The night before All Hallows remained quiet. Plans had been made and set. The children would remain safe in the manor, and the dragons would continue to guard them. The Caretakers would stay behind, but they were on standby in case of absolute need. The days leading to the end were spent training and practicing. Too much rode on everything to miss any opportunity to prepare.
All Hallows Eve dawned to murky skies and chilling winds. Shana and LeAnn could feel Protea struggling to hold up under the weight of all evil as it marched across the land. If it had not been for Edgar's sacrifice and his Apex sister continuing to live, the Core may not have handled it; luckily, Dark absorbed where Light repelled.
The hidden sun barely crept over the horizon as Shana approached the edge of the cliff on the other side of the mountains where her manor sat. Her manor overlooked Lux, where she had spent five thousand years. This side of the mountain overlooked the Protea Kingdom where she had lived two lives. Too, this side of the mountain held an old shrine that had been built by Liena as a sign of the alliance between magic and majik. It had been burned down by an enemy during the early Rebirth Era, but shortly after Tasia had risen to power, it had been restored anew.
Tasia stepped up beside Shana, and she was followed by several Alurian Defenders. In pairs and singles, slowly but surely, every Defender Cultivator gathered to stand outside and look toward the final battle in the distance. Even those who were not early risers looked awake and alert. "It's time," Shana said softly. "Tasia, will you lead?"
"Me?" She looked at her in surprise. "You are the strongest here."
Shana smiled a little and held up her hand. Their fingers meshed, and the sparks of Chaos against Dark became visible. Equally visible was the fact that the Chaos power distinctly overwhelmed the Dark. "Not anymore," she said simply. "You have surpassed me."
It felt symbolic to the Alurian Defenders though they did not know why. The Resurrection Cultivators and Siobhan did, but none of them said anything. Tasia took a long breath and straightened her shoulders as she accepted the torch that was being passed. "If you will have me for your leader, then I will lead."
"There is no one else I would ever follow."
"You're our Lead Defender," Reagan said firmly. "You know we follow willingly."
"And us." Vincent covered his heart with a hand. "As the Alurian Lead, we concede to you as well. We followed you into the heart of madness. We will follow you into the heart of evil."
"Then so be it." Tasia turned and looked at the horizon as she drew her Mask from its bracelet. "Let's finish this for good."
The wave of evil marching across the land was hundreds of thousands deep. Monsters, enemies, and entities. Creatures of malevolence that had been destroyed over millions of years by thousands of Defenders. Marching at their front stood the putrid form of Nemesis. He had condensed himself into the visage of one of his Nightmayre monsters to give himself hands with which to fight. He was a disgusting, unnatural mass of evil, and looking into his eyes could call up anyone's deepest nightmares.
When he saw the Masked and armored Defenders marching across the flat plains toward them, he started roaring with laughter. It did not escape him that the Apex of Chaos walked at the front with the others spread back behind her. He had known what they were up to over the last month, but he did not care. It would do them no good.
The two sides stopped marching when three hundred feet remained between them. Nemesis looked at Tasia tauntingly. "So the little sorceress rises to lead."
She slowly lifted a brow. "After all this time, you can't come up with something better as a taunt? Really, I expected better."
He shot forward and was suddenly right in front of her with their noses nearly touching. His breath smelled of genocide and murder as it swept over her. "There are so few of you," he purred. "We will rip you to shreds."
She looked dead in his eyes, and a tiny mocking smile touched her lips. "Am I supposed to fear you, Nemesis?" she asked softly. "I am an insomniac. I only sleep under the influence of the black poppy, which rejects dream and nightmare alike. I have never had a nightmare in my life. You have no power to frighten me." A bright pulse of Nature majik from her pendant forced him to retreat swiftly. "We are not as few as you seem to think we are. We will be your destroyers."
His laughter sounded snide and mocking. "Will you now?" He threw his clawed arms wide to encompass the army behind him. "We have been killing Defender Cultivators over millions of years! What makes you the precious destined ones? What makes you think you are different?"
She smiled. "We are summoners." She threw her hand high in the air, and the gesture was mimicked by the other nine Resurrection Cultivators. Their wands made of their worlds' sacred wood and stone appeared over their palms, and all grabbed on to draw invoking pentagrams that started their star at the top moving down. The pentagrams moved forward to merge into one before Tasia, and she hurled it toward the sky. "Summoning!" The command of her voice could not be denied. In audible echo, her friends joined her to call, "Eternal Garden!"
