by C. W. Trisef
“Don’t worry,” Ret told her. “She’s clever.”
They went back the way they had come, returning through the doorways that had taken them to the past. The past was totally unaffected by what was occurring in the present, but when they stepped through the last doorway, they were thrown into the madness. The root bulb was in a state of upheaval, shaking terribly with entire roots shriveling in seconds. Soon, Ret had no choice but to produce a strong wind and fly the rest of the way out of the bulb.
Once outside, Nika watched in horror as her homeland disintegrated. Mesas cracked and crumbled before her eyes. Beautiful buttes that she had come to cherish were reduced to rubble in no time at all. The tree was not so much dying as reversing its growth process, calling back its glorious roots, leaving the land without support.
Ret ran to find Neo. Despite being on the verge of death, the Guardian was dragging his own frail body towards Lye, who was being aroused from unconsciousness due to all the commotion. Neo reached for the flask, uncorked it, and began to pour its contents into his mouth. But before the life-saving liquid reached him, Lye used his power over water to redirect it into his own mouth, consuming every last drop.
“Rest in peace, Guardian,” Lye cackled menacingly.
Neo collapsed on the ground, his last hope of survival gone.
With renewed vigor, Lye ran off to find his revenants and congratulate them on procuring the element.
“Neo!” Ret called out, falling to his knees at the Guardian’s side.
“Nevermind me,” Neo rasped. “The relic!” Too weak to lift his hand, he used one finger to point back at the great tree. Ret watched as the last of its roots returned home. Ret ran back to where the root bulb had been just moments earlier. There, in the soft sand, was a seed—the same seed that the First Father had given to Neo so long ago. Ret picked it up. What once was a great tree was now a relic.
Ret returned to Neo’s side, but his eyes were closed. A smile graced his face. Ret knew what that meant. His heart sank. It was never easy to lose a Guardian.
“Look!” Nika shouted. She was pointing at the sky. It was almost first light. “If we hurry, we can make it to the trilithon.”
His eyes moist, Ret walked away with Nika, leaving the Guardian’s body in the charge of the elements.
“Well done,” Lye told his revenants once they had regrouped. “Now let me see the element.”
The wind revenant hesitated before fearfully reporting, “We don’t have it.”
“What?” Lye angrily asked.
“The Oracle was a fake,” the wood revenant explained. “That woman had the real one.” He pointed to Nika, running across the plain with Ret. “She used my hands to collect the element.”
“Argh!” Lye howled, infernally miffed. “Fire,” he barked at the revenant, “set the land ablaze. Wind, blow the smoke so that it blocks the sun.” They obeyed. In an instant, the parched desert went up in flames.
Ret and Nika stopped when they found themselves surrounded by fire.
“Perfect,” Lye said to himself when Nika was standing still. He aimed his cane at her and fired a bolt of electricity, which struck her square in the back.
“Nika!” Ret exclaimed when she collapsed to the ground. He fell to his knees and cradled her. “Stay with me!” he told her shakily. She looked just the way Ivan did when he was struck by an energy blast by the guards at Sunken Earth. “Nika, say something!”
With her last breath, she whispered, “Thank you for teaching me to trust again.” She caressed Ret’s cheek with her hand. “I love you.” Then her eyes rolled back in her head, and her body fell limp.
“Nika!” Ret cried. She was dead.
Ret could hear Lye’s evil laugh. He looked back to see the dark lord and his revenants heading into the past through a doorway that they had made, where they would escape this land’s demise.
“You may have gotten the element, Ret,” Lye yelled, “but you didn’t get the sunrise.”
Ret looked up at the sky. The smoke from the brush fire had veiled the sun in blackness, blocking its power to send anyone through the trilithon.
“Ta-ta!” Lye rejoiced as he fled into the past.
Ret flung Nika over his shoulder and took to flying. Great chunks of the ceiling were crashing down to the ground. The mesas that had once encircled the valley were crumbling like sand castles. He could see the town being rattled to pieces, as if the houses and stores had been built with Lincoln Logs. Ret knew he had only a few minutes, at best.
