FOURTH INTERLUDE

For an unknown time, across Terra Para

I winced in pain as the arctic winds stabbed me in the face. I paused in dull shock – I had experienced neither discomfort nor ardor for awhile. I had begun to believe I was unable to feel anything, ever since She had been gone and I had sealed my fate by bringing upon the War for Ascension.

Endlessly-fractal frozen plains stretched to the horizon in all directions. I knew not where I was now, nor did I care. I had escaped Dragon Retreat not because I lacked might; I had escaped because, after being numb from all feeling for so long, I had faltered... wavered... jarred, before the shock of Realization.

Kalessia had been alive.

She had been alive, and she had borne a child.

The Knowledge alone of Her being alive had enough power to halt my very intentions. And She had a child: Veralla. She was the most beautiful creature I had ever laid my vision upon – she surpassed even her mother. Her innocence, her purity, her True Nature – all flowed in perfect Unity. Even her Name was a legend made Real. Veralla, Kalessia's child, was a Primordial dragon. We – I – had succeeded.

Oh, at how dear a cost.

Cold sensation gripped me in a razor-edged grasp. It was not the icy wind or the glacial, lightless skies. It was dread, primeval and arrant, lancing me with a searing, singular question.

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Where was Kalessia?

I HAD TO FIND HER.

She was here, on Terra Para. I was certain about that with absolute conviction. I gathered my power and rushed, mindlessly, recklessly, heart-achingly, to search for her. I abandoned the Revenant, I shunned my focus on the Reality Vortex, and I forsook my Crusade against the galaxy – the only thing that mattered now was Kalessia, my dearest love.

I swept across the entire paraworld, searching the infinite sub-regions in the spatial matrix, moving in a blur at the speed of thought, raking at hyper-accelerated rate every location, every habitat, every landscape, sifting everything down to the quantum level. I did not know how long I weaved through reality in this fashion, for I kept no track of time while I did so. Nothing entered my mind, for only She was there, and Her Presence was the single guidance I heeded to.

At last, I came upon a region knotted on itself – a maze in the space-time continuum which would let no one out save for Those possessing the highest Power. There, from inside a cave full of crystal wonder, I heard the faint traces of Her Aura singing through the eternal Æther. The Dread clawing my at heart turned into overwhelming Fear. I stepped inside the cave.

She was there.

She was dead.

Fear turned into Sorrow. My Mind shattered. My Will shriveled. My Body failed. Distantly, I sensed a sharp, keening sound; it was my own piercing wail, rebounding off the indifferent walls of pristine splendor. The perspective shifted, and I saw myself reduced to my knees – the ultimate symbol of Surrender.

I had no more Power. I relinquished all Control, and Everything slipped through my torpid fingers. Connections still remained, yet I was Absent. I wanted to bring a Miracle. I could not. Giving Her the Breath of Life anew would mean surrendering my own Flickering Flame to the Fire Eternal. Until the end, we would remain Separated.

Tears bled freely, mercifully taking Clarity away. Without knowing the motion, my hands were bereft of gauntlets. Shaking, broken, I reached out, and touched Her soft, durable hide. A sob tore out my breath, and my soul. I crumbled.

Leaning forward, I embraced Her as wide as I could, and wept in endless anguish.