Zodiac Academy 8.5: Beyond The Veil

Darius passed on into the land of the living, and all of our souls were tugged sharply towards him and Roxanya. There was so much light, and time flickered like a candle flame, ever changing. I felt my daughter’s presence more profoundly than I ever had since my death and it made my form feel more solid, almost as though I could step right after her into the Fae realm. It was a temptation that crushed me inside. I wished to spend just one day in the sun with my children as grown Fae and tell them how endlessly proud I was to be their father. But it was not our path, no matter how much I ached for it to be.

We were thrown back onto the battlefield where the gateway to the living sealed up fast, and the hordes of desperate souls staggered to a halt, seeming confused, sad, lost. In droves, they swept away, returning to their rooms in the Eternal Palace, or perhaps elsewhere, leaving only us warriors on the field of golden mist and ever-watching stars.

I pulled Merissa into my arms, and suddenly I was in the middle of a group hug as Radcliff, Azriel, Hamish, Florence, Catalina, Marcel, and many more joined the embrace. A cry of victory went up and we broke apart, echoing it too.

Merissa’s cheeks were damp with tears, and I swiped them away.

“I’m happy,” she said, quieting my worries. “Hail, Roxanya has her mate back. Darius has returned. It’s impossible.”

“Remarkable,” I agreed, a smile lifting my lips.

“It’s a cause for a ham-pam-jamdy indeed!” Hamish cried.

“We can have ugg cake and joggle-slosh!” Florence squealed.

“Will there be sandwiches?” Marcel asked hopefully.

“Every kind, dear boy!” Hamish said in excitement, turning to Catalina, but she came rushing towards Merissa and I, grasping each of our hands.

“They’re together where they belong once more,” she said, emotion blazing in her eyes. “Your daughter has saved him in all the ways he needed, and now she has saved him from death itself.” She hugged Merissa tight then threw herself at me.

I held her close, a light laugh leaving me. “My children have a tendency toward surprising us.”

Music started up and I noticed Felisia and her pride had summoned instruments, drumming up a fast beat that spoke of our victory. I spotted Ren standing close to her, a little older than he had been in the memories I’d seen of him with a gruff line of stubble on his jaw. He watched Felisia dance, eyes alight and a hunger there that told me he would be laying a claim on her just as soon as he got a chance.

Catalina released me and ran to Hamish with a squeak, leaping into the air and he caught her in his arms, their mouths coming together as he spun her around in a wild dance. He threw her into the air, the man so big, he acted as though she weighed nothing, catching her against his chest before tossing her up once more. Catalina laughed in delight and Radcliff ran to grab Florence, whirling her around in a dance. She shed her armour with nothing but a thought and an unnecessary hip thrust, fully naked for a moment before donning herself in a flowing white dress. Radcliff twirled her under his arm, but it was soon clear Florence had no intention of letting him lead, kicking him in the ankle every time he tried to do so until he succumbed to her demands.

Azriel offered Serenity his hand and her eyebrows rose before she nodded and the two of them moved close in a dance that reminded me of the grand balls I had held at The Palace of Souls long ago.

Merissa shrugged, tossing her helmet away so it turned to glittering dust before she did the same with mine. A gold dress tumbled over her form in place of the armour, hugging her curves so perfectly that I groaned.

I caught her waist, tugging her close and we danced like we had long lives ahead of us and eternal paths laid at our feet.

The field around us faded away along with our armour and weapons, our entire cohort of warriors all transported to The Room of Knowledge as one where more souls joined our celebrations. Even the Remnants seemed to flash with a little more life from their seats up in the stands, and one in particular, who always seemed to be looking for someone called Bob, actually rose from his seat and rocked in time with the music.

Felisia was playing a banjo like she had been born to play it, and she ran over to me, opening her mouth to sing as she nudged me with her elbow.

“The Savage King was the oldest thing,

And he had a black soul too-oo-oo.

But the best thing about him was his wife.

And the fact he looked like a poo-oo-oo.”

A roar of laughter carried from the souls around me and I looked down, realising she had forced an illusion over me to make me look like a shit dressed in golden robes.

I cast it away and she managed a small smile from me but a lot more laughter from Merissa. Seemingly satisfied, Felisia moved on to roast Hamish with her improvised song.

“Hamish Grus was as big as a walrus,

And he kinda looked like one too-oo-oo.

But the best thing about him was his fine moustache,

And the fact he only had one shoe-oo-oo.”

