Looking dubious, Ryan said, “It seems unlikely that Merlin would have the power to stop God like that. It’s a little hard to believe.”
“He’s got a point,” agreed Eric, who then smirked at his friend, “unless, of course, God isn’t real.”
Ryan rolled his eyes. “I should have known you’d say something like that.”
“In fairness,” Eric continued, smiling, “maybe God agreed to go silent. He could have been like some of the fae, feeling that humans couldn’t handle the supernatural wisely. Look what we do with nuclear weapons.”
Eriana asked, kindness in her eyes, “I assume you are religious, Ryan?”
“Very,” he proudly answered.
“Well, I don’t have a real answer for you. Merlin only had time to explain so many things to us.”The big man rose, pacing back and forth. “This is interesting.” He pointed a finger at Eric, grinning. “You had better believe now, my friend, or it’s the lake of fire for you!”
The rogue replied, “I have more pressing concerns right now, but for the record, my atheism has everything to do with there being no proof of God. If He gives proof, I’ll be happy to acknowledge He is real. And maybe now we know why there has been no evidence, not for a long time, anyway.”
Eriana patted his healed hand. “You already felt the proof now. Who do you think I channeled earlier?”
As Ryan grinned at him, Eric conceded, “I can’t really argue that.”
“Let’s get back to the quest that brought you to Earth,” Matt interrupted, not seeming interested in any of the religious subjects. “So Merlin cast the spell to get rid of magic, and Morgana summoned you four to get the pendant and return it to Stonehenge, but you didn’t.”
“Right,” Eriana confirmed, wondering what else to tell them, but so far everything had gone well. “There is what I think of as a morality matrix in the Quest Rings. It prevents us from being summoned to do evil, but Morgana could bypass it.”
“How?”
“Well, the separation of the worlds might be considered unnatural, and we were summoned to stop it, so this could be seen as a good quest. Morgana certainly seemed to think so. But according to Merlin, Morgana had done many bad things and had plans for new ones, which was the whole reason he cast the spell.”
Matt noted, “So her summoning should have failed. Any guesses why it did not?”
“Yes. I think part of it was the ambiguity of this, but the principal reason is that Stonehenge is not a real Quest Ring. Merlin implied that the builders were both humans and fae during an earlier period of cooperation, and that the goal was to establish a stronger foothold for fae here on Earth. They built Stonehenge at a doorway between the Earth and fae worlds.”
Looking at her intently, as if fascinated, Jack asked, “It’s not a proper ring, but she still summoned you to it?”
“Yes. Morgana turned it into a kind of makeshift Quest Ring. It bears some resemblance to one. But Earth had no genuine rings. Still doesn’t. I don’t think we had ever heard of the world.”
Eric asked, “How did Morgana know to do this with Stonehenge, or the summoning spell, or even who you guys are?”
She had wondered the same thing and only had partial answers and some educated guesswork. “According to Merlin, both he and Morgana had the power of prophecy, and we don’t know what they saw or how it has played out, but Morgana could learn the summoning spell this way. After we arrived and had a moment alone, Soliander revealed having seen Morgana’s face in his dreams days earlier. He thought nothing of it until after we came to Earth, when he recognized her. We surmised she had gotten the spell from his mind during the dream and turned Stonehenge into a Quest Ring, one that is missing certain aspects.”
The rogue said, “Like the morality matrix that would have prevented her from summoning you.”
“Yes. And the keystone.”
“Keystone?” Eric asked.
Matt’s eyes suddenly lit up. “The keystone! Of course. It is made from soclarin ore.” He turned to the others. “Remember when I stuck the end of Soliander’s staff into that hole in the Quest Rings? That’s the keystone I’m inserting it into. Only Soliander’s staff works on that. The rest of the ring is not of soclarin.”
