A Time for Revenge

“Are you sure about this?” Miatsu asked as the men tied off the ship to the docks.

Rajat looked at the Guardian for a moment. There were a great many things that he was sure of, but this was not one of them. It had been centuries since he had seen her, and that had only been a glimpse as they were both summoned back to this world. Did she even know that they were back in the same world where their lives had started? “I don’t know, Nameless. I cannot honestly say that I am.”

“I can tell you right now, Caimran, you have the right answer already.” It was interesting how the Guardian Miatsu, who had taken over for the Guardian Nameless, knew so much about the three other Guardians that were brought here.

“I still don’t know if she will talk to me. Last we spoke, the words she spoke were not kind and in true anger.” Rajat replied.

Miatsu looked up at the mountain in the distance, Rajat’s eyes followed his gaze. A column of smoke rose out of the top. The village below was already being rebuilt and the few people who were here were already speaking of the Guardian within that mountain. The reports were mixed, including reports of seeing a woman with light brown hair, crying near the docks late at night. Did she know where she was? Or was it the fact she had lost more people she cared deeply for?

Miatsu turned to him. “Caimran, I have seen much in my time. My father watched Humans from his little world for centuries before he was summoned here, and what he knew, I know. If you go to her, sincere in your apology for the pain you have caused her, sincere in your love for her and your desire to make her happy, she will accept you back. It may take a bit time. You may need to leave after speaking with her, allow her to think. But you must tell her how you feel, apologize and then walk away. Give her enough time to come to terms with your words. Her heart yearns for your love, it will just take time for her to sort through it. But she will accept your love, I know it.”

Rajat looked at him for a moment, a smile of hope on his face mirrored on the Guardians. That was all the hope he needed. Without another word he ran, his steps almost as light as a feather, through the town that was being rebuilt and out onto the open fields. The red soil and sparse brush giving him no hindrance as he made his way over the terrain and to the mountain. He wasted no time with resting, seeking out the first opening that he could find and hurtling himself into it.

He found no dead ends, no distractions that would lead him astray. Every twist and turn that he took led him down at a steady pace, leading him, hopefully, straight to the one person that he wanted to see.

Light illuminated the path ahead, a soft red glow that held the familiar look of a time long gone. He slowed his pace as he neared the end of the tunnel, seeing a cavern opening up ahead. As he stepped out onto a platform of earth above a lake of molten rock, he looked out into a beautiful sight. All around him rocks rose out of the molten lake and upon those rocks rested creatures of the old world that he had once shared with his beloved. Salamanders and fire snakes rested comfortably in the warmth. He could make out the faint movements of the lava fish that resided within the lake of fire. Phoenixes flew through the air, singing a soft sad song, their majestic tails trailing behind him. All of this was so much like the Fire Lands of centuries ago.

He walked forward, taking no precautions to hide his presence. He allowed his steps to echo off of the walls as he stepped along the path. He could feel her here, deep below. She had to know that he was here, she had to. Finding his way to a platform that rose just a few inches up from the lake, he knelt in the middle and waited, remembering the Guardians words of patience. He closed his eyes and waited.

“Why are you here?” He did not bother to open his eyes to her voice. He had not felt her come to the surface, his mind had been going over what it was that he was going to say to her. “Why did you come here?” Sytie demanded again.

He opened his eyes and looked at her. For the first time in well over nine thousand years she did not wear the form that he had become accustomed to. Standing before him was the woman that he had fallen in love with. Her brown hair, long and wavy, flowing down her back. She wore the simplest of clothing, a farmer’s daughter. Her brown eyes looked at him, the tears were still there, hidden behind the pain. Her flesh, not the fiery flowing form it had been for so long, it was as Human as it had been when they met.

With the slightest surge of his own Power he recalled what he had been, the form she would remember when they had first met. His crimson hair shortened and changed to raven black. Ruby eyes, he cast them back to the light blue grey that they had been. She looked at him, so many emotions flowing through her eyes, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. Remember what the Nameless said.

