It was ridiculous to hold another meeting on the same day, so PCAs across the city rang. The devices could allow for multiple people to contact the same code at the same time and all meet in a sort of vocal meeting room where everyone could talk to each other at the same time. The PCAs held by the Cultivators and Commanders, however, had plenty of other additional quirks that Rocky had designed into them to take advantage of the owner's magic. One of them was to actually display a tiny image of everyone connected to the call to make it easy to see who was and was not present.
Once Juliet saw everyone connected, she filled in the events. She ended with, "The one of Daffodil had a three-headed spear."
Silence answered that. Then, finally, Kellie sighed. "Okay, this keeps getting weirder. Only a Metal Flower Element Defender who is sanctioned by the Realm of the Gods can make and control that weapon. Weaponry is usually a Ruler area, but that spear is very special to a Defender because it can act both liquid and solid at the same time regardless of if the owner is offensive or defensive in magic. It's basically a blessing of sorts right from whomever the current Goddess of the world in question is. In this case, my own mother from the Royal Era."
"So they can't be our enemies," Tyson said.
"But they're not yet our allies, and we still don't know where they're from or how they came to be," Sam reminded him
"Is Chance having any luck finding any of them? He's been tracking them all but non-stop since they arrived. He's taking this a bit personally, I think," Justin said.
"Uhm, no." A wince was in Diaz's voice. "The two True Shadow users trip him up every time. I'd stay out of his way right now. He's ready to tear heads off."
"I'm still struggling to reconcile that not just one but True Shadow Flower Elements have been born—and one connected to Aria, just as we always thought was plausible," Siobhan said. "I tried contacting Aria, but you know that world. They barely responded only to say 'we've never had a Defender, sorry.'" A frown entered her voice audibly. "And Shana and I always thought we'd feel if a Gray core was born inside someone, but we really didn't. That bugs me. A lot."
"Chance is more bugged by the fact that they're deliberately tormenting him." Diaz winced again. "And he said that the woman is stronger than the man, though that does not say much when the man is definitely no slouch." The fact that he knew Chance fairly well considering Chance's tendency to hold himself away from others came as no surprise. Not only did Diaz tend to make friends with everyone, but certain circumstances had made them closer than expected, so Diaz treated him more like a brother than just a mere friend. Chance actually allowed that, and surprisingly seemed to enjoy it.
"Well, since she's apparently somehow a Defender Cultivator of Aria and Iris alike, no wonder." Edgar sighed. "I think the only thing we can do for now is perhaps focus on finding the woman from Rocky's vision. There's still a possibility we're looking at two different people from Sherry's vision and Rocky's vision. Rocky, you said that there were several dragons, but one in particular stood out. Was it rainbow-colored?"
"Nope," his brother confirmed. "Pure solid white whose scales reflected back iridescent rainbow tones, but were not actually rainbow colored. So it's two different dragons for sure, which definitely means it's probably two different people. Sherry, did the dragon you saw have horns?"
"No, definitely not."
"Okay, this one did. So the one you saw isn't an Elder dragon and the one I saw is, because only Elders have horns. Haeth had them—and it definitely wasn't her that I saw, because she's white and blue." And she had not been seen since Jean's death either. She followed the lineage and bonded directly with the direct descendant. She had been with Liena Vanguard first and then Jean second. She would now wait until the third was born. Thinking of Liena suddenly made him feel as if there was something he should remember, but he could not place it and so let it go. "It definitely sounds like we've got two people in this. The odd double Defender is probably who Sherry saw—because Iris connects that—and then I'm seeing maybe like some relation of Jean's, which means she's definitely more likely to be an ally because I'm completely positive no one in her lineage could ever do wrong. Also? With as gorgeous as she was from her majik, she's been pouring out the good energy for a long time."
"She could still be one of these duplicates," Uwe said quietly.
Shana blew out a hard breath. That was not a comfortable thought. "If she is, and she's in trouble, then we save her. Period. Keep alert for any new witches with brown/brown coloring that we don't know. Meanwhile, I'll contact Gracia and ask her if her mother mentioned anything to her before she died. It's a long shot, but at this point that's all we have left."
With nothing more they could do, they ended the meeting. This was definitely a far trickier situation than any they had ever encountered before.
