Virginia awoke to a curiously calm feeling inside her heart and soul that told her it was time. It seemed an odd sensation in many ways. She had felt it before, but it had never felt so permanent. When she left this plane, there would be no coming back. She had fulfilled her role as Lead Defender of her generation at last.
Her husband's arm tightened around her waist, and she automatically turned over to snuggle closer. "You know," she murmured as she smoothed her hand slowly across his chest, "I really should have woken up this way every morning after we met again that one summer."
Michael snorted softly. "You will never let me live that down." He twisted a lock of her red hair around his finger. "We both know that things happened for a reason." He lowered his head to kiss her and then said against her lips, "And we suffered equally in the years that followed, so we're even."
"I have no desire to argue with that." She walked her fingers up his arm. Strong Caretakers could be a pain in the ass, but they were also wonderful to hold and be held by. "You know, I am rather curious. I know you were celibate after we parted—just as I was—but didn't anyone ever try to change your mind? I find it hard to believe no one would make an attempt. You were rather popular back in the Royal Era, too."
"A few tried," he admitted candidly. "I just wasn't interested. Really, Gin. How could anyone compare with my Carnation Dual Cultivator?"
She kissed him contentedly for that. "Well, to be fair, a few tried to change my mind as well. Most of them I ignored because, honestly, I've long been used to the effect I have on people. A few times, mostly out of pique at you, I did go on a date that got as far as sharing a meal but I just absolutely couldn't tolerate anyone near me in a romantic way except for you."
He tugged her over onto his chest and linked his hands at the small of her back. "Alright. I'm going to confess something and also ask something."
"Huh-oh."
"I kind of had someone watching over you on occasion." He grinned sheepishly when her brows lifted. "Just once and while. I know about your not-so-sordid attempts at not-really-love-affairs, and I'm curious why they stopped right after the Chaos War."
"Well, frankly, it was Siobhan."
His brows shot up. "How so?"
She sighed wryly and fondly. "Well, obviously, she knew you existed as soon as she got her memories back. She determined I must have met you during my art sabbatical, given my reaction coming home, and she decided it was time for an intervention to find out everything." Her head dropped onto his chest. "She got me drunk and pried the entire story out."
He fought back laughter that welled. "Of course she did."
"She then proceeded to bend my ear as I dealt with a hangover and tell me that since I knew my soul mate, I should just bide my time until I felt it right to go chase him down—and if I took too long, then she would do it for me because, hey, some laws did still exist and she would hold me to them or else." She was smiling as she lifted her head again. "Fast forward only a few months, and the Andromeda War began that led us to remembering the Commanders and tracking you down."
"And you were more pissed than usual when you found me."
"Do admit I was entitled." She sighed gustily. "You do realize I blame Beth's overly sensitive heart on you, right?"
He smirked slightly. "That's fine. I blame her tendency to meddle on you." He smoothed her hair out of her face, and his eyes softened. "You're ready."
Very." She took a long breath. "I don't have to ask if you are. I don't think I'd be ready if you weren't." She cupped his face tenderly. "Others wait for us on the other side. I can't lead my team if I am not there, and I wouldn't want to lead without you by my side."
"I have no intentions of ever being anywhere else." He released her and smiled as she slipped out of bed. There really was just something Carnationites that made them naturally sensual in everything they did. Virginia didn't even have to try; she had it down to a literal art. "I can't imagine why Shana got you naked on film first."
She snorted as she got dressed. "I wasn't first."
"You weren't?"
"Nope." She grinned. "Want to try to guess who was?"
Taking a wild stab in the dark, he said, "Siobhan?"
"Close. She was second, tied with Rocky. Alexandria was actually first."
"She was?!" His brows shot up. His little sister's beautiful collection of photographs across five millennia included stunning figure studies of all Elder Cultivators, Commanders, Resurrection Cultivators, and the younger generation's Caretakers—yes, even Chance. "I always assumed you surely had to be the first one, given you have been a model for as long as you've been an artist, and that Alexandria had been the last who gave in due to peer pressure."