Something cracked audibly. Magic of all elements began to rush and surge through the air. The clouds ripped back from the dawn sky and beams of colored light began to pour down onto the field. An uncanny sound like the sudden rush of a million armors forming rose onto the air. The beams of light became flowers, and they took form when they hit the land.
One by one by one. Flowers hit the land and straightened to become a Defender Cultivator. Hundreds. Thousands. Defenders of planets lost. Defenders of planets thriving. Defenders of the many generations of Blossom Field. They landed and took form once more.
Eight flowers landed beside Siobhan and Shana and became the familiar forms of the Elder Defenders—they who were also called the legendary Cultivators of the Rebirth Era. A sea of armor and Masks gathered together behind the Resurrection Cultivators. Every face was familiar to at least one enemy. Magic swelled and rolled in the air. The seal on the Realm had been broken. In a very soft voice that still carried, Tasia said, "You have never killed a Defender Cultivator, but we have killed you. This time, it will end for good."
A roar of fury rose from the enemy and it rushed as a wave across the field. A collective battle cry rose within the field of Defenders, and they rushed forward to engage their enemy. Destined battles would be fought again. There was every chance a Defender could cease to exist; those of the Realm who died again would have nothing to return from. They would not be reborn.
There were no regrets. If that time had come, they would go knowing they had done what they had been born to do.
The battle turned vicious in a hurry. Blood spilled. Those who had healing powers worked as hard and fast as they could to mend the worst of the injuries. Nemesis clung to the back of his army as a cowering and miserable figure that could not endure the glow of the day. Shana made her way slowly and methodically toward him. Her destiny was not done yet!
Things started getting ugly. There were too many of the enemy and not enough of the Defenders. Just as it seemed the tide might be turning the wrong way, the land began to shake again. All fighting stopped for a moment, and all heads turned toward the east.
Another army approached. Marching at the front was the familiar figure of Xavier. Behind him were the familiar faces of the Caretakers belonging to the Resurrection and Alurian Defenders. The pulsing power of the Realm swept across the field once more, and flowers and stars began to shoot to the land. When they formed, they became the familiar faces of every Caretaker that belonged to the Defender Cultivators on the field. "No Cultivator chooses an inferior mate," Xavier said calmly and clearly. "I hope you don't mind that I brought them along. They were getting cranky."
"They do that a lot!" someone shouted from the Cultivators, causing laughter from those who heard.
The enemy lunged with enraged roars toward the 'powerless' newcomers, but they repelled violently back when Caretakers who had an offensive magic skill released them all at the same time. A chunk of the enemy field was obliterated instantly. Partnerships formed swiftly, and the tide shifted once more toward the force of good.
Tasia used her sword to knock down a flying monster and then whirled when she sensed a presence behind her. A familiar presence, belonging to a familiar man. The closest thing to a destined enemy she possessed. "Armand."
Armand Aria had the same black hair with magenta undertones and shocking good looks that the Arian bloodline ran toward, but his face looked cruel and his eyes empty. He swung up the sword he carried and aimed the tip at her chin. "Don't think that being Liena's child will prevent me from cutting you down!"
She swung her sword through the air warningly. "I'd like to see you try! I don't need the Arian Draconis to defeat you, Armand. I'm more than you can handle!" She leapt toward him with a shout that briefly paralyzed him in place. Her foot slammed into the side of his head and sent him reeling.
He lost his grip on his sword, and she dropped her own to go after him with her bare hands. The battle between them had never been finished before. It was long overdue to be done. And while he did prove to be stronger than she remembered, he was still no match for the Apex of Chaos.
Evil energy suddenly flooded into his body, and he fired a necrotic blast right into her chest. It sent her tumbling head over heels over the land, and she skidded to a stop in a crouched position. The blast had managed to penetrate even her newly enhanced armor and sear her skin, and gray blood dripped down her arms and legs. Where it touched the land, clover bloomed.
He grabbed up his sword and lunged toward her, but a concentrated majik blast shot from the side and knocked him off course. He thudded onto the ground, and his head swung around. He could only stare at the man moving to the fallen Dual Cultivator. "You!"
Xavier knelt beside Tasia and offered her a hand. He drew her up and looked down when she winced. "Can you heal yourself? Other healers can't, but you are a sorceress."
