When Rocky awoke one morning and felt the bedrock certainty inside, he knew his time had arrived. He looked down at his lover curled against his side and gently smoothed her hair out of her face. The days without her until she returned to him would be hellish, but he knew, was sure, that it would all work out. The promise of her freedom had been born at the beginning of this Era.
She stirred slightly and her arm tightened around his chest. Sleepily, she murmured, "Now I know the apocalypse is here. You're awake with the dawn without any coaxing from me."
"I've never been that bad." He turned cage her in the shadow of his body, yet no shadow touched her. The Light inside him burned too bright for that, and it shimmered across her skin. He loved her more than he had in the beginning. Ten thousand years had not been long enough.
"I beg to differ." She looked up at him and smiled. "There was a little incident near to the beginning of the Era where evil plopped down in the galaxy and attacked both kingdoms at once. As I'm scrambling into my clothes, you kept on sleeping until Sabin showed up, hauled you out of bed, and shoved you into clothes. I won't lie. Despite the situation, I was nearly laughing as I ran down the hall carrying LeAnn and following Sabin carting you under his arm."
He winced wryly. "Okay, I concede that one to you." She shoved at his shoulders and he obligingly rolled onto his back. He tugged her up so he could look his fill, and his arms went around her warmly. "Are you ever going to let me live that down?"
"Not likely." She smiled and rested her chin on her hands. "I am obligated to harass you mercilessly when you and your sister get yourselves into trouble because of your inability to wake easily. How many years as kids did the day start with me and my brother dragging you two out of bed for school? Mom knew when to start breakfast. It was when she heard the thumps!"
"Well, we are obligated to harass you two mercilessly when you get yourselves into trouble because of your inability to let others help you even when they can and really want to do so," he retorted pointedly. "Who was it who nearly missed a class project deadline because she refused to ask for help with her prototype?"
She winced. "Okay, okay. I get it. Fair is fair." She laughed when he turned and tumbled her onto the bed again. His arms were braced around her head, and she could see the Flower Mark on his chest over his heart. He was the light in her darkness, and soon she would lose him. She threw her arms around him with all her strength and clung on. She had lost Edgar and Alexandria already. The pain, though blocked, still hurt. "I love you," she whispered against his shoulder. "I would never have made it this far without you."
He gathered her close and buried his face in her hair. "That's what Caretakers to Defenders are for." He had always seen himself as her Caretaker first and a Cultivator second, for, as a Dual, she had needed him to hold her together as evil tried to tear her apart. She had been his Caretaker too, but he had always seen that as an extension of his own role because she needed someone to protect. He eased back and cupped her cheek softly. "I know that in my place, you will have Tasia. In Alexandria's place, you will have Emily. There are many to support you until the time comes when you return to me and we will have our eternity together."
"You're ready." It was not a question. She had felt it the moment she woke.
"I am." He rolled to the side and sat up with a wry smile. "Trying to decide on a place of memory isn't easy. There are many important ones. But the one I want to see most . . . I think I know what it is." He got out of bed and started getting dressed. When her arms went around his waist from behind, he covered her hands gently. "It's not forever," he said softly. "Only a short while. I believe in you, and I believe in Tasia."
"There's that eternal optimism again." She released him with a smile and went to get dressed as well. Both he and his sister had a way of always seeing the good in things, and she had depended on them both more than once over the millennia.
They left their room and spotted Reagan and Pallas sitting at the top of the stairs leading down to the second floor. Both looked up, and Reagan found a tremulous smile. "It's time, isn't it?" Her gaze lowered. "I just . . . I just had a feeling when I woke up that it was going to be today." Her lower lip quivered. "I don't have to like this, do I?"
"No." Rocky knelt and gently ruffled her hair. "I'd be pretty sad if you liked the idea of me going away." He smiled when she immediately turned and hugged him fiercely. She sniffled against his neck, and he hugged her tight. "None of that. You'll make me cry too. I will leave smiling if it's the last thing I ever do. Well, okay, that's obvious. It will be the last thing I ever do."
She forced herself to let go. It was hard. She had always loved her uncle nearly as much as she loved her father. She had often thought it was part of that complicated thing connecting her parents with their siblings, but she didn't care either way. "I can do this. I'm not going to let you down." She huffed out a little breath. "I can use my magic to take us to your place of memory. Where is it?"
He whispered in her ear, and she blinked. The location was familiar, but she couldn't figure out why he wanted to go there. She let Pallas help her to her feet and then hastily grabbed his arm before she went tumbling down the stairs. Cheeks pink, she grumbled, "Why are we of Delphinium so gosh darn clumsy? Okay, yes, we're more magical than most and not really physical, but dang it I have been working for almost ten years to be stronger and I'm still tripping over my feet and it's not fair because you never do that!"
