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The sand certainly felt better than the flames. Without opening his eyes, Xelan took in his surroundings. The crash of waves. The scent brimming with salt and brine. The sea.

Gulls sung on their way by. Warmth unlike anything he experienced in his lifetime. He opened heavy lids to Earth’s sun unshielded without a burn on his body. The horizon boasted the most beautiful blue sky with the occasional fluffy cloud. The ocean surged on the beach just outside arm’s reach.

And he wasn’t alone. The tinkling giggles of children, and the heavy laughter of men carried to him from the boardwalk down the way. Some wandered onto the beach to play in the sand. Others bought ice cream or won prizes to surrender them immediately to their small charges. All little girls. Fathers and their—

“Superman!”

Xelan’s heart wrenched, and he forgot the strange rope in his hand. After living for three million years, he thought heaven or Eternity was a myth served as comfort for beings with shorter lifespans. Now, he wanted to believe. Standing to greet her, he smiled as she looped a chubby arm around his leg and spun. From between his boots, she gave him a grin sans a front tooth.

“Rayne, did you lose another one?”

“Hee.” The grin broadened, letting him have a better look.

He made an exaggerated show of it.

“Two days ago. I didn’t cry or nothing.” Her dark hair in braids, four-year-old Rayne wore a purple swimsuit with a faux shark fin strapped to her back.

“You’re a very brave girl, but it’s okay to cry, Rayne.” Whether this was heaven or an illusion, he refused to waste any of this precious time. “Do you have a bucket and a shovel?”

With a big, goofy nod, she darted off across the sand. Her tiny bare feet left adorable impressions for him to follow. Wearing black cargo pants and a white t-shirt, he plopped into the sand beside her. The supplies seemed plentiful for a single girl, but this wasn’t reality. Young Rayne instructed him on how to collect the wet sand, shape and mold it, and use it to form walls and towers. Her voice so sweet it choked him.

Don’t think. Just stay with her.

“And—and then we’ll take the shovels… and we’ll build the moat.” Rayne pointed with an emphatic gesture at the churning sea. “The water comes in from over there.”

A storm formed on the ocean’s horizon in the direction she pointed.

After swallowing hard, Xelan offered, “You’re pretty good at this.” She hopped on her feet with the fluidity of a child that adult humans lose later in life and hobbled across to him. With some effort, she reached up on her small tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek. She deserved a better smile from him. The pain lancing through his heart wilted the brilliance of it. So instead, he turned her around, plopped her back down in front of the castle, and kissed the top of her head.

“Is there room for one more?” The sarcastic tone of a third voice implied she already doubted it. It wasn’t her fault. Twelve years old was a hard age for a young woman.

Xelan turned to face Rayne’s second apparition. The reckless troublemaker who already sought her place in the world. She wore a black halter-kini with short-shorts, flip-flops, and pronounced white sunglasses. Her long hair dripped down her back with streaks of blue. Ahh… he almost forgot the fake tattoo phase. #Rebellion.

“You’re always welcome to join us, Rayne. Do you think you could build the moat?”

Rolling her eyes, she groaned, “Yes. I know how to build a moat.” She sank in the sand and started in with the shovel.

As he added some detail to the battlements, Xelan pretended not to examine her. An idea struck him. “One day you’ll have a real tattoo.”

She paused and peered up at him. “Really?!” A grin blossomed on her face.

He nodded and returned her grin. “I give it to you.”

“Oh, my god! That’s so cool. You’re the best. What is it? Tell. Me. Everything!”

Some time past and Xelan regaled the girls with stories of his adventures with their older self. An interesting exercise in psychology, but a comfort to him nonetheless. Even as he lost himself in their company, he still feared the inevitable return to darkness. He peered out across the beach to the lowering sun. Would all this vanish when night came? What about the storm?

With a tug on the rope, something moved between him and the sun, cutting a silhouette. It started toward them. Using his hand for shade, he watched the shape take the form of a young woman walking across the beach. She wore a strappy blue sundress the color of her eyes. The only time he recalled her wearing color. It flowed to her bare feet. Carrying her shoes in her able left hand and the rope in the right, she took graceful steps across the wet sand as her long black hair blew in the salty breeze.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

The girls stood with Xelan. They ran to her while he froze to the spot. He tried to place her age when a horrible thought struck him. If this was Eternity, why was she here? Rayne greeted her selves—also an interesting study in psychology. They danced around her until she stopped within arm’s reach. Her peaceful smile gutted him as his mind reeled with the possible deaths that led her here.

“Superman.”

The sound of Rayne’s voice broke Xelan down. He swept her into his arms and held on tight. Distantly, he heard himself say, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you. I’m so sorry.”

She clasped her arms around his back and held on so tight he gasped. “Shh… sh… I had to learn to take care of myself. I have so much to tell you.”

Xelan’s heart jumped in his throat. He pulled away in a panic. “Tameka? Is Tameka alive?”

She beamed and nodded. Relief washed over him and sent him crashing into the sand. She knelt beside him. “And the rest are also fine.”

“What happened? Why are you in Eternity?”

While the adults talked, the other two Raynes returned to constructing their sandcastle.