* * * * *
Virginia, much like several of her friends, enjoyed effectively a double career. She was an artist whose works hung in galleries and sold across the world, and she also did a fair bit of modeling herself for fashion periodicals and the occasional fine artist—Shana covered both of those categories, and they had jokingly decided that Shana had seen Virginia naked more than Michael had. That had amused him, too.
While Virginia did not have an office exactly, she did have a studio space she utilized. It sat on the same street as the main station of the legal officers and legal investigators who kept Lux safe from rabble rousers who liked to cause trouble and do crime. The ratio of that had dropped significantly thanks to the presence of the Defenders, but the officers and investigators still had enough work. Evil came in many forms, and it still existed inside humans. Terrible things that should not happen still did, and not everyone got a happy ending. Virginia clung to the hope that someday all evil would be erased and happy endings would be the norm, not the exception. All of the Defenders clung to it.
Michael, of all the Commanders, had the strongest drive to fight evil. Possibly because of being the Lead Defender's Caretaker. He had been a legal investigator for most of his life, though over the last five years he had transitioned to Chief of the station and now oversaw and trained all newcomers. Only the really terrible crimes pulled him onto a case. That had lowered the stress levels of both his wife and his twin soul mate, Edgar.
Virginia had just stepped outside to wait for him to meet up with her to go home when she spotted two women hanging around outside the main doors. Both looked to be adults, possibly creeping on thirty in age, and they made a beautiful study in opposites. One looked particularly feminine with long loose braided mahogany hair, vibrant teal eyes, and richly tanned skin. The other leaned a little more androgynous in style with short and shaggy slate hair, fascinating pine eyes, and beautiful coal skin. The latter was the taller by a few inches, though the former looked more physically strong.
The one with slate hair had a small round disc she kept spinning around a finger and the other fiddled with the PCA she held. The device looked a little different from the ones Virginia had seen Rocky make, but then again, it had been housed in a cute case so perhaps that was what threw her off. She just smiled. "Good evening!"
"Oh, hey! Good evening." The slate haired one straightened on a grin. "Sorry for camping on your doorstep, but we had heard that you were looking for what you called 'art inspiration' music and had put out the call for anyone to drop off music you might be able to make paintings from. Two of our friends are ridiculously talented, so they put together a song for you." She handed over the disc on a flourish.
"Hey, thanks!" Virginia tucked the disc into her bag for safety. "I've been in a little of an art slump lately, so I thought mixing up my background music while I'm working might help. I've gotten some strange things so far, but also some nice things. And some things I rushed to the local studio and threw at them to grab," she laughed. "I'm shameless. I get what I want."
The one with mahogany hair grinned at her. "I'm the exact same way. Basically, no one tells me 'no' except for like one person, and even then, I give her absolute hell because I can. She lets me get away with more than most."
Virginia felt another laugh welling. It felt a little like meeting herself a bit younger, with a little of Michael's utter nerve thrown in. "I have a friend like that. I'm Virginia Donohue of course."
"Bethany Jackson," the mahogany one countered. "This is one of my dearest friends Emily Lukan."
"Hi!" Emily smiled.
"It's nice to meet both of you. I haven't seen you around before. Are you new to the city?"
"We just arrived not long ago. Just sort of seeing the sites and exploring things. We saw the ad you posted as we were getting caught up on all the things. Oh, and one of our friends is playing the music, and the other is singing. They're friggin' amazing." Emily glowered at Beth. "And if you dare repeat that, I'll smite you."
Virginia grinned when Beth snorted softly in a clear lack of concern for her life. "I hope to discover you're right!" She glanced at the disc and saw it had a label with a name—A. Martine—and an address. "If I like it as much as I hope, I'll let your friends know, and probably throw them at the studio too."
"Great! We'll see you later then." Beth waved and then ran off down the sidewalk as Emily gracefully followed on a pair of roller skates.
"Gin?"
Virginia turned on a smile and found Michael walking up to join her. She could not resist dropping her bag and jumping into his arms enthusiastically. He caught her around the waist and tipped her back with a grin. "That's quite a greeting," he said. "What has you so happy?"
