by H. R. Holt
Esme wiped tears from her eyes. “Yes, Oblivia. Of course. I will do anything you say.” She approached her daughter and sat beside her. Although she tried to stare into her daughter’s eyes, she trembled and settled instead on her hands. “Where do you want us to begin? We do have a lot to catch up on.”
***
When the riders saw the dark moon, their mirth faded and was replaced by foreboding whispers. Some of them realized that they were running out of time, since it was that the Black Moon “tomorrow night” suddenly became “tonight.” Windrew could sense there was a more powerful darkness than he had previously believed, since Luella had never been able to manipulate the universe. He didn’t address it with anyone else, but Anekaya realized it and Isaac, who saw their tension, sensed it as well. He felt as if the end was coming and his steed, Grimshaw, wasn’t moving as fast as he could. Isaac became bitter at the night wind, at the moon, and anyone who so much as tried to speak to him. Grimshaw felt his rider’s anxiety, but knew the mortal wouldn’t listen to him, so he kept to himself. Since he was the most talkative, such a task was hard to do.
“We’re here,” Windrew announced.
As they emerged from the clouds, they looked down on Auzeil with amazement. Although the darkness was all around it, the ivory palace near the water was pristine and beautiful beyond words. The shimmer on the river caught Isaac’s attention for a second, because it caught the reflection of the moon, and he knew he must ready himself for battle. With wind blowing through his hair, he drifted towards the lead beside Windrew.
The palace soldiers weren’t expecting them to come from above nor where they expecting to see them so soon. While the archers readied their arrows, the regiment of horses began descending. Isaac held his hand on his sword, ready for everything. As Grimshaw soared over one of the palace walls, Isaac delivered a fatal strike to the nearest soldier, beheading him.
Once they descended, Isaac jumped off and looked around him, suddenly surrounded by soldiers who didn’t speak but to grumble. He could see their malicious faces clearly, but knew their intentions without having to see them. As he looked to the moon, he knew there wasn’t time for him fight them.
“Go!” Windrew ordered. “I’ve got this! You know where it’s going to be, right?”
Isaac ran off without answering, hearing battle cries all around him. He knew some were following him but didn’t care. He cut through the ones blocking his way, hearing their screams as his blade severed vital organs. As if he were led by an invisible force, he stormed down a flight of stone steps merely yards away and saw a thick door that looked as if it were there for show. Where could it possibly lead? Inside the wall? He went through it, hearing yells behind him and two missed attempts with arrows that slammed into the door.
Once he was inside, he braced the door with a piece of wood that looked as if it had fallen off a tree due to deterioration instead of being cut down. Surprisingly, the wood was sufficient enough.
When he turned around, he saw that there were four entrances like the one he’d come through. They were all consumed by darkness because of the low ceilings, while, in the center of the room, was a perfectly square and smooth platform doused in light. He saw two groups of people seated on the left and right of the platform from where he entered. One group was dressed in black while the other was dressed in black. Although Isaac had never really met them, he knew who they were: servants of the prophecy. As he stepped closer, pausing outside the platform, he realized there was no ceiling above it—at least, not one he could see.
“It is too late.”
Isaac turned and saw a woman dressed in a hooded gray cloak, a large necklace around her neck with a golden circle centerpiece that held a blue sapphire in the center. He noticed two things about the sapphire: it was glowing and wasn’t being held in place by anything but air.
He heard someone entering and turned, looking towards the opposite side of the room, knowing Reverie was there before he saw her. She walked up the steps to the platform and he realized what she was wearing. It was a hooded cloak that was black on one side and white on the other. She held a white and black stone in the opposite hand that represented the sides of the outfit.
As she stood there, the servants of the prophecy began chanting. The rhythm intoxicated and enchanted him as he listened to the smooth flow of words that hadn’t been spoken in ages. All the while, he stared at Reverie, sensing it was her without seeing her face. He didn’t know why he couldn’t move, didn’t want to move.
Two servants stepped up and removed her hood, and she raised her head to stare across the platform. Isaac realized that her hair had been cut short, which made her neck even more graceful. With a gasp and a shudder, he noticed that her eyes were black, and knew that something terrible had taken place. Where was Luella?
The woman in gray stepped onto the platform, walked around Reverie, and positioned her feet inside the circle at the back. Although there were four circles to fill, one representing good; one representing evil; and two representing the combination of both, Reverie stepped up and stood in the center. As soon as they were all positioned, a stream of pale light poured down on them.
