by Mikayla Lane
Jodi’s mouth opened in surprise, and her eyes widened.
“It heard you. It sent a chill and said it agreed. I swear I’m still crazy. I have to be. None of this can be real,” Jodi whispered.
David put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her close and kissed the top of her head.
“Half the people I know and work with have been through exactly what you’re going through, including me. You’re not crazy, or alone anymore and there’s not much you could say that one of us hasn’t gone through,” David admitted, laying his head on top of hers.
Jodi snorted and pulled away to look at him. Her eyes swirled with emotions David couldn’t decipher, and he couldn’t feel any emotional energy bleed.
“Did they take antipsychotic medication for years that screwed with their mind? Did they try to kill their children? Or hurt those trying to help?” Jodi snapped. When David looked away, she shook her head. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Don’t lecture me on something no one can understand.”
David sighed heavily when she stood and began to pace again.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to make light of the things that happened. I just wanted you to know the beast isn’t a bad guy or an evil entity in your head,” David said as he watched Jodi for a clue to her emotional state.
Jodi ran a hand through her hair as she stomped back and forth across the floor. It was obvious there was something she wanted to say and was having trouble vocalizing it. David wasn’t sure how to help her and remained quiet, hoping Jodi would eventually spit it out.
“Why are you being so nice?” Jodi finally asked.
Out of everything running through his head that she could possibly want to know, that surprised David the most and it took him a moment to respond.
David wasn’t going to lie to her or himself. This was too important to him.
“I love you. I always have. Everything that’s happened is horrible and painful for all of us. I don’t know why the hell we had to go through it, and I just don’t care anymore. Tiernan told me that the past is a pointless place to live and I have to agree with him. I’d rather forge a future as the people we are now than the ones we were back then. I want to raise our son together, like a real family, and I don’t care what I have to do to make that happen.” David’s determination poured from him as he awaited her response.
Jodi stopped pacing and stiffened her spine. David hated that her back was to him and he couldn’t see her face or even read her energy. It wasn’t until she turned around and he saw her swirling dark eyes with pinpoints of light that he realized how angry she was.
“That’s easily said from your side of the fence! You have no idea what I’ve been through! How dare you treat this like another mission without even caring about what I want!” Jodi stalked towards him as her body blended in and out of the shadows erratically. “I don’t even know who the hell I am or who our son is, yet you expect me to jump right back into a relationship with you because you want it? Do you even care if that’s the right thing for me? Or what I want?”
David shook his head, wondering how he’d managed to screw this up so badly.
Already, he thought to himself as he rubbed a hand down his face.
“That’s not what I meant,” he whispered. “You asked why I’m being so nice and I told you why. That’s not going to change even if it takes me a lifetime to get you back. I’m just being honest.”
The wind seemed to be knocked out of Jodi, and her shoulders sagged for a moment as she looked away from David. He could feel the regret in her energy before she ran to the door.
“This was a mistake. All of it,” Jodi had whispered before she disappeared.
David couldn’t help but wonder if Jodi realized how often she was beginning to use her Night Walker abilities to poof in and out. She’d even spent most of her time pacing with only part of her body visible, the rest of her was like a dark mist. He figured it had to do with the riotous emotions she tried desperately to hide from him, but she was too new at it to do a good job.
He’d felt the fear, shame, and anger roiling from Jodi and had been shocked at the intensity. Buried underneath the negative and well hidden within her had been love and a thread of hope. That was what David was going to concentrate on.
He began to pace in the same spot that Jodi had, his mind consumed with how to approach this mission.
*****
Tiernan watched the interaction between his parents from the Terran dark realm and shook his head in sadness. He was pondering the options available to help the situation when he felt Dizarion’s presence beside him and carefully masked his energy.
“Commander,” Dizarion stated.
“Do you have anything to report?” Tiernan asked.
Without a word, he shot from his father’s bedroom and back into his own before he left the dark realm and rose in the boy’s body.
“Tristan’s second has been awakened.” Dizarion wasn’t fooled by his commander’s stoic countenance as Tiernan began to pace. He’d felt the warrior’s thoughts before they’d been carefully hidden.
“Did you do it again?” Tiernan already knew the answer but wanted to distract Dizarion from what he’d walked in on.
“Asha’s physical body would not have survived her situation for much longer, and we both know that Tristan needs her now because of what is happening,” Dizarion argued.
Tiernan shook his head at what they had all been forced into on this world. It was more than any of them had expected or prepared for and left his mind reeling.
“We were arrogant fools to believe that we were far above the potential dangers warned about in the prophecies,” Tiernan growled in anger.
Dizarion nodded his head in agreement. He had the same thoughts more than once since Tiernan had been revealed to him, but there was no time to dwell on it.
“It is why we must focus solely on our duties.” Dizarion watched the emotions flit across the boy commander’s face, and his concern only grew.
“There is much more to any of this than just duty. Do not pretend like you are unaffected by the circumstances in this realm,” Tiernan snapped back. The love between the second commanders was well known throughout time.
