It took us nearly six months to work our way across the Second Choutia Kingdom to close all the cracks. We fought all different kinds of creatures. Some as singles, some as masses, and surprisingly, a lot of orcks. They really were homegrown and none of them came from any of the cracks I had closed. I still stepped through the ones I could and looked up at the sky, even though I knew it wasn't strictly necessary.
The only thing was, I couldn't get god's attention. I tried praying, meditating, and even talking to him directly, both mentally and verbally. I always had the distinct feeling of not wanting to be disturbed. I stopped trying after a month and just let the matter rest for a while.
We managed to find another one of the evil men that the prisoner had known. We actually stumbled across him as he was planning to attack us with a group of others he had gathered. That had been quite a surprise for Allirynn, Imiryl, and myself. The man's mind was too twisted by his own acts and depravity to get any more information than what we already had, except that I had the distinct impression that the people they had been looking for were in my party and now they knew that.
They would be coming for us.
The people the man had gathered had been his followers and they didn't know anyone else or their locations, so we dispatched them and took their things that we could use and incinerated the rest along with the bodies. After a long discussion with everyone, we decided that we would need to keep going and seal the cracks. Despite Allirynn and Imiryl being on the bad guy's hit list and targeted for kidnapping and torture, we didn't know where they were to go and fight them. All we could do was move on and deal with them when they attacked.
Unfortunately, the creatures we were killing from the cracks did not have any bounties, so I only kept a couple of each as specimens and we burned the rest. We had plenty of money, so it wasn't really a concern, and when we stopped for baths and to sleep for the night in an inn, we were treated like royalty. Both because of the money we had to spend for lodging and food, and for all of the creature and orck killing we had been doing. Word of us seemed to spread faster than we could ride our horses.
I had even met with Queen Celestina's contact and we quietly dealt with a political uprising that was going to put a cannibal into one of the main ruling classes. Normally I wouldn't interfere with politics; but, the man had eaten several of his potential rivals and planned to remove the others when he was in power. That I wouldn't stand for. At Allirynn's suggestion, we brought him along with us until we found another large group of orcks and used the man as bait. His death while being eaten was both ironic and fitting, because his death actually helped the kingdom and distracted the orcks long enough that we easily slaughtered them all.
Since we had no contact with the royalty or even higher authority in the military, we left the Second Choutia Kingdom as if we were just normal people. We entered the Third Nogam Kingdom and stopped to let Diofra make another map. We all groaned when we saw that it was the size of the last two kingdoms combined and it had nearly as many cracks as the First Sothen Kingdom, which meant we had a lot of travelling and a lot of cracks to close.
The only good part about it was that none of the cracks were near towns or cities. They were all in sparsely populated areas and we shouldn't have too much interaction with the locals or had to worry about how the creatures were affecting their lives. We resigned ourselves for the long haul and stocked up on supplies whenever we could. We worked hard and took breaks as much as possible, especially since it wasn't a rush job. The cracks had been around for years, decades, and in a few cases centuries, so there was no pressure to get them done.
It took us a year and a half to close them all and clear the kingdom. There had been one crack that had released a few hundred thousand rat-like creatures, and that was bad... but, it wasn't as bad as when we discovered that they had bred with the local rats and had litters of twelve to fourteen babies every two weeks. Our feelings of not having to rush disappeared and urgency replaced it as we told as many of the military members as we could and hunted the creatures down. It was the longest three months that any of us had ever experienced and we managed to kill off all of the original breed and their spawn. Diofra had taken to wearing two charged mana crystals and would constantly mutter 'Lightning bolt' in a steady stream to kill the things whenever she saw them.
None of us wanted to see another rat for the rest of our lives.
We encountered three different groups of kidnappers, one of which was on behalf of the queen's list, and we dealt with all of them. We gathered more information about how they thought taking Allirynn and Imiryl prisoner and ransoming them would help them get back their divinely granted gifts. I couldn't understand why that would work, because it was the choice of the divine being who would gain their benefits. Kidnapping, maiming, torturing, and killing people wouldn't help them.
Upon Imiryl's suggestion, we had completely avoided her home mountain range. There were no cracks there and she claimed that she did not leave her people under the best of circumstances. She didn't volunteer anything else and we didn't pry. Allirynn had held her tenderly as she spoke and we knew it must have been a lot worse than she let on.
We moved on to the Fourth Cruneian Kingdom, Allirynn's homeland, and when we did a map for the cracks, there were only three of them. That was more of a surprise than everything else we had seen during our trip, and we had seen a lot. Since he had explored the place before, Allirynn led us to the spots with the cracks.
The first two only had something like squidlings in one, that died almost as soon as they entered the almost desert-like environment, and the other had gnats. It wasn't even a swarm. It was just a handful of them. It took Diofra a few hours to adjust the vampire locate spell to search for them. When she cast the spell, all that showed up were the handful that stayed floating around the gaping maw illusion. I laughed at the absurdity of it, considering how hard we worked closing most of the others.
The third crack was where we had earned our keep.
We couldn't tell if it had slipped through somehow or had grown on this side; but, the third crack had spit out what could only be called an earth elemental. Unfortunately, it was mainly composed of sand. There were some gravelly rocks mixed in, as well as a few larger boulders; but, from what what I could tell, the damn thing could pretty much be any size that it wanted, with all the sand and rocks around. It took us several hours to 'wear it down' to the point that we had removed most of the sand and loose rocks from the area and stopped it from reconstituting itself from the surrounding environment.