"Where you can see," Shana said on a grin. "Trust me, your uncle still trips over his own feet, and he's been working at it for a few thousand years. If you're still clumsy in like fifteen thousand years, then you can complain."
Reagan found herself smiling. She lifted her hands to gather her magic, and it swirled around them in white and gold color. They were promptly whisked across land and sky to land at a point inside what had once been the gardens of the Protea palace. Her lashes flinched when she saw the destruction, but she didn't say anything. She simply held onto Pallas and let him support her. She could only imagine how her aunt and uncle felt; they had seen this twice now.
Rocky took a deep breath and walked further into the gardens. He trailed his fingers over a protea bush still managing to bloom and then turned and smiled. "My memory is from little over thirty years ago. Your aunt had been driving me crazy."
She blinked and looked at Shana. "More than usual?"
Shana snorted. "Thanks a lot! However, yes, more than usual." The smile tugging at her lips said she knew what was being shared. "I was terribly moody. And you remember how I was before your journey to Aria. I was never moody. I just sucked it up and kept on going." She sighed gustily. "I really had no ability to suck this one up. I was cranky as hell."
Pallas began to smile. "By chance were you, oh, say, having trouble with keeping food down?"
"Boy, was I! And it wasn't limited to morning. It got me at all times of day."
Reagan's eyes lit with laughter. "I wasn't quite two years old, but I think I remember that."
Rocky smiled. "It would be hard to miss. She was cranky, moody, and constantly sick—the latter of which being very unusual for a Cultivator except under . . . certain circumstances, shall we say? Yet, would you believe none of us realized at first what was wrong? Not even Sayena or Kacey figured it out! I was out here for some air, and I heard her approaching. I looked up, and I was just hit with this vision." His eyes softened as he looked at Shana. "I saw her carrying a black haired baby. When I blinked out of the vision, she was staring at me expectantly because she recognized how I looked when I saw things." He snorted. "I blurted out that she was pregnant."
Reagan giggled. "I'm thinking you didn't take that well," she said to Shana.
Shana snickered. "I thought he had lost his mind. Remember, the Memory Lag Delay instigated at the beginning of every Era meant we did not remember meeting you or LeAnn during the Realm or Dragon Wars; in fact we did not remember those Wars at all, really. Since I had expected to conceive sometime around when Sayena did, but definitely had not, I had been left to realize we might not have a child at all—an alarming thought, to be sure. The mental whiplash of my husband suddenly exclaiming, loudly, in the middle of the garden, that I was pregnant did not help my mood. So he dragged me kicking and biting to Sayena, plopped me down in front of her, and demanded she do a physical. She kinda thought he had lost it too, but she obliged."
"I may have lost my mind," he countered softly, "but I was right." He reached out and threaded his fingers into her hair. "That moment when you told me you were in fact pregnant was one of the happiest I've ever felt. It was matched only by the way I felt six months later when our daughter was born and I held her the first time. That's why this spot is special to me. Because it was here that I saw something I had hoped to see for millennia."
Reagan leaned against Pallas on a sigh. She felt honored to know this special thing about her uncle. "You'll have to come back from the Realm and tell us when I or LeAnn are pregnant ourselves." She giggled. "I'm sorry. I just can't see you as a grandpa!"
"How about your cousin-in-law as a father?" he countered dryly.
She beamed. "That I can see, and, might I add, that I'm really looking forward to it?"
Shana had to laugh. "You and me both!"
Rocky looked around the area and then smiled. "I'm ready." He turned to look at the others with him. "I'm ready to go to the Core of Delphinium. Everything is going to work out in the end. I'm sure of it."
"The eternal optimist," Pallas murmured.
"Someone has to be, right?"
The Core of Delphinium was located behind Delphinium Castle, hidden beneath a now broken fountain that stubbornly still tried to flow with water. Rocky and Shana were able to pry the hatch up, and they dropped down inside. Pallas jumped down after them, and he smiled and caught Reagan when she slipped off the ladder. Some things never changed, and he hoped they never would.
It was completely dark in the tunnel but Reagan called a ball of majik so they could see where they were going; Shana could see in the blackout, but no one else. They walked slowly down the tunnel, oddly unafraid and calm though they knew a trial lay ahead. A point of light eventually signaled a change, and Reagan let her spell dim as the light grew stronger. Eventually they met, and the spell went out.
