by Mikayla Lane
“What do the markings mean?” David asked as he gently redressed his son.
“Each is a different duty that he must perform before and during the conversion on Terra. Once completed, the mark is removed. At least that is what I know of the legends. You should ask the Wind Walker’s people about the Dark Warrior and the ancient Prime of the relic he guards,” Alderic advised, looking at Mikal in surprise.
It only proved that he’d chosen well in Mikal as the Sotier of Terra. The Dranovian would need the assistance of powerful beings like Tristan and Tiernan to save his world as the beast began to awaken.
“I don’t care what he is. I just want him to be the little boy that he is,” David growled, not wanting such a heavy responsibility on his young son.
“I will warn you now,” Alderic began as his eyes glowed slightly. “Do not try to hide from this because you can’t comprehend it. To do so, would be unwise. If you want to learn your son, learn his destiny because it consumes him. Anything else will push him from you.”
David nodded his head mutely as Strafe came back into the room holding a big bag that he handed to Alderic. The Sotier reached inside and pulled out a delicate moss-green flower and pulled one of the dozens of petals from it.
David watched as Alderic gently opened Tiernan’s mouth, pressed the small petal to his tongue and closed his mouth again.
“Won’t he choke?” David asked with concern.
Alderic only opened Tiernan’s mouth, and David saw the petal had disappeared.
“Heat causes the petals to break down into a powdery substance. It’s how we use it in cooking. Body heat causes the same reaction,” Alderic explained as he handed the rest of the bag to Mikal.
“I need to give some of this to my father. We may be able to grow it on Terra or reproduce it somehow,” Mikal said as he wondered at the plant’s ability to work on those who needed it on Earth.
“I would caution against replicating that which is given to us through nature. Everything is where it is meant to be. If this plant truly does what the Light Bringer says, all of our worlds need to look for its equal on each of the beast planets. The One God would not be so careless to give it only to Daetz’,” Alderic warned.
Mikal nodded his head, knowing that Alderic was right. With so many plants and animals being discovered on Earth every year, he had no doubt the plant may actually be there.
Hell, it could be something we already know about, we just don’t realize it can help the anomalous, Mikal thought in wonder.
“Can the flower help my wife too?” David asked, looking at Alderic and Mikal.
“It could. Take it back and see,” Alderic suggested as he lifted Rex over his shoulder.
Mikal pulled Kurt over his shoulder, and both men walked to the portal with David following behind. Moments later they were in the dark pyramid in Alaska.
“I suggest you port them from here. They can’t know of your Talunaha,” Alderic said as he looked over at David and set Rex gently on the floor. “I’d say erase the memories, but I think the Prime can be trusted not to speak of anything he’s seen or heard.”
David nodded his head, not wanting anyone to try and mess with his mind.
“All I know is Grai’s Dranovian son saved my own,” David swore as he cuddled Tiernan closer. “Now we’re going to try and save his mom and fix his Night Walker side.”
Alderic looked at David with narrowed eyes for a second before he nodded and turned to Mikal.
“The Dark and Light Warriors are welcome on the Tri-worlds at any time. If we can help the Dark Warrior’s mother, then bring her,” Alderic offered then disappeared through the portal.
“Can he help her?” David asked, his hope soaring for his wife after what they’d done for Tiernan.
“Let’s go see what my father has learned,” Mikal suggested then called for Declan to port them to the cloaked ship above the Talunaha.
Chapter Seven
David wasn’t too surprised that Tiernan woke up in his arms the moment they reached the soil at Base Beta. He smiled at his son as he followed Mikal into the Med Lab where Jodi was being treated. As they entered the room, Thjodhild ran up to them and reached for Tiernan.
“You’re probably starving! Let me get you something to eat,” Thjodhild suggested with a forced smile.
Tiernan shook his head and pushed against David until his dad set him on the floor.
“I have to help her,” Tiernan whispered, craning his neck to see his mom across the room.
Thjodhild shook her head slightly at David.
“She’s verbally and physically violent, we can barely control her,” Thjodhild warned David through the shengari’, not wanting the boy to hear.
“She can’t hurt me now,” Tiernan whispered as he walked slowly to the bed containing his growling and screaming mother.
Mikal and David stood on either side of Tiernan as he reached the bed and David was again shocked at his wife’s appearance. Spittle ran from the corner of her mouth and her once beautiful dark eyes appeared dull and lifeless except for the madness in them.
Jodi struggled against the restraints keeping her in the bed and growled at those surrounding her until her eyes lit on Tiernan. She calmed so quickly it shocked those who’d been subjected to her violence since David had left her there.
“Tiernan? The Devil is gone now?” Jodi whispered as she inspected her son.
“Yes Momma, the Devil is gone now. It’s time for you to heal as well,” Tiernan murmured as a tear slipped down his cheek.
“My baby,” Jodi choked out. “I can’t fight it anymore. Let me die now.”
“Never,” Tiernan replied as he put a hand on hers and squeezed it.
“David,” Jodi said, her eyes pleading with her husband. “I can’t live with this.”