Hamish looked down at his feet in confusion and Felisia swatted him over the head with the shoe she had somehow stolen from his foot. He fell into a fit of laughter, clutching his sides at the joke which had been funny, but perhaps not that funny.

“Do me next!” Radcliff jumped into Felisia’s path.

“The dead Acrux didn’t achieve so much,

And his brother was bigger too-oo-oo.”

“Actually, don’t do me,” Radcliff grumbled, but Felisia sang on.

“But the best thing about him was he wasn’t lame.

And the fact he was hotter too-oo-oo.”

“Oh.” Radcliff beamed. “On second thoughts, I rather liked that – but Lame Lionel isn’t bigger than me!” he called after her as she pranced away.

“Yes, he is,” she sang back.

“No, he isn’t,” Radcliff snarled.

“Yes, he isssss,” she sang louder, strumming her banjo wildly to drown him out.

The party went on so long, it must have been a day or so before we stopped, no aching feet or tiredness finding any of us since we were long dead. The crowd grew in size with every moment that passed, the souls who had been sent into slumber during the battle re-joining us as either the stars woke them or perhaps the power wore off.

Some souls grew irritable as they fought to watch their loved ones in the great orb, especially when Florence climbed up on top of it and did a bare-footed jig while Felisia played the banjo as fast as she possibly could.

We were all drinking our favourite alcohol, our glasses refilling in our hands, mine an ale which Merissa had brewed under my own name during our lifetime, while she sipped on a glass of Arusco red wine. The haze of drunkenness swum through my head, but the moment I wanted to return to full clarity, all I needed to do was decide it. It was all an illusion, but one I fell into easily after everything that had happened.

“Mother and father of the flames,” the stars’ whispered inside my head and I looked to Merissa, confirming she had heard it too. “You led the warrior souls well, and though you scorned us with your choice to let your daughter walk through into the realm of the dead, your sacrifice was acknowledged. You may have one ask of us in return for the preservation of The Veil. Speak it now and we shall deliberate upon its viability. You cannot ask for life, nor the death of those who live.”

The party quieted around us like a bubble had been placed between us and them. I felt the weight of this moment right down to the root of me, and knew what it was we had to ask. What Darius had walked out of here not knowing, what could only be told from the stars themselves now. If only I had thought to tell him sooner, there would be no need to ask for it now.

“The Vega curse,” Merissa stated.

I nodded, looking to the ring of darkness above the great orb where the stars twinkled with intrigue.

“Tell our daughters of Clydinius,” I called. “Give them the chance they need to break the curse of their ancestors.”

A hiss of whispers in an old tongue ran through my mind, the discussion between ancient beings setting my skin prickling. This was immeasurably important, a gift from them so rare it could only be to balance out what we had offered them in return.

“It is done,” the stars’ purred, then a flash of light exploded through the great orb, and I gasped at what the celestial beings showed every Fae soul in The Room of Knowledge.

Our daughters stood on the grounds of Zodiac Academy in the heart of the Howling Meadow, surrounded by hundreds of Fae. Before them knelt the four Heirs; Caleb Altair, Seth Capella, Max Rigel, and Darius Acrux himself.

Everyone began to bow with them, dropping to their knees and my eyes caught on Gabriel and Lance as they dropped down with smiles on their lips and a weight of reverence about them.

“By the stars,” I gasped, taking Merissa’s hand, my chest swelling with what I was witnessing.

“Long live the true Queens!” Geraldine Grus bayed.

“That’s my daughter!” Florence shrieked. “There, right there! That’s my babble bug!”

Geraldine’s words were echoed by everyone just as the sun crested the horizon and the entire crowd in the meadow was lit in amber light.

The stars crackled with power, acknowledging our daughters, and every dead soul around me watched on, captivated by this moment which was so important that there was utter silence around me now.

The stars pulled on my soul, stealing Merissa and I away and placing us before our daughters in the living realm, The Veil so thin that I could almost feel the wind against my cheeks.

I stared out at the bowing crowd, the weight of this action pressing down on all of us as fate shifted and our daughters finally rose to the position they should have held from birth but had now earned in action.

“Crown the new queens, and weave a new path into existence, mother and father of the flames,” the stars encouraged.

Pride made my chest swell beyond measure, my daughters stepping up and claiming their places at last.

I brushed my hand across Roxanya’s cheek the same moment Merissa pressed a kiss to Gwendalina’s brow, my throat thickening with the magnitude of what was happening. Then with a roiling burst of power gifted to us by the stars, a crown formed in my hands, mine brightest red while Merissa’s burned hottest blue.