"I don't know." She linked her hands behind his neck and admired her ivory skin tone against his brown tone. It contrasted so perfectly against his short opal hair and silver eyes that he had been one of her favored painting subjects for years. One of Shana's favorite photo subjects too, actually. He loved them both, so he only grumbled a little. "I just met two people who gave me some more music, and I just felt happy meeting them. I'm not convinced the one named Beth doesn't have Empathy like I do. I'm usually strangely happy around other empaths. Probably because we cushion each other." She grinned. "She also reminded me of me with bits of you, so that might be it as well."
He snorted. "Hopefully the bits of me that keep you in line." He put her on her feet and then stole a hard kiss. "Because the rest of you is perfect as you are," he said against her lips.
She had been intending to give him a piece of her mind, but that last comment drained her ire. They had spent two lifetimes bickering and harassing each other and then seducing each other. She would not know happiness without him there to keep her on her toes.
A yelp echoed down the street and she swung around sharply. She grabbed her Mask and pulled it on as she ran, aware of Michael staying close at her side and now armed with his mace. The blunt-force weapon could be brutal in battle by itself, let alone when enhanced by his lover's combination of offensive and defensive magic as Lead. Only a Lead got both branches of the magical battle skills.
But when they shot around the corner, prepared for battle, they realized they were again moments too late. Their mysterious rival/allies had beaten them there once more. The man that Sherry had described from before had been knocked to the ground, and the Life Orb he had stolen from his victim hovered before him.
"Mind telling us who you are?" a feminine voice asked politely. Though she was cloaked in shadows, the shimmer of molten glass could be seen around her hands and identified her as a Glass Flower Element Defender, and very likely of Carnation. "Not that we're not almost positive we already know, for obvious reasons."
"My name is Alloran," the man said distinctly as he got to his feet. Glass shards from some sort of attack rained down onto the ground, and blood spilled from many cuts and slashes on his skin. "Never forget it!"
"Yeahyeah," came a second, more
sarcastic, female voice. "You're just like your dad. No originality
whatsoever, and no talent either! You're not nearly as terrifying as you want
to be. Your cousin scares me more when he loses his temper, and he's literally not
capable of doing harm!"
Alloran's face twisted with anger and then he noticed Virginia and Michael standing behind him. He made a disgusted sound as he realized he was surrounded and outgunned. The Life Orb wasn't a pure one anyway. A surge of power surrounded him and he disappeared from the scene.
A soft swirl of wind from the direction of the sassy figure sent the Life Orb floating back to its owner. Virginia hastily ran to the boy to make sure he was fine, and Michael stepped in front of them both with his mace held ready. Glass magic swirled around his fingers warningly. He had a lone magic attack to hurl shards. "Who are you?" he demanded of the two in the shadows.
"Hmm. Well, we're not ones to be reckoned with," the wind user decided.
"And you complained about the bad guy's lack of originality!" her partner snorted. It made them both laugh, and they seemed to disappear into the shadows that opened further to embrace them.
Virginia and Michael exchanged a look. They knew all too well that attempting to track them would be futile. These two Carnation and Hyacinth Defenders had clearly been aided by the True Shadow users. That officially made it seven for seven of the expected team of duplicates. Still, Virginia asked softly, "But . . . what if there is a duplicate of Statice, Protea, or Delphinium?"
Michael grimaced. "We're screwed."
* * * * *
Word that the Carnation and Hyacinth Defenders had shown up spread quickly. It was beginning to wear on everyone's nerves, and finally Alexandria had had enough. She needed to seriously vent some frustration, and the unusual yet still seasonal pouring rain meant going for a drive in her topless carriage was out. Instead, she headed for the gym to either pound on the punching bag or the most convenient sparring partner.
She walked in the doors and discovered a crowd gathered around the largest mat. She lifted a brow as she walked over and asked, "What's going on?"
"New person." The man's voice sounded hushed with awe. "She's sparring one of the local masters."
Alexandria pushed through until she could see what was going on. The sight of the woman in question came as something of a shock for she was nothing that Alexandria had expected. She was nearly as tall as Shana, and possessed a figure that looked like a blend of both Shana and Siobhan alike. Her thick black hair had been braided down to past her bottom where a merry gray bow tied it off, and she had dark brown skin. Something about her seemed familiar though Alexandria could not put her finger on why.