“Reverie,” Isaac could only manage to say her name. He couldn’t say anything more, but that was enough to rattle something in her. She shook free from her possessor and looked at him, her eyes blue once more. “Reverie?”
Reverie acknowledged him and looked around her, terrified. She didn’t know where she was or what had happened the last time she’d been conscious of her actions. As she stared at Isaac, all dark thoughts escaped her. Before she could smile, the light streaming down on her became black. She threw her head back, screaming. Isaac rushed up and tried to reach his hand inside the light, but it burned him.
“Get in the circle!”
He looked around and realized Windrew had found a way into the temple through another door and was rushing over. Without asking him what he meant, Isaac rushed to the circle that represented evil and a light consumed him. He turned towards Reverie, whose light had returned normal and saw that she was no longer screaming. As a smile formed on his face, the light extended all around the platform and he closed his eyes.
***
When he opened his eyes again, he realized they were still standing on the platform but it was in the depths of the cosmos. In front of them, almost as large as planets themselves, were three heads that looked neither masculine nor feminine. He knew they were the Ancient Ones.
“How is the balance?” the one in the center asked.
Isaac realized they were standing in a line, with him on one end and Reverie on the other, separated by the woman in gray, Esme. He looked around him, spotting the planet that held the Cathene Continent over his left shoulder. He thought that it had never looked so beautiful.
“The balance is unstable,” Esme answered.
“Very well, Second Summoner. What must be done to restore it?”
“We need to restore the continent’s virtues. The darkness is too great,” Esme said with certainty. She looked at Reverie, a few tears falling down her cheeks. “I fear that it has gone so far as to consume my daughter, when I tried to…”
“We will be able to restore the continent. It is why we exist. We cannot do anything for your daughter,” the head to the left stated without emotion. “She is lost to us, but there is something more powerful that can save her.”
“What?”
Even though Isaac hadn’t asked, he was anticipating the answer. They never gave it. Instead, the third head that was directly in front of him looked at him and asked, “Do you feel there is a need for another Summoner?”
“Who do you have in mind?”
They were pleased with his answer, though Esme looked at him as if he’d thrown a rock at them. Before she could state her disapproval, they saw a white trail of light emerge from the platform and trail across space at an alarming speed. From a distance, they saw someone dressed in black walk towards them, and then sud
denly appear on the platform.
“Manny!” Esme exclaimed. She held her hand to her heart. “I—”
“I told you once that I’d find you. I’m a man of my word.” He walked towards her, reaching through the light to hold head in his hands. She was crying, so he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “And, I hope you don’t mind, but… they chose me as the First Summoner.”
“No,” she managed, leaning into his embrace. He inhaled deeply, taking in her familiar scent, the one he’d longed for, jasmine. “I don’t.”
“Consider the balance restored,” the Ancient Ones declared.
With an even brighter flash of light, they were back inside the temple. As the light diminished, Isaac tried to adjust his eyes. Once they did, he saw Reverie lying sprawled out on the platform. He rushed to her, knelt beside her, and found her skin cold to the touch. Windrew walked over and stood beside the steps, watching his friend hold the queen of his heart.
“She’s—” he started.
“No. The Ancient Ones… they said there was something more powerful that can save her…” Isaac said as tears consumed him. He tried to think, but his mind was clouded. He touched her face, wanted warmth to return to her beautiful cheeks, but it wouldn’t. Why? Why?!
“There is something more powerful,” Emmanuel said as he knelt, resting his hand on Isaac’s shoulder. The younger man looked at him, realized he was back after death had come for him. “In all of infinity, there is something far more powerful than death. That… is love.”
“I love her. I do. I do love her!” he exclaimed, aggravated while Emmanuel remained calm. “Doesn’t she know that? I’ve come so far for her…” He stopped talking and looked at her face, remembering all the time they’d spent together. Even though he tried to convince himself, and her, that they had changed too much to ever go back, he didn’t believe it. Not really. Love didn’t know the meaning of time. “I thought she knew that I loved her…”
Isaac remembered what she’d told him once years ago, when she said they were too young to know of love. Had he believed her even for a second? Did he truly want to be “just friends” when he knew there was so much more to his heartbeat? He wanted to devote himself to her completely, kiss her until she no longer had doubts. Everything passes in time. Everything. Everything. Reverie’s words echoed in his mind, which tore into his very core.