"Nope, she was first, and she was first because Shana pulled out the most potent weapons she owned."
He winced wryly. "She did the lip thing."
"And tears."
"Ouch!" He got out of bed and started dressing as well. "Glad she spared me that."
"Honey, she doesn't need them with you or Sam. You two turn to mush with her and Siobhan. The fact that you were the second Commander she got naked after Sam is really no surprise." She grinned. "And in case you wonder the order of how we first round of studies fell, it was Lex, Rocky, Siobhan, Kellie, Desiree, Clara, Juliet, Sherry, Yvonne, Edgar, and then me. Yep, I was actually last, because Shana felt I would be too easy a subject and she had to think about how to make the image more challenging for us both."
"So she covered you in nothing but paint and gave you glass statues and orbs to interact with."
"It took six hours for me and Desiree to get that paint on me perfectly." She smiled. "A time well spent in the end. I loved that photo more than any other because it was so me."
Once they were dressed, they headed out of their borrowed room and went downstairs. Virginia could sense Beth near, and they went outside. Out front, under an apple tree, Beth and Terry were sitting to watch the nearly invisible sunrise. Nothing touched but their hands, and yet they exuded intimacy. "Good morning," Virginia said.
Morning." Beth got to her feet and turned to face her and Michael. Try as she might to smile, her lashes were damp. "It's hard," she admitted. "It's really hard." She pressed her hands to her heart. "Terry and I . . . we can't shut it out. We can't turn off the pain of our friends or of our worlds. But I'm going to do this. I'm going to be strong enough to be the daughter of the Lead Defender of the Rebirth Era and the Commander personally chosen to protect High King Evan Delphinium."
Michael felt his heart ache as he caught her messy braid and tugged lightly. "Off hand, I think you've already proven how strong you are, in many ways. You sass your own Lead." He smiled. "Always a mark of strength."
"She lets me get away with more crap than the others," she admitted. "Possibly because we've known each other longer than she's known Raine."
"Really?" Virginia's brows went up. "I didn't know that."
"It's true." Beth smiled. "We don't remember not knowing each other. We were maybe one when we met. Even then she was bossy! Theo was added when we were three, and Raine when we were five. We came together without even knowing."
"Oddly, that isn't surprising."
Beth took a long breath and covered Terry's hands when he wrapped an arm around her waist. She would not have had the strength to endure without him. "You're ready. I felt it when I woke this morning. Tell me where you want to go, and I will take us there. It's easier for us Resurrection Cultivators to handle the transporting because we're stronger. Less stress on our world."
"There's only one place that I really want to see." Virginia smiled and leaned over to murmur in her ear. "Can you find it?"
"Naturally." She held up her hands and magic swirled around them warmly to carry them away to the Delphinium Kingdom and the palace therein.
They landed amid the ruins of what had once been the grand courtyard behind the castle. The sky there had also covered with darkened clouds. Plants and greenery were dead and dying. A formerly glorious fountain stood in broken array. Terry grimaced slightly as he looked at the scene. "Alright, whose déjà vu am I getting?"
"Mine, sorry." Virginia blew out a breath and walked toward the fountain. She began to smile. "My memory is here." She turned around, and there was a twinkle in her gold eyes. "I'm sure Mike knows where I'm going with this."
He sighed deeply but he was smiling as well. "I had this feeling . . ."
"This ought to be good." Beth's mood lifted as she felt their humor. "Do tell. What did he do?"
"Why do you assume I'm at fault?" her father complained.
She snorted. "Because I'm not stupid?"
Virginia laughed outright. "Well, the story started somewhere else, but it made a turning point here." She linked her hands behind her back. "I was seventeen when the Commanders were appointed to Evan and Robert. Just seventeen, actually, given I am the eldest of my generation, as Lead always is. Right from the start, Maxim and I were at odds. Constantly striking sparks hotter than our Glass element, always butting heads. I sort of had a suspicion why, but I really didn't want to think Destiny would give me a soul mate that was, well, like me. Almost four years later, the Elders of that time were lost to us. I ended up toe-to-toe with Max again, as we had been all along, but a little more, uhm, volatile given I had just turned twenty-one?"
