{Enki | Cinder’s Shrine}
Xelan stared at the lifeline Korac was offering him.
“My Prince, get out of your head and fight for Fury and your son before you really do lose them to this war.”
Yes.
The Prince clasped his General’s hand. “Agreed.” Before the other man could pull away, Xelan grabbed Korac and pulled him in for a hug. Muffled, Xelan muttered, “She’s not dead.”
After a second of stiffness, Korac relaxed into the embrace and assured, “There’s not a chance in the Wrong Side of Eternity she’d leave you—”
“I want to let you keep having this moment.” Tumu spoke from beside Xelan. “But the others are in danger. They need us.”
The Shadow still needed Xelan, and so did his son, Rayne, and even Celindria.
Xelan pulled away to nod at Tumu. Sagan stood within a respectful distance, with concern lining her face. Korac went to stand beside her. Opening his wings to their full span, Xelan said, “Let’s get to the others—”
T.a.o. Seamswalked into the shrine toting Ross, Kyle, Jack, and Devis carrying Para. Between Ross and Jack was Chris, conscious.
Tumu knelt to check on the guard and murmured an exchange with Jack and Ross.
Kyle ran closer to keep from alarming the soldiers parading into the Pantheon. In the quietest voice, while also conveying extreme alarm, he said, “Remorse is attacking Celindria, and the lab is collapsing.”
Sharply, Tumu met Xelan’s gaze.
No. A Primary was too much for her—
“We need to save Pax—What is it, T.a.o.?” Korac looked down at the small woman’s hand on his arm.
She shook her head. “Can’t. Gone.”
Ross got to her earpiece first. “Hey, team, we’re trying to come back for you, but T.a.o. says it isn’t possible. Are you okay?”
Lamassau answered her from wherever they ended up. “We escaped before the ceiling caved in. Pax escaped, too, but… He’s not with us. We’re evacuating through the caves as we speak. Over.”
Iuo, marching his army into the Pantheon, interrupted the frequency. “Be careful out there.”
Bones sounded in decent spirits as he said, “Don’t worry, Porn Baron. We’ve got more poker to play so I can win Lamassau’s stash of watermelon Jolly Ranchers from you. Over.”
While everyone relaxed from the relieving news, Xelan waited for the back and forth to finish before checking with Iuo on the earpiece. “Iuo, we’re retrieving the rescue team. How is the migration to the Pantheon?”
“Beautiful.” The Lamian Prince sounded optimistic. “They’re funneling into formation and eliminating the Overseers as planned. Good luck rescuing our team.”
“Thanks. Over and Out.” Xelan changed frequency. “Rescue team in need of a rescue. This is Wingmaster. We’re coming to get you. What’s your location? Over.” With a smile at Sagan, he lowered his wings beneath his coat. Easier to travel by conduit without them retracted.
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She took his hand and squeezed it. “We got this.”
The strain around her eyes made him reach out and cup her cheek. “You’re damned right we do.”
Tumu stepped away from Ross, Jack, and Chris to say, “We need to mobilize for the others while Celindria and Remorse are distracted—”
“Wingmaster.” It was Bones, and he sounded bewildered. “I’m having trouble believing my eyes right now. To my left, Remorse—decompressed—is battling with Celindria inside of Li mountain, while Pax waits his turn. And to my right… Well, it’s an infinite sea of bodies. Over.”
Ross and Jack exchanged a confused frown, steadying Chris between them. Kyle took Para from Devis.
Tumu’s lidless voids widened.
Pehton came on the line next. “The bodies—They’re all copies of Nox and Rayne. And there are millions of them scattered around—GET DOWN!”
“We’re going.” Sagan opened a conduit. “Li Mountain, New Cinder.”
Devis ran over and held out something for Xelan. A capsule. “If you somehow get close enough, give this to Celindria. I know it will help her.”
Korac ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated gesture only Xelan and maybe Sagan would recognize as Korac asked Devis, “What will you do?”
Andrius, Devis, and T.a.o. came together with Torrentus behind them.
Xelan’s First Wave Progeny.
Overwhelmed, his voice shook when he said, “I’m…” So happy, but there wasn’t time to bask in this reunion. Instead, he asked, “Can you three take Chris and Para to the Medical Bay? Korac, go check on your mother and Triss. Then return here to oversee the migration with Tumu.”
Tumu gave a salute. “Bring my boyfriend back.”
Korac stood at attention. “Yes, your highness.” The best soldier.
Devis reached once more for Para’s unconscious body.
Kyle muttered, “Be careful with her.”
The other man nodded. “And you take care on the battlefield.”
“Sagan, with me.” Xelan stepped through the conduit, knowing she’d follow despite the strain. If someone had made copies of Rayne and then murdered them, Sagan would surely want to see it for herself.
They stepped onto Li mountain in a paradise Xelan only saw in his mother’s stories. He wished Tumu had told him about this place a long time ago. It just seemed cruel of Enki to keep it from the Icari, and now the rogue half of Gait would destroy it if all things went well. Anything to prevent the Probability Matrix’s predictions of Rayne’s death from becoming reality—
The mountain roared, followed by the shriek of a great bird.
“Over here!” Pehton called from a peak north of their current position.
Sagan climbed the path ahead and spared a glance back at Xelan. With one of her kind smiles, the Seamswalker said, “Tameka’s alive, and Pax will be fine.”
Xelan stared, stunned. His heart ached in loss while he tried to convince his brain everything was salvageable, but sometimes all it took was hearing the mantra from the right person for it to sink into his thick skull.
Tameka was alive.
Pax would be fine.
“Thanks, Aegis-Slayer.”
With Devis’ capsule in hand, Xelan opened his wings and flew alongside Sagan to the peak and—
Dodged.
An entire tree flew by them like an evergreen, but orange dart.
They were close enough to hear Lamassau shout, “They’re fighting in the canyon!”
The team pointed to the crevice split along the mountain range that never ran alongside the real Cinder’s Li Mountain. The planet’s ashy water couldn’t erode rock to this degree when in such short supply.
Xelan and Sagan alighted on the peak, lush with orange-leaved trees and cranberry grasses.
Pehton immediately pointed toward the canyon. “Pax.”
On the precipice, Xelan’s son, even bigger than when Xelan had last seen him, stood watching the fight below. And his people were right. Pax did look as though he were waiting his turn.
All the violence these worlds asked of his children. Xelan wanted peace for them. All of them. He swallowed before saying, “Sagan, get them out. I’m saving my son.”
Someone touched Xelan’s arm. He turned to meet Andrew’s sad eyes. Exhausted and anxious, Xelan asked, “There’s more?”
Andrew waved for him to follow and walked toward the edge of the cliff. He pointed out at the horizon. There, bodies carpeted the ground.
All of them were a clone of the cursed King of Cinder and the brave young woman who’d killed him.
Finally, Xelan’s past had caught up with him.
Without another word, he opened his wings and flew into the canyon. In doing so, maybe Xelan could make up for at least one wrong this day.