“This place?” Older Rayne glanced around at the beach and the boardwalk. Casual and unassuming, she answered, “I made it.” She faced the sea then and pulled her knees to her chest.

Xelan mirrored her pose. “Where are we, Rayne?”

“I meant to do this on Father’s Day, you know? But I couldn’t find you then. You… You’ve been gone two years, today. I constructed this in my sleep. We’re outside the Seam in a little pocket of reality.” Idly, she twisted the rope in her hand.

A father and his daughter rushed onto the sand near their troupe. She gave him a high five as he fished a frisbee from the ocean.

“I made this place for daughters who lost their fathers.”

Xelan whirled back to her. Every line of her face filled with sadness. He asked, “What about—”

Rayne’s lips pulled into a tight smile, but she kept her focus on the ocean. “I’ve already seen Ray. He’s doing fine. Passes along his thanks for keeping me alive all these years.” She nodded over her shoulder to the younger apparitions. “I sent these two to keep you company while you waited.” After a long pause, she gave him the full impact of her broken heart in her gaze. Tears brimmed her eyes. “You made a terrific dad.”

As they both fell into a shuddering, tearful fit, Xelan pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. He whispered against her hair, “I’m sorry I never told you about the lineage.” He leaned away to level his eyes with hers. “Come on now. Let’s not cry. Do we have until sundown?” He peered over at the sun already setting and tried to ignore the pang in his chest.

“Yes. Then I won’t be able to sustain it anymore without risking destabilization.”

“That was a lot of words I won’t pay too close attention to.” She grinned at his insistence on positivity. He loved winning that smile from her.

Rayne spied something beyond him, her face contorting in confusion and a hint of fear. She jumped to her feet. Xelan whirled around, ready to take on the cosmos to defend this moment. When he spotted what caused that reaction, his own heart sank.

Nox stood on the boardwalk. The source of Rayne’s fear. Made sense. But the confusion rested with what lay in his arms. The giant of an Icarus cradled a tiny bundle. His expression filled with peace. He refused to acknowledge anything else existed in the surrounding space. Only him and the baby in his arms.

“Xelan?” Rayne whispered.

Xelan stood and faced her. An unhappy memory, he swallowed twice through the thick emotions choking his tongue. “He and Celindria… uhm…” A sad story with an unhappy ending. Keep to the facts. “She became pregnant. Nox wanted them to be a family. Celindria decided against it. She told him after the fact.”

Rayne frowned, then peered back over his shoulder. “I knew that, but I never intended to bring him here.”

It was Xelan’s turn to frown, both at her lack of surprise and her choice of words. “How is he here?”

Staring back out at the storm over the ocean, she announced, “We don’t have much time.” She sounded tired.

The sky dimmed around them. The lights went out on the boardwalk. The darkness beckoned. Well, fine. But before that happened, he needed to know, “Rayne, are you all right?”

Radiant and beautiful in this illusionary place, Rayne probably thought she’d fooled him. Never. Sadness cast a shadow over every feature Xelan memorized of her face. A vast loneliness constellated in her eyes, and he never wanted to save her more. She clenched and unclenched her jaw and fists, trying to regain some composure. Even so, when she looked at him, tears glittered her cheeks around a fake smile.

“I won. I saved everyone. I’m fine.”

Tiny Rayne clutched his pant leg and beamed that missing tooth at him. Preteen Rayne stepped up to his other side and took his free hand while staring into the darkening sea. Adult Rayne trembled from her tears standing before him. After thousands of years of Xelan living in lonely bitterness, this young Progeny woman banished all of it away with a single smile. And now—

He brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. “You’re a very brave girl, but it’s okay to cry, Rayne. I miss you, too.”

“This was a bad idea. I’m losing you all over again.”

Xelan clutched her to him then and held on tight. “No. Never say that. I’ll cherish this moment. Seeing you alive… hearing the others are fine. Don’t you dare take that from me.”

Rayne broke into a great sob pressed against his chest. She clung to him, but much weaker than before. As night encroached on the beach and father-daughter pairs faded, Xelan knew the tremor racking her body was as much from the strain to keep him here as it was from her tears.

Terrified of the dark but more terrified of whatever happened to her when she “destabilized,” he spoke against the top of her head, “Rayne, it’s time to let me lay down my sword.”

“No!” she cried. She stared up at him, her face red with tears, and her eyes tight with strain. The ocean shimmered and winked until it disappeared.

The only thing left in her world was them. In a tiny voice that might as well have come from her four-year-old self, she begged, “Stay. Please.”

Xelan pulled back enough to take her face in his hands. “I don’t know what’s happening in the worlds right now, but I promise you, you’ll be all right.”

She made to shake her head, but he insisted, “I’ve seen it, Rayne. You’ll be all right.” He glanced down when her younger selves went to her side. As her eyes shifted in form, he knew their time was up. “Tell Tameka I love her. Please. Give my love to the others. Punch Kyle in the face again for me. And Rayne?”

On a shaky breath, she answered, “Yes?” She tried to straighten herself for him, and he admired her courage.

Make this count. In his last moments in what passed for a pretty decent stand-in for Eternity, he shone her a brilliant signature grin. Then he told her what he wanted to tell her since the first time Xelan saved her life.

“Thank you.”

Because Rayne, in turn, saved his.