We fought on and used combinations of cold and heat to slow it down enough to fight it on more normal terms, which didn't mean much. My mother's Light sword made no real progress against it and traditional weapons didn't hurt it at all. The creature battered and tore at us with the power of sand-blasting and it damaged both skin and clothing in equal measure. It wasn't until Diofra asked me to let her do her Incinerate spell on part of the creature that I caught on to what we needed to do.
With that plan in mind, I started to capture little bits and pieces of the creature with Presence and made the boxes solid. I also made them air-tight and let Diofra burn up the contents, so nothing could escape, and it took us another half an hour to make the elemental expend itself out to almost nothing. When I captured the last of it, everything I had in all the other boxes that were scattered around the battlefield, mostly crystalized sand, stopped moving. The last box had what was essentially the creature's main body that manipulated the earth element to do its bidding and it was now contained and concentrated on itself.
I was tempted to keep the thing, mainly because the rarity of having an actual elemental wasn't something to scoff at; but, it was much too dangerous to keep and I couldn't open it to let Diofra burn the thing. So, I picked the large box up and carried it over to the crack and tossed it in, then closed and started to seal the crack. As I put in the last stitch, I dismissed the Presence holding the creature and then healed the crack to erase it from existence.
“Good lord.” I said and sat down, practically exhausted. “That was...”
“It was horrible!” Afyne exclaimed and sat down beside me. We both winced when we tried to hug each other and touched some of the scrapes and bruises we shared. “We can't even cuddle!”
“We should make camp.” I said, and everyone agreed. We found a good spot nearby and it took us an hour to set it up, with all the soreness and injuries we had. Diofra had expended her mana crystals and her personal mana, so she couldn't heal us, and I was almost out of Presence after putting up a wall of protection and I needed to rest. None of us bothered to change and climbed into our tents and bedrolls fully dressed.
I woke up sometime later and immediately felt the evil around us. My Presence was back to full and I 'saw' about thirty people gathered around my Presence Walls. They were casting spells and using weapons to try and break through it, not realizing that their own energy was making it stronger. My body automatically cycled both mana and Presence in the area and fed my constructs and the horses. It was a simple technique to set up, especially with my absurd regeneration rate and self-healing.
Maylia and the others were still unconscious, though. I used Presence Healing on Maylia and Afyne first, then I created Presence Hands over everyone and touched them, then healed them as well. I could hear the thoughts of our enemies and they were pretty much lost in the frenzy to try and get in to capture Allirynn and Imiryl. I couldn't let that happen, so I stayed inside my tent and concentrated on creating a Presence blade outside of my Presence Walls.
I smiled and made a Presence Hand to wield it, then cut them down from behind. None of them noticed losing their spell casters until the spells stopped hitting my protection barrier. By the time they noticed, my Presence blade was there and cut them down. They had been so focused on trying to get through the barrier that they didn't even try to defend themselves. I also didn't try to read any of their minds. They had been so far gone in their madness that all I would be doing is giving myself nightmares for no gain.
The others woke up a couple of hours later and I already had food prepared. They saw the bodies outside of the Presence Walls and asked what had happened, so I told them while we ate. Only Allirynn had been a little upset that I hadn't woken them. I told him I had doubted that I could have woken him, even if I had tried, so I didn't. Once he heard how easy it was to kill them, he reluctantly agreed that letting him sleep was the better choice.
When we all ate, we cleaned up and packed up, then rode the horses partway across the kingdom towards where Allirynn had grown up. He hadn't been back there in years, so he was only slightly surprised to see that nothing had changed. Everything was exactly as he had last seen it, and we all stopped at the edge of the small oasis and dismounted. We tied up the horses and stood there and waited, while he went alone to greet his mother. I could see that she was there and I also knew that she had been patiently waiting for him since he had left to be an adventurer almost seven years ago.
*
Allirynn stepped up to the door of the house he grew up in and his heart beat in his chest so loudly that he thought he would go deaf from the sound of it. His hand hesitated near the handle and he thought over everything that he had gone through since he had left. He had started off well and met the people he would call friends, then he had grown arrogant and thought he had achieved what he had set out to do. He had been wrong. So wrong. He had thought it cost him all of his friends, then by the miracle of Hunter showing up and saving them, both he and Imiryl had been spared.
It was then that he was exposed to what he had really been, because he had to spend time with the Emissaries of Light and they were worse than he was. They were arrogant, secular, and completely full of themselves. They thought they could do no wrong. It had grated on his nerves to be on the receiving end of their 'hospitality' and he understood that if he and his friends had continued on like they had been, they would have been just as bad.
It wasn't until he was reunited with Hunter and joined his party that he saw what real adventurers were supposed to be like. It opened his eyes to all of the possibilities, all the things that could have been, and Imiryl was right there by his side to witness it all with him. His heart warmed at the thought of her and all that they had been through together. Imiryl might be an ice maiden and act cold sometimes; but, her heart was as big and as warm as any other. Once she accepted you into it, you were a part of her life from then on.
His life as an adventurer had been so varied and diverse, it seemed like he had lived several lifetimes worth of experiences. He had left his home with his mind full of uncertainty and his heart longing, and now he had returned with his mind set properly and his heart aglow with love and friendship. He took a deep breath and let it out, gripped the door handle and opened the door.