David’s heart broke as he saw the wife he remembered, break through the madness caused by the anomaly. He knew what she was going through, but like his son, he couldn’t give up on her. Or let her give up on herself. He still loved Jodi as much as the first day he’d met her and hoped they could at least parent their son together.
“No honey, we need each other to heal from this. All of us,” David countered, placing his hand over Tiernan and Jodi’s.
Jodi burst into tears and seconds later she began cackling with laughter. David pulled Tiernan away from her as he sensed the madness was back in control of his wife.
“I thought Indrid was helping her?” David asked, looking at Mikal for an explanation.
Indrid suddenly appeared at the foot of the bed, surrounded by six tall men and women each with Jodi’s midnight eyes and dark hair.
“My son needs to deal with the anomaly while the Night Walkers help Jodi filter the energy strands to the dark realms that speak to her. This is beyond my abilities,” Indrid explained as he stepped back from the bed.
Tiernan turned watery blue eyes to Mikal.
“You can do this without killing her beast. You have the knowledge and ability, or you wouldn’t be the Sotier,” Tiernan stated it as fact.
“I’ll do all I can,” Mikal promised as he moved to the side of the bed and reached out his hands.
Jodi began screaming and straining against the wrist, ankle and abdominal restraints the moment he got close. Mikal ignored the woman and recalled every manipulation of energy he’d watched Alderic perform on Tiernan. Then he began to delicately maneuver the intricate strands in her mind that would fix the beast anomaly and bond them correctly in her brain.
The Night Walkers converged on the other side of the bed from Mikal, and that entire part of the room began to dim as a creeping darkness approached. David pulled Tiernan closer as the wall of darkness moved like something out of a horror movie until the six Night Walkers blended so deeply into it that you couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began.
“Don’t be afraid, they’re calling on the energy of the realms to help her bond and understand who she really is. It’s a crash course in being a Ni
ght Walker, like you learning your Prime abilities,” Tiernan whispered, placing his hand in David’s and squeezing it. “Only faster.”
David worried if her mind could handle it as well as the memories of what she’d done to their son. Jodi had always been a strong person, but from what little he knew of her actions since Tiernan’s birth it would be more than she could deal with.
“We can help her,” Tiernan whispered as he turned pleading eyes to David.
David was a little creeped out that his son appeared to read his mind, but he shook it off and smiled down at Tiernan.
“We’re going to be a family, son. Families help each other,” David said and hoped like hell he could do this.
Of all the missions he’d ever been on in his life, this one was going to be the toughest, and it scared him more than anything ever had before. David never had this much to lose.
Mikal was beginning to sweat when Grai came in with Tristan whose hand twirled in the air. There was a flash of light then the winged warrior walked away from his father and strode across the room to stand beside his brother.
“I thought you might need some help,” Tristan said with a grin.
He put his hand on Mikal’s back and seconds later a white glow spread across Mikal as his energy became super charged. Even with Tristan’s power it still took another hour before Mikal completed the bonding of the corrected beast while Jodi lay unconscious.
“Thank you, brother,” Tristan whispered and hugged Mikal.
“Tristan, when are you going to come play with me?”
The warrior turned with a smile and knelt down in front of Tiernan.
“We both have some work to do right now. But when everything settles down I’m sure our dads will get us together,” Tristan replied as he pulled the boy to him and gave him a hug.
Tiernan slowly pushed away and looked at Tristan with a serious expression.
“There is much we must speak of. My power is stable, and once they help my shadow side, there is much to do,” Tiernan whispered.
“There is plenty of time to meet in the realms. For now, you must heal your family and attend to your other duties as I must fulfill mine,” Tristan replied in a near chastising tone.
Tiernan surprised everyone listening to the exchange by smiling and clapping a small hand on the shoulder of the winged warrior.
“You are right this time. But don’t get used to it, you know I’ll be right next time around,” Tiernan joked.
Grai and David looked stupefied at the familiarity being shown by the two boys who’d never met before and were three years apart in physical age. The two acted as if they’d known one another for decades.
David shook off his wonder and remembered that he couldn’t speak of where he’d been and how he’d seen that same shocking display on the Dranovian world. Instead, he shrugged at Grai’s questioning look.
“Now we have two of them to confuse the shit out of us,” David whispered.
Grai narrowed his eyes at David for a moment before turning back to their sons.
“I must go now. We will meet soon.” Tristan put his forehead against Tiernan’s for a moment, and both closed their eyes and smiled.
“See you later,” Tiernan said as he pulled away.
Tristan stood and nodded his head at the boy before he turned to his father.
“Mikal has what you’ve been looking for. Take one to Sergei but leave the rest with Mikal,” Tristan said, turning to look at Mikal, “he will need them.”
“Tristan! You know we can’t do that!” Mikal snapped at his brother through the shengari’.
He knew damn well that Tristan had heard Alderic’s warning about replicating it and wondered why his brother would violate the trust of the Tri-worlds Sotier.
“There is no other choice. More than this world will be torn apart if Father doesn’t stop his quest. He doesn’t understand that actions, even innocent ones, can have ramifications that ripple through time and space,” Tristan countered aloud, causing Grai to become angry.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Grai demanded of his sons, crossing his arms over his chest and using his harshest fatherly tone of voice.
