There's that dramatic, mischievous part of me that wants to make a scene for the others by having them think I was successful but fatally wounded, but I think my fake death from before was eventful enough.
Coming into view of the palace, I spur the creature on, landing back through the window where the others are still congregated. Upon seeing me, their eyes get real big, which makes sense seeing as I'm flying in on a mutant looking bird and I'm sure I'm not looking as fetching as those actors in movies look after a big showdown, but nevertheless, they appear to be relieved to see me.
"Is it over? Did you do it? What happened?" Lan immediately bombards me with questions as the creature comes to a stop and lowers itself for me to get off.
I almost forgot about my bad leg, but stepping off and failing to walk straight definitely reminds me. Chasan quickly comes to my side and helps me stand by supporting me.
"What happened out there, Joan?" Nimu asks. "What became of Tymos?"
"And the dragon?" Lan adds.
Everyone's pretty interested in hearing what went down, but I forget all of that the moment I feel Brent ram into me with a crushing hug. It knocks me out of Chasan's support, sending us both to the ground, but I don't care. All that matters now is that Brent's safe and I'm alive.
After viciously hugging me for several long seconds, he pulls back a little and gives me a chiding look.
"For the fastest girl in Chasan, you sure took the whole deadline to get here."
Grinning, I shrug. "Eh, you know me, it's not a real deal until I get down to the last minute."
He gives me another quick hug before we both get up- Chasan helping me up as well.
"So I'm assuming that's the last hug I'll ever get from you," I ask, my brow arched in question.
This time, he shrugs. "Well, for a while at least, you know I'm not much of a hugger."
Messing up his hair, I smirk. "Yeah, well, you hug like a bitch so do it better next time."
As he swats my hand away, he flashes me a quick middle finger while childishly sticking his tongue out at me which I, of course, have to return.
While we affectionately tease each other like we usually do, the others remind us that they're still present and completely alien to our unusual brother-sister communication.
"So, everything is good now?" Lan begins in slight uncertainty.
I chuckle. "Yeah, everything's awesome. I would start planning an election around here because consider Tymos permanently out of the picture."
Nimu arches a brow in surprise (and I'm sure- because it's her nature- a bit of skepticism). "He's dead? How?"
I theatrically wave my hands. "I got magic."
Though she rolls her eyes at me, I can sense some relieve in her demeanor.
Speaking of magic, though...
It occurs to me that Brent has not a clue who any of these peeps are with me, especially not Dhisnaek.
"Wait, wait, wait," I begin, glancing around at them. "I never got to introduce you guys."
"Well, being throw out of windows makes it hard to accomplish that, I'm sure," Chasan replies.
"Yeah, true. Okay, so, guys, this is my little brother Brent, a.k.a Jack. And he's the real MVP."
Placing his hands on his heart, he gives them all a sympathetic look. "On my behalf, I'm sorry you all have had to deal with her for as long as you have. Just know your reward in heaven will be worth it."
Even as I jab him, Chasan replies-
"Why couldn't we have met him instead?"
"You probably wouldn't be surprised how many people say that," Brent comments.
So now both him and Chasan get a sharp jab to the side. Even though Chasan's helping me stand, he's not immune to my repercussions.
"Anywho," I continue. "You can probably already guessed who gave me the most grief this entire trip-"
"Probably well-earned grief," Brent muses.
"I already like your brother," Chasan says. "He has common sense."
"Do both of you want to be jabbed again?"
Brent, stepping out of my reach, smoothly continues, "Has she told you guys she took anger management classes? Because she has."
"Yeah, I think she mentioned it," Lan answers genuinely.
"As I was saying," I speak up before gesturing to Chasan. "This is Chasan, he's honestly not too bad. I've dragged him but he's a decent guy."
In response, he just tosses me an eye roll, but I can sense some appreciation of my words. Next, I move onto Lan.
"And this is Lan. He tried to rob us when we first met him, but he has the biggest, funniest heart out of all of us." I look at him as I address the next part. "And he's learning not to let the past put a damper on his awesomeness."
Glowing at my words, Lan gives me a grateful, goofy grin, one that I've grown to love seeing on this journey.
Moving down the line of introductions, I get to Nimu.
"This is Nimu. We didn't really get along at first, but she's the G.O.A.T, for real."
Though nobody else gets what I just said, Brent's eyes grow wide in disbelief.
"Really? The G.O.A.T?"
"She saved my ass more than a few times so yeah, she's the G.O.A.T."
Though they might not understand that honorary title, Brent gets it and that's all he needs to know about Nimu. So I'm left with the one that takes a bit of suspended belief to introduce properly.
"And this guy, right here," I limp over to Dhisnaek who helps support me as I lean on him. "This guy's Dhisnaek, he's an OG through and through."