“Sarah.” He said, the name of her birth echoed off of the walls as if he had yelled it, she recoiled as he spoke to her. “I do not know if there will ever come a time when you will forgive me for my stupidity. I was an idiot, and an imbecile. We had lost so much, that pain still burns within me even now. Not a day does not go by when I do not reflect and remember every single life that was lost that day. They gave everything for us, to us, so that we would be able to survive. I can’t help but ask myself whether I should have just stayed away from your world. Whether it would not have been better if I should have just ended my life in my old world. I brought pain to you and those that you loved. But the time that I spent with you and the people of the village, those were days that I have cherished even to this day. Never have I found better days than what I had the pleasure of experiencing in those lost days.”

He looked into her brown eyes, they were filled with the tears of pain that he himself felt. He allowed his own tears to fall, accepting that pain as a part of himself. “When we left our home to find a new one, I did not want to get involved in the lives of others. I feared that I would lose those that I cared for again if I began to care for them, in doing so I neglected the most important thing in my life. You. Your heart, you care so much for those around you, and that is the very thing that I fell in love with. That compassion for others is why I still love you as fiercely as your flames burn. And I failed you. I failed to aid that Human in anything more than granting him a Power that he knew nothing of and sending him on his way. We nearly lost another world, you nearly lost another world to an evil that had come to claim as theirs.”

Rajat stood then, looking her in the eyes, allowing his own rage show. “Then you lost those you cared about here, and where was I? I have failed you time after time. All that I can say is, I am sorry. From the depths of my soul, I am sorry. Here we are, back in the world where everything began, and still I fail you over and over. Rubious is gone.” He said proudly. “I fought alongside the Derune child and witnessed the beast’s demise. No longer will he bother you. And so long as you will permit it, I vow to you, no one will ever attack your city again.” He allowed some of his Power to show through, winds whipped around him as he spoke, crafting his body back into the form he had been when he had entered her domain. “I will crush any who dares to harm what you care for.”

He turned from her and walked away, just as the Nameless had suggested. He would allow her to think on his words, to come to terms with his apology. He would wait for her for as long as she needed. Their lives were eternal and he would wait that long if it took until then. He had never been good with expressing how he felt, and she did know that. But she knew that when he vowed to do something, he never broke that oath.

“CAIMRAN!” Sytie’s voice echoed off of the walls, reverberating across the lake of lava.

He turned to her and instantly found her in his arms. He held her tightly, as he had not done in far too long. “I am sorry, my love. You have no idea how sorry I am.” He whispered to her, stroking her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.

“Don’t leave me!” She pleaded.

He looked down at her, tears flowing down both of their cheeks. Reaching up with his hand he brushed a tear away. “Never again, my love. I will rip the world apart to stay by your side.”

Her grip on him tightened and it was only then that he noticed the subtle change. The song of the Phoenix, it no longer mourned the loss of others. It had changed to the celebration of renewed life.

“I will never let you go again. I promise.”

“So, he never came back?” Mendoll asked as the ship that Miatsu and Rajat had borrowed was being unloaded. The docks that had been destroyed by the group sent in by King Derune had been repaired fairly quickly. Already there were two piers that were usable, the others would be ready in a few weeks.

Miatsu looked at him with a smile on his face. It was still weird to look at the Imp and see a Human. But knowing now how Miatsu’s father had passed on and passed his abilities to the Imp, it did make sense. “He never came back, and the smoke rising from the top of Sytie’s mountain stopped only a day after he ran off.”

Mendoll smiled at that. He did not know much about the Four Guardians, but at least he knew that three of the Four were happy. “Any idea what Watesa is going to do?” He asked. “It seems like she is left all alone.”

“I offered her a choice, and she is thinking it over now.” The Guardian said calmly.

“What choices does she have?” He was curious as to what Miatsu could offer another of the Four. The two of them walked away from the piers, heading into the town on a path that would lead them to the palace.

“I have learned a lot about my father’s abilities,” Miatsu replied as he bowed his head to a group of women who were passing by, “more so since we ended Rubious’ reign. I went to her after dropping Caimran off. She has a few choices. I can attempt to send her back where she had once lived. But as you can well imagine, that will be three hundred years after her leaving. All those memories that are there, she may not want that.”