“Finally.” A woman's disembodied voice said. “I found you.”
“Mother?” Allirynn asked.
“Allirynn! Run!” His mother yelled and ran towards him.
The explosion lit up the surrounding area and obliterated the house.
*
“JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY!” I yelled as the little house blew up and I covered everyone in a blue Presence dome and made it solid instantly. I started to fill it with repelling energy and the blast wave of both sound and pressure hit us. I was surprised that we were pushed back about ten feet, then I realized why. It had been a blast of Presence.
“NOOOOOO!” Imiryl yelled, then she jumped at the barrier. “Hunter! Let me out!”
“It's still... going on.” I said and tried my best to maintain the barrier while also trying to filter out the effects of whatever had hit us. I tried to look and all I could see was a solid ball of Presence. I blinked my eyes and it didn't clear. “Dammit, whatever it is it's blinded my detection technique.”
“Mine, too.” Maylia said and shook her head. “We have to stop using it or we'll stay completely blind.”
I slipped off my blast shield and sighed, because for the first time in years, I stopped using the technique. “It's been a while since I've had to battle without using it.”
“We'll manage.” Maylia said. “Open the barrier on this side.”
I opened it and the light nearly blinded us. “Close your eyes.” I said and formed Presence over my eyes in the shape of a skin-tight visor and changed the light refraction to cut through the glare. I had lots of practice making myself and others invisible with Presence by bending light away, so this was only a slight modification of the same technique. After a few minutes, I was successful.
“Okay, I got it.” I said and formed similar visors over everyone's eyes. “You can look.”
They opened their eyes and looked out of my barrier.
Imiryl tried to run for the opening and I grabbed her arm. “Let me go!”
“Cover yourself in ice first! Protect yourself!” I ordered. “You'll be no good to him if you're dead!”
Imiryl glared at me angrily for a moment, then she listened and covered herself in a similar technique that I could make out of Presence. I did that and covered myself in thick Presence armor and did the same with Maylia and Afyne. They could do it on their own for the most part; but, I wasn't going to drop my barrier without protecting them as much as possible.
“Okay, the pressure's stopped. There's still a lot of sand and wind blowing around, so we're not going to see very far.” I said and looked at everyone. “Ready?”
Diofra had cast Magic Armor on herself and Evus, and Viri had her own and also a magical barrier.
“Hunter! Let me out!” Imiryl spat.
“Don't rush into the main area. If he was blown away like we were...”
Imiryl took a quick breath. “I understand.”
“Good.” I said and let her arm go and completely dropped the barrier. “Let's go!”
We spread out and quickly checked the surrounding area for Allirynn. We found him about sixty feet away from where the house used to be. He was half covered by sand and the other half was covered by a woman, who we had to assume was his mother.
She took the brunt of the blast. I thought in surprise.
“Allirynn!” Imiryl exclaimed and knelt by them and tried to shake them awake. I bent down and stayed in a fighting stance as I touched Allirynn's forehead and checked him for injuries. I couldn't see them without using my detection technique, though.
“He's messed up pretty badly.” I said. “His arm, shoulder, and I think...” I let my Presence flow over him. “...one of his hands.”
“What...” Imiryl started to ask.
“Crushed.” I said. “He's lucky that his mother took most of it.”
“Can you heal him?”
“Yeah, if I don't want to fight whatever did this.” I said.
“I'll handle it.” Imiryl said in a deadly voice and stood. A light frost covered everything in an instant, except the people. “There.” She said and looked up a little. We all turned around to see the sand and wind suddenly stop and the air cleared, as if the mini-sandstorm hadn't just been there.
Grania the mage floated above the center of the blast area. “I knew that if I tracked the ones closing my anchors to this planet, that you would eventually lead me to who I was searching for.” She smiled evilly. “Now you have.”
“What do you want with us?” Imiryl asked and I could feel her gathering her mana.
“You?” Grania barked a laugh. “You're worthless. I only wanted him.” She said and nodded to Allirynn. “With him as my captive, she would have to come out of hiding to rescue him.” Her gaze fell on me. “You kept him from me, time and time again.”
I felt a huge amount of Presence press down on me and smiled. “I'm sorry I'm not sorry.”
Grania's face twisted and she raised her hand towards me. I felt her Presence wrap around me and grip me like a hand. I knew it wasn't, because it didn't feel like a hand, so I used my own Presence to poke the feeling and disrupted the energy flow. The pressure faded slightly and she frowned. She raised her hand and swiped it at me and I felt a huge Presence blade cut through the air towards us.
I couldn't block something that powerful, not and live, so I deflected it as much as I could with an angled Presence Wall. “Duck!” I yelled and I staggered as the blade dug into my Presence Wall and skidded, then it sliced off the part of the wall where my head would have been if I had still been standing. “Oh, that hurt.” I said and drew my mother's Light sword. “Maylia.”
“I'll keep her safe.” Maylia said.
“All right, you crazy bitch.” I said and activated the Light sword. “Prepare to get your ass handed to you.”
“You dare think you can rival me?” Grania asked, then she laughed. “You mortals are so funny!”