Dizarion was more than a little surprised by Tiernan’s reaction. He hadn’t expected the fierce determination running through the child warrior and took a mental step back to assess the situation better.
“You are tied to them?” Dizarion muttered in horror as he saw the nearly invisible threads of energy that trailed from the child warrior’s soul.
“I am doing what I must to ensure my survival until I reach my full power!” Tiernan growled as he stomped back to his bed and climbed inside. He pulled the covers over his lap and glared at the tall warrior, daring him to say more.
“You’re wasting energy you need keeping them together! You must sever the ties and concentrate on your duty. An entire world depends on you and not just two people who happen to be your physical parents in this realm. Do not forget that it is my job to make sure you do yours,” Dizarion snapped back.
Seconds later the boy disappeared from the bed, and the Dark Warrior loomed in front of Dizarion, his eyes blazing with rage.
“If you ever harm them, I will kill you,” Tiernan growled.
Dizarion sighed heavily and nodded his head.
“And that is why I will do what I must to ensure you remain diligent to your duties,” Dizarion replied before he disappeared.
Tiernan had to stop himself from going after Dizarion and instead clenched his fists in impotent rage.
“No one will harm them,” he whispered.
The room dimmed as Tiernan’s power flashed outward and the dark began to consume the light. He held his arms out to his sides and flexed his palms up, sending out his energy to where his parents were resting in the rooms on either side of him. The moment he knew exactly where they were, Tiernan closed his eyes.
A massive bubble of dark energy began to expand around him as
Tiernan poured all of his efforts into creating it. When the pressure was too great, he opened his eyes, and dark energy poured out like twin black holes as power shot from his hands and into his parents.
He regretted that it had knocked both of them out instantly but knew that it couldn’t be helped if he were to ensure they remained safe. Tiernan knew he’d have a lot of explaining to do in the morning, but didn’t care. He ground his teeth and flexed his fists in anger and determination.
Tristan and I will fix this. We always have, and this world will be no different! We aren’t compromised, Tiernan thought to himself.
Tiernan welcomed the rush of energy he had felt before Tristan materialized beside him.
“I’m afraid we are, my friend. I had hoped that you weren’t, but you verified it with that release of energy. It is a measure of your power that you’re still standing,” Tristan whispered with a small smile.
Tiernan shook his head and sighed.
“I can’t let anything happen to them. The love I feel in this world is crippling! How do you deal with it?” Tiernan asked in exasperation.
Tristan surprised them both by chuckling.
“I don’t. At least not in my physical form. Until the conversion occurs, the physical bodies of the light bringers are dulled to the power of emotions. I can now see why. It’s only in this form that I feel the intensity of love and hope,” Tristan admitted. “It’s like a drug that I keep returning to and can’t seem to shake. We were warned and just didn’t comprehend how powerful it was going to be.”
Tiernan paced the room, made much smaller with the presence of the two warriors in it.
“What do we do?” Tiernan finally asked, running his hands over his head.
Tristan was silent for so long that Tiernan didn’t think he would answer and he sat on the bed to stare at his friend.
“I don’t know,” Tristan whispered so quietly Tiernan almost didn’t hear him.
Tristan dropped to the bed beside Tiernan and shook his head in disgust at himself.
“You can’t blame yourself.” Tiernan put a hand on Tristan’s shoulder and sent him a wave of comforting energy.
“There is none other to blame but myself. I fear I have set into motion a dozen countermeasures to protect my father from his own machinations. Each one is but a few more seconds on a time bomb ready to go off at any moment.” Tristan couldn’t even look at his dark counterpart.
“How many worlds?” Tiernan asked as calmly as he could.
Tristan’s admission had come with visions in Tiernan’s head of what Tristan had done, and he was shaken to his core.
“Too many.” Tristan’s whispered words sent shivers down Tiernan.
Tiernan launched himself to his feet and began to pace again, needing a way to expend the agitated energy coursing through him.
“It’s all true then. We never believed it possible. Ignored all the warnings and yet, it’s all true,” Tiernan muttered in anger and fear.
“We can try to fix it,” Tristan offered while Tiernan laughed bitterly.
“Do you really think that’s going to save the shit show we’ve created?” Tiernan countered.
“There are many paths that lead to the main road, we just need to get back to where we need to be,” Tristan suggested.
“We’d have to stop interfering to do that. Are you sure you can do that?” Tiernan asked already knowing his own answer and Tristan’s.
“We have no choice but to try,” Tristan argued.
Tiernan nodded his head in agreement. He knew Tristan was right, they had to try, but he could feel the lack of hope in both of them. They hadn’t even been on the planet for more than a blip of time and already screwed up their mission.
“Asha has been awakened. Maybe she can help,” Tiernan suggested and noted the surprise in Tristan.
“I haven’t felt her at all. Where is she?” Tristan asked.
He’d been hoping his second wouldn’t arise until he’d made every effort to fix his mistakes and make things right again. Having Ashacanna around would make things much harder for Tristan, and he couldn’t help but be frustrated that she was awake.
