Kellie awoke in the early morning and could feel the stillness inside that told her she was ready. No Cultivator, Defender or Ruler, was ever truly afraid of death. All lived knowing their lives would end before immortality kicked in anyway, but Defenders especially could not fear death for they faced it every day they owned their Mask. They had to be willing to give their lives for their Rulers, their worlds, and the universe itself. Kellie, being of Daffodil, felt more comfortable with death and rebirth than most other Cultivators. She had been ready to some extent for days but had wanted to savor a few more precious hours with her living loved ones.
Tyson stirred and his arms tightened around her. "How long were you awake?" he asked softly. He nuzzled his nose into her hair.
"A little bit." She turned over and tucked her head under his chin. "You're going to miss Chance, aren't you? Almost as much as Diaz has, you have always been close to Chance." She smiled. "At the least, he tolerated you harassing him almost as much as he tolerated Diaz doing it."
"I just felt that if he got used to someone sassing him all the time, he'd be better prepared for being a Caretaker. And maybe it was just funny." He tucked his hands under his head on a smile. "You know, I was entirely unsurprised when Chance turned out to be the chosen Caretaker for LeAnn. I always knew it would take a singularly spectacular person to handle him, and the fact that it happens to be our king and queen's daughter is icing on the cake."
"Speaking of children." She took a deep breath. "We have to talk to Devin. We have to tell him everything. He deserves to know why he will be cheated out of his parents." She frowned suddenly. "It's curious. We think Raine did not become pregnant because Destiny was protecting her. Why would she allow for Devin, then?"
"He has something important to do as well," he countered simply. "Which we have known all along, given the circumstances. I'm sure we'll soon figure out what power he holds, and it will make sense of everything." He watched her sit up and admired the way her peach hair tumbled around her bare shoulders. She was so beautiful to him. There was absolutely no regret in his heart for giving his life to follow her. Their time was finally done.
"I think my place of memory might be the place to talk to Devin." She slid from bed to get dressed. "Because they are inexorably woven together." She sighed. "I hope someone in the Realm can tell us how to handle watching your child grow up and not be there to help them every step of the way. Most children of Cultivators are mostly grown before they have their parents stolen. Well, actually, Matthew and Genevieve could be viable. Though Edgar and Shana had Octavia as much as Rocky and Siobhan did, you know Matt and Gen probably wanted to land on Protea and help them."
"Given we're discussing Edgar and Shana, I'm thinking they thought it more than once. We could also ask Hannah or Quint." He winced saying it. "Never mind. Not Quint! It was his fault that my king has always been such a terror."
She snorted delicately. "And who was it who was always getting him into trouble?"
"Out," he stressed. "Out. He got us in, and I had to get us out! I know Diaz and I have a reputation for encouraging him, but we really don't okay? We just have had the terrible bad luck to be the one near him when he decides to do something potentially unhealthy, and we never know it's coming until it happens! Honestly, Sam is the only person other than Shana who has ever been able to stay a step ahead of him. I and Uwe and Diaz just sort of scramble behind him, trying to keep him from charging fiery hells with a bucket of water and a toothpick."
Kellie laughed outright. "Oh, gods, it's like talking about Siobhan, too! Shana and Edgar can be trouble, to be sure, but not that much! The Commanders and Defenders directly assigned to protecting Delphinians are lucky to still have any sanity."
Though technically all Defenders protected both Shana and Siobhan, and all Commanders protected both Rocky and Edgar, both teams had been specifically split so that four of each focused solely on one High Ruler. For millions of years, the split for Defenders had happened the logical way with the four of the Dark worlds following Protea being assigned to Protea, and the four of the Light worlds following Delphinium being assigned there. It had only changed in the current Era as the Resurrection Cultivators all but obliterated any lines separating the team. LeAnn and Reagan did still have four personal protectors, but it fell that LeAnn had Tasia, Theo, Beth, and Racine, and Reagan had Raine, Emily, Storm, and Ryan—all but swapping the standard entirely.
"I think I begin to see why maybe things got switched around this time," he said wryly. "You've got that perfect half Protean and half Delphinian in LeAnn, so give her the rare Gray core twin, and with Reagan, you've got mostly Delphinian with a dose of Protean, so made her twin our oddball kid who isn't thrown off balance by anything."
