Desire (Legends of the Kilanor Book 3)

by Jared Stone

  “Ahhhhhhhhhh!” Lilith screeched, grabbing onto her red hair and pulling at it in an airborne tantrum. She continued to make these insufferable noises for some time, sounding more like some form of screech owl than a human, until she focused her enraged gaze on the sage.

  “You!” she shrieked, pointing down at Panhavant. “I shall kill you!!”

  Seemingly driven mad with frustration, Lilith once again raised her hands into the air. She began summoning another ball of energy, but this time Lucian simply looked on with more pity than fear. He was confident that Lilith did not have the ability to hurt him while he was with Panhavant. Not that she would even have the opportunity to try, as a gloved hand soon grabbed onto her arm roughly.

  “Lilith, stop!” Samael commanded sternly from beside her, staring at the woman through his golden mask. “Are you truly so foolish!?”

  The purple light that had enveloped Lilith’s hands immediately extinguished, and she looked fearfully over at the masked man. “My love,” she gasped. “I-I sought only to destroy these humans for you and obtain the key, as you desire!”

  “We are leaving now,” Samael commanded without room for protest. Looking down at Panhavant, he then said, “Great Tathāgata, I humbly implore you to pardon the ignorance of my associate. She is brash and still consumed by her defilements.”

  Panhavant simply smiled. “A fool who considers himself wise is truly a fool,” he said.

  Samael bowed his head slightly in appreciation, then turned back toward Lilith. “We have matters to discuss,” he stated.

  Samael’s eyes darted momentarily to make contact with Lucian’s, and Lucian felt a strange sensation in his stomach as they met. This feeling was short lived, however, as Samael and Lilith then both disappeared from sight.

  Lucian finally breathed out a sigh of relief he had not even known he was holding. He looked at Blake and smiled.

  “Well, that was… exciting!” he said.

  “Yeah, man…,” Blake said in exhaustion, lowering his hands. “Can we just, like, take a break now?”

  Lucian laughed. “Yeah, let’s,” he agreed. Looking down at his hand, he saw the crystal still blazing within his grasp. He held it out toward Panhavant again. “Panhavant, will you still not take this?”

  Panhavant once again shook his head. “This does not belong here,” he reiterated.

  Lucian was still confused. “I don’t understand,” he told the sage. “Where does it belong?”

  Panhavant smiled. “Where it is meant to be!” he announced, sticking his finger into the air.

  “Yeah, but where’s that?” Blake asked impatiently.

  Panhavant slowly stood up, leaning upon his long wooden staff for support. Turning to Lucian, he grabbed the boy’s hand which held the crystal. He then reached out and grabbed Blake’s hand as well. Bringing both boys’ hands together, he placed Blake’s on top of Lucian’s with the flaming crystal in between.

  “Focus on where it must be,” Panhavant instructed. “Do not think. Do not decide. Simply GO!”

  Lucian looked at Blake. His roommate wore the same baffled expression as he did. “So…, let’s just focus on not thinking I guess?” Lucian suggested.

  “Alright, sure,” Blake consented.

  Lucian saw Blake close his eyes, and Lucian felt he should do the same. Breathing in and out, he tried calming himself and letting go of all intention and desire to go to any specific place. He tried to make himself open to the idea of just going with the flow and being willing to take the crystal wherever it needed to be. But, no matter how he tried, he sensed that nothing was happening.

  “Panhavant, I don’t think –” Lucian began, opening his eyes. As the last wisps of black energy faded away from around him, Lucian saw that they no longer stood beneath the tree in the park. They were instead on some sort of pebbly road lined with trees, with a vast open countryside stretching out in every direction around them. He saw Blake standing before him as well.

  “Yeah, I’m not feeling anything, either!” Blake announced out loud with his eyes still closed.

  “Blake…,” Lucian said, continuing to take account of their new location. “Blake, open your eyes.”

  As Blake did so, his eyes grew wide. “Woah!” he exclaimed. “How the Hell…?”

  “I think you brought us here,” Lucian posited. “When I opened my eyes, there was still some dark energy around us. You said that Zagan could just teleport places, right?”

  Blake still looked stunned. “Yeah, man,” he said. “But it’s not like I’ve ever been able to do it or anything!”

  “Well, we got here somehow…,” Lucian stated.

  “Yeah, but, where’s here?” Blake asked.

  Turning around, Lucian caught sight of a large mansion made of gray and brown stone blocks a ways down the road from them, with white arches around each window and massive white columns supporting a triangular frieze in front. In the middle of the circular drive, a great fountain stood out. Looking to his right, Lucian could see one of many stone statues between the trees which was carved into the shape of a lion. He smiled.

