediately installed into her adult Preetarian brain for her to repeat at her
discretion.

It was amazing, absolutely amazing.

None of that could help her save Mr Honey, however. While fighting valiantly,
he was now at a serious disadvantage due to the loss of his right hand. Sadly,
the tide of the battle had begun to turn against him. He fought with everything he had but to no avail. The more they fought, the more he fatigued, and the more he fatigued, the more his enemy grew in confidence.

He was slowly being overwhelmed. He couldn’t hold out for much longer.

As if to accentuate the point, the Destroyer of Worlds struck Mr Honey in his
chest, shoulder, head, and leg so fast his limbs were a blur sending him falling
from the cloud to his doom.

Before Preeta had processed what happened, her body ran to the edge of the
cloud, fired a bolt of electricity onto the floor, dove down through the air after
her teacher, and caught him. Seconds later, they both detonated in an electrical explosion and were immediately teleported back on top of that very cloud.

Wow.

It was like she’d told Eraclia. In Preetaria, she could teleport by firing bolts of
electricity onto surfaces and being immediately transported to whatever they
hit; something Hughpert liked to call bolt jumping.

But, while bolt jumping could save her teacher from falling, it couldn’t do
anything about The Curse of the Forgotten and this meant Preeta had to do
something.

Quick.

“Mr Honey, Mr Honey!” she screamed. “You need to wake up! You need to
wake up!”

She looked around rapidly, expecting the Destroyer of Worlds to be right on
top of them, but was relieved to see he somehow wasn’t anywhere nearby.

Where he was exactly, she didn’t have a freaking clue, but who cared? She was relieved to have a break from the fighting and a chance to help her teacher.

“Mr Honey, please! You need to wake up! You’ve got The Curse of the
Forgotten! You need to wake up!”

“I cannot, Preeta.”

“YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!”

“That is not how it works.”

This was the moment where Preeta once again heard the words:

“CLOUD GAUNTLET!”

And with that, white became black, black became white, loud became silent,
and silent became deafeningly loud. Once again, the air rang deep with atomic thunder And of course, once again, a Stone of Heart was destroyed.

“OH NO!”

As the unfortunate and doomed eagle fell to her demise along with all who rode her back, the Freedom Expanse became awash with tumultuous gale force winds, even more powerful than before. Preetarians and Shadow Bloodline warriors wailed as they tumbled into the deep gulf below. Suddenly, the clouds began to lose consistency, becoming less solid and much harder on which to stand, causing all who stood on them to slowly fall through. The Freedom Expanse was beginning to fall apart.

“Devi! We must vanquish our foes! We cannot allow the Freedom Expanse to
be destroyed!” cried Echo.

She was crouching on the ground next to Preeta and Mr Honey, doing her best
to hold on and not be sucked away or fall through the evaporating cloud.

Preeta fearfully looked at Mr Honey. The curse was spreading even faster now.
All he had was two forearms, no hands, and very little time. But while she may have looked at him with fear, he looked back with nothing less than pure
resolution.

“Come, Preeta. We have work to do.”

“Sir, you need to wake up!!”

“My day-body is still tired. I will not wake up until it is ready.”

“You’re going to die, sir!”

“Your entire kingdom is at stake. Do not confuse me with details.”

“I’m scared!”

“Then let us subdue this threat together before all is lost.”

Mr Honey got to his feet and sprinted towards the Destroyer of Worlds,
seemingly having no problem standing against the epic winds unlike everyone
else. He ran single-mindedly through an arena of war and disaster, ignoring the cries of battle, intense winds and random energy blasts with a strength and dignity that was inspirational.

At that moment, Preeta learned the true nature of leadership and what it meant to be a hero. This was something she already knew logically, but had yet to fully internalise. She realised that Mr Honey wasn’t even remotely concerned with his own safety, he was thinking only about the mission and nothing else. He was fighting for a deeper reason than himself and that allowed him to be completely fearless at a time when he easily could have fallen apart.

Preeta had known for some time that this was the attitude she needed, but she
had real difficulty embodying it because it felt next to impossible to genuinely
be so selfless. However, seeing Mr Honey effortlessly behave in this way spoke
to her on levels she didn’t have the words to articulate.

Preeta was amazed. Truly amazed. Her teacher was absolutely incredible.

He was always kind and gentle at school, but he also just seemed like an average man who wasn’t particularly special. Here, he had a gravitas that couldn’t be ignored, a commanding aura of leadership and raw unmistakable power that he just didn’t have in the day-world.

