Allora heard Revos sit up and stretch. Her own body longed for sleep but she had not moved from Mitchell’s side in the hours since he’d lost consciousness. She watched and waited, still holding his hand. Lethalin still slumbered, her soft snores barely noticeable anymore. Revos got up without speaking, went off to relieve himself, and returned a short time later.

“The boy will be fine,” Revos said from behind her. “You were right not to tell him. It would have only scared him. He survived.”

“I know that,” Allora responded, not turning to look at him. “It needed to be done this way,”

Her eyes remained on Mitchell. The purple glow had faded from his veins and his fever had broken about an hour before. The sweat that had poured off him had been thirstily absorbed by the desert sand. His body was now cool and dry.

“You should try to get a few hours of sleep at least.”

Revos meant the words to be comforting, she could hear it in his voice, but she did not want his comfort.

“I will be fine.”

When she didn’t offer up any more comments Revos went back to his pallet and laid back down.

She knew she had had to conceal the truth of the process and the risks from Mitchell so as not to frighten him unnecessarily, but she had still lied to her monarch. Again. That he was not technically the king yet was small comfort. It was her job to protect him, teach him what he needed to know, guide him, see him to the throne, and even sacrifice her life for him if need be. Yet from their very first meeting, she had done nothing but lie to him. Revos could not understand the conflict this caused for her. She didn’t want to believe it was because of his cambion blood but, at least in his case, the stereotypes of his race were largely true.

“I wish you were here, mother,” she said to herself. “These responsibilities always seemed to rest so easily on your shoulders.”

But of course, there was no answer. Her parents were beyond her reach now and could offer no counsel. They still had an hour or two before they needed to be up and moving. Assuming Mitchell had awoken by then.

So quietly that she almost couldn’t hear the words herself, she whispered, “Father…I am afraid.”

Her hand clenched Mitchell’s and she continued her vigil over his unconscious form. She would not fail this time.

*****

Mitchell felt cool stone against his cheek. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw he was in a dimly lit space. There didn’t seem to be a direct source of light. Instead, as his eyes focused, he saw a soft glow emanating from inside shards of crystal that were jutting up from the ground and walls around him at hard angles. He pushed himself up then and realized he was naked. But instead of being cold, he found the space warm and comfortable. As he stood, he turned in wonder at the sight before him.

Razor-sharp blades of black and purple crystal pierced the air all around him but he didn’t feel afraid. He felt safe here for reasons he couldn’t explain. It was almost womb-like. If this strange, cramped space could be said to be a womb.

“I bid you greetings, Mitchell Theodore Allen of the realm of Earth.”

The voice was soft and feminine and reverberated from the crystal shards around him and he could feel it in his bones. He spun and searched the angled shadows but saw nothing.

“I bid you greetings as well,” Mitchell said uncertainly to no one in particular.

In front of him, the lights began to coalesce into one large crystal obelisk and then, without warning, a figure stepped from it as smoothly as one might emerge from water. It was humanoid in shape, nearly seven feet tall, and it had two arms, legs, and a head, but no recognizable features beyond that. Then, the form rippled, the sharp edges smoothed, and feminine features began to manifest. Chest and hips swelled, and the face sunk in and then reformed with eyes, a nose, and full lips. Fingers split off from the ends of the arms which before had been blocky and angular but were fast becoming more toned and human-like. Mitchell saw the swelling of crystal breasts and a lithe torso and followed it down to the creature's groin but no genitalia was noticeable.

In just seconds the clunky block of ambulatory crystal had reshaped itself into the form of a very attractive, albeit bald, human female form. Some of the lights that swirled around inside the crystal body migrated up to the head and took up residence behind the eyes. The eyelids were closed, but the light passed through easily enough. Then, they opened and fixed their gaze upon him.

She - it or whatever it was - spoke directly to him, then.

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“I believe you might find this form more convenient to speak to. I am Awen. I welcome you to my home and thank you for taking up the mantle of my protector.”

Her hand reached out and rested on his chest just above his heart. Rather than being cold and hard, her crystal skin felt warm and supple against his.

“You carry a piece of me within you now. Once the bond is complete, it will aid you in your journey and help to give you the strength you need to protect our land, our people, and me.”

“How did I get here?”

“This is only a projection into your mind. Your body is still far from me. But the heart stone allows for some communication. You must come quickly. Even now Milandris searches for me. I have some defenses to slow and confuse him, but he will find me eventually. If his men breach my geode, all will be lost.”

“I will try,” was all Mitchell could say in response.