Before them stood massive doors made of wood and inlaid with opal. Across the face, symbols and words had been carved in hundreds of thousands of languages to represent the Light and Illusion Flower Elements. In the very center could be seen the same delphinium blossom that marked Siobhan, Rocky, and Reagan alike.
Shana smiled as she stepped up and touched the door. "Willow," she said. "Of course, willow. The tree that grows only on Delphinium, and likes to shelter people. Rea, do you know what it means?"
Softly, in Reagan's mind, she heard a mystical murmur, Willows are a nature-loving tree that bring quick growth and can influence other elements. It can be used to banish depression and sadness. What's more, the white delphinium itself is big-hearted, and fun, and full of levity. And your opal? Well, it's about love and spontaneity.
Her lips trembled. "I know now. Tasia told me. Willows love nature and grow fast and can banish sadness. And our white delphinium is full of fun with a big heart, and our opal is spontaneous and enhances love." Softer, she said, "No wonder we of Delphinium are eternal optimists, and love everyone and everything. Our sacred totems prime us for it."
A presence stirred around the edge of the area, and its feminine air was intimately familiar to Shana. Her head lifted quickly in surprise, and Pallas took a little breath. Even the two Delphinium children recognized the presence for they had felt her near more than once. "Destiny," Rocky said quietly.
The door shimmered with all the colors of life and then began to ripple with the white and gold of Delphinium. I feel before me the Son and Daughter of Delphinium; the Mother is not present. Who is it who comes to make the final sacrifice?
Rocky stepped forward calmly and with a smile. "I do. I am the Son of Delphinium. I have come to give back my life and magic to the planet that brought me forth. I give myself in place of my sister and my niece so that they may fulfill whatever need you have of them."
Shana's hands curled together in front of her, and Reagan wrapped her arms around her tightly. There was nothing that either of them could say.
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.
Rocky kept his smile. This was nothing. If it would save his sister and his niece, he could do anything. "Done."
A glow centered at his chest and slowly pushed forth. It brought a brilliantly glowing Life Orb that only briefly surprised him. He wouldn't have expected that he had one. It floated over to the door, and they merged and disappeared. A tunnel loomed beyond, and the first step forward was surprisingly painful. Memories welled and slipped free before he realized they were leaving.
Everyday life went first, all the tiny details he had ignored and yet kept inside his mind. There were too many to count, too many to name. Every step forward made them grow with importance. It was the Commanders from Protea that went first. Those strange bodyguards for his best friend that could be just as moody as their prince. Losing Justin was the most painful; linked by Sherry, they had been close friends.
It was the Elder Cultivators who went next. They had been his friends across ten millennia. His beloved older sisters who had been determined to protect him even when he had sailed past them in height and size. Each had been important to him in some way. Each had made a place in his heart. The way Virginia and Sherry had shamelessly bossed him around for his own good. The way Yvonne and Juliet would mercilessly scold him for being too reckless and then either cuddle or feed him to make up for it. Alexandria's endless friendship, Desiree's endless calm. Kellie and Clara's advice and companionship. He forgot everything. Forgot the laughter and the tears, forgot how they had always protected him as fiercely as they protected his sister and lover alike.
The Resurrection Cultivators came and went in his mind. He forgot meeting them, forgot watching them painfully blossom in the way most Defenders did. Reagan slipped away before he could grab on. Though she walked near him, he did not remember helping her learn to ride a horse or tending her bruises when she inevitably fell off.
The pain began to swell as his own Commanders left him next. Tyson, Uwe, and Diaz. His best friends and confidants. If he could have changed any one small thing, it would have been to have allowed Diaz to be a Commander from the start. Vermillion had never belonged in the way the too-young Diego had, and it had taken barely any time after his appointment to make it seem as though Vermillion had never been a Commander at all. He forgot everything about them; forgot the escapades with Tyson, and the quiet conversations with Uwe. It was as if none of it had ever happened.
The faces of the five most important people in his life began to flitter through his mind. Edgar left him next. One of his closest friends and his brother. Reciprocity had accounted for some of it, but the rest had just been them. He forgot the training sessions, and the study sessions. Forgot the childhood antics, and the way he had always been ready to stand up for Edgar if he needed to be supported. His oldest friend, gone.
LeAnn left him next. He forgot her first word and her hesitant and yet bold first steps. Forgot that she had never crawled; she had just hauled herself up and started walking. Forgot Shanae's glowing pregnancy, and the annoying and yet endearing mood swings. Forgot that the mood swings had been a prelude to the temperament of his feisty little girl's combination of Light sass and Dark intensity. All of it faded like a mirage.