I placed the crown upon Roxanya’s head and Merissa placed hers on Gwendalina’s, the flames igniting there in the living realm for all to see.

The magic surrounding them was fuelled by the stars themselves, humming and purring like they were drawn to the power of our daughters, recognising their strength, their unity as one.

“Your request shall now be answered,” the stars whispered, just for Merissa and I.

The Imperial Star that hung from a chain around Roxanya’s neck began to glow, ready to be used by the true queens, proof beyond doubt that they were prepared to rule.

The stars forced us back beyond The Veil and we arrived in The Room of Knowledge again, a wild cheer going up from the souls there who had witnessed it all.

Azriel slapped a hand against my back, smiling from ear to ear. “They have ascended at last! Now all they need are the Guild Stones, and perhaps this war can be won.”

Before I could answer, a flash of light flared across the great orb, then burst through the room with such power that it threw several souls from their feet. Cries of alarm carried across the space, and I blinked through the hazy glow before the light fell away and all that remained in the orb was a blackness so thick it was impenetrable.

“What’s happening, old bubkin?” Hamish asked me.

“I’m not sure…” I moved closer to the great orb.

“Has anyone seen Bob?” a Remnant swept down from behind me, flitting into my way and I wafted him aside. The power in the air was rousing them all from their seats, their forms becoming more tangible as they were drawn to witness this vital moment in time.

“Wait…I am Bob!” the confused Remnant cried. “All this time I was seeking Bob, and I was he! Rejoice! Rejoice! Bob is me and I am he!”

Merissa pressed her hand against the smooth glass of the great orb and the darkness rippled at her touch. She inhaled a little. “Oh, I saw something.”

“What is it?” I asked urgently. “Are they well?”

“They are. The stars have taken them away, to speak with them about Clydinius’s curse.” She turned to me in delight.

We waited as mutters broke out across the room, souls anxiously watching on and waiting for our view of the living to reappear. At last, the blackness lifted just enough to reveal Gwendalina and Roxanya hovering within it.

“We’ve been cursed this whole time because of that fucking star,” Roxanya said fiercely. “I say we use the Imperial Star to kill Lionel, Lavinia and all their screwed-up followers. We’re not bringing some psycho star into the world to walk around, and cause fuck knows what havoc.”

“If they use it, it will curse them deeper,” I swore. “That is not the answer!” I yelled.

“But what is?” Merissa breathed. “The only alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.”

“There must be an answer…” I had thought on this long and hard, knowing the Imperial Star had to be returned to Clydinius to end the Vega curse. But what then? That had always been the problem. It would raise him into Fae form, the stars had told me it was so, and they had warned me of the dangers that posed. Unthinkable dangers.

Gwendalina shook her head in refusal of Roxanya’s words. “We can’t wield it. Look what happened to our dad. What happened to all the Phoenixes who tried to use it. It never works out well. Why don’t we destroy it instead?”

“Exactly,” I said.

“Maybe they could just use it briefly,” Radcliff said hopefully. “To smite my brother.”

“If they wield it at all, I fear the curse will worsen,” I said. After all I had gone through because of the Imperial Star, I shuddered to think of my daughters falling to a similar fate.

“We use it first, then we destroy it,” Roxanya suggested.

“No, darling,” Merissa called. “It’s too risky.”

“I don’t think we should ever use it,” Gwendalina objected. “It could make everything so much worse. When I watched those memories play out in the crystal, the Phoenixes were all killed off. They were consumed by their own flames, turned to ash.”

“I’ll risk it,” Roxanya said stubbornly, and Gwendalina grabbed her hand, pulling it away from the star.

“This was a mistake,” I rasped.

“No,” Merissa said firmly. “If she will listen to anyone, it is Gwendalina.”

“I don’t want to risk you,” Gwendalina replied firmly, and Roxanya’s gaze softened at that.

“I suppose using this lump of rock to kill Lionel might make it seem like we couldn’t crush him without it,” Roxanya admitted, releasing her hold on the amulet and laughter rippled out around the room, though I was too tense to find the amusement in it right now. “And I really am looking forward to seeing the look on his face when I cut his head off and prove just how much more powerful than him I am.”

“We could return it, break our curse and destroy Clydinius the second he materialises,” Gwendalina suggested, and Roxanya’s eyes widened.

The stars screamed at that idea, knowing the moment they returned the Imperial Star to Clydinius, he would rise to walk upon the earth. They had told me of that time and again when I had begged them to relinquish this knowledge to my daughters, but it was the only answer to the curse. Perhaps they had expected our daughters to wield the Imperial Star instead, tempted by its power, but here they were surprising them again, fates unpredictable.