She wore a blindfold for the match, which should have been a handicap but proved to be not one at all. She blocked, dodged, and attacked as if she had no need for her eyes. Her opponent could not get close, and a glance at the scorecard indicated it had been that way for almost the full five minute match. Contrarily, the blindfolded warrior had already gotten four out of five points.
It became five out of five when she tired of the shenanigans and went on the offense with such speed and power that she knocked her opponent flat to the ground. The crowd cheered as she pulled off her blindfold with a smile. She offered a hand to the master, and he smiled ruefully as he let her pull him to his feet. He had been expecting an even match since she was herself a master, but he was nowhere in her league. "There's much I could learn from you," he told her humbly.
"I'll take that as the compliment it is." Her voice seemed as surprising as the rest of her. It was a rich and beautiful contralto that carried a musical cadence and power as mystical as the shadows born where Light and Dark met.
Alexandria shouldered her way through the crowd and followed the woman over to the bench where her bag sat. The blindfold fell on the floor and Alexandria scooped it up. "That was impressive," she said as she held out the strip of cloth.
The woman glanced at her and then smiled as she took the blindfold. Her age seemed hard to determine, but she likely skirted thirty. "I am incapable of being blind for varying reasons, so I chose to deliberately blind myself and learn how to be stronger even under those circumstances. There was a time where my eyes seemed almost not under my control, and it threw me off terribly. I never wanted to be that way again. There are people who depend on me, who I felt I could not defend properly without my sight, so I ensured it could never happen."
A little chill went down Alexandria's back. The gray eyes watching her reflected back the will of a fellow warrior. Someone who had been there, done that, and had the courage to go back as many times as was needed. Her eyes reflected scars across her soul where she had been shattered and reforged, where she had dug into the depths of her existence for strength and come out nearly whole.
Again, something felt familiar to the Hyacinth Cultivator, yet she could only assume that it was because this younger woman so powerfully reminded her of Shana. "Don't suppose you're up for another match? I've had a bad day and I think you'd give me a good fight." She smiled as she said it and then lifted a brow as she actually looked at the sash tied around the other woman's waist. Solid black striped with red and white. Only the highest of masters, those who had mastered all forms of physical combat, got to wear that. Shana had one of her own, but she was the only one in their circle. Virginia, Alexandria, Sherry, Rocky, and Edgar had plenty of mastered combat skills across multiple styles of their own, but they had not mastered everything. Either this woman was a fast learner—again, like Shana—or she was older than her appearance implied.
Humor lit the gray eyes watching her. "Since I've had those kinds of days too, I'm more than willing." She held out a hand. "Anastasia Martine, but everyone calls me Tasia."
The name was even familiar. It didn't wholly make sense since the longer she listened to Tasia's voice, the surer she was that she had origins from the city of Vericity on another landmass. Protea had its own language as a whole, but Vericity's landmass had once been the melting pot where people from other worlds across the universe had ended up. The mish-mash of accents and languages had eventually evolved over the last five thousand years into two identifiable accents and a language all its own. Sam had the rhythmic drawling accent of the middle class folks, and Nathaniel had an interesting blend of that and the warmer and smoother tones from the upper class. Tasia spoke Protean with absolute fluency but had not lost the rhythmic drawl.
The only person from Vericity other than Sam and Nathaniel that Alexandria knew had been Jean, but Tasia definitely did not have brown/brown coloring. She also did not seem to be radiating majik into the air around her. Alexandria placed the back of her hand on Tasia's to return the greeting, and while she definitely felt a promise of power, it didn't actually punch at her as would be expected of that lineage. "Nice to meet you. I'm Alexandria Francisco. Let me get changed and we'll have some fun."
It didn't take Alexandria long to get ready, and she returned to the mat within a few minutes to begin the match. "Since neither of us are the type to like to prolong things just to show off," she said dryly, "and we're both pretty damn good, why don't we say that first knocked down is the loser?"
"Fair enough."
A large crowd gathered eagerly. Someone grabbed a stopwatch and called for a start, and both Alexandria and Tasia fell back into a defensive position. Everyone began to laugh; falling into a defensive stance at the start was a good way to see how your opponent moved, but it didn't help if both opponents did it!