And this, this was the moment when Preeta’s mind had a truly momentous
realisation; something which once seen could never ever be unseen. She realised that this was the true version of her school teacher Mr Jonathan Honey. This was who he truly was. His school identity was just a costume he wore in the day-world, a persona he adopted to fit in with people who weren’t star children and therefore might be intimidated by his true brilliance.

He presented a lesser version of himself to the world in order to blend in so,
Preeta then had to ask herself if she was doing the same thing? Which was the
true version of her? The eight-year-old who went to school and did her
homework or the acrobatic warrior queen who created and ruled Preetaria?

As those questions blitzed her mind, the Destroyer of Worlds found himself
embroiled in bitter conflict with Nomi and various other Preetarians.
Undeterred by his current situation, Mr Honey walked briskly in their direction.

Soon, that walk became a jog.

And then that jog became a full-on sprint.

Buoyed by his confidence and inspired by his leadership, Preeta and Echo ran
by his sides, leaping and twisting out of danger and shooting wraiths from the
skies with their bows. The winds were turbulent and the ground was so difficult to even stand on let alone walk, but it wasn’t impossible. They just had to keep moving.

Keep moving, stay strong, and stay loose.

A fallen warrior landed on the ground in front of them and cleaved at Mr Honey with a battle axe. Mr Honey side-stepped and fired an intense beam of red force from his eyes, which punched a hole in him and exploded him on the spot. They continued sprinting, with Mr Honey now rapidly firing beams of force from his now glowing eyes at a speed which made Preeta almost dizzy while laying waste to innumerable members of The Shadow Bloodline.

Echo leapt onto Nomi’s back, flipped off, turned into a dolphin, and slammed
through the chest of a fallen warrior just as Mr Honey obliterated its legs with
a red optic blast. Then she returned to human form and fired an arrow through an airborne wraith, as Mr Honey obliterated another which approached her from behind.

Preeta looked at Mr Honey. Both arms had fully faded from existence, but
somehow that didn’t stop him from fighting with the ferocity of a roaring alpha male lion.

He rocked the Destroyer of Worlds with rapid-fire optic blasts to his arms, legs, chest, and the empty black hole within his cloak which would have housed his face. All around, as if echoing throughout the very molecules of the air itself, Preeta could hear the torturous sounds of crushed glass and dry scraping metal as he howled in pain.

“Victory is ours! To our glory be the virtue! Those dastardly troglodytes will
meet their demise at our hand!” yelled Hughpert, stood some feet away from
Preeta watching the battle ensue.

At this moment, Preeta, Mr Honey, Echo, Nomi, and several other Preetarians
conducted a poetic symphony of violent retribution against the Destroyer of
Worlds and his minions. Preeta shot three wraiths and two fallen warriors with the Eternia Bow. Flying snakes spewed a venomous stream of corrosive acid at Echo, which Nomi swallowed and blew back as a searing burst of flame vapourising them instantly. Meanwhile, an armless Mr Honey blasted the Shadow Bloodline with optic blasts, as a concerned Preeta fought right by his side.

“Glory to Preetaria! Glory to Preeta! A pox on all our enemies!”

Echo ran to an air vent, was thrust 200 feet up into the air, transformed into a
dolphin on the way up, and slammed through a fallen warrior on the way down. Turning back into a human, she fired arrows at the Destroyer of Worlds, which hit and staggered him. Then she transformed back into a dolphin, and tried her best to slam down right on top of his head. Sadly, he hit her with a bolt of black electrical smoke, which seized her on the spot before Mr Honey nailed him with five more optic blasts.

“Glory to Preetaria!”

Mr Honey ran towards the Destroyer of Worlds, leapt into the air and threw a
kick. However, by the time he reached him, both of his feet had horrifically
vanished so he missed completely. He crashed painfully to the floor on his back as Preeta ran over to him.

“Sir, are you OK?! Sir?!” she cried.

The curse was spreading so much faster across his body that Preeta could
actually see his shins, knees, and thighs fading into nothingness right before her eyes.

Mr Honey didn’t respond. He didn’t say a single word. He just looked at her with those kindly stoic eyes of his, as time once again began to slow down all
around them. Within moments, they were surrounded by a cloudy battlefield
which was once again completely frozen in time. Preeta looked to her right, and to her horror saw a bolt of black electrical smoke headed straight for Mr Honey, literally inches away from his head.

“MR HONEY!”

You’ve just read a chapter from my book Preeta’s Web of Chaos. I’ll be adding new chapters each and every week so follow me for updates. You can go back to the first chapter, read the eighteenth chapter, or buy the full book. You can also contact me @ kieren [at] kierenpaulbrown.com.

Let’s keep in touch! Follow me on:

Twitter @kierenpaulbrown and Instagram @webofchaos