"She broke my nose," Michael told Beth and Terry helpfully. "Right hook to the face. Talon and Sabin laughed their asses off at me when I went to have Kacey heal it. Which," he sighed, "I had earned. The punch and the humiliation alike. Something I'm willing to admit now but back then I was not quite so willing."
Virginia linked her hands behind her back. "Your father, in all his intelligence," she told their daughter gravely, "decided that the best way to embarrass me would be to make me fall in love with him and then humiliate me. He set out over the next four years to basically always rile me up and have me always thinking about him. Problem with that, however, was that I had already suspected him to be my soul mate, and the more I fell in love, the more sure I became. Honestly, everything I wanted to dislike about him, I actually really did like because I enjoyed having someone keep up with me. Let me put it this way: if the deck had fallen in a different way overall, I would have absolutely picked Shana as my second choice for a soul mate."
"Uh-oh." Terry grinned. "So what happened when adulthood kicked in?"
"He cornered me right here while I was visiting, and he riled me up again. As usual. Now, please note it was days after my birthday, so I was definitely feeling the full force of my emotions for him. We got to arguing, of course. Again. I don't remember over what; we've never needed much of an excuse. We're too much alike. Anyway, he made some snide comment about my suitors and how I was toying with their hearts. I told him that I wasn't toying with them because I didn't want them. Somewhere in that," she rubbed the back of her neck, "he got me mad enough that I blurted out I was in love with him."
"You're a jerk," Beth told her father solemnly.
"I was," he admitted candidly. "But mostly because I genuinely didn't have any idea why she got under my skin so fast. She had been provoking my heart for near a decade by then, and my hormones for roughly half that, and I just didn't realize why. Evan tried to warn me, but I didn't listen. Please note: if even the damned Proteans can see something, then you really should listen!"
Terry desperately fought humor. "So noted? You completely missed the obvious, huh?"
"Yeah, you know how we've always teased Chance about not understanding soul mates or love? I can't honestly harass him personally because I completely missed it as well. That 'Cultivators only fall in love with a soul mate' thing went right over my head." He shook that same head in wry humor. "Landed in a strange place when she blurted out that she was in love with me. Triumphant because I had succeeded, and then guilty because she really should love someone else, and sort of proud that I had won the Lead's love. Damn weird blend of emotions, and I fell onto smugness and generally being more of a jerk."
"I threw him into the fountain for it." Virginia sat down on the edge of the broken side and smiled. "Wiped the look off his face fast. I decided that, well, if he wanted to play that game, then I would damned well play that game, too."
"You made him mad enough to blurt out he loved you?" Beth asked.
"Actually, I snuck into his room in the Protea Castle one night and seduced him."
Beth covered her mouth with a hand before she burst into laughter. "You would."
Virginia clasped a hand to her heart dramatically. "I was in love, you know, and I wanted to just enjoy that before I found a real suitor. I promised to say nothing about it, of course, so it would be just our secret. And I absolutely kept that promise, I have to say. We had one hell of an incredible night together, I snuck out before dawn, and said not a word—though I suspect maybe Delilah knew. I think she saw me in the hall. Anyway, I went home and asked to re-review my suitor list to decide who I would allow to advance to the next level of courting. Someone, who shall remain nameless, went a bit crazy with jealousy when he caught word."
Michael scowled. "To be fair, the first thing I heard—from Navi of all people—was that rumor said the Carnation Crown Princess had begun to entertain the idea of accepting one of her suitors. I tried to tell myself it wasn't my business, but, damn it. I knew otherwise. The part of me already your Caretaker kept yelling that you had given yourself to me and therefore anyone else did not deserve you!"
Terry fought as hard as Beth to not laugh. "How'd it come to a head?"
