The three of us rushed down to the ground level. Apollo went to Arduwan’s aid. She was badly bruised and cut and dirty. I had never seen her in such bad shape before! She was tough but fighting an orc army by herself was a pretty tall order.
“So what happened when you ran off?” I asked her.
She sat up on the grass and looked at the cleric with confusion as he healed her wounds. Then she looked up to me and replied, “Well. I ran and ran as those things chased me. I wasn’t sure if I could find my way back if I went too far so I decided to head towards the cliffs where we first arrived. With a little fake leap I managed to trick nearly fifty of the orcs into falling off the cliff!”
“Whoa! Then what?!” Wraith asked.
“Well, when I climbed back up, I found myself completely surrounded by them. I started fighting and was doing really well at first…probably killed another fifteen or twenty of them. But then, they started to grab me. They were planning on having their way with me!”
“So what did you do?” I asked.
“When the first orc grabbed me after my sword was knocked out of my hand, another orc shoved him back. It seems they couldn’t agree who would have me first so a fight broke out. The next thing I knew, nearly a hundred orcs were brawling with each other. It was enough for me to grab my gear and slip away. I had to fight a few more of course but after that, I made my way back here. That’s when that light came down from the sky and killed the rest of them.”
“That was Apollo. He saw you were my friend and was in trouble so he wanted to help. He’s my friend now too,” I said as I winked and gave Apollo a thumbs up.
He smiled and said, “it was the least I could do.”
“Wow! Thanks Apollo!” Arduwan exclaimed, “Guess that makes us friends now too!”
“Really?!”
“Of course! A friend of Eric’s is a friend of mine!”
“What luck! A friend that is a girl now too! Oh, and she’s so beautiful! The gods have really blessed me today!”
We were all happy and having a good time there in that field surrounded by fallen orcs and all but then I remembered our mission. All of this was to try and get Stephanie back. I needed to know for sure if this was a possibility, so I asked him directly.
“Apollo. My friend Stephanie is why we are here. She was killed awhile back by the henchman of one of my enemies. Another friend was also killed but we revived her some time ago using a Rod of Resuscitation. But as you know, the rod could only bring back one person and it had to be by the end of the lunar cycle. I’m told a cleric's power is stronger than that. But has it been too long since she died to bring her back?”
“Hmm,” he pondered, “it’s true that a powerful cleric has the ability to revive someone who has died unless it was from natural death. And the limitation is only if the core of their body is still intact. But as long as you have their remains, it should work. However, you have a bigger problem.”
“What’s that?” I asked, fearfully.
“My power is waning. The Chaos Pantheon has disowned me. I was barely able to finish healing Arduwan. I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can revive your friend.“
I sank. All I could do was collapse on my bottom into the grass. All this work. We had tried so desperately to right this wrong but it seemed as though fate was trying to keep Stephanie in death's embrace. Maybe we weren’t a couple anymore. But I missed her. We all did. Even Arduwan was tearing up again at Apollo’s declaration.
“There is only one thing we can try,” he added.
“There is?”
“Yes, but there is absolutely no guarantee this will work. But if you have faith and we make an attempt, then it is possible it will work.”
“Anything! Please, let’s at least try it,” I begged.
“I’ll need you to take me to the girl's remains. I’m going to attempt a new spiritual covenant in exchange for her life being restored.”
“Really?! That can work?”
“It’s a long shot but I’m going to ask Delilah, the Goddess of Second Chances, to grant your friend a second chance as well as one for myself. If I dedicate myself to her, then maybe she’ll bring your friend back.”
“Wonderful! Let’s go, right away!”
“Just a minute,” Wraith chimed in, “how exactly are we supposed to get back to the spring from here?”
He had a point. The eagle dropped us off and we decided we’d figure out how to get back later. Well, it’s later.
“Apollo, how were you planning on mounting your invasion to the other continent? Aren’t orcs afraid of water?” I asked.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“My orders were to hold here until the Devil King’s campaign in other lands was complete. Then he would provide me with more foot soldiers and some ferries to cross the sea with.”
Dammit. It’s not good. We can’t swim across! Maybe Arduwan can use her Call of the Wild to get us some dolphins or we could ride in a whale's belly. Err, this world is so difficult! All of a sudden, “Look!” Arduwan shouted.
We all looked in the direction she pointed in and saw the Giant Eagle flying into view from the direction of Vale across the sea. When it landed, Wraith approached it and it dropped a small letter tube from its mouth.
Wraith began reading the letter inside, “It says, ‘Dear Eric and company. I got curious and took a peek into your futures. The threads of fate showed me two outcomes. One where you all were smeared dead across a field in front of the tower and one where you made a new friend. If you’re reading this then you know which one happened. I sent the eagle just in case either way. P.S. you really owe me for this one,’ and that's it.”
“Err, dammit! How many times are we gonna travel by way of eagle rug carry?!” I shouted in disgust.
* * *
A few hours later, the eagle dropped us off near the spring once again. On the way over, we explained that we were world walkers to Apollo. He would become one of the few who would ever come back to my house by my own volition. Up until now it was just cute girls and murderers who had passed through the well on my watch.