Eriana nodded. “Yes. Morgana summoned us, and in theory, they bound us to the quest just like any other. That part of the summoning spell worked. She told us the quest was to return the pendant to Stonehenge, because if we didn’t, Merlin’s spell, already cast, would remove magic and fae creatures from Earth. The way she said it, it certainly seemed compelling that Merlin was the bad guy. We went to confront Merlin and get the pendant, but he told us what was really going on, all the stuff I just told you. We sensed he was right.
“And we realized we had a problem. We couldn’t return home unless we did the quest, as this is always true. And magic was about to stop working, trapping us here for good. But Soliander realized that there would come a moment when the magic had drained from Earth. And at that moment, we might theoretically be free of the quests. Not just that one, but any further ones.”
She noticed Eric’s shrewd eyes on her. “You weren’t doing them voluntarily, were you?”
“No,” she admitted, not at all surprised he knew this. “This isn’t something you can tell anyone except Anna. It was a closely guarded secret. Many worlds looked up to us. We gave them hope. It would not have looked good if anyone knew. We never really had a choice, forced to go on a dangerous quest to solve their problems. I would ask that you maintain this ruse.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “It isn’t really ours to reveal. Please continue.”
Eriana sipped at the beer again. “We were trapped and had no way to get out. But now we had our chance. But it would leave us trapped on Earth, and none of us wanted that. We have friends and families back home. Merlin and Soliander had an idea. They would pool their remaining magic energy to combine their strength, which was fading. They would time Soliander’s return spell to the same moment that magic stopped working and released us. In theory, either it would work and we’d all go home, or it wouldn’t and we would just remain here forever.”
Eric observed, “But neither really happened. You’re here, and Soliander isn’t.”
She sighed, knowing she didn’t have a good explanation for this. “I don’t know what happened. I remember Soliander looked alarmed, right before the spell completed. And moments later I found myself in New Zealand. That was twenty years ago. I have seen no sign of the others since.”
A long silence followed this. Finally, Jack turned to his friends and asked, “Twenty years? I thought you guys said that when you get summoned, everyone thinks you’ve only been gone three years? And Merlin was a thousand years ago. Something isn’t right about all of this.”
That caught Eriana’s attention. “Three years? Are you saying only three years has passed on the worlds you’ve been to, since we went missing?”
“Yes,” said Matt. “They were saying they’ve been trying to summon us for that long. And my impression from Soliander’s memories is that this is how much time has passed. By the way, as you were talking, I could suddenly remember some of your quest here, from his memories in my head.”
Eriana felt confused by much of that but smiled, then laughed. Sudden tears filled her eyes as relief washed over her, an old grief vanishing. The tears flowed down her cheeks. She had lost all hope long ago and resigned herself to an awful possibility that had just gone away. The others watched her curiously, smiling at her reaction without understanding it, so she took a moment to calm herself enough to explain.
“I thought everyone was dead,” she admitted, wiping her tears as Jack handed her a tissue box. “I thought everyone that I have ever known was dead. My family…” More tears came and she stopped, her lungs heaving. New questions needed answering, but the boys had just given her something she hadn’t felt in a long time—genuine hope of seeing those she loved again. She had been nursing some hopes since realizing the Stoneh
enge Four were being summoned repeatedly, but nothing like this. She wanted to just sit and laugh. She needed it.
“Well,” began Ryan gently, “we don’t know what is happening with your family, but it’s only been three years everywhere but here. So there’s hope. They’re probably not all dead, certainly.”
She patted his hand. “I have wondered before about the role of time travel in all of this, because when we were summoned, this world was like the Medieval Ages, and yet when I arrived in New Zealand two decades ago, it had changed so much. I thought Morgana had summoned us in the same time frame to Earth, and that I had been thrown a thousand years into the future. I didn’t know that at first, only after researching about Merlin and Morgana and learning how long ago they had lived, according to what we now see as myths.
“Now it appears Morgana summoned us to a thousand years in Earth’s past, and in all the worlds. And when the quest ended, and Soliander’s return spell completed, something went wrong. It seems like I didn’t quite make it back to the present, just close, the same way that I didn’t make it home, but ended up somewhere else on Earth.”