Brent smirks. "Quite the team you got, full of OGs and the G.O.A.T."
Before I can continue, Dhisnaek speaks up.
"Joan has told me quite a bit about you- she claims you look like your father."
I can sense his growing eagerness at meeting Brent, though he keeps it suppressed as best he can. Meanwhile, slight confusion clouds Brent's face.
"Yeah, I'm like a younger, mini-version of him- slightly better, I'd like to think."
Chuckling fondly at that, Dhisnaek nods. "I am glad we finally get to meet."
The confusion only deepens on his face and he glances at me for an explanation. I might as well rip the band-aid off.
"It took me a little longer to get here," I begin, shoving my hands in my pockets, stealing Lan's signature move. "Because I was busy finding long-lost relatives- takes some time you know."
Even though Brent is swift, he's bewildered by this, as noted by his quick back and forth glances between me and Dhisnaek.
"What are you...?"
Before he can even finish the thought, I come out with it.
"Dhisnaek's not only an OG, he's also our grandfather."
Like I said, Brent's smart, but this clearly takes him for a loop because all he can say after thinking for a second is-
"How?"
"Oh, come on, Jack, you know how. He's dad's dad."
"Yeah, but dad never knew his father- kinda figured he was dead," He quickly glances at Dhisnaek. "No offense."
Sighing, Dhisnaek strokes his beard for a moment. "It was not on my own accord that I was absent. I never knew of your father's existence until meeting your sister. But now I hope to mend things and fix what has been broken."
"Wow," Brent blinks. "This is something alright. Only with Joan I tell ya, only with Joan."
I grin, giving a sheepish shrug. "Hey, what can I say? Things just fall into my lap."
Thinking about it again, it is a crazy coincidence that our paths crossed when they did- just a minute too late or early and I may have never met Dhisnaek.
With Brent mulling over this revelation and the introductions out of the way, a brief lull passes over us until Lan breaks the silence.
"So what now?"
"That..." I begin, coming to the realization that I haven't really gotten that far. "Is actually a really good question." Blinking, I glance at them. "What's next guys? Ride into the sunset?"
I can see Nimu wants to pipe up (probably with the same this-is-why-we-need-a-plan speech as usual, and she wouldn't be wrong), but Dhisnaek beats her to it.
"Perhaps, I was thinking, I should tend to your leg- it looks to be a discomfort to you."
"Oh, yeah, that would be awesome. I need both legs to be a successful runner."
At least now I don't have to worry about Tymos flipping his shit on me about using magic.
Speaking of which, Brent's face when Dhisnaek does his thing with his staff, making my body all glowy, is priceless. He's only able to speak once it's over and I'm able to stand on my own without help.
"See," I grin. "Didn't I tell you he was an OG?"
"That was the coolest and freakiest thing I've ever seen," He breathes, still in awe.
As I chuckle, Nimu gets back to where she was going.
"So, Joan, what is next?"
Glancing around at all of them again, my grandma's words echo in my head.
And just like that, it seems we've made it to the end of the story.
Honestly, at the start of this trainwreck I never thought I'd be sad to see this end, but now, here I am and I know we've reached the end, the quest is complete, we can sing Kumbaya, there's harmony in the world again, but...it's kinda bittersweet. Looking back now from where I am, this journey was a hell of a lot of fun, and my crew made up about 70% of that fun. It was almost like an extreme, quick summer camp if one's life was on the line of course.
And now, I'm not one for regrets- I tend not to harbor them even when others claim I should- but if there's one thing I wish could have been different, it's me being able to be open and honest with them from the beginning rather than so late in the game.
Nevertheless, live and let live.
Finally, I respond with a shrug. "I guess just getting home and back to life as normal."
"Yeah, but what is normal after all of this?" Chasan says.
He's onto something there. What is normal anymore? I mean, it's been revelation after revelation here, and I'm starting to realize not only for me. There's Chasan, who's not from here and didn't even believe this place existed, and now he's apparently involved with Lan who is starting to work on the wounds of his past. We have Nimu, who also has some dirty laundry that needs to be put away. And then there's the whole production about my parents being here before and my dad's past and now Dhisnaek is thrown into the mix- we're not even gonna get started on the personal revelations I've come to establish. The "normal" we came in with is definitely not the normal we're coming out with, that's for sure.
"Well," I begin. "It's whatever we make it now. I mean, there's never anything 'normal' in the first place because everything changes so much. Just say fuck it to normalcy- we're making our own from here on out."
"I never thought I would be saying this," Nimu begins after a sigh. "But that is probably the wisest thing you've said on this trip- at least the closest you're getting."
Cracking a grin at her, I cheekily reply. "I am touched, I truly am."
I don't know how, but this conversation quickly reminds me that I have one loose end left to take care of. For this, though, I'm going to need some help.
"Hey, Dhisnaek, how strong would you say your magic is?"
