Dedicated to Curader, because screw you I told you I'd finish it.
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Epilogue - Bring it on
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Skye emerged blinking into the fading sunlight over the Wasteland.
The Citadel loomed behind her, its shadow half-cast over her figure, but she wasn’t afraid of it or the coming night for the first time since she’d become a Sentinel.
She opened her palm in front of her, wanting to see the emerald light to coat her fingers and flicker around her skin. When it didn’t come, she tried again with the same result.
Kiarae approached behind her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Though Radiance may have destroyed that which bound nature, the deity is still in a spelled hibernation.”
“Nothing like this has happened before, has it?” asked Skye, closing her fingers into a fist. “How would you know?”
“Such things were often theorized. There is evidence of deities that no longer exist, ether that cannot be restricted to the five elements and other anomalies.”
“So how do we wake it?”
Kiarae slipped her hand over Taldorei’s Light, curving her hand around a small stone.
“The Opal, Skye. When I add my own element to it, it will become what Kumos and Anton wanted it to be -- a direct link to the Nether Realm. We can, and will use it with five keystones to open a portal to the Nether and revive the deity, and we must be swift about it. This realm will not survive long without nature influencing the cycle.”
Kiarae replaced the Opal in her staff, its presence only noticeable to Skye because she’d seen where her teacher had put it.
I can already feel it, Skye thought, staring at her hand. Nature is dying, and its last remnants are within that stone.
Movement caught her attention, and she glanced up to see Tayne’s hand waving at her, beckoning her over. Skye moved towards him, Kiarae’s soft steps following behind her.
“Wrain’s stretcher is going to need another boost before we start moving. It’s fading faster than it was before,” said Tayne.
“I can walk. I’ll be fine,” growled Wrain. “I don’t need you to coddle me, I’ve been healed.”
Tayne started to reply but was cut off by Kiarae. She knelt down beside Wrain and poked him in the chest. “You are most certainly not fine, Silverborn. You will remain as I tell you to until I inform you that you no longer have to. Am I understood?” Though her words were stern, there was something tender about them that tilted Skye’s head.
As Wrain compiled a list of arguments as to why he was fine and Kiarae rebutted them all, Tayne pulled Skye to the side.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “I know we all just kind of assumed it, but no one actually asked you if you were. Is the deity...pushing you as the nature one was?”
Skye shook her head. “It’s not a deity, but no. Radiance... isn’t like the nature deity.”
“Is that a good thing?” asked Tayne.
She considered it a moment. “I’m not sure yet.”
Tayne tilted his head, looking at her. Under the fading light of sunset, she caught a glimpse of something on his forehead.
Skye reached up, brushing the unexpected mark with her thumb. Tayne seemed startled by the sudden contact, but he didn’t resist, merely raised an eyebrow as she stroked it.
The mark on Tayne’s head was no longer red, nor a circle. It branched out across his forehead like a circlet imbedded in his skin, faded golden lines reaching for his hairline and brow that were difficult to see unless the light caught them a certain way, as it had now.
“Radiance marked you,” Skye said after a moment. “It’s not a rune circle, but...” She pulled her hand away. “I’m sorry, Tayne. I didn’t know it’d--“
Tayne caught her wrist, pulling it gently to his chest. “I’d choose it over becoming a tainted any day of the month. Besides,” he said, raising his hand not holding hers, “It’s marked you as well.”
Skye felt a tug on her scalp as Tayne pulled a few strands of hair loose of her ponytail to wisp in front of her face. Where they used to be teal, the strands were now the colour of spun gold.
“Nature really is in trouble,” said Skye, running her fingers along the strands.
“We’ll fix it. What’s a sleeping deity to an elf who’s taken on evil itself?” said Tayne, smiling. He released the strands of hair, fingers brushing against the side of her face.
Skye smiled back at him until she caught sight of Jesse.
His fists were clenched at the side of his body and he ground his teeth, the noise audible from where she stood. He glared at the back of Tayne’s head with such a powerful loathing that she could practically sense the hatred reeking from him.
Jesse’s gaze was only broken as Kiarae moved over to him, having made a reluctant Wrain lie back on the silver cloud with his arms folded. She distracted Jesse for a moment, grabbing his arm and inducing an awkward position in the young Silverborn as she examined it, but Jesse’s eyes eventually found Tayne once more and the hatred returned to his stance.
Skye stepped away from Tayne, though his grip remained firm on her hand. She allowed the contact between them, taking comfort in it.
Kiarae seemed to ask something else of Jesse, who threw his hands up in the air and stalked off to lean against the wall of the Citadel and brood. The Celestial went to follow him but decided better of it and moved towards Skye.
Tayne pointed over Skye’s shoulder. “Look, someone’s coming, and fast.”
“Indeed,” said Kiarae. “The question is, who?”