  “Don’t worry, I know where we are,” he informed Blake with relief.

  Blake stood there silently with his eyebrows raised, awaiting an answer.

  “Come on!” Lucian said with a wave of his hand. He began to run in the direction of the mansion. “Let’s go say hi to Willow!”

  Epilogue

  1955 CE: Rome

  The sun was just setting under the crimson horizon as the tired man crept, with considerable difficulty, up the long marble staircase. Though not yet very old, it was clear by his movements and appearance that he had been thoroughly beaten down by years of physical hardship and acute emotional distress. Upon reaching the summit of his climb, he banged his fist three times against the enormous oaken door which cruelly barred his entrance.

  It did not take long before a young man in a crisply-pressed suit pulled the door open a ways and peered out. “May I help you?” he inquired coldly.

  The man glanced up at the attendant with desperation clearly apparent in his eyes. “I’m here to see Dareia,” the visitor asserted.

  The young man bore a disdainful look. “Lady Dareia is not expecting guests this evening,” he retorted. “What business do you have here?”

  A look of great irritation swept across the visitor’s face. “Tell Dareia that I am here to see her!” he insisted. “I need to see her!”

  Dareia’s young servant was clearly not amused. “Sir, I suggest you leave the premises at once, before we are forced to –”

  “Who is it, Gino?” a woman’s voice called out from within. Gino turned to look at the golden form which gracefully descended the marble staircase behind him. The unidentified visitor also shifted to the side to behold the resplendent owner of the estate as she approached.

  “No one, My Lady,” Gino responded with deference. “I believe it is a beggar. I have advised him to leave immediately.”

  Dareia reached the bottom of the stairs and peered around Gino at the man upon her doorstep. As her emerald eyes met his, she paused. Her brow furrowed in attempted recognition, and she cocked her head to the side.

  “Do I… know you?” she asked hesitantly.

  The man’s eyes began to tear up, and his face began to contort in what seemed to be a mixture of joy and sorrow. “Dareia, it’s me,” he croaked out. “It’s me. It’s Argus.”

  Dareia’s eyes immediately grew wide, and she stood stone-still for a moment. Then, without warning, she rushed up before the old man and laid her hands upon his arms. “Argus!?” she cried out. “Is it truly you!? It has been so long!”

  Tears began to freely flow down Argus’ cheeks, and he collapsed to his knees upon the cold marble. “He left me…,” he moaned, almost incoherently. “He’s gone….”

  Dareia now appeared not only shocked, but also confused. “Who left you?” she asked, kneeling down as well, so that her face could be held directly in front of her lon
g-time companion’s. “Who has left you, Argus?”

  “Kazimierz,” Argus muttered. “Kazimierz is gone. I…, I didn't know where else to go….”

  Dareia, still not comprehending the man’s meaning, looked up at Gino. “Gino, prepare a hot bath and a substantial meal for our guest,” she commanded.

  “Right away, My Lady!” Gino affirmed, scuttling off to make the arrangements.

  Dareia began to stand up and slowly guided Argus to his feet with her. “Come now, dear Argus,” she said, gently pulling him over the threshold. “Let us take care of you now, and you may tell me all about that which troubles you.”

  Argus’ only answer was the trembling of his limbs as he continued moving forward, and Dareia simply reached out with one hand to swing the massive door closed behind them.

  * * *

  Over dinner, following a hot bath, Argus explained all that had happened to him since they last saw each other, including his abandonment by his adoptive son and the incredible pain and regret he felt at having failed as a caretaker and father. Dareia did her best to reassure and comfort him, but she was truthfully wholly unaccustomed to playing the role of nurturer. Before she could even get him upstairs and into one of the many guest rooms for the night, Argus had fallen fast asleep in one of the armchairs in a living room, and Dareia couldn’t bring herself to wake him again. Grabbing a blanket from the nearby couch, she tenderly laid it over him and reached out to caress the side of his head, albeit in a stiff and unfamiliar way.

  “Argus,” she whispered. “I am so very sorry for what I have done to you; the things I have kept from you. You deserve so much more than what you have been given. More than what I am able to give….”

  Her emerald eyes began to twitch as they once again experienced the unusual sensation of tears welling up inside of them.

  “But I swear to you: one day, no matter the means or the sacrifice, I shall do everything in my power to make amends. I promise that I shall find a method by which to end your eternal suffering.”

  With this, the priestess leaned forward and kissed Argus on the forehead; the first and last kiss she would give anyone in her long lifetime.