Matt nodded, eyes far away as if struggling to remember. “He sensed it. He felt something was wrong. His last look…” He looked at her knowingly, and she suddenly wondered how much the techie knew.
Eric observed, “So it seems like he was sent back to the right timeline, and the right planet, or close enough, but you were left here, and you arrived maybe seventeen years short of the right time. Another three have passed since then.”
She nodded slowly, calming herself. “That seems accurate.”
He asked, “And there’s no sign of Andier or Korrin on Earth?”
“No. No sign of Soliander either, except for what you say. I have some questions about that, but I assume from our talk that you did not know what Merlin’s Pendant really was until now.”
Matt shook his head. “None. Sometimes info pops into my head, but there’s no controlling it. Now I’m curious to know how Anna ended up with it.”
Eric pursed his lips. “Yeah, and where it’s been all these years.”
Eriana remarked, “I have a private investigator that I use to track down supposedly magical items, and this was the first one I had him look for. But we have never seen or heard a word about it in all this time. Maybe when she is feeling better, she can say more about where she got it and we can track its history, but I’m not sure it’s that important.”
“You never know,” said the rogue. “I wonder if it was a coincidence that she ended up with it. You said something about a prophecy. Was there anyone left on Earth who knew any of this and ensured she would end up with it?”
Intrigued expressions mirrored Eriana’s own. “An interesting scenario. Merlin had a few Earth friends who knew what he’d done. It is possible one of them took possession of it when the spell completed.”
“Any ideas what happened to Merlin and Morgana?” Matt asked.
Eriana frowned. “No, only what was supposed to happen. Both were to return to the fae world because any creature with that much fae in them would have died when the spell completed, if they were still here. Because magic is part of them, and they can’t live without it.”
Eric stood up. “Well, this is all beyond fascinating, but I have to hit the bathroom. Let’s take a quick break. Eriana, if you need anything, please help yourself.”
She nodded thanks and rose to stretch her legs, finding herself at the window, looking out over suburban sprawl as night gathered, lights twinkling on to brighten the dark. They mirrored how she felt, like a light had been lit inside her. Soliander was alive. And only three years older than she last saw him. This meant everyone else likely was, and a real possibility of seeing her friends and family again existed. She smiled as Jack came up beside her.
Chapter 12 – The Lady Hope
“Seems like an enormous weight off your shoulders,” Jack remarked to Eriana. “I’m happy to hear that you may see your friends soon, and that your family is alive.”
He bit his lip. How much of one did she have back on Elloria before all the quests began? His curiosity about her was strong, and it wasn’t just that she was physically attractive; she was old enough to be his mother. There was something charismatic about her. Comforting. Radiant. Sweet. And wise. Whatever was causing it, he wanted to know more, and to have her look at him. He sensed she knew he was attracted to her, and he didn’t care that she knew, but not because he was a fool. He just felt a compassionate sincerity in her eyes and felt drawn to it. He’d seen the others, especially Eric, smirk about his interest and ignored it. This wasn’t about sex. He didn’t know what it was. He just felt good when she looked at him, somehow comforted, like everything would be alright, even though he wasn’t the one who had any actual problems right now.
He added, “That must have been hard all this time, thinking they were gone a thousand years. They must have wondered if they’ll ever see you again, too. That could be some reunion.”
Eriana smiled at him and he blushed, then tried to make himself stop it. “Thank you. I don’t even know what to think about it yet. Soliander, at least, would be shocked by how I’ve aged. The others could be even older for all I know.”
“Hopefully, the guys and Anna will find some information on Andier and Korrin soon, on one of their quests. Like Soliander, they’ve probably heard the champions are back but know that can’t be right, so I assume they’d be curious and investigate.”