Alexandria was not given a chance to consider going onto the offensive. Tasia took a single gliding step forward, as weightless as a dancer, and then simply shot forward. Her hands and feet became nothing but a blur as she leveled kicks and punches and strikes at Alexandria that the other woman had difficulty blocking.
As she fought to defend and counterattack as well as she could, Alexandria felt growing shock for her opponent. It wasn't just the sheer strength of the attacks, or the pure skill behind them. It was the eyes holding hers. She could see the swirl of a shadowy galaxy that went on to forever within her opponent's pupils. Her power, whatever it was, stifled as it felt, was infinite.
This woman . . . she might very well be Shana's only rival. She had shattered her soul and been reforged into the deadliest of weapons. She had been forced to the edge of sanity and yet not gone mad. Shana's words about pure Life Orbs danced in Alexandria's ears as she went flying to the mat. She knew, was sure, that this mysterious warrior was in possession of one as well.
There was silence as she thudded onto the mat and rolled a few feet. Tasia walked over to kneel next to her and smiled. "I win." The entire room began cheering loudly and the cheering grew in force as Alexandria smiled ruefully and took her hand to be pulled back up to her feet.
Alexandria rubbed her sore arm where she had landed and said ruefully, "I have a friend I'd love to see you fight." The words had barely left her lips before she felt a chill through to her soul that she could not explain. "Never mind. I think one of you would die if you did."
"Likes to decimate her enemies, huh?" Tasia glanced over her shoulder and a glow entered her eyes that had nothing to do with victory. "Just a moment," she murmured. Without waiting for consent, she ran across the mat and jumped into the arms of a shockingly handsome man waiting for her. His pitch-black hair had the faintest of magenta undertones, and his eyes looked black as well. His mocha skin tone looked only a bit lighter than his lover's skin.
Alexandria had to smile. She always liked seeing happy couples. It made her feel as if everything she fought for was worth it. When Diaz suddenly swung an arm around her waist, she gave a sigh of both fondness and exasperation. "Of course. How long have you been here?"
"Most of the time," he admitted on a grin. He rose a bit to kiss her cheek. "Really, Lexie, you should be used to my trailing along in your wake, mopping up behind you when you bite off more than you can chew. That's my job as your Caretaker, right?" He followed her gaze to where Tasia stood. "It was like watching you spar Shana when Shana is not in a mood to play games." He could see the similarities as well, not just physically but spiritually. He smiled cheerfully as the other couple walked over to join them. "Congratulations! Not many can take down my Lexie."
Tasia grinned. "It was fun to make the effort, to be sure." She unbound her braid and instead scooped her hair up into a ponytail where she retied her gray bow. She stuffed her towel into her bag and then shoved her bag into her husband's arms. "Hold this while I change my shoes."
"Yes, dear," Rodi said dryly. He grinned at Alexandria and Diaz. "I'm Rodi. Sometimes I'm her husband, others I'm her employee."
Diaz started laughing. "Do I know that feeling!" He ducked when Alexandria made a half-hearted swipe at his head. "I'm Diaz Francisco, Alexandria's husband. That was a great match," he told Tasia sincerely. "I can think of a friend I'd like you to—" He broke off as he, too, felt that little chill. "Nah, never mind. It'd be more fun to see you two as a team instead."
"Sounds like more fun to me as well." Tasia turned and found Rodi shaking his head at her. "Oh now what's wrong with you?"
"I still think you're having too much fun with Illusion majik," he told her politely. "Because I really don't feel like I'm looking at my wife. Would you turn that spell off, please? I woke up with a blonde yesterday and this today."
Seemingly unaware of Diaz and Alexandria mutually staring at her, Tasia said, "Oh, fine. Spoil my fun." Silver-gold majik swept around her body and abruptly changed her appearance. Her previously straight black hair turned a chaotically rich chocolate, her dark skin lightened a bit to mocha tone, and her gray eyes melted to caramel brown—until a shadow passed her gaze and made them turn equally chocolate. "Better?" she asked politely. She looked at Diaz and Alexandria with a lifted brow. "Is something wrong?"