Kellie got out of bed to find her clothes, and she was smiling. As had become the standard, Raine was most like Kellie but had enough of Tyson to catch the unwary by surprise. Tyson also got out of bed to dress, and they linked their fingers together and left the room they had been using. Both could sense Raine somewhere nearby, and they found her when they walked out the back into the start of the vast gardens around the manor. She and Logan sat on a bench swing with Devin snuggled up against Raine's side. He was young enough at eight, but asleep he seemed even younger. Just a little boy with big copper eyes and unruly cornflower hair. "Hey," Kellie said softly.
"Hey yourself." Raine looked up at her quietly for a few moments. Then, "Are you ready?"
"I think I am. Are you alright?" She knelt in front of her daughter. Truly, the younger Cultivator was as much her daughter as Devin was her son. Raine's calm and steady nature came from her mother, and her impish and mischievous streak came from her father. Every time she grinned, Kellie saw a flash of Tyson in the twinkle in her eyes. "I know this must be . . . hitting close to home."
Raine took a deep breath. "Seems I just can't manage to keep a mother for as long as I want, but I've got my other mom to cling on to. Tasia tapped me and Storm when we checked the castles to tell us that our parents were fine. Mom and Dad still tend the orchards for Tasia, so they were in the safest place possible when everything happened. They are now providing shelter for all of the survivors."
Tosh Peacer, Raine and Storm's birth father, and Olivia Martine, Tasia's birth mother, had only been married officially for little over two years, but they had been all but married for more than two decades previous. They had helped raise each other's children and the two families had become so thoroughly one that majikal bonds had grown between all of them that looked no different than those between blood relations. The kids had kept their mouth shut on their parents being soul mates, though, until Tosh and Olivia had figured it out personally. Tasia had then gotten the honor as High Priestess to marry her mother and stepfather.
Olivia was the parent through which Tasia had directly descended of Liena Vanguard, so Olivia had a fair amount of majik herself. Tosh also had majik, which both Raine and Storm had inherited, so he was not without skill himself. They could easily keep the survivors intact for however long may be needed, and Olivia would issue orders to any that needed it.
"It still fascinates me," Kellie decided, "how your bloodline gave us two Resurrection Cultivators. And two such diverse ones, too. There have been Defender sibling sets before, every few generations, but not usually crossing the lines in such a way. Generally they were both Dark or both Light, not one of each."
Logan tilted his head slightly. He, too, was a descendant of Liena Vanguard and Jean Rancul, though not from the direct bloodline. That combined with his as-yet unknown infertile Seed made him incredibly powerful; only Anna, Rodi, and Tasia surpassed him majikally. That strength both majikal and physical, as well as emotional, made him the perfect Caretaker to a Daffodil Dual Cultivator like Raine. "Maybe this journey, whatever it is, will give us an answer."
Devin stirred and his lashes lifted. "Mommy?"
Kellie's heart broke. Though he was eight and getting big, he was not too big to pick up. She lifted him into her arms and held on tightly. "I love you very much," she said into his hair. "Know that. No matter what is going to happen, I do not regret having you, Devin."
His lips trembled and then he held on tighter. "You . . . you have to give your life. It's what you do. It's what it means for you to be a Defender Cultivator." He lowered his gaze when the four adults looked at him in surprise. "Anna. She told me and Relisha and Percival. She told us what was . . . what was going to happen. She said we can't cry. We need to be strong and brave and be proud because our parents and grandparents were chosen by Destiny."
Tyson looked at Logan. "She is far too much like her mother for our collective sanity."
"Tell me about it," Logan grumbled. "I still have nightmares when I remember what she did during the fight against Minstrel."
"So do we," Raine muttered. She knew she would never forget the sight of her young niece standing so bravely in front of a fallen Tasia and boldly looking madness in the eye to drive it back.
Tyson took Devin from Kellie and hugged him tightly. "Your sisters will look over you now," he said softly. "And your brothers. And we'll still be watching you even though you can't see us. You're going to do something great."
"What makes you so sure?" Devin asked curiously.
"You're here," Raine said simply. "We're all here for a reason."
Tyson gently put Devin down and studied him. "I don't know, Kel," he mused. "You sure we want to turn him loose like this? No one will be here to make LeAnn turn him back when he becomes a gecko for sassing her too much."
"Tasi will." Devin nodded firmly as a smile began to lighten his face. He reached up to take Kellie's hand. "Can I go with you?" he asked softly. "I want to help."
"You can come with me to just one place, but not to the Core," Kellie told him. "There is no knowing what waits down there." She held tight to his hand and looked at Raine and Logan as they stood. "The place I wish to go to is in Protea City itself." She met her daughter's eyes. "You know the place."