“Not everything,” he said.
With tears still streaming down his face, he lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers. Isaac trembled when he realized how cold her lips were, but continued kissing her. He pulled away sadder than before, pressing his forehead to hers as he ran his hands through her hair.
“Please… please… wake up… I love you,” he pressed his lips to hers again. He realized his kiss was futile and pulled away, sitting like a stone as he held her hand, tears streaming down his face. He would hold it forever if he had to.
“Say that again… that you love me,” Reverie said and opened her eyes. She looked into his soft brown eyes, smiling, and began wiping away his tears.
Isaac felt his heartbeat escalating and pulled her into his arms. “I’ll say it a million times if it keeps you from ever leaving me,” he declared. He held her close while the celebration of her life filled their ears. As her heart beat wildly in her ears, he whispered, “I love you, Reverie. I always have.”
She managed a feeble, “Me too,” and succumbed to tears of happiness.
Reverie’s breath on his skin filled him with desire. He pulled her away slightly, enough to see her eyes, to kiss them. With her in his arms at last, he knew he no longer had to search for an answer. He had the answer he was searching for. With a smile, he pressed his lips to hers and she returned his passion.
♥ Epilogue ♥
Throughout the kingdom, as balance became restored, so did families that had been torn by darkness’s chaos. During the end of the battle, before Windrew could deliver a fatal stroke to his half brother, Thomas declared Kevnar was alive and safe. Anekaya used her powers on Thomas and found that such was true, tears streaming down her face. Their youngest was alive and well, which meant more than any victory to her.
When Reverie left the temple and ascended the steps, Isaac’s arm wrapped around her waist, she jumped slightly as cheers surrounded her. Isaac kissed the top of her head and looked at the strangers all around them. A short time ago, they had been ready to kill each other, but now were joined in celebrating the renewal of the continent.
Reverie looked over her shoulder at her parents and her heart skipped a beat. She had rarely seen her father so happy. As Esme stared at her daughter, they smiled brightly at each other. After eighteen years, the Reagan family had been reunited. Looking up at her sweet Manny, Esme knew that all was right in the continent, even though she wished she hadn’t missed out on so much time.
When they reached level ground, Kevnar walked through the crowd towards them, soldiers twice his size stepping out of his way. He was dressed in a white cloak that was too large for him and his hair was slicked back. In his hands, almost edible in appearance, was a small replica of the old Victorian house. He approached Emmanuel and held it up to him. With a gasp, Esme looked from it to her husband. The others of their close circle didn’t understand, and their expressions revealed as much.
“Emmanuel, when you, essentially, passed on, your house became a portal for evil to use at their leisure. Since you removed the protection years ago, placed there by both Summoners, there was nothing keeping them from going in.”
Reverie looked at Kevnar with a raised brow, but Isaac was the one to speak. “What are you saying? That Earth is…”
“Draven Ovile has passed through with his soldiers by using the blessing of the priests of Idenia. He did so without the permission of Luella, which could only mean his powers are greater than hers. Since the Ancient Ones have no control over the balance of other planets, other galaxies, they are now the strongest force on your planet.”
“We must go…” Emmanuel started.
Kevnar raised a hand, which made the older man stop. “The priests are dead, and they are the only ones who can allow you safe passage, since you are a Summoner. The same goes for you, Esme. The only ones who can do anything to liberate your world from chaos are those who have been there once before.”
Reverie and Isaac realized all eyes were on them, and knew that they were the only ones who could save the planet they once called home. They looked at each other, then towards Kevnar. Even though he was the youngest one among them, his eyes were filled with wisdom and they trusted him as well as each other. They nodded.
Kevnar took the house from Emmanuel, and released it so that it was floating in front of him. Reverie held Isaac’s hand tight and they looked at each other briefly, ready for the worst as long as they were together. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at her father, trying to release some of the anxiety he was feeling. He smiled in return, even though she could still sense his worry.
Kevnar took their free hands in his and smiled at them, almost looking like an innocent child. As Anekaya and Windrew looked on lovingly, holding each other close, the roof of the model house turned into a typhoon and began pulling Reverie and Isaac in.
“Here we go!” And, like Alice falling into the rabbit hole, in they went…