“You can do that?” He asked in surprise. That is an amazing feat of Power! “How would you know that you were sending her to the right place?”

“It would be difficult.” Miatsu admitted. “But not impossible. Her memories would be vital for the process. But as I said, there are a lot of memories there that are nothing but pain. I only offered it to her as an option. I also told her that there were a few other options. I could change her form, make her wholly Human again. With or without her Power.”

Mendoll stared at the grown Imp incredulously. The kind of Power that would take, is extraordinary. “How!”

Miatsu smiled at the look on his face. “She can also choose to remain how she is and together she and I can seek out a species that is like her, summon them here and find out if they are a people who would want to live in a world such as this. Or, I could send her to them.”

“Great good Gods, how much knowledge did your father have!” He could not fathom the depths of magic that the Nameless must have known in order to do half of this.

“I also explained to her,” Miatsu continued as if all of this knowledge was apprentice level abilities, “that she has enough Power of her own to control her own form. So the second and third option, if she was willing to become my student, so to speak, I could teach her how to use her magic more effectively. Who knows how deep her own Power goes.”

“She may be able to do anything with it.” Mendoll added, a strange calm in his voice. The one Guardian who was alone in this world, she had a friend in Miatsu, in the Guardian Nameless. She could possibly do what the Guardian Rajat had done, and what Miatsu had done before returning to them. She could change her form to live among Humans. Her affinity with water, talk about a Water Goddess. “So what are your plans? Your family have been spreading forests out from the city.”

“That, my friend, is one reason why I am here with you.” Miatsu replied. “You may have control of this capital, but I am here to tell you that the island is mine, in its essence.”

He looked up at the Guardian in speculation. “What I mean, Mendoll, my people will protect it. We are building our homes now. The forests will encompass the whole of the island by the time we are finished.”

There must have been a surprised look on his face. Miatsu was nearly laughing as he looked over at him. “Don’t worry, it won’t be like that. Any new cities just have to be asked for and we will clear the needed area. But my family will no longer be the only ones here, but they will all be under my rule and I will always be on the side of life. We will be the center for the new Empire. Speaking of new Empire, where is King Derune?” The Guardian asked, changing the subject abruptly.

“I have not seen him for a week or so.” He answered, the thoughts of the previous conversation forgotten already. Mach had been quiet for weeks, ever since they had finished the battle against Rubious. “No one has seen him, but there is a ship missing.

“Hopefully he does not get into any trouble without us.” Miatsu chuckled.

Mendoll glanced upward at the suns and closed his eyes, praying to the Goddess Kriasta. Let him be ok. We can’t lose him after everything that he has survived.

His footsteps were as silent as wind, though Mach could hear them as if they were thunder strikes. It had been weeks, perhaps even months since his battle with Rubious and still he did not feel the same. Everything around him, all the life that was once beautiful and abundant, looked dead and horrid to him.

Every day he went over the names of every person that was lost ever since the first day, that fateful day when Rubious attacked his father’s ship. His father, his mother, Melissa, Frank, Mathew, Trokha, Fryth, Sutert, Riect, Kyle, Lenard, Koit, Rena, George, Bern, Samantha, Sehto, Jacob, Zachery Joshua and every other name that was lost was etched into his memory. He would never forget their sacrifice, never forget who they were and what they had left behind. There was no one person who was more important than another, not when it came down to those who were willing to fight for the safety of others.

There were days when it felt as if the whole world meant nothing to him and yet, there were still things that he needed to take care of. The cool breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves above him. He closed his eyes to the swaying light from the moons above that came with the moving branches. Every moment that had passed since the attack on his home were the nightmares that haunted him now. Whether he was awake or asleep, they intruded on his thoughts constantly. With all the new beginnings that were taking place all around, he had prayed that he would be able to find his. But all that he had been able to find was heartache no matter where he went.

It was as if deep down he could not rest. He had one more task to complete, but that was not what was bothering him. A part of him could not help but fear that Rubious was going to strike at him through the shadows at any moment.