His twin soul filled his mind and pain ripped at him. From the day they had met in the early Royal Era, there had been no one he trusted more. His brother in every way except blood. Sam had taught him so many things he had always treasured. Every bit of it went away. He forgot every laugh, every joke, and every happy moment.
Siobhan seemed to be ripped out of him, and something inside cried out in agony. How could he forget his baby sister? She was as important to him as his twin and lover. She had taken her first steps holding his hand, and he had beaten the crap out of anyone who had hassled her. They had never once had a time where one or the other of them thought that they spent too much time together. They had always been together. And it was gone in only a few steps.
Something horrible welled inside his chest as he saw Shana in his mind. He balked violently. "I can't let her go!"
The second door was suddenly there, and he staggered. Shana and Reagan leapt forward to balance him, and he let his weight lean against his lover even as his niece kept him upright. Destiny's presence felt warm and comforting. I would never take from you the reason for your existence.
The willow door with opals that stood before them throbbed softly with power. It was a throbbing echoed inside Reagan. If she tried, she was sure she could see and feel Rocky's memories inside her. "What's going on?"
It is your final evolution. When this journey ends, your uncle will no longer exist on this plane, but his very memories, emotions, reason for being, and strength will become your power. You will be his living legacy.
It was a daunting realization, but she slowly straightened her back. "I accept his legacy." In a rush, she demanded, "Tell us that this is going to be worth it!"
It is up to you to make the future. I have laid before you everything you need. But I have confidence in you, Reagan. I have confidence in all of you. Stand proud as the second and final Dual Cultivator of Delphinium.
Her lips trembled. "Okay."
Rocky, it is not too late to go back.
"The hell it isn't." He straightened on a wince. "I'm not giving up now. Tenacity goes with Delphinium lineage."
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, save Shana who is as critical to your existence as you are to hers.
He did flinch, but he did not protest. "So be it."
A second glow centered at his heart and brought forth a white and gold force shaped like a delphinium blossom. His Marks had begun to fade, but Reagan's remained the same for her mother still lived. Though Shana's face remained steady, Reagan and Pallas both reached out to touch her arms in support. They couldn't imagine how this felt for her. If it was breaking their hearts, what was it doing to her?
The glowing flower floated forward and merged with the door. It dissolved to reveal another path, and Rocky squared his shoulders as he began to painfully move forward. It was only Shana and Reagan that supported him. With every lost love, more and more holes punched inside his heart and soul.
The Protean Commanders and the Elder Cultivators. The Resurrection Cultivators and his own Commanders. All of them disappeared from inside his heart the way they had left his memories. Edgar and LeAnn ripped at him, and losing Sam gutted half his soul entirely. As Siobhan's face filled his mind, a violent protest surged inside. "No!" He shook his head sharply. "You can't take her!"
The third door appeared as his legs almost buckled. It was only Shana's exceptional strength that kept him on his feet. Reagan and Pallas helped balance him, and he didn't even realize there were tears running down his face. Destiny's presence filled the air tenderly. Conjoined souls are a complex thing. I did not plan for such a thing to happen, but I was not surprised when it did.
"You didn't plan everything?" Reagan tried to put humor in her voice when all she wanted was to curl up and cry.
I had planned on the presence of Edgar, Rocky, and Logan. I just didn't realize that they would be born fused to the Apex that was to be their sister. But, again, I was not surprised. It was an inevitable moment. That mergence is merely one piece of the puzzle that has saved my Apexes' sanity again and again.
Rocky drew a deep breath. He had a feeling he knew was coming ahead. There was only one thing left to take. "And the final trial?"
The sacrifice of your soul—the sacrifice of your Seed. You must give up your sister. Her memories, her love, her presence. She will be ripped from you entirely.
"Oh god." Reagan gulped down a sob. She wanted to beg her uncle to go back, but she knew he never would. She clutched his arm and held on with all her strength. He didn't remember her, and he didn't love her. She did not care because she still loved him! She would do whatever was needed to make sure his sacrifices weren't wasted!
Rocky closed his eyes and took a long if ragged breath. "I can give her up as long as it means she survives to the end and comes back to my side later."
So be it.
A glow brought forth his Seed, and Reagan and Pallas for the first time understood what had been meant by 'conjoined': Rocky's Seed visibly showed where it had been torn away from Siobhan's own Seed. There was nothing 'almost' about the almost-twin siblings after all. The Seed floated forward to the door, and they dissolved. Burning agony tore through Rocky's entire body and soul. He fell right to his knees when he tried to move forward. Even without his sister inside him, something screamed in denial. She had been stolen from him.