“Yeah, keep laughing.” I said and activated all the buffs I had, then activated Presence Run and took off around her. As I ran around, I bent the light and disappeared from sight, changed direction, then I jumped at her with the Light sword poised to strike. She didn't move and turned her head to look at me. I felt a huge wave of Presence gather around her, several feet thick, and smiled.
Grania saw my smile and her head tilted slightly as if she was curious about something, then I turned my sword away and swung my fist instead. I had covered myself in repelling energy, so my fist slid through her thick Presence barrier as if though jello, then I covered my fist in solid Presence at the last second. It smashed into her face and her head whipped to the side, which was the perfect distraction, because her Presence faltered as she felt surprise from being hit so easily. I swung the Light sword back around and drove it into her chest.
Grania screamed as the Light sword burned through her skin and bones, grazed her heart, and came out through her back. She slowly lowered herself to the ground and then she dropped to her knees. Her face was full of disbelief as she stared at the Light sword through her chest.
That seemed a bit too easy. I thought.
“It was.” Grania said. “It never crossed my mind that you could get through my barrier.”
“Well, I like surprising people.” I said.
“I won't make the same mistake again.” Grania said.
“No, you won't.” I said and moved the Light sword around to make sure I cut out all of her heart.
“Are you trying to do something?” Grania asked, curious.
I looked at the hole I had burned in her chest and I could see through her heart. “I'm trying to kill you.”
“Yes, you mortals are hilariously funny.” Grania said and put her hand right on the glowing Light sword. Her hand burned from the energy and then she started to squeeze. My eyes widened as I felt the Presence in the blade waver and start to backlash into the focusing crystal. I tried to devote more concentration to it to stabilize it and it didn't work. I then tried to pull it away and her hand squeezed the energy blade and held onto it. I felt the energy flow shoot back into the focusing crystal and I struggled to hold it.
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“Such willpower.” Grania said and stood. It changed the angle that I was holding the Light sword and it was enough to make me lose my concentration slightly.
That was all it took.
Grania's hand became a fist and Presence shot through the electronics and the focusing crystal in the wrong direction and shattered both. I had to turn my face away from the blast as the hilt exploded and sent metal shrapnel everywhere, then I felt a woman's hand touch mine.
“So delicate.” She said and gripped my hand. “I believe the elves said that men shouldn't hold weapons.” She smiled and made a fist with her hand.
“ARGH!” I yelled in pain as she pulverized my Presence armor and my hand as if it was nothing. She let it go and it was just a mangled mess of flesh and blood and shattered bones.
“You poor thing.” Grania said and touched my jaw. “They said men shouldn't talk, either.”
I tried to pull away and she gripped my chin and crushed it before I could. I gurgled from the pain and several shouts came from behind me. “Bloo bib!” I tried to say. Do it! I thought.
“Your little friends can't save you.” Grania said and leaned in close. “They can't hit me without hitting you, and they love you.” She said with a wicked smile. “I wasn't inhabiting this body within your group for very long before I so easily discovered your weakness.” She looked at Maylia and Afyne.
Leave them alone! I yelled at her in my mind.
Grania smiled at my defiance. “You don't know how fortunate I was to find this poor soul that begged for someone to take them from their life. She couldn't handle being captured by the elves after she found herself inside the magical barrier. I just happened to be near there at the time, so I did her a favor.” She said. “Once you 'rescued' me from the elves, it was a simple task to attach a minuscule amount of my Presence to the tanned man. With that done, I no longer needed to be with your group to know where you were and sent my corrupted followers to find you.”
I thought about what she said and I looked down at her still destroyed heart. Grania is dead, isn't she?
“Of course she is. She even begged for it.” Grania said. “Her Presence was quite delicious.”
Her... but, she used mana. I thought.
“We both know that both energies exist here.” Grania said and then frowned. “I don't know why I can't absorb the mana that exists here, so I came here to find out.”
You opened all those cracks and let loose all of those creatures, just to find out how to absorb mana? I asked in both surprise and disbelief.
“Ha ha! You simple-minded fool.” Grania said. “I need to know how to consume mana so I can finish my work here and consume the star nearby.”
Oh, damn. I thought as I remembered all the other dark red planets around stars that had been almost fully drained of their Presence.
“You understand now. Good. The cracks served two purposes. One was to anchor me to this planet to allow my Presence access to it and the other was to spread my Presence and influence through fear and terror. Once thoughts of the cracks and the creatures they spawned spread to enough of the population, I once again gained a foothold here.”
“It... was... you.” Allirynn's weak voice said. “You were... the one who...”
“Yes. Your father was delicious as well.” Grania said. “He offered me his life willingly, as long as I spared his whelp and his wife.” She laughed. “I never imagined that he was also protecting the entire planet at the time and he made me lose my influence here for a time.”
“He was a good man.” A woman's voice said.
“M-mother, don't...”
“It's all right, my son.” The woman said as she stood. “I'm glad we finally know what happened to the man I loved.” She reached down and touched her son, and he was healed instantly. He stared at her with new eyes as she glowed bright green with mana.
“M-mother?”
“There is so much you need to know and no time to tell it.” She said. “I waited for your return to tell you everything, only to be discovered after hiding for all these years.”
“Your pitiful followers quickly accepted my blessings when you cast them aside.” Grania said. “What kind of divine being willingly gives up devotion like that?” She shook her head. “You were foolish to sacrifice so much power!”