“Dizarion said her situation was dire, but I’m sure Asha will make her way to you as soon as she’s able,” Tiernan warned feeling the thread of unease run through Tristan. It was echoed in his own energy over the whole situation.
They sat in silence, each wrapped in their own thoughts when Tristan finally stood.
“We must try to remain diligent and focused on our duty. We can’t allow ourselves to fall or we will take this world with us,” Tristan warned as his fear bled from his energy.
Tiernan stood and put his hands on Tristan’s shoulders and looked him in the eyes.
“We will do everything we can. I swear it. Now get back to your duties, so I can get back to mine.” Tiernan’s smile didn’t hide his own concern over the future of Terra and themselves.
Tristan nodded and quickly hugged Tiernan.
“Be safe and vigilant,” Tristan said before he disappeared.
Tiernan dropped back to the bed, put his head in his hands, and wept for a world he wasn’t sure even they could save now. The heroes had become compromised.
Chapter Thirteen
David knew something was off the second he woke up. The first clue was that he’d been crumpled on the floor. The next came when he looked in the mirror to shave and saw a dark smudge on his neck near his collar bone. When he rubbed at it, it didn’t come off. It glowed a darker black for a moment, revealing what looked like one of Tiernan’s sigils and David knew that it wasn’t just dirt.
He trolled his memory for what had happened, and the last thing David remembered was pacing his room after Jodi had left, plotting how he was going to win back his wife. The next thing he knew he was waking up on the floor.
David quickly finished shaving and showering, his mind consumed with what his son may have done to him and why. He was trying his best to remain calm when he heard the commotion outside and ran out the door to see what was going on.
He saw Tiernan sitting at the table eating a full plate of food while Jodi was pacing behind him, apparently angry. When she turned to David, he could see a matching dark smudge on Jodi’s neck.
“What did you do?” David asked as calmly as he could.
“Oh, did you wake up on the floor too?” Jodi snapped while her eyes bore into their son.
David grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down across from Tiernan who was eating his breakfast like a starving man.
“Son, we’d like an answer,” David coaxed.
He was trying not to be pissed off until he found out what the boy had done, though he knew it wasn’t good.
“I was helping,” Tiernan mumbled between bites of eggs and sausage.
“Helping what?” David asked calmly as Jodi paced in irritation beside them.
“Protect you.” Tiernan’s matter of fact tone did nothing to ease David’s concern.
“How?” David demanded, afraid of the answer.
“It’s just a shield and a warning. It will protect you while letting any of the entities in the dark realms know that you are under the guardianship of the Dark Warrior. No one will dare come near you while you wear my mark of protection,” Tiernan explained as a small smile played on his face.
David was left speechless while Jodi growled in anger.
“At what cost? Answer me, Tiernan! What cost?” Jodi snapped as her anger rose.
David wasn’t sure what was going on, but Jodi’s reaction seemed way out of proportion to what their son had said he’d done. It meant she knew something he didn’t.
“What’s going on? What am I missing?” David asked, leaning back in the chair to carefully watch his wife and son.
Dizarion suddenly appeared in the seat between Tiernan and David and David saw the flicker of irritation cross his son’s face before he masked it. The two stared at one another for a moment before Dizarion broke his gaze from the boy and tu
rned to David.
“He has removed his own shield of protection and transferred it to the both of you. Tiernan is now vulnerable until he reaches full power,” Dizarion explained, his voice laced with anger and a tinge of fear for the boy warrior.
“It is nothing so dramatic!” Tiernan growled at Dizarion, his eyes swirling with pinpoints of dark and light.
David’s concern only grew as he watched his son have a glaring contest with his second in command. He looked up at Jodi, and when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes, he knew this was much more serious than his son was letting on.
“Someone tell me the truth of what this means,” David demanded, hoping Jodi or Dizarion would explain it to him.
Jodi quirked a brow at her son and waited for him to admit what he’d done. When the boy just shrugged and remained silent Jodi turned to David.
“Tiernan used his power to transfer his own sigil of protection to the both of us. That shield he had protecting him is now gone from him and on the both of us instead,” Jodi growled as she stared at her son. “Oh, and that’s not all he did either. He imbued us with a mark of warning that repels the dark entities from coming near us!”
David’s mouth dropped open in shock as Tiernan calmly got up from the table and ordered another plate of food from the replicator. He’d just gathered his thoughts when Tiernan sat back down and dug into his breakfast.
“Son, take back your shield,” David growled, trying his best to calm his anger.
“I can’t,” Tiernan mumbled between bites of food.
“He’s right,” Dizarion said disapprovingly. “Once a sigil is forcibly removed it cannot be taken back. What he isn’t telling you, is that because you both now wear the shield, he’s made you virtually immortal.”
Jodi and David both gasped before Jodi burst into tears and ran from the room. David looked down the hall where she disappeared before turning to his son. Putting his hands on the table, he leaned forward to glare at Tiernan.