In the airwaves, he could hear the desperate cries for help from the hordes of people who were stranded at the trilithon.
“Is it too late for the sunrise?” Paige wondered.
“I’m afraid so,” Mr. Coy told her.
“What do we do now?” Ana asked.
Leo grasped her hand tightly.
“Look!” one of the soldiers shouted. Everyone in the group strained to see what was flying towards them. Ret had flown through the smoke, heading for the trilithon.
“It’s Ret!” Paige exclaimed.
“And he’s got Nika!” Serge pointed out.
Ret extended his hand and used his power over energy to conjure the brightest light he could summon. With amazing whiteness, it shined like a second sun, prompting everybody in the crowd to shield their eyes.
“Everyone grab someone!” Mr. Coy shouted. “Ret made his own sunrise!”
In an instant, the entire gathering vanished, transported through the trilithon.
Just then, a terrible tremor shook the platform where the trilithon stood, causing the posts to fall over and the lintel to crash to the ground. But Ret knew the trilithon was merely the sign of the portal—that the portal still remained. Dodging falling boulders, he held onto Nika and flew as fast as he could. With his self-made sunrise still beaming from his hand, he sailed directly into the portal and disappeared.
CHAPTER 19
MOURNING IN THE EVENING
In the blink of an eye, a multitude of people appeared on the back lawn of the Keep’s mansion house. A mix of soldiers and mutants, they looked around at their new surroundings with confusion, some still shielding their heads from the falling debris that was now a world away. Their emotions were as varied as their backgrounds: relief for escaping with their lives, heartache for those who weren’t so fortunate, devastation for losing their homeland, worry for what the future might bring.
Just then, a loud thud was heard near the cloven trunk of the bald cypress tree that marked the time portal on the Keep’s grounds. Everyone turned to find Ret hovering over Nika’s lifeless body. A poignant sadness seized every heart as a profound silence fell over the gathering, interrupted only by Ret’s weeping. Unsure of her place, Paige brought her hand to her quivering lips and fled to her father’s embrace. Ana leaned into Leo’s shoulder. Serge wept openly. Jaret and Pauline came running through the backdoor of the house but abruptly stopped when they saw what was happening.
After a few minutes, Ret slid his arms under Nika, picked her up, and gently laid her body at her brother’s feet.
“It was Lye,” Ret told him somberly. “I’m so sorry.”
“As am I,” Serge replied haltingly, wiping his tear-strewn face. “At least I got to see her one last time. Thank you for reuniting me with my sister.”
Ret returned the gratitude with a slight bow and then looked into the crowd. Everyone was watching him. He knew which of them were Nika’s people because their cheeks were wet with tears. In their eyes, he saw longing for their lost land and also love for their late leader, though now bereft of both. Truly, they had suffered great loss.
But Nika had a heart that was too great to be bested by death. Her legacy would live on, beating in the heart of each of the people she touched, including Ret’s. She had achieved the purpose of life—to develop unconditional love—and, remarkably, she did it despite (and perhaps on account of) being a victim of its opposite. She understood that although it is easy to love a friend, it can
be hard to love a stranger (especially an enemy) because that love must come from within—it must start with you. So it was with Nika. She, who had every excuse to be bitter and cruel, chose instead to be what she herself had wished from others. In life, she loved her people. In death, she loved Ret. And, through it all, she was the person from whom the love started.
Ret could think of no better tribute to Nika than to sum up her existence using her own words. He took a few steps back and, speaking primarily to her people, boldly declared:
Long live the mutants,
The never-have-beens,
The outcasts and tangents
Who just don’t fit in.
Long live our troubles
To keep pure our hearts.
Let’s be the people
From whom the love starts.
Despite Ret’s quivering voice, his eulogy seemed to bolster the sagging spirits of every mutant in attendance. Shaky smiles started to defy stubborn sorrows, and flickers of hope began to take root—a hope that they would surely need in the difficult days ahead. For, once again, they were strangers in a strange land, with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and the love in their hearts. It was this love, however, that Ret was counting on, for if it had cured their world, then it just might cure the world.