“I know that you will. I have seen into your heart Mitchell. I see the kind of person you are and the kind you could become. But you have much to learn and I fear you will have great difficulty in the weeks and months ahead. Listen to Allora and learn all that she can teach you. You will need her if you are to succeed. I will aid in what ways I can, but, until the bond is complete, I am limited in what I can do. You will largely be on your own until you claim the throne.”

Mitchell took a deep breath and looked away from her glowing eyes, then looked back up at her and nodded.

“I will.”

She leaned down and placed her warm soft lips on his forehead.

“I await your arrival. And be careful with Allora. She is more fragile than she seems. She will need you just as much as you need her. She will need your strength and compassion.”

Awen’s glowing eyes sparkled just a little more brightly. “And your love.”

Mitchell started to protest that he didn’t love her but he knew it was a childish response before the words even reached his lips. This creature, whatever she was, was inside him. He could feel her. She knew him, maybe better than he knew himself.

“I will.”

Awen gave him a tender smile then and it filled him with hope and the feeling that everything was going to be alright.

“Until we can meet again, Mitchell Theodore Allen. Now awake. Your body has survived the absorption of the heart stone. You have many leagues yet to travel. Safe journey.”

Awen stepped back into the crystal and her body melted into it seamlessly. Before he could say his own goodbye to her as well, the vision faded.

*****

Mitchell’s eyes snapped open and he sat up with a start. Beside him where she’d been sitting, Allora let out a yelp of surprise and fell backward onto the sand. Mitchell registered the movement and focused on her just in time to see her angry glare as she sat up and began to brush the sand out of her midnight-black hair.

“Mel nakit,” she said to him, only a little of her annoyance at being startled evident in her voice. Mitchell didn’t know if she was cursing him or greeting him. The language barrier was a real problem. Still, he apologized anyway.

“I’m sorry,” Mitchell said as he got to his feet.

He felt wired like he’d drunk an espresso or three. He wanted to go for a run. He hadn’t done almost any physical activity since he’d gotten here and it was starting to stress him out a little. Normally, he was a fairly active person, working out three or four times a week plus the occasional hike in the Ahwatukee mountains. Since he’d been sucked through a dimensional portal, however, all he’d been doing was sitting on his ass.

Mitchell reached out a hand to Allora and she took it, allowing him to pull her up. In the pre-dawn light, she looked haggard. There were circles becoming evident under her purple eyes and he could see the tension in her neck and shoulders. Had she sat by him all night? No, that was silly. Looking around, the tent was empty. Revos and Lethalin must be off getting ready.

“Sorry if I overslept,” Mitchell told her, looking out at the horizon that was quickly changing from dark blue to the hazy white-azure of the desert mornings here. The temperature was already beginning to creep up. Normally, they were well underway by this time.

The gemstones in Allora’s headband flashed and he felt that familiar tingle that indicated she’d cast a spell on him.

“How do you feel?”

Mitchell still couldn’t get over how the language spell worked. He could see her mouth moving and if he focused on her lips it was easy to see that the shapes her mouth formed were not English and that syllables didn’t match up, but his ears heard his language anyway. If he wasn’t looking directly at her mouth, he didn’t notice it at all.

Mitchell looked down at his chest and passed his hands over his arms. He could remember the intense agony of the night before but only dimly. As he examined his arms and the rest of his exposed chest there were no signs that anything had happened. He actually felt amazingly good. There were none of the aches or cramps from sleeping on the ground that had plagued him since he’d arrived here. He felt loose and limber.

“I feel great,” he told her honestly. His hand rubbed once again on the spot just over his heart. He imagined he could feel a lump there, but really there was nothing. Even though he felt fine now though, he knew he needed to ask her about it.

“Did you know? About the pain?”

She pulled her eyes away from his and looked away. “I did. I am sorry I did not tell you. I worried that if you knew the truth–”

“That it could kill me?”

Allora’s head snapped back to look at him, her violet eyes slightly widened. “How…?”

“I talked to Awen. She projected herself into my mind or something. But she made a comment before the vision ended about me surviving the absorption of the heart stone. Which means it could have killed me.”

Mitchell saw her normally stoic expression falter a bit and a look of guilt and shame passed over her face. Rather than speak, however, she took a step back from him, and then, in one smooth movement, she sank into a kneeling position and prostrated herself in front of him, her forehead resting on the sand.

“You are correct. I lied to you about the risk of accepting the heart stone. I have no excuse. I will accept whatever punishment you deem necessary.”

Mitchell was too stunned to even comment.

Of course, that is when Revos and Lethelin decided to make their appearance, walking around the back wall of their tent. Mitchell, still shirtless, looked at them, then down to Allora, still kneeling with her head in the sand, and then back to their audience, unsure of what to say.

“What did I miss?” Lethelin asked, a bemused smile twisting her lips.