“I wanted to live my life with the man I loved.” Allirynn's mother said as she turned to face Grania. “He had earned both my respect and devotion, and when he returned both, I felt that I no longer needed the others, who were so shallow in their beliefs. I discovered what true devotion felt like and the others paled and faded away in comparison.”
“Ha! Love!” Grania spat. “Anger. Fear. Terror. Those emotions are more powerful! With them you can dominate everything and everyone!”
“You're wrong.” Allirynn's mother said and I was covered in mana and pulled out of the way. She floated me over to the rest of my party. “Those emotions are quicker and easier to access. They grant you power; but, at a deep cost. Love, compassion, caring. Those are long burning emotions that take time to develop. With them in your mind and in your heart, you can become even more powerful.”
Grania shook her head. “You haven't had those emotions since I killed your husband!”
“That's why you are going to fail.” Allirynn's mother said and touched her heart. “His love and devotion are still here, inside of me.”
“Mine is as well.” Allirynn said. “I've always loved you and am devoted to you. I've always wanted to make you proud, to show you that your love and devotion to me wasn't wasted.” He said. “I left our house an ignorant fool on an errand that would have been pointless, had I not had the experiences I have. I know what is important now. It's not being the strongest or the most well known. It's having people around you who accept you for who you are, flaws and all, and they don't expect you to do anything except be there when they need you.”
“Having family and friends weakens you.” Grania said. “They become pawns and weaknesses that can only be distractions during a fight.”
“So are we, for them.” I said, my jaw fully healed from Diofra's healing spell. My hand was still quite a mess, though. At least I now had fingers. “Unless you all trust each other to have your back when you get hurt. Then we all benefit each other. You fight harder, stronger, and with desperation when your loved ones are in danger.”
“Pfft!” Grania huffed and gathered Presence towards herself and I felt a hundred large Presence blades form around her. “None of you will have loved ones when I am through! You will all become my creatures!”
“I don't think so.” A woman's disembodied voice said and a bright glow appeared. The Presence blades Grania was constructing were disrupted by beams of coherent light. The bright light faded and revealed Evangeline. Only it wasn't her.
“Chaiya!” Grania spat. “You bitch! What are YOU doing here?!?”
“Hunting you, of course.” Chaiya said with a smile and looked at Allirynn's mother. “Greetings, sister.”
Allirynn's mother sighed. “I told you to never call me that.”
“Don't be angry.” Chaiya said. “I'm only here to look out for you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“With no followers and most of your only planet's population thinking about this one?” Chaiya asked and motioned to Grania. “What have you been doing here?”
“I was trying to put all of this damn mess behind me and live a normal life!” Allirynn's mother exclaimed. “Why can't you understand that?”
Chaiya laughed. “Dalliances with mortals never ends well. You know this. It's happened countless times since the first mortal world was created.”
Allirynn's mother stared at her and couldn't argue that it had ended well.
“It did end well this time.” I said and the three women turned to look at me. “She might have lost her husband; but, he sacrificed himself to save her, her son, and the whole planet. You can't tell me that wasn't a good thing.”
“Her love died.” Chaiya said.
“As long as she and her son is alive, his love will always be inside of them.” I said. “He will never truly be dead.”
“Then they must die and...” Grania started to say and then the world went white. Snow and ice covered everything within a hundred feet in an instant, then bolts of both Ice and Lightning shot out in a steady stream towards Grania. I added in my own Presence Lightning to the attacks and combined them, and everything hit the intended target. We stopped after a couple of minutes to recover our energy.
“Impressive.” Grania said and pushed the ice away with Presence. Part of her face was gone, one of her arms from the elbow down, and she had a dozen holes through her chest around the heart hole. “I didn't realize that these mortals were so fragile.”
I felt another surge of Presence and all of the wounds filled in with Presence to take up the missing space, then it transformed into the missing body parts. Grania stood in front of us all with a completely reconstructed body.
“Let the grown ups handle this.” Chaiya said to us, then looked at Allirynn's mother. “Sister, you can have the first strike.”
“This isn't a game, Chaiya! Just attack her!” Allirynn's mother exclaimed and Chaiya sighed.
“You used to be more fun than this.” Chaiya said and then she moved. In a flash of light, she was across the distance and had formed Presence around her hand in the shape of a three foot long blade that looked just like a Light sword that glowed yellow. I was surprised by this, then really surprised when Grania did the same thing and a red blade popped out of her hand and caught Chaiya's in a classic block.
What the hell? I asked myself as they started to dodge and parry blows. They fought like... well, mortals. I had expected large fiery blasts of energy when divine beings fought, not a standard Light sword duel. We all tried to watch the fight; but, some of us couldn't keep up with how fast they moved. I could feel them moving and even I had a hard time keeping my eyes on them.
I could also feel both of their Presences lower slightly as they fought. They are slowly wearing away at their Presence reserves. I thought and remembered plunging my mother's Light sword into Grania's heart and didn't feel any of her Presence being lost. I had to think about why that was as I watched the fight, then I realized why. I had attuned the focusing crystal to my new Presence but I hadn't been channelling any of it through the crystal and into the blade. I had only used the blade's inherent Presence and didn't enhance it at all.
Such a rookie mistake. I thought and shook my head mentally. No wonder she wasn't worried at all when I activated the Light sword. She knew I couldn't hurt her with it like it was!