"I can." She pressed a hand over the worst wound and focused her power. Her eyes searched his. "Who are you?" she whispered. "Where do we know you?"
He tugged aside his shirt, and the black poppy Flower Mark of a Ruler Cultivator of Aria appeared over his heart. "In a past life," he said calmly, "I was a blind fool." He turned his head and his eyes narrowed on Armand. "My own blood gave rise to this beast. This fight is a matter of the Aria Royal House."
"Kadon." She had been wrong. Very, very wrong. She had thought he was someone else entirely. Still, remembering something Destiny had said, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as her Pattern Mastery began to work.
Armand struggled up to his feet and spat, "A blind fool who has no right to interfere!"
"On the contrary," Xavier countered mildly, "I have every right to protect the descendant of my soul mate—she who is also the beloved Defender of my world." He drew his sword and held it at ready. "Pick up your blade, False One! Your tainted legacy ends here!"
Rodi reached the scene just as the fight began. He brushed aside Tasia's hands and took over healing the worst of her wounds. She had helped him gain access to the skill, and he would guiltlessly use it on her as needed. Distinctly, she muttered, "What is with you Arians always determining to protect me when it's a damn surety I'm stronger? I'm supposed to defend you." She looked toward the fight and felt the spirit stirring inside her soul. She was nearly back to full strength.
Though the two men had matched in strength, Xavier's majik was stronger, and he did still have his magic as a Ruler of Aria. Armand used evil power, but it could never hold up against true, pure, majik. Perhaps it was ironic destiny that Liena had given her adopted family majik, and that Tasia had trained Xavier in how to use it, and now he used it to protect her.
The fight went back and forth across the land. Blood flew from wounds on both. Armand struggled for a decent breath as sweat poured down his face. Xavier remained calm and cool, as comfortable in battle as any Captain of the Royal Knights would be. When one strike of his sword missed taking off his enemy's head, he whirled around and came in again. The blow gashed open Armand's chest. Not quite a mortal wound, but the rapidly flowing blood was dangerous.
Armand started gathering a potent attack, and Tasia's hands shot up. Ice magic flew from her fingers and called in a thick and heavy fog to shroud the immediate area. It was not the only fog present; Ice Defenders across the field used it cover their friends.
Only allies were not hampered by an Ice fog, so Xavier could see through the thick icy shield as if it wasn't there. He rushed toward Armand with sword raised and leapt forward on the attack. His blade bit into the other man's shoulder and kept on going down. Armand's scream of agony and fury seared the air, and he gathered all of his remaining power for one final blast. Xavier could not dodge in time. The blast went clear through his stomach and out the back.
Armand's body fell to the ground with a thud as the fog faded. Xavier's legs gave out and Tasia caught him quickly. She lowered him to the grass and grimaced when she saw the extent of the wound. Not even Siobhan could have done anything about that. "Idiot!"
He managed to smile at her even though the pain felt agonizing. "You ever get that déjà vu feeling?" He reached up to cup her cheek. "Ten thousand years ago, when the kingdoms fell the first time, I promised I would find you again."
Tasia closed her eyes for a moment as she realized she did not feel his hand on her cheek. The other inside her felt it. "I wasn't wrong," she whispered. "I wasn't wrong. You are Lieu! That's why . . . why Liena could not be with her soul mate. Her soul mate had broken in two! Lieu and Kadon . . . one had the soul and the other had the heart that matched her."
Rodi held his breath as he watched her slowly stand. The spirit separated from her as she did and was left behind beside Xavier. His hand tightened on her cheek and she suddenly solidified. She looked surprisingly beautiful for good majik radiated out of her skin, and her pale brown hair hung halfway down her back. Her equally pale brown eyes shimmered with her power, and she wore ancient clothing last seen before the first fall of the kingdoms. "Liena," Rodi breathed softly.
She smiled at him, and the smile was hauntingly similar to Tasia's smile. She looked down at Xavier, and joy filled her eyes. "You stubborn man," she whispered. "I should have known there was a reason for how I could love you both so deeply." She turned her face into his hand. "I could not go on without you, but I could not find you. When I realized you were coming to our descendant, I knew that our time had finally come."
He rubbed his thumb over her cheek. "We will ascend to the Realm together this time," he promised. "You know what to do . . . if you want me."