To keep the optimism going, Ret sprouted wildflowers in the grass around Nika’s body, then expanded it to the entire back lawn. Serge plucked the brightest bud he could find and set it on Nika’s chest. One by one, her people followed, each honoring the woman they loved so dearly, until a beautiful bouquet lay at Nika’s feet.
While everyone was distracted, Ret quietly slipped away from the scene. Just before he disappeared among the trees, Paige saw him out of the corner of her eye and snuck away to follow after him. When she finally tracked him down, she wasn’t surprised where she found him: walking on the beach.
“Hey,” she tenderly said, striding up next to him.
“Hey,” he smiled back. “I was hoping you’d find me.” Paige was silently relieved when Ret reached to hold her hand, as she had not been entirely sure of the status of their relationship these days.
“It’s nice to see your true colors are back,” she pointed out, referring to how Ret’s skin, hair, and eyes were unusually bright again.
“Thanks,” Ret chuckled. “Something about that land brought out the mutant in me.”
“My dad told me Lye dropped an atomic bomb on the infinity tree a century ago to try and get to the element,” Paige retold, “so it was probably leftover radiation poisoning that did it to you.” Ret responded with a melancholy nod.
After a moment, Paige said, “I’m sorry about Nika.”
“Me, too,” Ret replied. “She was a good person.”
“She seemed to really like you.”
“What makes you say that?” Ret asked with a subtle grin.
“I saw her kiss you once,” Paige said playfully.
“Oh, that,” Ret blushed. “I didn’t know she was going to do that.”
“Smart girl.”
“We were just friends,” Ret reassured her. “I think she wanted us to be more than that, but I didn’t. In fact, whenever I was with her, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“Really?” Paige wondered, inwardly giddy.
“Yeah,” Ret said. “I felt kind of bad about it, actually. I never told her, of course, but it’s true.”
“Well, I couldn’t stop thinking about you, too,” Paige confessed, grabbing Ret’s arm with her other hand. “I missed you—a lot.”
“I missed you, too,” Ret told her. “And now I’ll miss Nika. She was a great help to me, Paige. She was exactly the friend I needed at the time. She taught me how to love others.”
“She sounds like a hero,” Paige observed without any jealousy.
“She was,” Ret nodded. “After all, she was the one who collected the element—not me.”
“She did?”
“Yeah,” Ret repeated. “She followed me into the root bulb and used one of the revenants’ hands to do it. I still don’t know how she got the Oracle.”
“She took it,” Paige filled in, “from my dad.”
“I wonder why,” Ret put forth. “We had both agreed not to collect the element.”
“I…may have said something,” Paige slyly inserted.
“Oh? Like what?”
“I told her that if she really cared about you, she would help you collect the elements, not hinder you,” Paige recalled. Then with remorse, she added, “So I guess it’s my fault she’s dead, huh?”
“No,” Ret quickly interjected, “it’s Lye’s fault.”
“Well, I can’t say I blame her for doing what she did,” Paige said. “I’d have done the same thing if my dad hadn’t stopped me.”
“I’m glad he did,” Ret said.
“Why?”
Ret stood still and stared into Paige’s eyes. “Because then it might be you lying in the grass back there.” He slipped his hand behind her head, her curls between his fingers. “And I couldn’t live without you, Paige.”
“I couldn’t live without you either, Ret,” Paige whispered. Then he did what she was hoping he would do. He brought his lips close to hers and kissed her. When he finished, she pulled him back and kissed him. And, for a moment, nothing else seemed to matter—no worries or fears, no Oracle or Lye, no elements or problems. Just Ret and Paige, together.
And then that moment ended. When Paige opened her eyes, she was stunned by what she saw in the distance. She blinked several times to make sure she was seeing things correctly. Out on the ocean, there were ships—many ships. These were not barges carrying goods or sailboats watching whales—no, these were battleships and aircraft carriers, with more and more coming out of the far-off haze every minute.
Ret noticed Paige’s fixation and asked with concern, “What is it?” He spun around. His heart sank at the sight. “They’re here to destroy the Manor.”
