The Three Unite (The Kallos Trilogy Book 3)
Book summary
The Three Unite by Karoline Ettinger is the epic conclusion to the Kallos Trilogy. Alina, a healer and time traveler, must fulfill ancient prophecies to reunite mystical realms and stop the dark majan Atticus. With allies by her side, she faces betrayal, loss, and inner turmoil in a battle to save all worlds.
Excerpt from The Three Unite (The Kallos Trilogy Book 3)
Alina: The Kallos
I hovered above the room, watching a young girl play with a plush toy dog. The little girl skipped the dog across the shag carpet rug, barking for it and talking to it playfully. My mother walked in, taking a seat on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hands.
I studied her younger face, so much like my own.
I had become more skilled in my time travel abilities, and although the barrier was now broken, it remained too dangerous for me to travel back to Earth in real time to see my family. So, I often visited them in my memories. I watched Papi and myself on the farm, tending his sheep in perfect harmony. I relived the gentleness with which Grandmother taught me in her gardens or in the kitchen baking cookies. I watched Father building my dollhouse and bicycle—something I hadn’t remembered until my memories showed me.
But recently, I spent more and more time with my mother. Something deep in my chest ached to be near her. To understand her.
It was strange to think I was witnessing my four-year-old self playing in this moment. It was even stranger to see the joy lighting up my mother’s features in watching me. I’d never noticed her staring at me with such love and affection, missing these tender moments in childhood.
Now, they filled a yearning I’d long suppressed.
Suddenly, my mother leapt up from her seat, spilling coffee in her panic. She rushed over to where I was sitting on the floor. I was so intently watching her that I hadn’t noticed the actions of my younger self. My tiny, dimpled hands encased a sickly mouse, light shining from my palms as the mouse lay still, accepting my healing gift with a weak twitch of its nose. Mother swiftly lifted me from the ground and placed me on the chair behind her, then swooped up the mouse, taking it into the next room.
My four-year-old self watched her disappear with tears in my eyes, confused about why she’d taken away the mouse when he was getting better. When she returned, a ghastly look of terror shadowed her eyes.
“Alina, you cannot play with wild animals. Do you understand?” My young self nodded, tears falling down soft, chubby cheeks. “It is unsafe to use your hands like you just did. Do you understand me?” she asked again with a sterner tone, her fingers gripping firmly into my tiny shoulders.
I swirled out of the memory, anger rising in my gut. How I could move from such a tender moment to instantly feeling livid toward my mother is a curse I will never be able to explain. I took a breath, allowing the anger to move through me in all its prickling sensations so I could let it go and breathe peacefully again.
Why was she so adamant to keep me from my magic? I had shown signs of my healing ability since infancy and yet had no idea of my powers until I turned fifteen. Fifteen years I could have spent understanding my true self more. Fifteen years wasted in the human world where I did not belong.
Rain dripped from the rooftop, splashing into small puddles on the ground surrounding me. I hugged my knees into my chest on Diya’s front porch, the usual humid air cooled by this recent shower. It was hard to believe it had been two years since Diya took me in under her wing to train in the art of healing. My gaze traveled to the barn where sick or injured animals rested and healed, then further past where a new building sat. Burt, our dearest gnome friend, fashioned it in the same light as the barn, but it was twice the size and ten times more sorrowful.
It had to be to hold the many injured light warriors coming in constant streams to heal.
The battle between the evil fairy king Atticus’s dark majans and our light warriors had intensified across the Kallos. Now that his realm, Skotadi, had broken our barrier, their warriors invaded and even more dark majans in the Kallos unmasked. My first mentor, Gabriel, was back in action, but he stayed near home this time, protecting those in this area. Bale was also back home, shifting between his new role as a parent alongside Abigail and racing into dangerous battle headfirst.
Diya worked day and night. I missed her. She often skipped meals, and although I helped as much as I could, I had a different point of focus. I had a mission to save the worlds.
Atticus would soon find a way into other realms as his powers and followers grew. He already had Vordar on his side—considering the ghastly reptilian I saw watching me from the mountaintop. My task was to bring the light realms together, so we could fight back as one united front.
And this year, Diya’s mother Ani was my appointed mentor. She rarely left my side. In fact, someone was always by my side, acting as a bodyguard to keep me safe. But no matter how many surrounded me, nowhere felt safe.
Reaching for my pendant necklace, I felt for Grandmother. I miss you, I thought, squeezing my eyes shut so tightly it hurt. Please, send me strength to do this. A warmth blossomed through my chest, and I relaxed into the feeling, opening my heart to accept her response. Clinging to it with all my might.