"Want you?" Her laugh broke in the middle on a little sob. "Are you crazy? I've been waiting ten thousand years for you!" She held him closer. "Let go," she said softer. "I will bring you back. We can be together at last."
His lashes lowered and his final breath shuddered out of his lips. Liena wrapped her majik around his and kept him anchored when he would have left her. She had waited too long to be with her soul mate. She would never let him go again! She leaned down and softly kissed him, and she breathed her immortal life and his soul back into his body. A little flare of light on his hand became a dragon scale, and his lashes lifted again as the wound on his body disappeared as if it had never been. "We still have a war to fight," he told her.
She sighed and looked at Tasia. "By the way, you can blame some of your naturalness in battle on this stubborn knight! I nearly laughed when you named him a Captain. He was always so perfect in the role." She got to her feet and her fingers laced with Xavier's as he stood as well. "We will both fight. Things are not done yet. You know what else you will need to do, Tasi."
Tasia nodded. "Yes, I do." She picked up her sword and handed Xavier his as well. Their eyes met. "Let's do this."
The battle continued to rage around them. Theo and Siobhan fought side-by-side across the field. Siobhan was steadily making her way toward Famine, and Theo was fulfilling his vow to be her most loyal Defender. Kimber and Edgar stayed near their sides as well—her in a majikally enhanced uniform and he in his original Protea Ruler suit—and helped keep the horde at bay. Reagan and Pallas also came quickly, tearing through remnants of the Dragonsbane of the Rebirth Era.
Famine stood waiting for them. A sneer curled her lips. Before her stood a mess of her Germs, the vile and disgusting creatures of evil disease. "How cute," she said snidely. "The former High Queen thinks she can take on all I have to offer at once." The words broke off sharply as icicle projectiles fired through the air and took down several Germs. "Who did that?!" No Ice Defenders save the Lead of the current Blossom generation had attack magic.
No Defender did, but that Lead's own adopted father did! Doug smirked a little as he and his three partners moved forward. "I did," he said. "And given that Siobhan is as important to us as our king, we're here to help. Let's see if your Germs can handle four seasoned Commanders!"
The mess went after them, and Michael began to lead the fight away from the scene. Over his shoulder, he shouted to Siobhan, "Don't worry about these assholes! We've seen much worse!"
Theo turned to Kimber and ordered, "Take Uncle Edgar away from here! This is not his battle, and he has no armor!" Edgar wanted to protest, but he could not. Kimber was already moving him back across the field to a safe place to watch. Juliet and Sara Sukio—the soon-to-be-former Guardian of Glass—moved in to help with the defenses, and they fought together to keep the rest of the enemy from approaching.
Siobhan's stomach quivered with nerves she could not help as she walked toward Famine. She had taken down Famine before, but only with aid from her brother. The same issue then still applied: she could not run and cast magic at the same time. Still, her hands tightened on the long rod she held. The weapon had been born directly from her arcanery and looked like nothing else. An opal at the top held a delicate delphinium blossom in the center. "You know, I'll be really glad when all this déjà vu goes away."
Famine snorted rudely. "I admit you do seem a bit stronger than you were back then. Do tell me, Sayena, have you learned how to do any measure of physical fighting?"
"Hmm, no, but I do have a few new tricks up my sleeve." A large blast of white-gold magic shot from the end of her rod and smashed into Famine's chest to knock her back several paces. "Like, my casting speed has gone through the roof. It's amazing what my chaotic sister-Apex has been teaching me lately."
Famine snarled and lunged toward her with a blast of deathly energy. Siobhan scrambled to the side and then whipped around and fired a blast from her rod. It singed the festering disease's shoulder and knocked her back another step. The counter blast nicked gouged Siobhan's armor but she just ignored it entirely.
Theo kept monsters from getting into the fight and watched from the corner of his eye as the blasts traded back and forth. Siobhan had gotten stronger, but so had Famine. "Should've made Aunt Siobhan start taking combat classes from Tasia!" he muttered as he watched a monster fry itself on the shield he had called.
It seemed at first that Siobhan would win anyway. She was gaining ground, and she hadn't yet died. Maybe destiny could be changed. Things went sour the moment the Germs were finally felled and destroyed in battle. Their life energies and their powers rushed across the field toward Famine. Too late, the Commanders saw what had been done. "Siobhan!" Nathaniel shouted. "Get back!"