“Oh no!” Paige cried. “What should we do?”
“We need to tell your dad,” Ret answered, “now.”
Paige reached into her pocket and groaned, “My phone is dead.”
“It’s okay,” Ret told her. “I’ll text him.”
“No, text Ana,” Paige instructed. “My dad doesn’t always check his phone right away.”
With a wave of his finger, Ret sent off a beam of light with the words of his text message encoded on the waves. A second later, back at the mansion house, Ana’s phone vibrated. She took it out and found this message from Ret:
Tell Mr. Coy to come to the beach ASAP
Ana rushed to find Mr. Coy, who was speaking with the Russian president.
“Well, my friend,” Coy said, “I can’t thank you enough for dropping everything and coming here with your army. We couldn’t have gone up against Lionel and his forces without you.”
“You are very welcome,” Serge replied. “I’m just glad we made it here before sunrise.”
“As am I,” Coy agreed. “But tell me, how did you get here so quickly?”
“It was just after nine o’clock in the morning when you called me,” Serge detailed. “By the end of the hour, we were airborne.”
“But it’s over 5,000 miles from here to Moscow,” Coy pointed out. “How did you travel so far in just a few hours? You essentially flew into the past!”
“Let’s just say your country isn’t the only one with hypersonic aircraft,” Serge said with a clever smirk.
Impressed, Coy responded, “If I ever need to fly in excess of Mach 5 speeds, I know who to turn to.”
“Anytime,” Serge promised, “but I’m afraid Lye also has such capabilities. It will be a long time before I forgive myself for ever conspiring with that madman.”
With a hearty slap on the back, Coy beamed, “I’d say your aid to us today was more than enough restitution.”
Just then, Ana approached Serge and politely said, “Sorry to interrupt, your royal-ness,” then t
urning to Mr. Coy, “but I have an urgent message for you.” She showed him the text from Ret. Coy excused himself from Serge and hurried off across the lawn, then through the bog and into the low-lying marshland that preceded the beach. Even before reaching the sand, however, Mr. Coy learned why Ret had summoned him. Wide-eyed and open-mouthed, Coy stopped as soon as he saw the ships—dozens and dozens of them, with more coming. Thanks to his service in the Navy, he could distinguish the destroyers from the raiders—the frigates from the corvettes. Assault ships sailed alongside capital ships, even torpedo boats and submarines. Based on the flags waving above each deck, it seemed nearly every nation in the world had launched a craft to aid in the attack.
Meeting up with Mr. Coy, Ret remarked, “Seems a bit excessive, if you ask me,” referring to the overwhelming number of vessels.
“I’m sure even one of these would get the job done,” Paige observed.
“This isn’t just about getting the job done,” Mr. Coy inserted dryly. “It’s about proving a point. Lye wants to show us that the world is against us. He is trying to scare us into giving up.”
“But we’ve got Serge on our side,” Ret optimistically pointed out. “Maybe he can help us.”
“In future battles, perhaps,” Coy said dismally, “but not this one.”
“But there’s metal,” Ret persisted, surveying the battlefield. “And there’s sure to be lots of fire. I might be able to repel some of the attack.”
“I don’t want to start a war, Ret,” Coy countered definitively. “It’s too late for the Manor.”
“But—”
“The Manor is just a house,” Coy shot back, his own heartache accidentally sullying his tone. “It’s nothing more than a bunch of walls. We already removed everything of significant value, and we don’t want our foes turning on the Keep. Now promise me you won’t intervene.”
Ret looked down, then glanced at Paige. Though also disappointed in the situation, she squeezed Ret’s hand to tell him not to fight her father on this one.
“Yes, sir,” Ret said softly.
Like serried troops, the warships surrounded Little Tybee Island, their number growing more ridiculous by the minute. The smaller-hulled boats crept closer to the shore than their larger counterparts, with even grander battlecruisers looming in the deeper waters. The clicks and clangs of heavy machinery traveled on the wind as captains and crews readied and aimed their canons and guns.