Raine smiled. "I do." She let her magic well around them and it transported them to a spot in the city that surrounded the palace. It looked as decimated as the palace itself. People hid in alleys and huddled together. Those who had managed to salvage their homes and their lives kept to themselves. It was everyone for themselves now.
Devin's lashes flinched as he saw the scene, but he straightened his back with an inner bravery and strength of will not uncommon in his lineage. He looked at everything for long moments and then said softly, "Destiny must be crying."
Startled, Tyson looked at him. "Crying?"
Devin looked up at him. "Don't you all say that Destiny plans for everything? That she must have been planning for this for a long time? So she knew it was going to be this bad. It must be horrible for her to let these things happen. I just feel . . . as if I can hear her crying."
Raine opened her mouth, then closed it. "I don't suppose we ever looked at it that way," she admitted. "We all spend so much time cursing at her for things we can't change that I guess we never thought it might be a burden on her as well."
After a moment, Tyson murmured, "I always tried ignored her when she was trying to dictate to me, but I guess it never did any good in the end. Ah well. I hope she will be happy when this is done. She needs happiness as well."
"So why are we here?" Devin asked Kellie. "What used to be here?"
Kellie studied the broken building. "Well, it used to be a hospital where Siobhan and I often came to aid others. I first met Tasia here, though I did not know who or what she was until much later. Then, just over eight years ago, I wasn't a doctor. I was a patient."
"It was repayment in some ways," Raine said solemnly. "Tasi and I got to take care of her this time. Sayena was there too, of course." As she said it, she suddenly blinked at Kellie. "How odd," she murmured. "I only just realized. We Resurrection Cultivators call all the Cultivators 'aunt' if they aren't our mother, and we call the Caretakers 'uncle' if they aren't our father. But . . . Storm and I . . . we've never called Shana 'aunt'. Neither has Tasia. Or Rocky and Edgar 'uncle' or Siobhan 'aunt.'"
Kellie and Tyson exchanged a look of surprise. Truthfully, they had not noticed either until then. "Maybe it has to do with them being Apexes," Kellie said slowly. "They . . . are more like sisters than anything else. So, perhaps, as Tasia's siblings, you're picking up on that as well. Tasia makes sense since she's LeAnn's twin, but you and Stormy . . . it is interesting. Ask them." She smiled. "Pattern masters know all."
"Why were you in the hospital?" Devin asked patiently. He was used to the way his huge family could deviate off subject. It was fun, but he just had this feeling that time kept slipping away. There was someone important waiting for them. He knew it for sure.
"Well, let's think about this." Tyson ruffled his hair. "Eight years ago . . . couldn't tend her own needs . . . a doctor and a healer were there along with the High Priestess of Protea . . ."
Devin's eyes went wide. "Wait, me?"
"That's right." Kellie smiled. "And even then, you had such a preference for Tasi! You were terribly restless and upset before being born, but her arcanistry soothed you. And you were even unhappier at being born, but you settled as soon as she held you. Your love for majik and curiosity for the Faith has never once been a surprise." She hugged him fiercely. "I am so honored to be one of the few of my generation who got to have two children to love." She smoothed his hair back. "Raine is right. You being here is a sign you are needed. I am very proud to have been the one to give you life."
"I love you, Mom." He hugged her tight for a moment. "I'm glad you were mine."
She held on and then slowly let him go. Tyson hugged him tight for a moment and then also forced himself to let go. As Raine gathered her magic to send him back to the manor, Devin found a smile for all of them. He wasn't going to cry until he was sure they couldn't see him. He wanted them to see him smiling, and know he was proud to be their son. Whatever important thing he had to do, he would be sure to do it.
Once Devin had been sent back, Raine took a deep breath and gathered her magic again to take the remaining four of them to the Daffodil Castle where the entrance to the Core of Daffodil was located. It had been hidden under some broken flooring in the sickroom, and Tyson and Logan pulled up the trapdoor to let them all jump down inside. Because it was dark, Logan conjured a ball of majik so they could see where they were going as they started walking down the long tunnel.
It was a long, long walk until a spot of light appeared and grew larger. Logan's spell dimmed in response. When the spell went out, they stood in full light before an immense door of wood inlaid with ametrine. Symbols across time that represented the Metal Flower Element had been carved across the surface, and in the center was the daffodil blossom that made the Flower Mark on all the world's Cultivators.
