by C. Gold
Ecksander faltered, and the shield began to bow under the pressure as Diarmid’s attack strengthened. “Hang in there, we just need to delay him until it’s over.” Marjery entwined her own vocals into his chant, a prayer to the Goddess, as she struggled to keep Ecksander upright. For a brief second their joined magic surged and broke the tendrils. But hundreds more replaced them and then disaster struck—Ecksander’s chant faltered and then fell silent.
“Where are we?” he asked.
Marjery didn’t even have time to grieve before the shield shattered and the tendrils tore through her protective hedge. She screamed in pain, her knees buckled, and she fell into darkness.
The soft light surrounding Marjery was of unnatural origin. Looking around, she was standing in a field surrounded by trees of every shade of green. Ecksander was twenty feet away speaking to a white robed woman. Marjery joined them and gasped when she realized exactly who the woman was. How did she not notice the divine energy right away? It was the Goddess, the source of all life magic. The Goddess gently grabbed her arm when she went to kneel.
“No need for that my child.” Her voice was gentle and soothed Marjery’s frayed nerves.
“Did we fail?” she asked. It was the only reason Marjery could think of that they would be in Her presence.
“Not yet. I was able to intervene. But you have a choice to make.”
She bit her lip and had a sinking feeling about this but had to ask, anyway. “What’s the choice?”
“You can remain here, but the world you know dies. Or I can send you back to save the world, but it requires a sacrifice.”
Instantly she knew it involved Ecksander. Fearful, she slipped her hand into his. He gave it a gentle squeeze but refused to look at her. Yep, she wasn’t going to like this one bit. “What’s the sacrifice?” Her voice quavered at the end despite her resolve to be strong.
The Goddess looked at her with a sad expression. “I can give Ecksander enough power to defeat the evil you face. But it will cost him his life.”
“No.” She shook her head in denial. “You’re the Goddess. You can heal him. He has enough power.”
She shook her head. “I’m so sorry but I couldn’t bring you here until you were close to death. Both of you would return without any power.”
“Why the Vision then? Why give me hope only to destroy it?”
“It was my request,” Ecksander cut in.
“What?” Marjery couldn’t believe her ears. What was he thinking?
He placed his hands on either side of her face and looked at her with sad eyes. “I’m losing pieces of myself each day. I can feel my mind slipping and I don’t want to be a burden.”
“You’re not a burden,” she replied fiercely. She put her hands on top of his and gave them a gentle squeeze. “I love you.”
He pulled her hands off his face and gathered them gently to his chest. “I love you too.” The look in his eyes said this was goodbye.
She began to cry.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. “My love. I don’t want to live like that. Let my death have meaning. Let me cleanse this filth from our world.”
“I don’t want to lose you.” Marjery was openly sobbing now, the ugly kind that left your face red.
“Oh my dearest. I’ll always be with you.” He leaned down to kiss her. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with every drop of passion she ever possessed. He returned the favor with a zeal too long denied her since his injury. When he pulled back, tear tracks marked his own cheeks, but he took a deep breath, straightened to his full height and addressed the Goddess. “I’m ready.”
“Why can’t you save him?” This time Marjery’s voice was small and pleading. She didn’t care. She wasn’t strong, not in this matter.
The Goddess looked at her, a great sadness in her eyes. “Even the gods have limits. But know this. Even as I take something precious from you, I give you something precious in return. He will need your protection, your guidance, and your love.”
Marjery wanted to refuse whatever it was, but the fleeting vulnerability in the Goddess’ face squeezed at her heart. Perhaps the Goddess had also sacrificed to save this world. She nodded her agreement even as her eyes became blurry from more tears. Her heart felt like it was being yanked out of her chest.
“When I place you back in the time stream, you will have to act fast.”
Ecksander gripped his staff in both hands, determination etched on his face. He looked strong. “Do it now.”