The warning did not come in time. Famine took in the rush of fresh power and released a shockwave attack that sent everyone in a thirty-foot diameter flying. Siobhan's rod skidded out of her hands and she rolled over onto her back as Famine rushed toward her for the killing blow. A surge of pure fury whipped up inside Siobhan and she scrambled to her feet and began rushing at Famine in turn. Destiny could not be changed after all. So be it. Her time had come. She shifted to Apex form just before they collided, and she disappeared into Famine's body.
"No!" Famine shrieked it as she stopped dead in her tracks. She thrashed wildly and tore at her own skin so it came off in chunks, and all she did was begin to release the powerful white-gold light of arcanery swelling inside her. Her screams spiraled higher and higher and then abruptly cut off as she exploded outward into fragments too small to be called dust. The shockwave of arcanery pushing outward rushed across the field wildly and healed all injuries on all allies before finally tapering off.
Siobhan reappeared hovering in the air, and she began to fall. She landed safely in Theo and Reagan's arms, and they lowered her gently to the ground. The Commanders and three Caretakers rushed to her side, and she found enough energy to smile for them even though she could feel her body shutting down. A healer healed by taking in what afflicted her patient. To take in all of the disease inside Famine was simply too much for any healer—even the Apex of Light. No one cried, though. The moment had, truly, been inevitable.
Tasia smashed two monsters together and stopped in her tracks. Her head lifted and she turned slightly. Arcanistry welled around her body to become a pentagram that shot across the land. "Summoning!" she called. "Arcanic Light!"
Her voice carried across the field to those with Siobhan. The fallen Cultivator's body began to glow brilliantly white-gold and her physical body dissolved into streamers to leave behind the insubstantial, ethereal, wisp of her spirit. She should have ascended to the Realm right there, but instead she rose up into the air and then disappeared.
She reappeared beside Tasia and they smiled at one another. Their hands lifted and pressed together, and Siobhan dissolved as she merged into the living Apex's body. Dragon scale marks appeared down the right side of Tasia's body, and they turned white-gold. She protectively sheltered the spirit and power inside as she whirled and rushed back into battle.
Shana was closing in on her enemy at the other end of the field. At her side hovered Rocky, Emily, and Silas. Emily had vowed to stay by Shana's side, and she would damned well do it! They blasted and cut their way through anything in their path, aided by Silas in his uniform and Rocky in his original Delphinium Ruler suit. When an Airwing lunged toward them, Emily hacked it apart with her Air-infused harpoon. "Eat metal, bird breath!"
A wall of Nightmayres barred their path from Nemesis. Black-pink magic welled around Shana and she hurled blasts of raw Dark power at them. Several beasts blew apart. The rest lunged forward, and she dove forward through their ranks as they attacked. She rolled up to her feet on the other side as her partners kept the Nightmayres from turning and following her.
She turned and began to walk slowly across the grass toward Nemesis. He had become a pitiful creature that huddled on the ground and fought to keep the sun from ripping him apart. Smoke lifted from his flesh in the places where he had already been burned. Shana held out a hand and her sword appeared. Like her sister's rod, her sword had been born of her purest arcanery, and the hilt held a bit of amber encasing a protea blossom. She felt . . . nothing. No anger. No hate. She had gotten over this nightmare five millennia before.
Her shadow fell across him, and he looked up at her. She literally exuded darkness and sunshine alike as the sun caressed her body, proof of the harmonic fusion of the two opposing forces inside her. Her pink eyes looked steady and devoid of anything except calm. "You have no power over me," she told him softly. "You tried. You tried. I would wonder if I had really destroyed you, and nightmares would torment me. It was you. You were still there." She pressed the edge of her blade against his throat. "You have no power over me," she repeated. "You're just a repeat nightmare, and repeat nightmares have no real power."
He snarled up at her, and his dry lips cracked and bled. "I could have been a god!"
"As my High Priestess might say 'coulda, shoulda, woulda.'" She swung her sword up, and the sunlight made the black blade glow brightly pink. "My destiny was always to defeat you and find freedom. I know now that I didn't get my freedom because you weren't gone." She swung her sword with all her strength, and his head separated from his body. The physical form disintegrated and left the putrid mass of false shadows that were his true form. The sunlight seared his shape as he screamed in agony.
She calmly walked right into the middle of him. She began to glow as bright as the sun, and the pink beams swept from her body. His screams gained in volume until he simply . . . disappeared. She lowered her sword and took a deep breath. She could actually breathe. He was gone for good. She turned toward the battles raging behind her and closed her eyes.