“Break is over, Alina,” Ani poked her head out of the doorframe, her low, white bun perfectly in place. She tapped her walking stick on the ground then took a few steps out to meet me. “It feels nice out. I think we’ll work right here.” Sitting in the rocking chair, her sea-green eyes surveyed me. “Where have you been, my child? Your emotions are untamed.”
I half-smiled, half-cringed, knowing I couldn’t hide anything from Anshika Khatri. Her powers surpassed all others. She clasped arthritic fingers together, waiting. “I was lost in a memory,” I confessed.
She nodded, her eyes knowing yet compassionate as her features softened to respond. “Getting lost in the past is futile,” she said. “This moment, right now,” she tapped her stick on the ground, “is all that is real and all that is important.”
I nodded, believing her wisdom but unsure if my heart would allow me to forego my longing to connect with my mother. To visit my grandparents. To stop fretting over the future and my purpose. A dip into the past gave me a short respite from all the pressures of my now.
Sensing this, she continued by saying, “What you witness in a memory isn’t true, Alina. It is merely a perception from your point of view. It is time to stop traveling into the past, to stop worrying about tomorrow, and to save your energy for the present.”
Her eyes were kind as she spoke, but there was warning in her tone, and I knew my memory travels were over. No one disobeyed Ani. I nodded solemnly.
“Now, I must teach you about the realms you will call upon to fulfill the prophecy. Are you listening?”
I nodded again.
“Are you listening?” she asked again, to which I straightened my spine and gave my full attention.
“Yes.”
***
These weeks under Ani’s training were taxing. Enlightening, but taxing on every system in my body. I was meant to reunite the realms, currently divided to protect themselves from Atticus’s greed and vengeance. He had broken through the Kallos’s protective shield, but other realms remained sealed. We needed them to fight with us.
Ani challenged my thoughts, my behaviors, my language, and my actions. Her teachings challenged my entire belief system. I was essentially unlearning everything I previously believed to be true about myself, others, and the world. Both worlds, actually: Earth and the Kallos. Reality as I knew it slowly began to dissolve from my beliefs, until I realized I knew nothing at all.
I learned my words weren’t real; they were simply my perceptions boxed into a language. I learned my opinions of others weren’t real; I only saw a reflection of their soul, and my truth was far different from the truth they held of themselves. Most importantly, I realized my opinion of myself wasn’t real. I was my own worst critic, and I placed limitations on my abilities that didn’t exist, along with judgments on myself that weren’t accurate.
The one truth I did know, is that at my core, I was purely light-filled, loving energy. So was everyone else and every living being—at their core.
No wonder Ani still believed Atticus had the ability to change.
We were all just stardust. Tiny light orbs manifesting in different forms. Connected to all things and alive with energy. Intertwined for all of eternity because we came from the same source.
The Source.
And our connection to that Source made everything possible. Every dream, every wish, every task was within our grasp if we would only accept the truth.
Needless to say, my brain was fried, and all of this study sounded a lot simpler than it truly proved to be.
As I stared out my window that evening, wondering just how many protection spells were woven into and around my bedroom chambers, I recognized Diya’s silhouette leaving the majan hospital. Her gait was graceful yet fatigued as she reached a slender hand up to her forehead, movements visible in the night through the silvery reflection of the moon. I could feel her head aching through her actions. Her mind was full of concern for her patients and our warriors in battle. Her body was drained from the endless hours caring for everyone—animals and majans alike. She paused and placed her other hand over her heart. I tuned into her feelings just as all of her worries and exhaustion washed through her being in one swooping flow.
She simply let it travel, accepting and even welcoming the pain and sorrow as it moved through her body. With a skilled control I could only dream to one day possess, she raised her hands and let it all go. Small specks of glowing red, orange, and yellow dust particles escaped her fingertips, floating away in the dark air like mystical worry beads released to the universe.
“Energy must flow,” I heard her voice in my memory. “Otherwise, it becomes blocked in our hearts, and we must keep our hearts open.”
She stopped walking then, and her eyes traveled to mine. All-knowing. Bringing her hand forward, she motioned for me to join her. My heart melted in gratitude. I needed this moment beside her. We needed this moment together.
The moon welcomed us fondly into her radiant embrace to practice our yoga routine. Our bodies flowed with our breath, moonlight dancing across our skin as we moved in unison. Balancing, stretching, and strengthening our worn-down muscles in yoga postures designed to calm our minds while rejuvenating our spirits. The wind caught the sounds of night animals, and the scents of earth and wildflowers connected us to nature. Fireflies danced in flashing synchronicity while the forest came to life with glowing colors and a sparkling magic special to the Kallos.
My focus was on breath. My focus was on my balance. My focus was on the present moment, a much-needed break from all the other information swirling like a tornado in my mind. In this simple flow, we refueled our energy centers with the universe surrounding us. Always available and willing to give.
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