Raine smiled as she touched the door and felt it pulsing. "Yew, of course. Which suits both ametrine and pink daffodil." Tyson and Kellie looked at her curiously, and she explained, "You knew that the pink daffodil represented rebirth, well so do yew and ametrine. Yew also represents death itself, which contrasts yet compliments pink daffodil's eternal life, and both relate to ametrine's transformation." She looked at her parents. "Did you know that the yew is special? Its branches grow into the ground while the central trunk dies. When the trunk is gone, the tree lives on with the branches becoming new trunks of new trees. It recycles itself not unlike our Metal element can recycle itself as well."
A presence stirred in the air, soft and feminine and welcoming. They all recognized it for they had all felt her near at one point. The one being they all answered to in the end. "Destiny," Tyson said softly. "So you are here."
The door shimmered with all the colors of life and then began to ripple with the copper and peach of Daffodil. I feel before me the Mother and Daughter of Daffodil. Who is it who comes to make the final sacrifice?
"I do." Kellie took a deep breath. "I am the Mother of Daffodil. I have come to give back my life and Seed 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.
A smile touched Kellie's lips. "If my sacrifice allows for a future where more memories are made, then I accept. I don't mind being the yew that lets her branches grow on without her."
Logan wrapped his arm around Raine's waist and held on tight. Tremors rippled through her heart and soul long before they reached her body.
"What of me?" Tyson asked.
You have done more than you know, Tyson.
There seemed an odd note in Destiny's voice. A slightly aching tone, somehow wistful and longing. It made Raine surer than ever that Devin's birth was no accident, though she did not yet know why. Destiny expected something from him, too.
Kellie straightened her back and a glow centered at her chest. It pushed forward and brought with it her beautifully glowing Life Orb. The memories she would soon lose reflected across its thousands of tiny facets. It floated forward and merged with the door, and the barrier dissolved to reveal another tunnel beyond. Kellie felt her strength being drained from the first step as memories fluttered away from her mind. She was barely conscious of Tyson walking beside her, his hands lifted to catch her if she fell.
It was the simplest memories that went first. Memories of her normal lives. The things that she had always taken for granted because they were always there. Each tiny memory added up to a collective sum larger than she thought it could be.
Memories of the Light Defenders and their matching Commanders went next. Her friends and surrogate sisters and brothers. There were so many memories of them! She and Yvonne had been particularly close, sharing a similar cool headed nature, and she had spent plenty of time healing Juliet's burns from cooking or the inevitable jabs Sherry endured in her sewing. Virginia had spent two years cajoling Kellie into posing for a painting that had ended up being Kellie's favorite artwork ever.
Memories of the Resurrection Cultivators slipped away before she could grab on. Those amazing women and men who had been her nieces and nephews in her heart. So much like their parents, and yet so much their own people. They had made the kingdoms laugh and glow with life, and had made every Elder's life so very rich and wonderful.
It was memories of the Delphinium Commanders and Dark Defenders to go next. Those stubborn men who were the only people alive who could ever keep Delphinium Prince out of trouble; she would know, given that she and her partners had tried. Alexandria and her temper had always entertained Kellie, and Desiree's ability to get her way had been useful too many times. Clara had always been the calm voice of reason yet she could be convinced to play. Kellie had always been honored to be part of the generation that had brought Clara out of the Hall for good, but every beloved memory went away.
Memories of Raine and Devin slipped away before she could grab onto them. Her two beautiful children. She'd had both for only a few short years, and she had only been allowed to give birth to one, but they were still both hers. She forgot the years training her daughter in medical science to enhance her healing skill, and the months teaching Devin to walk. She forgot how teaching him to walk had led to the entire castle re-baby proofing everything in sight, sometimes to no avail. Her heart wept bitter tears as she knew she loved them but could not remember anything about them.
It was Siobhan, Rocky, and Edgar who went next. One of her queens and her two kings; three of her dearest friends. She had loved watching Siobhan and Rocky poke and needle their Dark companions of Protea, and she had always stepped in to smooth any feathers ruffled too much. She had been grateful to not be their personal protectors, and then she had gotten stuck with Rocky anyway after he married Shana. She had never really been bothered by it; the two of Delphinium were impossible not to love. Edgar had been easy to love and protect, and she had never been disappointed when his sense of humor got provoked—Proteans never said anything outrageous, they just found the perfect thing to say.
Shana's face swept through her mind and she almost cried out. Her queen. Her dear friend. Oh, how she loved Shana! She had vowed on her very life to be by her side always. She would have done, had done, anything it took to ensure her beloved queen always stayed safe and smiling. It had never been easy, but she had never regretted a minute. And within a few steps . . . it was all gone from her mind.
