Descent Into Darkness

Descent Into Darkness Chapter 38

That was quick. Alrighty, peoples, 250 for the next chapter! I know this one is short, but it needs to be to set up the next. Hope you enjoy!

He turned at the last moment, and she knew from a single look at the smile that spread across his face that he was the man who had left Yaag, not the one he had become after gaining his power. His arms opened and she jumped into them, and he spun them around, losing his balance and falling to the grass. She lay on top of him, kissing his cheeks and forehead with his arms wrapped tightly around her. She finally gave him a chance to breathe, lifting her head and staring into his eyes. “I was missed, I take it?” he chuckled.

“That you were,” she replied. “Welcome home, Phoenix.”

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She stood and offered him her hand, pulling him to his feet once he had grasped it. She looked just as he remembered, and he pushed her hair behind her ear, wondering how he had ever left her. “Where are Spedro and Lindani? I am sure they will not be happy to see me.”

She smacked him on the back of his head, smiling when he flinched. “They would be, if we had not heard you were dead.”

“Dead now, am I?”

“Word reached us that you took revenge for mother, but lost your life in doing so. The cultist's temple collapsed from the battle, burying you under tons of stone.”

Lian cleared her throat, and Phoenix remembered his manners. “Ember,” he said, turning to the woman behind him. “I am happy to introduce Lian, my companion these last five months. She is the one who helped rid me of the stone's influence. She saved my life, and the lives of many others.”

Ember nodded at Lian, but her face became inscrutable. “Companion?”

“Bodyguard, is more the word he was looking for,” Lian said, extending her hand to Ember. “He has not been unfaithful to Lindani in my time with him.”

Ember visibly relaxed, taking Lian's arm. “I am glad to hear he had someone with him.”

“So the Cughdo temple is no more?” Lian asked, looking pointedly at Phoenix.

“That is what we heard,” Ember replied.

Phoenix held up his hands in defeat. “I did nothing. The temple still stood when I left Marlbon.”

“Ember! It is almost time!” someone called, and all three turned, Phoenix recognizing the voice immediately. Expecting a fight, he unclasped his cloak from his neck, letting it fall to the ground. “You showed him this place?” he whispered to Ember.

“Months ago,” she smiled.

The person broke through the last of the woods, and looked at the three with wide eyes. Phoenix wondered if he would be attacked, but those suspicions were short-lived when Doritan rushed forward, his arms wide open, hugging his son tightly. “You live!” he exclaimed, a tear running down his cheek. “We thought you had been lost to the afterlife!”

“I am alive and well, Doritan,” Phoenix replied, cocking an eyebrow over Doritan's shoulder at Ember.

“Much has changed,” she said softly, “more than you know.”

Doritan released Phoenix and dropped to his knees, looking up at the young man with pious eyes. “I have done much in our past to make you despise me, I know this. I only ask your forgiveness now that you have returned, and I will spend the rest of my days being the best father I can be.”

Phoenix was at a loss for words, only nodding mutely, which caused Doritan's face to light up. “The dedication!” he said excitedly, rising to his feet. “You have perfect timing, Phoenix. Come, back to the village, and see what you have done”

Phoenix was astounded. He had not seen Doritan so excited in his entire life, and the man before him reminded him of the father he had before their travels to Marlbon, before his mother died.

Ember smiled as Doritan turned and crashed into the forest, leading Phoenix and Lian on the path he had taken. “Much has changed here, most of all him.”

“What could possibly have happened to change him so extremely?”

You shall see, brother,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “You shall see if you live through the day.”

They reached the village seconds after Doritan, who could be seen dashing across the village square toward his home. “How did it take him so long to reach the village?” Lian asked Ember, who smiled wide.

“The path back is only visible to those who have spent many days traveling it. He gets lost every time.”

The village was a bustle of activity, with people hurrying this way and that, arms full of food, parcels, and decorations of some sort. Doritan disappeared into his house and slammed the door behind him, and Phoenix spied his own home, the same one Spedro had constructed for him, and to his surprise, the stone door opened, and a large man stepped out into the sunlight, for the first time in all the months Phoenix had known him, wearing a shirt instead of the two leather straps and brass ring.

His eyes searched until they found Ember, but they fell on Phoenix next, and the man wondered why he did not seem more surprised. Spedro turned and poked his head back into the house, and Phoenix barely made out the words he called in his deep baritone. “Lindani, Ember has returned, and you will wish to see this.”

A moment passed, and Phoenix heard the lilting voice of the woman he loved call back. “I spent two full days on that dress. If your wife has soiled it in any way, I will have her head.”

Spedro stepped out of the way, and Lindani stepped into the sun, the very picture of everything he loved. Clad in a crushed velvet, dark green form fitting dress, she looked so beautiful that his breathe caught in his throat. It was what he saw next that took his breath altogether, and a tear sprung to his eye. A baby was in her arms, his skin dark like Lian's, but his eyes blue like Phoenix's. He sat on her hip, his tiny fingers clawing at the neckline of her dress.

He could not move, could not speak, could not think, but Phoenix knew this was his child, and his heart felt like it would burst from his chest. The feeling was not the same for Lindani he found a moment later, for when she laid eyes on him, she brought another hand to her chest, and promptly closed it into a fist.

With nary a word, she calmly handed the baby to her brother, who took the infant instantly. Walking across the dirt of the square, she came within ten yards of her still paralyzed husband, who instantly noticed her fuller hips, larger breasts, and shorter hair. “A baby?” he managed to croak, before a large orb of water slammed into his chest, knocking him onto his back, sending up a small cloud of dust. “Yes, a baby, Phoenix,” she snarled, her face now twisted in fury. “You come to claim him? To raze this village to the ground? You will die before ever learning his name!”