The fight raged on and we all stood there in silence as they moved through the thick layer of ice and snow as if it wasn't there. The heat of the land started to melt it and Imiryl used it as a chance to catch Grania with several ice spikes. It made her steps falter as they pierced her feet and Chaiya swiped with her Presence Light sword and lopped off Grania's upper arm. It flipped through the air and landed not far away from us, so I used a Presence Hand to pick it up and tucked it into the snow and covered it in Presence to hide it from both sight and feeling.
Grania started to create another arm and Chaiya smiled as she tried to go in for the kill. Grania smiled back and brought up her other hand and shoved a Presence Light sword into Chaiya's belly.
“GAH!” Chaiya grunted and pulled back. Both blood and Presence leaked out of her wound.
“Arrogance is so easy to manipulate.” Grania said and stuck out her tongue, then she licked the blood and Presence on her blade. “Mmm. Presence from a newborn. Thank you, Chaiya.”
Chaiya's face lost some of its color. “S-sister!”
Allirynn's mother was suddenly there and touched Chaiya's shoulder and healed her instantly.
“Together.” Chaiya said and Allirynn's mother nodded and formed her own Presence Light sword from her hand. The two women took fighting stances for a moment, then they attacked. Chaiya went high and Allirynn's mother went low. Grania had predicted that and had a Presence Light sword ready to block both. She hadn't spared the energy to convert her lost arm, so it was just see-through energy, just like the Presence Light sword it held.
Chaiya turned and swung her sword at Grania's left side and Allirynn's mother swung at her right side. Grania slipped backwards a foot and both swords missed her by an inch and she lunged with her swords aimed at their faces. Both women ducked and Grania jumped into the air and put her knees into their bent over faces. The sound of bones breaking reverberated as both women recoiled with spurts of blood from their noses.
Grania didn't give them time to recover, however. Her blades struck out at their shoulders and they tried to avoid it, which put them at another disadvantage, and Grania kicked Allirynn's mother in the chest to push her away and then shoved both blades at Chaiya's legs. She avoided one and the other grazed the side of her thigh. Chaiya dropped to one knee and hissed as Presence and blood came from the wound. She covered it in Presence and staunched the bleeding and stopped the leak, then she blocked Grania's strike towards her head with her sword and used a hand to catch the second one.
Chaiya grunted at the pain as her hand sizzled. She tried to do the same trick that Grania had done to my Light sword. Grania laughed and let the blade go to let it dissolve and punched her in the face. I felt a familiar tingle as another Presence made itself known, so I closed my eyes. The negotiations began and lasted for only a second.
“AAGGHHHH!” Chaiya screamed in pain as her previously broken nose was shattered. Her Presence Light sword dissolved and she covered her face with both hands.
“YES!” Grania yelled and swung her sword at Chaiya's exposed neck. The smash and hum of another Light sword as it caught and deflected her strike surprised her. “What...”
“I may hate how she treats her subjects; but, I can't let her be killed and leave her followers empty and destitute.” My mouth said with god's voice. My mangled hand was healed and it held a blue Presence Light sword.
“YOU!” Grania yelled and swung her Presence Light sword at me.
I caught it with a Presence Hand and smiled. “Not just him.” I said and yanked on the sword. I knew she wouldn't let it go right away, not with an opposing Light sword ready to strike at her, so I pulled her off balance and my right hand with the Presence Light sword swiped at her hand. She formed another Light sword on her Presence formed hand and blocked her normal hand from being cut off. When she started to let the sword I held go, I quickly turned it around and shoved it into her side.
Grania grunted as it sliced into her and she lost both the Presence from creating the sword and from the wound. She covered the wound with Presence and reached out with her free hand to grab me, so I stepped back and she looked at me with a grin as I gave her room.
“You're afraid of me now.” Grania said, her voice full of satisfaction.
“No, I'm making room.” I said and decided that this was the time to use my trump card. I used Presence to open the four secret pockets I had installed into the upper arms and outside the thighs on my uniform and slid out all four of my remaining custom Light swords. I activated them and charged them with Presence, then plunged all four of them into her chest.
Grania started to scream in pain when Allirynn's mother chose the perfect opportunity to attack. She lunged by me and her Presence Light sword sliced through Grania's forehead and the top of her head fell off.
“UUUGGGGAHHHHHH!” Grania screamed bloody murder and jumped away to try and recover from the worst damage she had ever received.
“Oh, no you don't.” My mouth said with god's voice as a giant Presence Hand appeared behind her. I pulled the four Light swords out of her and spurts of blood and Presence came out as the giant hand caught her.
“Chaiya! NOW” Allirynn's mother yelled.
Chaiya flew over with her face covered in blood and hatred. She didn't speak as her Light sword cut through both the giant Presence Hand's fingers and sliced Grania's legs off at the top of her thighs. I felt the damage from the Presence Hand being cut and god accept the damage instead of giving it to me. The giant Presence Hand dissolved and Grania fell to the ground in a heap.
“I'll... make you all... pay!” Grania spat. She tried to form her legs with Presence and both Allirynn's mother and Chaiya were there to cut them off as they formed. “ARGH! I'll kill you for that!”
“That's a hollow threat.” My mouth said as I walked over to her. I turned off the Light swords and tucked them back into their hidden pockets. “There's someone I want you meet, now that we've weakened you enough for her to appear.”