Still…destroying the star once it had risen seemed like a terrifying prospect. One I had not considered.

“Reckless madness, that is what my daughters know best,” I said in fear, carving my fingers through my hair.

“Perhaps Gwendalina’s idea is not so mad. Think of all they have achieved, perhaps they are strong enough to do this,” Merissa said with hope.

“I do not wish to doubt them,” I said slowly, thinking over everything I had witnessed them succeed at.

“Kill a star?” Roxanya murmured, a smirk lifting her lips at the idea.

Of course it appealed to her. Together, they were trouble embodied.

“If we pull it off, we’ll be free of the curse, free of fucking Clyde and-” Gwendalina said excitedly and the stars shrieked louder, making some souls clap their hands over their ears.

“And nothing will stand in our way when we attack Lionel and his army,” Roxanya finished for me.

“Your daughters are as mad as you Savage King,” Felisia called to me, and laughter rippled out in response. “I rather like them for it. They have your wild heart, Merissa.”

My wife smiled, lifting her chin. “Well, if any Fae can destroy a star, it is my children.”

“Here, here!” Hamish yelled.

The stars screamed so loud the ground beneath our feet trembled. But they could not affect this decision, it wasn’t theirs to make. They had given our daughters the choice, and they would not take the easy path. Whatever they had hoped for had not come to pass, or perhaps they had no better answer themselves, but once this truth was relinquished in payment for our sacrifice, there was little they could do. The stars were all about balance, and perhaps their hands had been tied to offer us this gift.

The darkness swirled around our daughters, rivers of colour spilling into it until they were travelling through a swathe of starlight.

They were thrown into the jungle at the foot of the Palace of Flames, but before we could see their next move, time flitted within the great orb and the scene changed before everyone’s eyes.

We were looking into a cavern now where light danced across the ceiling, the large, glimmering star humming eagerly as it felt the Imperial Star approaching.

“Return the heart,” Clydinius whispered, golden light pulsing and flickering through the air.

Roxanya took the chain from her neck, holding the Imperial Star in her fist. She broke it out of the amulet, removing the concealment spells that had been placed on it too, then moved towards the hole in the star’s glittering surface.

Gwendalina slid her hand around Roxanya’s, the two of them sharing this moment, ensuring the act was committed as one.

“Ready?” Roxanya whispered.

“What’s that saying the Oscuras use? A morte…”

“E ritorno,” Roxanya finished, and they thrust the heart of the star into the hole, fixing it back in place to the sound of a hundred Oscura Wolf souls howling around us in The Room of Knowledge, excited to get a mention.

“Creatia,” Gwendalina spoke the power word for creation which would wield the Imperial Star.

Light blazed from the hole in the star, threading between their fingers and Merissa and I moved closer to one another, breaths baited as we waited to see how this might play out.

My wife was right, they could destroy a star. They were more powerful than I, more powerful perhaps than any Fae who had come before them. I would not doubt them, but still, fear bloomed inside me.

Time flickered again and I cried out in a command for it to steady itself and let us watch.

The light of Clydinius fizzled away, revealing two women in the image of Roxanya and Gwendalina, flames flickering between their fingers.

“Hail,” Merissa whispered in fright. “Why is it mimicking them?”

I shook my head, having no answer but my fear drove deeper.

“I am Fae,” the false Gwendalina spoke in reverence, her voice perfectly mimicked by the star.

“True freedom is mine,” the fake Roxanya finished.

Our true daughters charged into battle to meet them, but as I prepared for the bloody fight to come, Clydinius’s two new forms shimmered and disappeared from the cavern, trapping them there alone.

In the wake of Clydinius’s departure, words rang out around us in the voice of the stars, a new fate knitted into existence in response to what our daughters had done, and those same words resounded out through the air here beyond The Veil.

When all hope hinges on a promise forged of lies,

Beware the threaded minds of blood and chaos.

Unlikely friends and broken bonds may shift the tide,

Cleave open the walls of the lost in the depths of the unholy night.

Unleash the souls tethered in the tainted dark,

Unite the rising twelve and toll the bells of fate.

“What does it mean?” I begged of Merissa, but she had no answer, and the silence that fell in The Room of Knowledge was so thick, that it seemed no one had an answer. “What does it mean!?” I roared to the stars, but they were quiet now, their new fate set.

And whatever path was coming for those I loved, I feared it would be draped in peril.