“That’s an understatement,” she agreed ruefully. “I want to get a message to my family, that I’m okay, but I’m not sure if we should keep my whereabouts and situation hidden for a while.”
“Why? What kind of trouble do you expect?”
“I really don’t know, but with these guys the apparent Ellorian Champions, news of another champion being elsewhere and doing other things will confuse people, and possibly cause problems when these guys are summoned. We have no way of knowing how people will react, but it’s something to think about, maybe planning for.”
“Gotcha. Well listen, if you need anything, let me know. I’m now like a full-time helper to them when they’re gone, and that includes you. Ryan’s literally paying me.” He grinned. “I apparently just quit my job and got a new one working for them.”
She laid a hand on his arm. “Thank you. I appreciate that, especially you stepping up to help them. They really need it. It’s really important. We had many people who knew the truth and were helping. Right now, they just have you.”
“I have some help now.” He related his role so far, concluding, “We told the attorney the truth earlier, and Ryan’s brother, so it’s been nice to not be alone with this. And now I have you here, too.”
“I can relate. I haven’t told a soul the truth in nearly two decades.”
He frowned, unable to imagine being that isolated with such a huge truth for so long. As secrets go, hers was beyond epic. No one knew anything about why God stopped answering people, so many believing He never had and wasn’t real, and yet she knew. And everyone thought magic wasn’t real, but she knew. Fae weren’t real, but she knew. Her ability to keep quiet impressed him. She likely understood the padded walls awaiting her for admitting it. What a relief it must be now. He felt a mixture of regret for her and happy she wasn’t so alone anymore.
“I’m sorry. That must’ve been awful, but now you can at least talk to us. I’m more than happy to listen.” He was going to say more when the other boys gathered at the table and she gave him that warm smile of hers, laying a hand on his arm again before she joined the group to resume their talks.
“Okay,” began Eric, who resumed his seat, “it’s our turn to tell you what has been happening.”
“Please.”
As Eriana listened and held her questions, Ryan, Matt, and Eric related the quest to Honyn to close the Dragon Gate, and that Soliander had opened it, apparently not caring that the dragons might return and destroy the planet. Jack saw that the revelation
s, including Soliander’s attack on both Lorian and Matt, concerned her. She said that this was not the noble, self-sacrificing man she had known. Had he, like her, believed that the rest of the Ellorian Champions were dead? She revealed that Soliander had always blamed himself for their being trapped in the quest cycle, but that had really been Everon’s fault. To this, Soliander had replied that Everon was his apprentice, and it was therefore still his fault. They had endured countless arguments about it. And if the wizard believed they were dead, then he undoubtedly blamed himself.
Jack asked, “Do you think this was enough to turn his heart? It seems like he isn’t doing, uh, pleasant things.”
Eriana pursed her lips. “Yes, I think so. He was always troubled, and I knew he sometimes struggled to not give in to his demons. I helped him with that as I could. I’m afraid that what happened could have easily pushed him into the darkness he fought against. There’s something else I wanted to ask about. When you guys arrive, you are fully healed and rested?”
“Each time, yes,” confirmed Eric.
“And you are dressed in our clothes, and they fit?”
“Perfectly.”
Eriana eyed them. “You three are about the right size. From a distance, you can easily pass for us. It may have been luck that, so far, no one who knew us well, besides Lorian, has been present at your quests.”
“What do you think would happen if the truth were known?” Matt asked.
“I honestly do not know. It would really depend on the individual person’s reaction.”
The techie elaborated, “I guess what I’m getting at is that we haven’t known how to react to the assumption that we’re you guys, so we’ve been playing along. I think I can speak for all of us that we don’t want to offend you by doing so.”
Eriana smiled. “It’s fine. I’m not offended and I agree with the decision, honestly. It’s probably for the best. The reaction to learning you aren’t us might not be a good one. It would cause disillusion with your ability to do the quest, for one. How has that been going?”
The Light Bringer: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Novel (The Dragon Gate Series Book 2) Page 23