Tasia was issuing orders to other Defenders when she suddenly lifted her head. The moment had come. She turned around as arcanistry welled once more around her body with rainbow-gray color, and it formed a pentagram that flew across the field. "Summoning! Arcanic Dark!"
Rocky and Emily reached Shana's side just as she began to glow brilliantly with black-pink color. She shifted into her Apex form and rose up into the air where she disappeared suddenly. Emily turned to run as fast as she could across the field. She knew what needed to be done.
Shana reappeared beside Tasia and they shared a smile. They pressed their hands together and Shana let go of her physical form to become pure arcanery. She flowed into her friend's body, and they merged. Dragon scale marks appeared down the left side of Tasia's body and they turned black-pink. She staggered, and Rodi hastily grabbed her arms. "Change shape!" he ordered her. "Not even your body can handle that much power! Not in this form!"
"I can't." She drew a ragged breath. "If I tried to change, I'd tear myself apart anyway!" She straightened and slowly pushed out of his arms. She backed away from him several steps and turned toward the field. "They know."
All nine of her Resurrection Era partners emerged from the field and stopped short when they saw her. She had told them what she suspected might happen, and none of them were surprised to find she was right. She was always right. All surrounded her in a circle and drew their wands once more. They aimed the ends at her, and nine voices overlapped in harmony as they said, "Summoning! Arcanic Chaos!"
A glowing pentagram appeared under her feet. The combined strength of nine summoners allowed her arcanistry to expand properly, and rainbow-gray power blazed over her body as she safely shifted into her Apex form. The power of the two inside her distributed evenly, and the rest of her birthmarks appeared. There was no separating her true self as a dragon from her true self as an Apex; they had become inexorably entwined, just like everything else inside her.
She lifted to hover slightly over the ground, and music began to well from inside her soul. It spilled into the air and spread quickly in waves across the field. She did not bother to hold back anything. Her majik and her Mystic music. Her summoning and her dragon blood. The magic that had become the legacy of her mother. The purest force of arcane power. It tumbled together into a chaotic mass that spilled into the air as more music. She was Chaos. The force of Dark and Light fueled her inside, and her eyes slowly opened. The pupils had shifted to diamond shape, and black and white lightning flickered powerfully.
Awaken at the twilight and open your innocent eyes
Shake the sleep from your mind, someone is waiting for you
Put wings on your heart and open the door
Sunrise is a long time away and a battle is coming
I’m waiting for you where the rainbow meets the tower
But you're bound within the despair and can’t see my hope
Break the chains binding you to the now
Time has no meaning any more
Surely we can find our path amid the million nights
Break the chains holding me from you
I’m waiting for you to let the wind fill our wings
The song ripped across the field like a tidal wave. It brought surges of power both physical and magical anew to those on the side of good. All new wounds sustained since Siobhan's fall healed. Those who still breathed immediately revived.
The same could not be said of the forces of evil. They were obliterated as the wave spread. Some screamed. Others tried to run. There was no escape no matter what they did. Nothing could escape Judgment. The wave spread and consumed any and everything. It broke past the barriers of the planet and surged out eagerly into space. It climbed and grew and made a beeline right for Aluria and the Leylines waiting within.
You promised we would stand together at the gate
Don’t break that promise, come for me now
Put wings on your heart and fly across the land
The crimson blood sunrise is warming the sky
I’m waiting for you where the sea never ends
But you're bound within this nightmare and can’t wake up
Break the chains holding this world from others
Tomorrow has no meaning any more
This time it was our power chosen to fight
Break the chains holding you back
And give in to the nature calling you
Aluria rumbled and quivered as the song swept across its surface. The Leylines under the land broke the surface and became auroras in the sky. The five pyramids of the Leylines began to glow brilliantly and released beams of power toward one another. The perfect pentagram picked up the song and began to rocket it faster and faster until it released as a shockwave across the entire universe.
Break the chains binding you to the now
Time has no meaning any more
Surely we can find our path amid the million nights
Break the chains holding me from you
I’m waiting for you to let the wind fill our wings
Her voice held the last note impossibly long, and then the music ended on a swell and faded. Into the eerie silence that followed, nothing moved or spoke across existence. The field was empty of everything except the forces of good. The universe was empty. The winds that began to blow softly across the land carried the sweet smell of freedom. Skies cleared. The sun began to shine. Planets that had nearly broken finally healed.