The beast was gone, his blood stained the ground beneath where he had vanished. The amount of Power that Mach had put into his final strike coupled with what the Stones had done, there was no way anything could have survived that. The containment, his five allies had contained Rubious and the magic within that sphere to prevent anything from escaping. The beast was dead, but it still felt as if an attack were coming, somewhere, somehow.

Opening his eyes to the star light that poured in through the canopy above, tears blurring his vision as he caught sight of his destination, his feet nearly gave out. A white stone protruded out of the ground, what had once been brown overturned earth was now green grass. With every step he took his tears thickened and his breathing became sharper. Every step felt like his legs were being filled with lead.

Standing before the gravestone he lost his strength finally and fell to his knees. Through tear filled eyes he read the words that still looked as if he had just carved them that day.

Here lies Lizza Derune.

Born winter of 314 AD.

Died fall of 351 AD

She lived 37 seasons.

Wife to a sailor and good man.

Mother to a single child.

She goes to see her love.

Her son will miss her greatly

“I got him.” He said to the stone, knowing deep down that she was listening to him. “I finally got him, mom.” Reaching out with both hands he held the stone and rested his head upon it. “I am so sorry.” He cried out into the night. “If I had just been stronger, I could have protected you. I could have protected the others. I could have stopped all the madness sooner. But it’s over now.” He nodded his head. “He is gone, just as I promised.”

He allowed time to flow by, uncaring about its passing. He could have been there for days, weeks, or merely hours. There was no way to tell. He felt a rise of Power and lifted his head. Setting on the horizon was the moon of Souls, its purple glow gentle to his eyes. First sun rise was not far off, the rays of light were already peaking behind it. The one would set while the other rose, a truly terrific sight. He closed his eyes to the sight of it, as beautiful as it would be he did not want to see it. Not now.

Mach.

The voice echoed through the wind and yet it hit him as if that single word had been screamed into his ear. Snapping his head back to the moon of Souls, the body of a woman stood upon the earth within the glow of that orb. He knelt there staring in disbelief, his heart pounding in his chest as the woman’s form became more pronounced. Through the glow of the purple moon he could make out the golden hair, long and lustrous, simple clothing that his mother had always loved in life. It felt as if his heart were in his throat. He wanted to yell to her, to call out her name but he could not speak.

The sky behind her lightened with the rising of the sun, causing her hair to glow all the more spectacularly as it always did. “Mo…Mo…Mother!!!!” he stammered to his feet, tripping over the simplest of rocks and sticks, falling over his own feet in his rush as he attempted to run to her. “Mother!!!!” He screamed to her as every step he took toward her seemed to force her away from him and into the sky toward the moon or souls. The sky was alight with color and light as the sun rose from its place, the moon falling into the horizon, meeting the sun. The figure of his mother moved away from him, staying between his line of sight and the moon of Souls. As he ran to the cliff, nearly falling over the edge as he reached out to her, she moved further away from him, closer to the purple moon setting into the horizon. Her smile was warm, as it had always been. “MOTHER!”

Within the circumference of the moon’s radiance stood another, a man who wore the clothing of a sailor, short black hair and a charming smile. As the figure of his mother fell to the other, the two reached out to each other and held one another tightly, vanishing in the rays of second sun’s rising light.

Mach knelt on the edge of the cliff, staring out at the moon of Souls as it set into the horizon, his pain lessened despite having lost her again. She was with his father. They are together. They have each other, finally after so long apart, they have each other once again.

He wiped the tears away from his eyes and got to his feet. Unsheathing the sword he had received from George on his seventeenth birthday, he turned it blade down and plunged it down into the ground. “We will be together soon enough.” He swore. “I just have something to take care of first, then we will see each other again. I promise.”

He had a promise to keep before he could join his parents. But before he could fulfill that promise he needed training. Real training. It was time to return to the home of his ancestors and resume what he had started when he had learned of his heritage.

He would return the Stones to where they belonged. He just needed to make sure he could survive the journey. Once he was strong enough, then he would return the Stones to their proper place. He had one last journey ahead of him before he could rest. One more adventure to experience. One last story that he needed to tell.