"He of the great wisdom over there lost any sense of subtlety. Every party we attended together—which there were a lot of—he would find the most ridiculous excuses to remove me from my suitor's side. It was terribly obvious that someone was in love and not handling it well. I feigned ignorance, of course, and just kept on pretending like I had no clue. Then came a big party on Carnation some, hmm, three months after my birthday. He lost his temper in addition to his lost subtlety, and he literally pulled me out of my suitor's arms and said, and I quote, 'that I had given myself to him first and he would be damned if he let me go to someone else.'" Virginia beamed. "So, basically, he outright told my entire kingdom that we had been lovers, which, as you both recall, there are laws about. Everyone on Carnation, my parents included, found the entire thing funny as hell. Oh, and that suitor I had been entertaining? In on it. The whole time. So suddenly Max has gotten himself unwittingly betrothed to me, and followed me through the castle to my rooms, panicking the entire time. Rather adorably, because you know what his concern was? Me. That I was stuck with him now."
"Aw!" Beth smiled. "And?"
"I let him rant and vent and alternate between anger and terror until he was in the perfect state, and then I basically did to him what he had done to me, and got him to admit he was in love. He took that well, actually, and realized that he would never have gotten that far in if he hadn't been in love with me all along."
Beth smiled and leaned against Terry. She felt honored to know something this important about her parents. "And the fighting never stopped thereafter."
"We're just too much alike." Virginia took Michael's hand and let him tug her to her feet. She reached up to frame his face and smiled. "I've never regretted a single minute. I'm not sure that we'd be happy if we couldn't fight with each other. We enjoy being temperamental, and for all the fighting we do, we have never hurt one another." She took a long breath and turned around. "I've walked into every war knowing that my life may end. Twice, it has. I don't fear this, Bethany. You will be here in my place. I know you will be fine."
"Then you're ready."
"To go to the Core of Carnation? Yes."
The Core of Carnation was located, perhaps a bit appropriately, underneath a former beauty shop in the capitol city. The hatch had rusted shut, but some patient chipping finally freed it enough for it to be opened. Michael and Virginia jumped down first, and Beth jumped down after them. Terry knew better than to try. He climbed down the ladder and looked up as the hatch closed behind them. It was now pitch dark, and he conjured a ball of majik so they could see.
The only thing around was a long tunnel. They walked down it slowly, no one entirely sure what they would encounter when it was said to be a trial. It seemed to go on for a mile until a point of light appeared. As the light grew stronger, the spell grew weaker. At the place where they met, the spell winked out.
They found themselves standing in front of a massive door carved from familiar wood that had been inlaid with rose quartz. A central carving of a carnation blossom had been surrounded by carvings in all other languages across the universe that represented the Glass Flower Element.
Beth lightly touched the door, and she began to smile. "You know, I'm suddenly making sense of everything. Apple wood and the red carnation and the rose quartz . . . they're all symbiotically linked. Red carnations are pride and beauty and love, and apple wood is youth and beauty and innocence, and the rose quartz is love and art. So of course we of Carnation are known for being enchanting, and for being loving, and for being artists. We couldn't be anything else."
"Explains also why someone gets cranky at being called 'old'," Terry murmured.
"Watch it, kid. I can still kick your ass," his mother-in-law retorted.
A presence stirred around them. It was soft, welcoming, and feminine. It felt familiar to all of them for they had all sensed her at some point or another in their lives. Very softly, Virginia said, "Destiny. I did not expect you here."
The door shimmered with all the colors of life and then began to ripple with the red and gold of Carnation. I feel before me the Mother and Daughter of Carnation. Who is it who comes to make the final sacrifice?
"I do." Virginia stepped forward calmly. "I am the Mother of Carnation. I have come to give back my life and magic to the planet that brought me forth. I give myself in place of my daughter so that she may fulfill whatever need you have of her."
Then you must make the first sacrifice. The sacrifice of mind. Your memories will remain here as you travel, and they will slowly leave you as you progress. You will remember only the people you love but not any experiences you shared with them.