Tasia's feet touched down on the land, and Racine stepped up beside her. "The next Era," the Librarian said softly. "I can see it. It has already arrived." She let out a soft breath. "We won."
Tasia glowed softly and left her Apex form for her normal, technically Coda, self. Siobhan and Shana separated from her, but only Shana regained a physical form. Siobhan remained insubstantial. She linked her hands behind her back and smiled. "I guess it's my time to go now. I'd hug you, but I kind of can't."
"You were hugging me from the inside," Tasia told her. She smiled. "Go ahead and ascend. The others are waiting for you."
Indeed, the field was beginning to clear. Those of the Realm had begun to return. Edgar and Sherry stood waiting for Siobhan, and she rushed over to join them. She was able to hug them, and they held on just as tightly. Edgar's eyes met Shana's over her head, and he smiled. She lifted a hand in response and smiled back.
Racine spotted someone approaching and grabbed Shana's arm. "We're going to go, uhm, do something." She hustled the taller female away from the scene quickly and over to where more than one Resurrection or Alurian Defender had sacked out gratefully on the grass.
"Tasi?"
At the sound of Liena's voice, Tasia rolled her eyes. "As if that would bother Shana." She turned around and blinked. "Oh." It was about all she could find to say. "Okay, maybe she might've been unnerved a little."
Behind her stood not just Liena, but another woman as well. She was not classically beautiful but she still looked oddly attractive. The inner glow of good majik reached out to make her radiant beyond her softly tanned skin. Short auburn hair hung around her face, and her auburn eyes held an interesting crystal clarity that made them appear lighter than they might actually be. "I guess you know who I am," Jean Rancul said dryly.
"How would I ever not know you?" Tasia stepped forward to meet them, and as the three High Priestesses of Protea came together, the planet seemed to sing softly in happiness. It would be the first, and very likely the last, time that they stood in once place at the same time. "It's done," she said softly.
"Yeah, most of it," Jean agreed. "Some stuff still lies ahead. Cleanup is going to be a mess. We just wanted a chance to talk to you." She smiled. "I'm pretty pleased with how our last descendant came out. The lineage has ended with you. Anna will be your only daughter. Kinda fitting, really."
"There is no more need," Liena said simply. "What we were placed here to do has finally come full circle. Well, almost full circle." She stepped forward and hugged Tasia tightly. "I love you a great deal. Thank you for protecting me even when you did not know who I was."
"I think I did, all along." Tasia hugged her back and then let go. "Goodbye. And . . . be happy now. Also, don't let Xavier slack off on his studies! If you're going to steal my Captain, at least make sure he's doing his other job."
Liena laughed and lifted a hand in farewell as she disappeared. Tasia turned to bid farewell to Jean as well and realized that someone else had joined her. He stood only an inch shorter than Tasia, and he had a strikingly handsome face with almond-shaped hazel eyes. His hair had a similar hazel color, and both shifted from green to brown to gray depending on the light. He wore relatively casual clothes, but he carried a Mask in his hand and there was a ranunculus blossom Flower Mark on his upper left arm.
"Okay," Tasia said. "This is too much."
Byron Rancul laughed. "Come on. You honestly think I'd turn down a chance to tell Jean 'I told you so'? I told her that us both being Virtuosos meant that we would probably have a Mystic for a descendant, but no, she didn't believe me."
His wife and Caretaker snorted rudely. "Actually, you were hitting on me by insinuating that we would be propagating together. That's not the same thing!" She stepped forward and hugged Tasia tightly. "You kick ass."
"I come from good stock." She watched Jean disappear into the sunlight to return to the Realm and then looked at Byron. "It's funny how you can think your role is small and yet it can mushroom into something big."
He nodded. "Agreed. A very great deal of you can be linked to me. I'm proud of that, to be honest." He took a long breath. "When I found out what the price of your birth would be, it didn't surprise me. I think . . . I think it was the love I felt that primed you for it." He gave her a gentle cuff on the chin. "We'll always be watching over you."
"I know," she said softly as she watched him disappear. She turned and looked across the field to where all of her friends and family waited. Evil had been destroyed, but there was still one final duty to be done. A last price to be paid, and one final chapter in destiny.
The story wasn't done yet.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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