A solid black ball of energy appeared beside me and my right hand reached into it. It expanded out to the size of a person and my right hand came back out... and it held a very pale white hand. Everyone gasped as a vision of deathly beauty stepped out and the black ball of energy shrank and disappeared. Her long flowing black hair was as eye-catching as her startlingly intelligent eyes.
“N-no...” Grania's voice was barely above a whisper.
“You have evaded me for far too long.” Black Laura said and looked at the others and then at me. “Dearest, you should...”
“No, I will watch.” My mouth said and a Presence barrier appeared around us to block everyone else from seeing. “No one else needs to, though.”
“You are always so kind and forgiving.” Black Laura said, then she turned to Grania on the ground. “Let me show you why I am called Black Laura.”
“N-no. NO!” Grania shouted and tried to squirm away.
Black Laura knelt and touched her.
“No, please...” Grania pleaded.
“You have killed too many souls.” Black Laura said. “The scales must be balanced.”
I felt something similar to what the Forest guide had done to me and part of Black Laura's Presence stabbed into Grania's Presence and started to suck it in.
“Noooo... noooooooo...” Grania's words fell away as her Presence grew weaker and weaker. She tried to exit the body she was inhabiting; but, Black Laura had latched onto her Presence and not the Presence in the body. It took a few minutes for her to drain the last of Grania's energy, and the body in front of us shrivelled up like a prune and then crumbled into dust.
Black Laura stood and looked at Allirynn's mother and Chaiya. “Thank you for taking the lead and making her drain more of her stolen power.”
“You helped me once and didn't ask for anything, so I am only returning the favor.” Chaiya said and then smiled. “Plus, I managed to gain a foothold here myself and gained from it, so we both benefited.”
Black Laura nodded and looked at Allirynn's mother. “You are always welcome to return.”
“My life is here... was here...” Allirynn's mother said. “I don't know what's going to happen now.”
“Spend time with your son and see where things develop from there.” Black Laura said. “We are here whenever you need us.”
Allirynn's mother nodded and Black Laura turned to me and took my right hand.
“Dearest, thank you most of all for making all of this possible.” Black Laura said and leaned in close.
“Um... he's only using my right arm.” I said, a little awkwardly.
“I know.” Black Laura smiled crookedly. “I was thanking you, too.” She said and kissed me.
Being kissed by a goddess was quite an experience.
My Presence responded and it rushed to meet hers. She moaned a little into my mouth as my body responded to her centuries of kissing experience and my Presence and hers mingled together a little. I felt her try to restrain herself and not give in to her impulses, and I had to admit that was very flattering. My left hand snaked around her and slid up her back to embrace her properly and she did the same with her free hand. We stayed like that and made out for nearly a full minute before Chaiya coughed loudly.
“We need to go.” Chaiya said. “Our leeway of non-interference unless necessary has disappeared.”
Black Laura reluctantly broke the kiss and looked into my eyes. “I will wait for you until your time has come.” She said in a soft voice. “Then I will claim you and you will be mine for eternity.”
I blinked my eyes at her for a moment, then I understood what she meant. “When my long life is done, I will await your appearance. If at that time, you are still enamoured with me, I will be more than happy to be with you.”
Black Laura liked that I had received her subtle hint. “It's a date.” She said and a black orb of energy appeared beside me. My right hand, that still held hers, moved into it and expanded it out to full size.
“Until then.” I said and she walked into the solid black portal. My hand came out and the energy shrank and disappeared.
“Goodbye, sister.” Chaiya said to Allirynn's mother then she turned and glanced at me. She gave me a look that I couldn't read and then she disappeared into a ball of light.
I absorbed the Presence barrier around us and everyone ran over.
“What happened?” “Where's Grania?” “Where are Evangeline and that other woman?” Several people asked at once.
Allirynn's mother held up a hand to stop their questions and she looked at Allirynn. “We need to talk.”
“If you ask for privacy, I will refuse.” Allirynn said. “You have seen what my friends are willing to do.” He said. “They fought a goddess for us, Mother.”
Allirynn's mother looked at our faces, some expectant and others, like mine, showed acceptance. “Very well.” She said and waved her hand. The house and everything that had been destroyed was instantly repaired and restored to what it had been before.
“It was all Presence constructs.” I said and looked around with my Detect Presence technique, now that the blinding source was gone. “That's why there was only a blast wave with sound and pressure and no actual debris except sand.”
Allirynn's mother nodded. “Please, sit.” She said and enough chairs appeared for everyone. “This may take a while.”
“Afyne, give me a hand with some food.” I said and stood. “We'll cook while you talk.”
Allirynn's mother smiled and nodded, so Afyne and I went to the kitchen and made a meal for everyone, while Allirynn's mother told us all about what had happened. About her being a goddess and adventuring as a mortal for fun, until she met Allirynn's father. She told us of their love story, spending many years together as husband and wife, and then about her giving up her divine rights to become mortal and her husband retired. They soon had Allirynn and were happy as ever. A few years later, the word of evil rising up to take over the land reached them.
Allirynn's mother held everyone's attention as she spoke of her husband, how he had sacrificed his home life to become an adventurer again to go and fight this great evil, that he had defeated it somehow and it disappeared, and how he never returned. She had raised Allirynn all alone and then she told of how he needed to learn how to fight. Without weapons.