“Outside,” Mikal growled as he stared at his brother.
Grai turned on his heel and strode out the door followed by Mikal. Tristan followed more slowly, and when he reached the door, he winked at Tiernan before he left. Tiernan laughed at the gesture.
“Tristan certainly has his hands full on that one. I hope it works better this time around because I’d rather not do this again,” Tiernan whispered with a sad shake of his head.
David was floored and couldn’t believe what Tiernan was implying.
“Son, do you mean you’ve lived this before? Have you see the future?” David murmured, not sure if he wanted the answer or not.
Tiernan looked up at David, his eyes showing the impenetrable darkness in the center that looked spooky as hell.
“The realms are endless and timeless. While Tristan can travel them using the light, I follow him in the darkness. There is much we’ve seen on our journeys,” Tiernan whispered before he looked back to where his mother lay on the bed and the people still standing beside it.
The six dark figures had never left the room, and they watched Tiernan patiently, waiting for him to come to them.
David was getting ready to ask his son about what he meant regarding the realms when the boy stepped away from him.
“I must learn now. Tristan needs me,” Tiernan said as he walked towards the dark group.
“Tiernan,” David had begun before the boy disappeared into the darkness with Indrid’s people.
He was starting to panic over where Tiernan went when Indrid appeared beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“He is with his people and will be all right. None would dare harm him. What he must learn cannot be done in the presence of others, including me,” Indrid said, trying to alleviate the concern coming from David in waves.
“What the hell is a Night Walker? What makes them different from you and Mikal?” David asked in frustration, not wanting the boy out of his sight.
“It is many things that we are not. Mostly it is power. There are light and dark energy in every realm. A balance. Where Tristan commands the light, Tiernan commands the dark. Between the two of them, they protect the balance of energy,” Indrid explained, hoping to impress upon David how important his son was.
“But he’s just a boy! Tristan turns into a superhuman winged being! Tiernan is a child!” David argued.
He hated the thought of Tiernan fighting in the darkness alone, and it killed him to know he couldn’t do anything to help his son. Or alleviate the heavy responsibility such a thing must be to the small child.
“You think too much of the physical and this realm of existence. What Tristan and Tiernan can command is every realm created by the One God. Their power is endless, timeless and without limit. This is the final world for them to conquer and now that they are together again, they will be unstoppable,” Indrid warned, turning his white gaze to David.
David noted the concern in Indrid’s gaze and wondered at it.
“Then what bothers you about this?” David asked.
“There is only pause at the inclusion of the ancient Prime in Tiernan’s ability. A Night Walker that is beast is not unusual. But a Night Walker with an ancient and the power they wield is unheard of. The fact that the boy is also the most powerful of the Night Walkers, as a hybrid, speaks of his importance during the conversion,” Indrid said, refusing to lie to the nervous father.
“What should I do?” David wondered aloud, unsure what it all meant, but it sent shivers of dread down his spine.
“Be a father. It is what the boy needs more than anything. I believe he and Tristan will figure out the rest. We must trust that everything happening is because it is meant to occur just as it is,” Indrid stated, his eyes scanning the darkness across the room where the boy disappeared.
/> He could sense the presence of the Night Walkers and Tiernan, but even his energy couldn’t penetrate the veil of darkness surrounding them. Among their own kind, the Night Walkers were an enigma. The dark realms called to them the way the light spoke to Tristan and his light bringers. Their power in the darkness was equal to the power the light bringers had in the light.
As the light bringers increased in number on Earth, so did the Night Walkers. A careful balance kept. Just as the Dranovian numbers increased as the beast began to arise in the humans. Indrid couldn’t help but wonder at and even fear the rapid changes occurring that signaled the coming end of this epoch in Earth’s history. He only hoped that with the Light and Dark Warriors together again, that it would go as intended.
“I just want my son to be a child. Not a warrior in some end time war,” David whispered, his eyes scanning the dark for Tiernan.
Indrid was going to comment when a small shadow pulled away from the fathomless darkness and whirled around the room like a tornado. It stopped suddenly and hovered just above the floor for a moment before the shadow increased in size. Golden sparks shot through the dark mist like fairy lights seconds before a man manifested where the shadow had been.
“Is this what you prefer to see?” the trio of voices that spoke caused even Indrid to take a step back from the Dark Warrior.
If it hadn’t been for the darkness in the center of the blue eyes, and the man’s blond hair, David would have never guessed that it was an older version of his son that now stood before them.
“Tiernan?” David whispered in shock as he stared at his son.
The man smiled at David and nodded his head as the outer edges of his body began to fade into the darkness that suddenly surrounded him like a blanket. Moments later the man blinked out and the boy returned.
“I’m at full capabilities now,” Tiernan said with a grin.
The darkness began as a pinpoint in the center of his chest and spread quickly before it appeared to suck Tiernan’s body into it as the child disappeared.
“Tiernan!” David shouted in fear, looking around the room for his son.