The world tilted and spun around before coming to a sickening stop. Blinking to clear her vision, Marjery looked around and gasped. Somehow the Goddess had transferred them to the bottom of the gorge, just outside the warlock’s death circle. The full eclipse was still going on, so time hadn’t passed while they were gone.
She hadn’t really planned on point blank range. Hastily, she sat down and entered her trance state. Without more seeds, she had to form a makeshift ring using existing vegetation, mostly scrub grass. It would do in a pinch.
Ecksander wasted no time on assaulting the warlock circle. Diarmid was nearly finished. Already bubbly forms were stretching forth appendages from a dark portal at the center of the warlock circle. He slammed enough white hot energy into the circle’s edge to pierce inside.
Diarmid hastily blocked it but his shield wavered.
Marjery spoke the words to a couple of curses and threw a tiny enchanted ball into the hole before it sealed back up. The explosion was underwhelming, but the green smoke quickly filled the circle and forced Diarmid to work a spell to clear the air before he could resume his chanting.
Once again, Ecksander pierced the shield. This time it took longer to repair and Marjery got two more objects through. The first one was a silencing spell, the second one caused temporary paralysis.
Diarmid turned furious eyes on them but was unable to move so much as a finger.
Marjery crossed her fingers. Only five more minutes before the sun would return and banish the demon portal.
Ecksander began channeling a huge amount of energy into the staff.
“What are you doing?” she cried out. Working with that much energy could kill him.
He stopped long enough to answer her. “I’m ending him once and for all.”
“No, we can just wait it out.”
He shook his head. “No, he’ll just find another way.” Ecksander resumed his chanting.
With nothing else to do, Marjery wrapped her arms around her husband, savoring the short time they had left. She tried not to cry, but it was no good. Her heart was breaking.
When the air was almost painfully saturated with life energy, Ecksander rammed the staff straight into the shield. It parted like water.
Diarmid was able to twitch a finger and summon a weak shield, but it was no use. The staff pierced it too and ran him straight through his dark heart.
His finger twitched one last time in defiance, sending all his remaining energy into the portal, before he died.
Suddenly, the portal swelled and looked fully formed. Legs and shoulders began pushing through as hundreds of demons vied for first entry into a world ripe for the taking.
Gazing over his shoulder, Ecksander mouthed ‘I love you’ and then he plunged into the portal. It exploded in a fiery light so bright Marjery had to cover her eyes and even then she couldn’t see for several minutes.
“Ecksander…” She wept.
Nine months later Marjery held a baby boy in her arms. Her tears were a mixture of bitter and sweet. Born barren, she had resigned herself to never having children, but the Goddess had healed her and given her Ecksander’s child. A precious gift indeed. And one she would cherish for the rest of her life.
The End
From the Author
Thank you for reading this book. I really hope you enjoyed it. Please take a moment to leave a review and make sure to tell your friends.
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C. Gold
Books by the Author
The Darklight Universe
Book 1: The Summoner and the Seer
Short Stories
The Vampire’s Raven
The Archmage's Eclipse
Unscaled
About the Author
C. Gold is an avid World of Warcraft gamer and book reading junkie. Her worlds are influenced by her background in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Computer Science and Math. After a long career in software testing, she began writing the stories that kept clamoring to be told.
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Acknowledgements
This short story was inspired by the Aug 21, 2017 eclipse and aided by the wonderful people at Slooh who broadcast the event on their live stream. With their help, I was able to witness totality at the same time the light was getting leeched of normal coloring outside my window at a peak of 92% totality.
The idea for Ecksander’s memory loss came from an article I read online about a woman who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Even though she left instructions about how she wanted to end her life by starvation, she didn’t put ‘hand feeding’ in the fine print so the care givers are morally obliged to keep feeding her by hand if she accepts it.
I would like to send a special thanks to my friends who have been very supportive when I finally put virtual pen to virtual paper and began writing. You guys keep me going when I doubt myself, and you give me honest feedback when I’m feeling too smug. You are the best friends a person could have.
To my husband, Dan, who makes me laugh. He is my best friend and the other half of me.