“You're a unique class, too?” Afyne asked Allirynn as we put the plates of food on a huge table that had appeared for the purpose. He nodded and they all came over to the table and sat down to eat. We all shared a nice meal as Allirynn's mother continued her story of his training and clearing out the creatures from the surrounding area. When she reached the part about his coming of age, Allirynn interrupted and put a hand on her shoulder.
“I'll take over here.” Allirynn said and he told his side of the encounter. His mother had tears in her eyes when he finished with being kicked out of the house without any idea of what he was going to do to live.
“I... had to do it.” His mother said in her defense. “If he was out in the world, I couldn't appear anywhere with him. Everyone would have recognized me.”
“From your adventuring days.” I said and she nodded.
“I was afraid that old grudges against me would surface and they would hold it against Allirynn and treat him appropriately, or inappropriately.” Allirynn's mother said. “I never suspected that he was being targeted for just that reason, except by another divine being and not an adventurer.”
“Which was why you never contacted him and he never contacted you.” I said, and both Allirynn and his mother nodded.
“At first it was because I was busy adventuring.” Allirynn said. “Then I was attacked by that mangled face man and I couldn't take the chance that they would use my mother against me.”
“Now, here we are.” Allirynn's mother said and looked at us all. “The world saved, the people protected, and I barely did anything.”
“Mother.” Allirynn said and took her hand. “You gave everything up. For me.” He said. “It's not your fault that Grania corrupted some of your followers.”
His mother wanted to protest, then she saw me smile. “You have something to say?”
“You didn't notice that Grania hadn't corrupted all of your followers?” I asked. “Only certain ones. Only those vulnerable to either dark thoughts or dark impulses.”
Everyone looked at me and I chuckled.
“Look, you can tease and entice people with a lot of things; but, maiming, torturing, and killing is not something that an average person is willing to look at, let alone actually commit against other people.” I said. “No, these people were on the brink anyway. I doubt there was even a lot of convincing needed, considering the things I saw in some of their minds.”
Everyone seemed to agree to that, even Allirynn and his mother. We sat in silence for several minutes.
“What do we do now?” Afyne asked.
“The only thing we can do, of course.” I said with a grin. “We attend Allirynn and Imiryl's wedding.”
“WHAT?!?” Allirynn's mother exclaimed.
“Your little boy has grown up.” I said and motioned to him. “Go ahead.”
“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Allirynn said through gritted teeth.
“It was a surprise.” I chuckled. “Hurry up! She's waiting!”
Allirynn turned his head to look at Imiryl and saw her face was flushed red and full of expectation. “I... love you.” He said and moved his chair out and knelt on one knee in front of her. “We've been through so much and we've been there for each other through it all.” He took her hand tenderly. “If it wasn't for you, I never would have been able to deal with what happened.”
“M-me, t-too.” Imiryl said, tears in her eyes.
“Imiryl.” Allirynn said in a deeper voice as he took out something from his bag of holding. “Will you become my other half?” He asked and held up a ring with a dark green stone embedded into the surface. It gleamed with mana and reflected light.
“A bonding ring!” Diofra exclaimed excitedly.
“Allirynn...” Imiryl started to say and he took out the matching ring for himself. “...are you sure?”
“As sure as I am that I never want to leave your side.” Allirynn said. Imiryl gave a slight nod and he slipped the ring onto the appropriate finger and she took the other and slipped it on his finger. Both rings fit perfectly and nearly everyone cheered. His mother looked upon them with approval.
The wedding happened a week later. It took several trips to nearby towns to gather the supplies needed for it and then shopping for the right clothing for everyone else. Maylia, Afyne and I had more than enough fancy outfits for ourselves and we just had to wait for the others. Not a lot of people could travel all the way across the world in such a short time, so most sent messages of congratulations and well wishes. It was a great event and everyone had a great time dancing and carrying on. Near the end of the night, Allirynn's mother managed to get me alone on the dance floor.
“Hunter, thank you for taking care of my boy.”
“I'm just glad it all worked out.” I said as we slowly waltzed. “It wasn't a great start when we first met.”
“You are why he is still here, so I can never repay...”
“You did your best during the fight and disabled Grania at just the right moment.” I said. “I'd say that's payment enough, wouldn't you?”
“Hunter, I...” Allirynn's mother took a breath and let it out. “My abilities are not what they once were, but...”
“No, thank you.” I said. “If your mind is set to give me something, then I'll ask you to give me the next twenty years of your life.”
“Excuse me?” She looked at me like I was asking for the world and her thoughts were the same.
I smiled. “For the next twenty years, I want you to become the perfect mother.” I said. “Neither Allirynn nor Imiryl have any real experience with what it's like to be married. They are going to need you and your expertise. If they have children, you will become the perfect grandmother instead.”
“You aren't asking for much.” She said.
“Only devotion to your family.” I said. “Can you give me that?”
Allirynn's mother stared into my eyes until the song ended. “I can see why he likes you.”
“It's the color-changing eyes.” I joked. “Everyone likes my eyes.”
The music started up with another slow song and we started to waltz again. In the middle of the song, she nodded in agreement. We finished the dance and the people playing music said that there was one more dance. I led her over to her son and took Maylia and Afyne back onto the dance floor. I picked Afyne up and propped her up on my hip, just like my old guardian Emari used to do, then we both danced a waltz with Maylia.
The end?
The Epilogue is next.