Alexandria's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Tasia just smiled. As if some sort of blockage or barrier had been lowered, Alexandria suddenly felt a shockingly powerful blast of majik firing right into her veins until she felt her head spin. Limitless majik. Infinite majik. And though Tasia's appearance did not actually change again, suddenly she just somehow looked impossibly more beautiful. "You," she managed to say. "You're the one Rocky saw in a vision. Do you own a white dragon?"
"I have never owned a dragon." Tasia freed her wrist casually. "But I also do not know a white dragon. My companion is rainbow colored." She linked her hands behind her back as she and Rodi began to casually walk toward the door. Both walked with the same, lithe warrior grace that spoke of bodies in perfect control. They stepped into the rain and it did not seem to touch their skin at all.
Alexandria ran after them and into the pouring rain. "Wait!" she shouted at the figures disappearing down the sidewalk. "Who are you?" she demanded. "Are you a witch or wizard from Liena's lineage? Where are you from?!"
"Neither on the first, and that last is hard to answer. Iris and Aria love me equally." On a laugh that sounded like pure music, she and her husband alike disappeared into the shadows and could not be seen any longer.
"Son of a bitch!" Alexandria snarled as Diaz stepped up beside her. Her communications mask lit up with black-pink, and she grabbed it from its earring. "Tell me there's another attack!" she snapped. "I'm in the mood to destroy things! We just met the woman in Rocky's vision! She's the same person as from Sherry's vision, and she's the double Defender with True Shadow! Her majik punched me, Shana! I didn't sense a Seed in her, but I also didn't sense her majik either until she let me! Somehow she's been using majik to hide all of them—I saw it personally, that she had hidden her appearance from us! I'm going to bet the other duplicates have been under our nose all along!"
"Well. Damn it all to hell." It was about all Shana could say in response. "Get over here to the shopping center as soon as you can. We're being overwhelmed. There are so many monsters here that it isn't even funny!"
"We're on our way." Alexandria ended the call and returned the mask to its earring before grabbing her actual Mask and enlarging it to wear. Once armored, she grabbed Diaz's arm and transported them directly to the fight. He had already grabbed his metal claws in preparation of the mess.
It was more of a mess than either expected. All other Cultivators and Commanders, and even Rocky and Edgar, had jumped into the fray against what looked like dozens and dozens of different beasts. Everything that crawled to everything that flew in a rainbow of elemental colors. No attacks could seem to make a dent in any of the monsters.
Alexandria lobbed a sheering blast of Air magic at one of the birds but it whipped around in anger rather than take damage. Another took notice of the attack and gave a screech of triumph. It came flying at her with its beak open, only to be halted as a shield of Air magic covered her safely. The beast hit the shield and evaporated. "Who did that?" she demanded. "I mean, thank you, but who threw that shield?"
The monsters had begun to shrink back from the shadows creeping into the area. As the shadows parted, Alexandria's suspicion about the 'duplicates' being under their noses was confirmed . . . as was the fact that they were not duplicates. The familiar faces of Theo, Beth, Emily, Raine, Storm, and Tasia had been joined by a man with black hair, almond-shaped blue eyes, and olive skin. Three others had joined them as well, three very familiar faces who may have been youths the last time they were seen and were now adults, but still recognizable.
"Rachel," Shana said quietly. "And Rhya and Leslie." Suddenly, the puzzle was no longer a puzzle, and she felt better for her hunch being right. "So that's it. That's what's going on. It is the Resurrection Era generation." She studied the figures. "Though . . . something is still definitely not normal or to be expected here."
Tasia inclined her head slightly. "That can be explained later. We had not intended to keep our presences hidden for long. My arcanistry and my partners' magikry will make this fight go much faster. Step back and let us handle things, and then we can have a sit down as needed."
She looked at Shana as she spoke, addressing her as a Lead, but Virginia felt no offense or slight. Even at range, she could easily tell Tasia had to be a Lead as well, and stronger than herself. Shana had noticed the same, and she nodded. "Done. Do what is needed." She smiled. "It'll be weird to not act, but maybe we could use a break."
The ten Resurrection Cultivators held up the Masks they had all been holding and donned them to call armor, but that honestly only made the Rebirth generation feel more confused. Nothing about who they were, where they were from, or why they belonged to the planets they did made any sense whatsoever, not even to Clara.
Just what had happened over the next five thousand years anyway?
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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