“At least it can’t be the Master,” said Tayne. He took note of the expression on Kiarae’s face. “Can it?”
Radiance stirred within Skye. I am not sure. I did not feel his presence, nor the creature he called when I emerged.
Skye relayed its answer out loud. From the look on Kiarae’s face, the celestial felt the same way as Radiance. “He is not gone. He is weakened, surely, but not gone.” She sighed, rubbing her arm and fell silent.
Skye searched for Radiance once more. What of the corruption? Is it still present in the Mortal realm?
Yes. It is not gone, far from it. I did not wish to stretch too far and risk harming your soul in a way that cannot be fixed. It would be to doom us both, it replied.
“Ready your weapons, just in case we must fight,” said Kiarae. “But I doubt it is an enemy who rides to meet us.”
“What were you looking for on Jesse earlier?” asked Skye. She released Tayne’s hand, drawing her dagger and sword.
Kiarae looked into her staff. “The young one... Anton wove a powerful enchantment upon him,” she said quietly. “He has done it. Anton has created another Sentinel of shadow as Kumos did to him so many years ago, though his magic is not yet active."
"When will it become active?" asked Skye.
"When he uses it," said Kiarae simply. "There is nothing we can do to stop that short of killing him, and such an attempt would likely be the thing to trigger the change and save his life."
Tayne, as Skye and Kiarae did, watched the horizon as the rider approached. It seemed to be a solitary figure despite having six horses trailing beside and behind them.
“So what does that mean for him?” asked Tayne.
“Because the deity is corrupted, he is also susceptible,” replied Kiarae. “Particularly if his magic activates--“
“He’ll be fine,” said Skye. “It won’t get him again. I’ll stop it.”
“It will be an interesting experiment to see if he remains so--“
“Jesse isn’t an experiment, Kia. It wasn’t his fault.”
“An experiment is a rather harsh way to put it. My apologies,” said Kiarae.
Skye tightened her grip on her blades as Radiance released a wave of energy through her. She knew it was only because of it that she was still standing, her other energy source currently taking an extended nap, but she couldn’t help the sense of annoyance she felt towards it. Why had it remained hidden until now?
“We’re all tired,” said Tayne. “It’s been a trying last few days for us all.”
“It might not be over just yet, this rider--“began Skye.
“I had a feeling I’d find you lot here,” called a familiar voice.
The ground tensed as the figure tugged on the reins, slowing their mount to a stop. Behind them, Alida, Wing, Storm and a few other horses Skye didn’t know by name from the Silverborn’s stables also came to a halt.
“I don’t believe it,” said Tayne. He ran forward, Wing giving him a nickered ‘hello’ as he approached. He took her muzzle in both hands and stroked it tenderly. “The wonders never cease. Do I even want to know how you managed to cross two weeks worth of ground in less than one? Last I checked, we left you at Alguarde”
“Let's just say that you owe me big time, Tayne,” said Nissa. She dismounted, leg swinging over the saddle and landing on the soft ground with a light thud. “Word has it that you need a way back to Alguarde?”
Tayne ran his fingers through his hair. “I’d almost forgotten. It’s going to be hell there, isn’t it?”
Nissa laughed. “Hell doesn’t even begin to describe it. The Queen, the Advisor... it’s chaos. But nothing we can’t handle, eh?”
Skye climbed into Alida’s saddle, the mare greeting her with a low whinny. Behind her, Kiarae raised Wrain’s protective cloud into Storm’s saddle then mounted her own steed while Tayne swung onto Wing’s back and took up her reins. Jesse hesitated a moment before moving to join them, but soon he too was ready to ride.
Alida turned around, her hooves stirring up the dirt around them. Skye let her have a loose rein, giving the mare increased freedom as she ran. Compared to the last few days, it was a relief to be doing something that for the moment required little thinking past the monotonous rolling movement of Alida’s canter.
Thoughts of deities, spirits and the Nether realm tumbled around Skye’s mind, but she found she was calm at the prospective journey that lay ahead of her -- and not because of Radiance. She’d found something akin to balance and while it wasn’t perfect, for the time being, it was enough to know that she wasn’t alone.
Skye gripped Alida’s reins, pulling them in and squeezing her heels into the mare’s sides. Alida surged beneath her, and Radiance’s energy coursed through her limbs.
“Bring it on,” she muttered, her words snatched away by the wind.
*+*+*+*
Okay guys. That's it. That's all of the first draft of book one. ***Is it too much to ask all of you to at least vote, perhaps comment if you enjoyed it? Please?***
Want more? There's a short Skye/Tayne moment posted as a separate thing on my profile. [Sentinel - The non-legit stuff I wanted to write]
IF YOU WISH TO KNOW ABOUT SEQUELS OR PUBLISHING OR YOU'RE JUST A DECENT HUMAN BEING, READ THE AUTHORS NOTE IN THE NEXT PART.