Back at the mansion, I immediately went to check on Emily. Thankfully, everything was okay. No sign of Alabaster. I quickly explained to her what had happened and how the Oracle couldn’t see where Alabaster was. She concurred with me that it seemed too convenient that he was dead but there was nothing we could do about it at the moment.
In the Butler's Quarters, Apollo prepared a ritual to begin asking for Delilah’s assistance. I must admit, I was skeptical. I’ve seen some crazy stuff the past year. But nothing that made me believe some goddess of second chances was gonna fly in and help, that’s for sure.
He had incense and candles burning around the room. Stephanie’s remains, still wrapped in the sheets we left her in, laid there on the bed. Wraith and Arduwan stood back near the door. Me and Emily pulled up chairs at the bedside near where Apollo was pacing and chanting.
“Oh, elegant goddess Delilah! I ask for your aid on this day. Please grace us with your presence and restore the life that was taken from this poor young woman. I offer a covenant with you in return. Forgive my past sins and wretched devotion to the Chaos Pantheon.”
At first it seemed like a bunch of senseless chanting and half hearted begging. But about ten minutes into this whole thing, something happened. The lights flickered and a calm presence could be felt. Apollo stopped pacing and stood in place in front of Stephanie’s body. He fell to his knees and looked towards the ceiling. It was as if he was having a conversation with someone. He was slain in the spirit. “I see. Yes. I see. Very well.” “What is it?” I asked.
Apollo turned around with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face and said, “Eric. She’s agreed to bring Stephanie back. But on one condition. Because of my past deeds, she’s tying my path to redemption in place of Stephanie's life. She can only be brought back if I trade my life for hers.”
“What?! Apollo, no. You don’t have to do that! It’s not your fault she died!”
“It’s okay, Eric. It’s better this way. Believe it or not, the little time I’ve spent with all of you has been the best time of my life. I know it sounds sad, but it’s been pretty shitty for me so far.”
I couldn’t respond to that. I simply nodded. Apollo turned back towards Stephanie and raised his hands above her.
“Okay. I’m ready, Lady Delilah. Take my life in exchange for hers!”
And with that, there was a flash of light. Apollo crashed onto the bed beside her body facedown. There was a swirling of light and I could see the decayed remains of Stephanie underneath the sheet begin to form back into a whole person. She began moving around as if lost beneath the sheet. Everyone in the room had a look of amazement on their faces which quickly turned to smiles as I jumped up from my chair and pulled the sheet back to awaken her.
There she was, Stephanie was beginning to open her eyes. I grabbed her by the shoulders with tears in my eyes. She reciprocated and said, “Eric!” as she pulled herself up and kissed me passionately. Something she had not done in several years.
Emily’s face turned from smile to frown as she watched the two of us. I embraced the kiss for just a few seconds before pushing her back to calm her as I felt her shake with anxiety just as Anabel did when she was revived.
“Eric! Eric, what happened?! Where’s Anabel?!” she cried.
“Shh, shh, she’s safe! It’s okay,” I assured, “we got the bad guys and we’ve spent weeks trying to bring the two of you back to life. You both will be okay now and I’m not gonna let anything happen to either of you again.”
We embraced for a heartfelt hug and I could feel the tension coming from Emily. I started to explain what had happened with Apollo, when all of a sudden…
“Hey! Good, it worked!” he said, as he sprang back up from where he had collapsed on the bed beside us.
“What the? How? I thought you gave your life?” “Eric, who is this?” Stephanie asked.
“Well, this is the cleric we found to bring you back to life. But I thought he was dead.”
“Correction! I’m no longer a cleric! Part of my covenant with Delilah was to disavow Divine Magic, even from the Light Side. When she said I had to give my life to her, she meant in ways outside of the priesthood. I’m a free agent now!”
Wraith spoke up and said, “But, why did you collapse on the bed? If you knew during your communion with the goddess that all you were doing was sacrificing your powers, what was with that dramatic dying episode?”
“Ha! I couldn’t just let my last moments as a priest simply fizzle out. So I went with a dramatic flare!”
“Alright, man!” Wraith applauded.
Yep, that settles it. This guy was the Ernest Weathers A.K.A. Wraith of Callist. How could two of them exist in one world at the same time?
Once we brought Stephanie up to speed, she ordered some pizza and took a shower, as the others got comfortable. It was time to get a certain young lady back from Bristol.
* * *
On the other side of the well, near Benjamin’s house, I found a lovely but sad looking woman hanging clothes out to dry. She had resigned herself to chores in exchange for refuge while her broken heart healed and her mind went to dark places in fear for her friend's lives.
“Hello, Anabel,” I said subtly to her.
She looked up and her face brightened before she expressed, “Eric!”
I smiled at her and said, “not just me,” as I motioned behind me as Stephanie came walking up and closed the gap between us and Anabel
“Stephanie!!!”
“Anabel!!!”
The two of them rushed together and embraced in a warm hug. They cried and held each other tightly. The long road to reunification had crossed death and multiple worlds, but not even the power of the stones and the well could keep them separated.
After a moment, Anabel looked up from Stephanie’s shoulder with tears in her eyes and said, “Eric. Thank you!”
They motioned me to join them and the three of us clasped one another in loving harmony.
After thanking Thomas and Benjamin for keeping Anabel safe and taken care of, the three of us returned to my place.