After having just heard how important her mother's memories were, Beth barely managed to bite back a cry of protest. Was that why they needed to undertake journeys of memories? To prime them for this moment? How was it fair? She bit her lip and said nothing.
Michael smoothed his hand down her hair and then stepped forward. "What of me?" he asked calmly. "I am here to give my life and magic to follow my Cultivator to the next world. My twin soul has left this plane. Nothing binds me here."
Your sacrifice comes in the end, Michael. To reach the Core, it must be Virginia's sacrifice to open the way. But your dedication and your vow are heard, respected, and expected.
Virginia touched his arm and then stepped toward the door. A glow centered at her chest and it pushed forth with her Life Orb. Its many facets shimmered against their white veins, and it almost appeared to be shaped like a heart. It might have been whimsy, might have been purely an illusion, but it seemed appropriate. It floated toward the door, the two merged, and they dissolved to reveal the path beyond.
It was painful to walk forward, but she made her feet move even when she felt her memories bleeding away from her mind. The little things went first. The small events that hadn't seemed important. The blur of faces from the hundreds of people she had known who had somehow influenced her life. There were more than she had imagined.
As her steps progressed, the memories gained in importance. It was memories of the Dark world Cultivators and their Commander mates who left her first. She had been especially close with Sam for he was Lead Commander, and she had been closest to Alexandria of the Cultivators for it had been the Hyacinth Defender to step into her role as leader when she could not. She forgot her mischievous pranks with Diaz, and she forgot how Kellie had always been there to support her when her confidence lagged. Tyson and his spunk, Uwe and his quiet calm. Desiree, Clara, and Kellie. All of them were gone.
The Resurrection Cultivators filled her mind and slipped away. She had wept for them, had bitterly understood how they felt to be the only ones who could save the universe. She had been particularly close to Tasia because they were both Lead Defenders. And though the Resurrection Lead was much younger, Virginia had honestly looked to her as a role model. She wanted just a bit of her unflappable calm. In a few steps, everything went away.
It was her partners of the Light worlds and their own Caretakers who were taken from her next. There were hundreds of thousands of memories of them inside her! Three different millenniums but two different lives. Her best friends and her brothers. She forgot everything. Forgot chasing them with paintbrushes until they held still, and being chased in turn by Sherry and her sewing machine. Doug's beautiful music and Nathaniel's protective nature. They were gone before she truly understood how important they had been.
Across her mind, she watched her memories of Shana and Rocky flutter away. She and Shana had been banging their heads together for thousands of years as equal Leads, and Virginia had more than once been tempted to hogtie her friend if it would have done any good to keep her safe. Yet they had made a brilliant team on the field of battle or in a studio. Perhaps because, deep down, they had been a lot alike. And Rocky? He and his eternal cheer had always made her day. Oh, he had frustrated her almost as much as Shana, but you could never stay upset with him. And they both simply . . . faded away.
Siobhan and Edgar left her next. The queen she had sworn to defend and the king she had always loved like a brother. No doubt some reciprocity because of Michael, but she would have loved him anyway. He had been a calm voice of reason compared to his cohorts, and she had been able to trust him—most of the time—to keep himself out of trouble. And Siobhan. It hurt to lose her. Virginia had shouldered her role as Lead very young in both lives just so she could protect that most important person to her. Inevitably, they had yelled at each other, of course, with both being hot tempered, but Siobhan could always defuse her just by hugging her and then taking her for ice cream. If she loved anyone nearly as much as her soul mate, it was her beloved Sayena.
Or was it Beth? As her daughter's image filled her mind, she genuinely wasn't sure. From the moment she had met Bethany, she had known that she had found the daughter she had longed for. She was little bits Virginia and little bits Michael, as if Destiny had taken the best of them and created perfection from it. She forgot everything. Forgot helping her plot and plan birthday pranks. Forgot being taught how to actually use the Empathy inherent in their lineage rather than just be carried by it. Every moment was gone.