The pain swelled as Tyson slipped from her mind. Her soul mate. Her lover and confidant. How he had always been there for her! He lived. He lived so brightly that he drew her like a lodestone. She forgot their first meeting in the past, forgot how she had so determinedly chased him down across many years until he had loved her as terribly as she loved him. She forgot the last five thousand years of him always by her side as her perfect Caretaker. She knew she loved him but did not remember their lives together.
When she stumbled, he caught her safely in his arms and another door instantly appeared. As it did, Raine could feel a throbbing inside her body and soul. If she tried, she was sure she could see and feel Kellie's memories inside her. "What is that?" she asked reverently.
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.
A tear slid down Raine's cheek. "I accept her legacy." She drew a deep breath. "Destiny . . ."
Why are there two Dual Cultivators born to the same bloodline? Why were Gladiolus and Daffodil born as siblings when they are supposed to be Light and Dark? Because you would complement each other and make each other stronger. Metal and Thunder have always made a wonderful team, and you two are no exception. In Life's garden, I watched the Seeds bloom and saw my hard work pay off as my final Defenders were made. Oh, how you glowed!
"You planned for them to be here." Kellie's voice was faint but strong. "You planned all the way from the Harmonic Era, didn't you?"
After a soft pause, I planned for longer than that, Kellie. From the very moment evil entered our universe, I planned for this day. I and every world worked hard together to make everything exactly as it is. Now it is up to the Resurrection Cultivators to make it all happen.
"We'll do it," Raine said firmly.
Knowing it, Kellie found her breath and her strength once more and straightened her back. "I am ready."
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.
Logan and Tyson both cursed softly, but Kellie ignored them. A small smile touched her lips though she did not remember that they only dropped especially terrible cuss words when truly upset. "So be it."
A glow once more centered on her chest and this time brought forth a copper and peach force that shifted into the shape of a daffodil blossom not unlike the ones now fading on her, but starting to sparkle on her daughter. The glowing flower floated forward and merged with the door so that it disappeared. She tried to step forward but her legs were weak. Tyson and Logan caught her and held her supported so that she could walk forward. Tears filled both Caretakers' eyes unashamedly, and they ran without ceasing down Raine's cheeks.
Kellie's love and emotions for those she had known simply went away with every step. The Cultivators and Commanders, gone. Her laughing son, her impish daughter, gone. Her Apex of Light and two kings, gone. Her soul cried out in agony as her beloved Apex of Dark was taken from her.
And as she saw Tyson's image in her heart, she suddenly rebelled for the first time. "No!" she said fiercely. "You can't have him!"
The third door appeared immediately. Destiny's presence surrounded her comfortingly. I would never take away a Cultivator's chosen mate. He is as critical to your existence as the air you breathe.
"Do you have a soul mate?" Logan asked. "Not necessarily a Caretaker, but damned if you don't need that too, as much as Cultivators do."
There was a pause before Destiny said softly, Not yet. I have been told he might forgive all I have done, but . . . It is now a matter of patience. Sudden humor touched her voice. I suppose after this long, even my patience is strained. It seems a bit ironic in a way, to have never expected to have a soul mate at all, yet the moment I realized he existed, I began to fret for the day we may meet.
After so many millennia of thinking of Destiny as the Ultimate Goddess, this omnipresent force always controlling their lives, to have her so real and so . . . emotional was almost disorienting. Yet . . . it was also humbling. That she would trust them, love them, to the point that she would come herself to guide them, to let them see her as she truly was . . . even Tyson could no longer resent her.
Kellie straightened as much as she could though her entire body throbbed painfully. The names and faces of those in her life were inside her mind, but she did not remember their lives together. She did not feel her love for them. She only knew she had once remembered and once loved, and it was painful to endure. "What have you left to take from me? Ask, and it is yours." Humor touched her voice. "I'd offer my eldest child, but she's already under your command. How about my youngest? He could be your problem."
Dead silence answered that. It took only a few seconds for the pieces—all of the pieces—to connect for Logan. His jaw dropped as he thought about the origins of his very Faith. "Wait. Don't tell us that . . ."
Destiny sighed. I should have known my Apex of Chaos' conjoined soul might as yet steal some of her Pattern Mastery after what she did to her twin and her mate. That is a skill born as much of the soul as it is the mind.
Logan almost asked about the conjoined soul thing but kept his mouth shut, though he and Raine exchanged a brief glance not so much of surprise as understanding. It seemed as if everything would finally make sense at the end.