Shana knelt beside him and braced his arm over her shoulder. She did not cry, but her eyes had turned to black. Reagan was sobbing without stop as she scrambled forward and tried to help. Even Pallas knew tears ran down his face as he added his help. Together, they got Rocky to his feet and supported him as he moved down the hall. The very land shook and quivered violently, as if to say that an affront to existence had occurred.
Horrifyingly long minutes later, something loomed ahead. It became a light that rushed toward them and turned into a doorway. It engulfed them, and when they could see again, they stood in a circular room. In the very center sat an immensely large white-veined opal covered in white delphiniums slowly being eaten by the evil tar dripping from the ceiling.
"The Core of Delphinium," Reagan managed to say.
It is time, Rocky.
He straightened slowly and brushed off those helping him. Tall and proud, he walked toward the Core as if he was not in pain. The evil gathered itself to attack him, but a white and gold glow swirled around his body and fired first. The evil screamed in agony and dissolved from the room entirely. The Core tried to glow in response, but it was so weak that even Reagan barely sensed it.
He climbed the dais and gently rested his hands on the Core. All of his pain meant nothing compared to how his Mother had suffered. There was no hesitation as he let his lifeforce and his great magic well and begin to pour into the Core. It took it in like willows drinking water, and he slowly began to fade. In that moment, everything came rushing back. He could sense his sister as a glowing light inside. "Destiny."
Ask and it is yours.
"Protect my sister and my lover."
It is done. You are everything that is Delphinium, Rocky. You banish sadness and depression with your smile, and you support and empower the elemental forces that look to you for guidance. You have been the light to guide many, 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.
He held out a hand to Reagan, and she crossed to him quickly. She started to take his hand and then instead hugged him fiercely. He smiled as he hugged her back with his free arm. He was nearly gone, but he could still feel her warmth. "Hey," he said softly. "None of that. I'm not going far. You guys are going to kick ass and then we'll all throw a party across both planes, right?"
"Right." She bit back a hiccup as she let go and stepped back.
He looked over her head at Shana. His beautiful, beautiful Dark lover. He knew she would be protected, but he knew she would suffer regardless. "It will be okay, Tash," he told her softly, invoking his oldest, most precious, nickname for her. "I know you'll be by my side again. I will be waiting."
"Wait!" Reagan blurted. "Can you . . . can you tell me what that means? You always," her breath hitched, "you always called her 'Tash.' What does it mean?"
He gave her a little cuff with a smile. "Ask her." Finally, at last, he faded away entirely, everything that he was returning to the planet that had given him life. The Core began to quiver and shake and then produced a glow more radiant than anything anyone had ever seen, and all delphiniums started blooming once more. Reagan felt the pulsing warmth of his magic inside her soul. It was his memories, emotions, existence, and life. She had become his living legacy.
Her Mask appeared in front of her and sparkled as the fractures mended. She reached out for it as she felt the magikry in her body just . . . expanding. Her two Flower Marks began to pulse and burn hotly against her skin in a way both familiar and unfamiliar.
It is time, Reagan, came Destiny's voice. You are powered by the oldest of magic, the rawest force of the Illusion Flower Element. Take this destiny thrust upon you and bloom!
Reagan did not hesitate to pull on her Mask, and her Defender Mark gained a new blossom before all three and the one on her Ruler Mark opened into full bloom. New, stronger, armor came to cover her, and because it was mostly plate, she glittered as brightly as the Light at the Core of her world. She actually radiated her magikry out into the air around her and it rippled through Shana and Pallas alike. It felt, a little, like Rocky had never left. He was there, living inside his niece, becoming the power that fueled her.
Her legs gave out, and Pallas rushed forward to catch her in his arms. Her hand hung limply at her side and Shana gently lifted it onto her lap before tenderly removing her Mask and tucking it into her hand. "The Delphinian language you speak, that has been spoken for ten thousand years, is not the first version of it," she said very softly. "Another version existed even longer ago. Your uncle was the last person to speak it. And, when he called me 'Tash', he was saying something more. G'tash-el ar vi. 'My only love.'"
Reagan's lips trembled and tears slid down her cheeks as she turned her face into Pallas' shoulder. She knew her uncle was not truly gone, knew that he would always be near, but that didn't make it any easier to endure. "Can I still cry?"
"Yeah." Shana rubbed her cheek with a smile. "It's a Delphinium thing."
Destiny's power swirled around them comfortingly. Rest, Reagan. And cry if you need. The tears are of healing, and those who bring smiles to others always cry the most. I will return you all to the surface. There is still more to be done before the end comes.
Shana glanced up but said nothing. She, too, knew there was more to come. She just didn't yet know how all the events would fall. There were still loose threads to be tied up.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