Michael's face crossed her eyes, and she stumbled over her own feet. How she loved him! They fought, they bickered, and they sometimes yelled and threw things, but she had loved him every minute. Reconciling with him in this life had been painful. He had left her alone, and yet she had forgiven him everything. She would have done the same thing in his shoes. Her soul mate. Her lover and her confidant. Gone from her mind as if he had never been.
She staggered and would have fallen if he and Terry hadn't leapt forward to catch her. The second door instantly appeared before them and shimmered patiently. Inside Beth, the Resurrection Cultivator could feel something throbbing hotly and powerfully. If she tried, she was sure she could see and feel Virginia's memories inside her. "Destiny?"
It is your final evolution. When this journey ends, your mother will no longer exist on this plane, but her very memories, emotions, reason for being, and strength will become your power. You will be her living legacy.
She drew a deep breath. "I accept her legacy." It was hard. The emotional pain digging inside Virginia had started digging inside her as well. "I've said it before, but it sucks being an empath."
All Cultivators of Carnation have Empathy in varying degrees, given the nature of their totems. It just boils a little stronger in you than most. Possibly because Love herself is rather fond of you, Bethany. Which is fitting, other things considered.
Virginia slowly straightened and found a smile. "I have to ask, Destiny. Who has more power? You or Love?"
"You do seem to work together seamlessly," Terry agreed.
Destiny's voice warmed. In the scheme of things, one could say we are all but equals, but I hold the final power in the end. We have something of an interwoven existence, though. We are twin souls, as I believe some already know. So, in the end, we could not exist without each other. Time is my oldest friend—fittingly so—but Love is my dearest. She gave a soft laugh. So one could say that when I work with Life on things, I am working with my own in-law.
"What of you, Destiny?" Beth asked softly. "Of all those in the highest echelons, only you do not have a lover soul mate. Or do you?"
I do not yet. He is born, but has not come to my side.
"He will someday," Virginia vowed softly. "You've earned it." She drew a deep breath. "I am ready to continue on."
Then it is time for the second sacrifice. The sacrifice of heart. As you progress, you will lose your love for all those around you. Softer, she added, It is a cruel thing to ask of a Carnationite to give up their love. It is not too late. You could go back.
"And if I do, it will be my daughter who must make the sacrifice." Her chin lifted. "Take of me what you will. I will not falter."
So be it.
A second glow formed at her chest and pushed forth a force that became a carnation blossom like her own fading Marks and her daughter's steadily sparkling ones. She watched without a word as the flower merged with the door and both dissolved to reveal another tunnel.
The pain was growing and spreading, sharper than ever because she drew power from Love herself in many ways. Michael's arm around her waist was what supported her. She knew that Beth and Terry had tears running down their faces, but she could not reach out to them. This pain would ease for them. She could be strong for them.
With every step, her love for those in her life seemed to disappear. The Cultivators and Commanders of the Dark worlds. The Resurrection Cultivators. All were gone. Her partners and the Commanders of the Light worlds . . . gone. Shana and Rocky . . . gone. Siobhan and Edgar. Something inside cried out at losing them. And Beth . . . the cry nearly sounded a scream. Her daughter . . . gone.
Michael's face loomed in her mind. For the first time, she rebelled. "No!" she shouted. "You can't take him from me!"
The third door immediately appeared and Destiny's presence was warm. I would never take a Cultivator's soul mate let alone a Carnation Cultivator's soul mate. There would be nothing left of you if I tried.
"Destiny?" Beth asked. "Are . . . Gail and Silas could not feel the Realm. So, those who are—are dying for this war . . . are they okay?"
Though the Realm is now sealed, they are safe. Those who give their lives cannot ascend until the Realm is opened. They will linger in limbo until the Realm is opened again.
"How do we open it?"
When that time comes, you will know.
Virginia drew a ragged breath and straightened as much as she was capable. Though she did not remember seeing the Resurrection Cultivators' collective skills, she as yet had knowledge of them. Somehow she knew they had gifts that would make the impossible possible. "What do you have left to take from me?"