A warmth unfurled inside Kellie. Happiness glowed. She had done something wonderful. Unintentionally, she had done something wonderful. She felt as if there was something she ought to tell Destiny, but could not remember what it was. "What else do you need of me, Destiny?"
The reason for your existence: your Seed.
Raine barely stifled a cry. Kellie closed her eyes for a moment, then straightened. "So be it."
The final glow brought forth her Seed and it floated forward to merge with the door. Her legs gave out and she staggered. Only Tyson and Logan kept her on her feet, and every step was a struggle. The emptiness inside grew ever bigger as her magic fled, and only her enhanced lifeforce kept her going. She had no memories of defending or ruling her world. No memories of giving her life for her queens. But she knew. She knew it had happened. And it gave her the will to move on. She was the Daffodil Dual Cultivator, and she would not falter now.
It seemed forever before something appeared in the distance. It surged forward to meet them and became not a door but a doorway. Inside was a circular room that glowed with familiar peach and copper color. In the very center of the room rested an immensely large ametrine covered in pink daffodils slowly being eaten by the evil tar dripping from the ceiling. The Core of Daffodil.
It is time, Kellie and Tyson.
Kellie straightened and found the strength to walk beside Tyson toward the dais. The evil tar tried to attack her but was repelled by a peach and copper shield. A pulse of answering magic swept from Kellie and destroyed the tar, but the Core barely responded. When she touched the Core, and felt how sick it was, she forgot all her own pain. Her beloved planet, her Mother, was as in need of healing as anyone else she had ever helped. More, perhaps.
She let her lifeforce and remaining magic well up without hesitation and then placed her Mask and hands on the Core. Tyson's hands covered hers as he let his life and magic well too, willingly following her into their afterlife just as he had willingly followed her through every life. As the Core eagerly soaked up their power, both Kellie and Tyson began to slowly fade. In that moment, when she could feel and remember it all, she knew what she needed to say. "He's like his father," she told Destiny. "Terribly so. Just a warning that he will forever keep you on your toes."
Destiny's voice warmed. You are everything that is Daffodil, Kellie. You are life and death and rebirth. You bring transformation, even if painful, always enduring even when you must start over anew, and now you can rest. You have done all that was ever asked of you, even when you did not know you were being asked.
Kellie held a hand out to Raine and her daughter crossed to take it. She was nearly gone, but she still felt the warmth of her successor's healing hands. "I'm counting on you to keep Reagan and LeAnn smiling," she said. "That's the most important job we have, you know?"
"I will." Raine barely bit back a sob.
Finally, slowly, at last, Kellie faded away entirely as everything that she was returned to the planet that had given her life. Tyson, too, faded entirely. The Core began to quiver and shake and then produced a glow more radiant than anything anyone had ever seen as all daffodils restored to life. Raine could feel the pulsing warmth of Kellie's magic inside her soul. It was her memories, emotions, existence, and life. She had become her living legacy.
Her Mask appeared in her hands and began to glow with a sparkling effect as fractures mended. The little engraved star on all Resurrection Cultivators' Masks that named them as divine summoners even seemed to glow a little brighter. She actually felt her magikry expanding inside her body as her two Flower Marks began to glow hot and fierce.
It is time, Raine, came Destiny's voice. You are powered by the oldest of magic, the rawest force of the Metal Flower Element. Take this destiny thrust upon you and bloom!
Raine put on her Mask, and her two Marks opened into full bloom as the third blossom marking her final tier joined her Defender one. Her armor rushed in to cover her faster than ever, and everything either shined or glimmered. She pulsed with magikry strongly enough that Logan felt it in his majik before it reached his skin as a ripple of goosebumps—he could even feel it as a tiny ripple inside his soul. It felt a little as if Kellie had never left. She was there, living inside her daughter, becoming part of the magic that fueled her.
He caught her safely in his arms when she fell and lifted her off her feet. Her head dropped tiredly onto his shoulder, and her eyes closed as her body rushed to process the evolution. She had only enough strength to remove her Mask, but her hand fell weakly back into her lap after doing so. She could still feel Kellie near, could still sense her inside. There could be no grief. She was not truly gone.
Destiny's power swept down around Raine and Logan to return them safely to the surface. Rest, she murmured softly. Rest, my sister. The final war will come soon enough. I know you will bring back the peace the people need. This will be your final transformation.
Raine said nothing though her lips curved slightly. She didn't have any doubt as to the outcome. Even if she gave her life too, the people would be free from evil once and for all.
And that made everything worth it.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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