The reason for your existence: your Seed.
She slowly nodded. "It is yours."
The third glow formed and brought forth her Seed. It floated forward to merge with the door, and both dissolved. She tried to step forward but her legs simply wouldn't hold her. Michael and Beth moved to support her, and she let them balance her weight only. She would not lean on them. Though the knowledge of who and what she was fled, the inner will and strength that made her a Lead Defender remained. She was the one chosen to be one of the strongest of her generation. She would not falter.
A point of light appeared in the distance and surged toward them. It became a doorway that rushed over their heads, and when the light cleared, they stood in a circular room. In the very center rest an immensely large rose quartz covered in red carnations slowly being eaten by the evil tar dripping from the ceiling. The Core of Carnation.
Virginia. Michael. Your time has come.
Virginia slowly straightened and walked on her own feet beside Michael as they crossed the room. The evil gathered itself to attack, but it was repelled by a red and gold shield around Virgin that turn into a blast that cleared the room. The Core gave a weak flicker in response. Tired. It was tired and sick, and both Beth and Terry could feel the millions of years' worth of pain in the planet. It had suffered so terribly!
Virginia climbed the steps to the dais and gently put her Mask and hands on the Core. She regretted nothing. Her Mother was sick, and she could help her. She let her lifeforce and remaining magic well and poured both into the quartz. Michael covered her hands with his and let his life and magic join hers. As both gave willingly, they began to fade. Everything came back to Virginia at that moment. She remembered and felt it all. Peace filled her mind and heart alike.
You are everything that is Carnation, Virginia. You are loving and passionate. Your beauty is as internal as it is external, and you even created beauty in your art for others to enjoy. You have been strong and proud, and you have done the sometimes impossible. Now you can rest. You have done all that was ever asked of you, even when you did not know you were being asked.
Virginia turned and held out a hand to Beth. When their fingers clasped, they could both feel the warmth of the touch. "I'm damned proud of you, Bethany," she said softly. "Never ever think you aren't worthy of being our daughter. There's no one else it could be. Stand by your Lead Defender. We can't be strong without those who support us."
Beth's lips trembled. "I've always stood by her. We won't let you down."
Finally, slowly, at last, Virginia faded away entirely, everything that she was returning to the planet that had given her life. Michael, too, faded away. The Core began to quiver and shake and then produced a glow more radiant than anything anyone had ever seen, and the flowers covering it started to blossom again. Beth could feel the pulsing warmth of Virginia's magic inside. It was her memories, emotions, existence, and life. She had become her living legacy.
Her Mask appeared and the sparkling surface mended all cracks. She could feel her Marks beginning to burn hot as her magikry expanded inside her body—but not her Empathy. She had been spared that, at least.
It is time, Beth, came Destiny's voice. You are powered by the oldest of magic, the rawest force of the Glass Flower Element. Take this destiny thrust upon you and bloom!
Beth donned her Mask, and a third carnation blossom appeared on her Defender Mark before both it and her Ruler Mark opened into full bloom. Her armor came to cover her, and it felt and looked stronger than ever. Strangely, lighter too. Terry almost couldn't breathe as he felt her power pulsing around him. Fully bloom, Beth exuded power like perfume, and it resonated through the air and into the majik of those around her. It felt, a little, like Virginia had never left. She was there, living inside her daughter, becoming the power that fueled her.
Her knees gave out and Terry shot forward to catch her. As he lifted her into his arms, she managed only enough will to remove her Mask. Emotionally and physically drained, she could not shield herself empathically. And yet . . . not being able to do so allowed her to realize that she could feel her parents still near. She felt them inside and in the air around her. They were not truly gone. She could not grieve for those who were still there.
Sleep, Bethany, came Destiny's gentle voice. To be the Guardian of the Glass Flower Element is no easy feat when you are made of rose quartz. Let your heart take a break for a little while. Her power began to surround them warmly. I will return you to the surface. The end comes soon enough.
You will help make the impossible happen now.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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