He looks at me puzzled. "Depends. Why do you ask?"
"Is it like shrink-a-giant-back-to-regular-size strong?"
"Are you referring to the giant Tymos originally cursed?"
"Yeah, him."
I promised him I would return him back to his original size and I'd hate to be called a liar.
Thinking to himself for a moment- methodically stroking his beard, which is the coolest thing to me somehow- he finally responds.
"It depends what sort of magic Tymos cursed him with. If it was a simple, mere hex then I would consider trying my hand at such a thing, but if it was forged by his own natural magic then my own would not be strong enough."
Deflating a bit seeing as this wouldn't be the easiest fix, I start to suggest we go out where Kaos is to try it at least when I perk up.
"Do you know if it's possible to communicate with someone back in Edalirwen?" I ask him.
"Oh, I know that look," Brent comments smugly. "Whatcha cooking, Beanstalk?"
"I know this chick back in Edalirwen, her name's Sephora, and she helped me out trying to get here. She knew our parents as well. But anyway, she's like an enchantress or whatever." Dhisnaek's been sucked back in thought again, so I pull him out.
"So? Do you think it could work then?"
"Well," He shrugs. "I've never tried communicating back to Edalirwen- only once and it was as near impossible as my teacher had told me it would be. There is some barrier which prevents Pyranaleath'tai and Edalirwen from communicating and connecting."
"Makes sense," Lan says. "No one's ever escaped from here back to Edalirwen."
As the others agree and I'm starting at square one again, Brent pipes up, clearly baffled by this.
"Um, what are you talking about? That's a lie."
We return his confusion with one uniformed look of bewilderment of our own. At this response, he gives us a look- one I know well- the kind that tells you that you're about to be reminded of why he's been a straight As student since kindergarten.
"If nobody can 'escape' from here, then how did Tymos get to Edalirwen in the first place."
Shit. All this time and I never realized that. How fuck did Tymos get to Edalirwen from here? He broke the rules somehow when busting in on me the first time and kidnapping Brent. See, that's why Brent's getting paid the big bucks when he's older.
I can tell everyone's letting this information sink in. Suddenly, Nimu blurts out-
"The dragon!"
All eyes turn to her.
"It's the dragon," She explains. "He told me once that the dragon was unique, he never explained how, just that it was, but now it makes sense. How has everyone who's wished to escape Pyranaleath'tai done it thus far?"
"What are you getting at?" Chasan asks.
"No one can escape because they try to sail the ocean- that is the downfall- but Tymos used the dragon to leave and return."
"Okay," Dhisnaek nods along. "So where is this dragon now?"
In unison, all eyes turn to me.
It's honestly amazing how much I can screw myself over, just by mere coincidence.
Giving them a sheepish grin, I reply, "Yeah...that ship has sailed- or, I guess, in this case, flown away."
"You just let it go?" Chasan questions in disbelief.
"Eh..." God I'm going to sound like an idiot. "Yeah, pretty much. I wasn't thinking, okay."
While he groans, Dhisnaek comes in with the ray of hope that we need.
"Perhaps, none of that is important right now. If your hope is to reverse a curse placed by someone born with natural magic, then maybe using an object forged with natural magic might be the key."
"And where are we supposed to find that?" I ask.
If this required another mission then I might have to start breaking my vow of never breaking promises because going through all this again isn't worth it (Brent almost wasn't worth this). But Dhisnaek puts an end to that worry.
"The object you secured from the secret dungeon. The one you sacrificed your ring for."
"Oh, the reed!"
He's right, this could all be solved so easily-
"It's gone," I realize out loud as defeat crushes me. "It fell when I was fighting Tymos."
They all grimace.
"Is there a way you can recall where it fell?" Lan begins with some small bud of hope.
"It's a needle in the galaxy at this point," I reply, nipping that hope in the bud.
"So, no dragon and no reed," Brent says.
At this point, I know our only hope is getting in contact with that Sephora woman. So, I turn to Dhisnaek, knowing I need to rally him seeing as he's the only one capable of connecting to her.
"I need you to take everything you believe about this communication barrier between here and Edalirwen and throw it out the window. We need to get in contact with Sephora- she'll be able to help, I know it. Just put a little crazy faith in me- I know you can do this."
Taking a steadying breath, he slowly exhales then looks at me with a quick smile. "I've had crazy faith in you since the start."
At least someone does.
Grateful that he's willing to try, I step back, allowing him space to do what he has to. His summoning mostly consists of him lifting his staff off the ground slightly and making small, circular motions above the ground with it. At first, nothing appears to be happening other than him mumbling to himself, but my heart does an excited leap as his staff begins to glow as well as the ground. He's focusing rather hard- I can tell this takes a lot of effort- but his efforts are worth it as a small, glowing circle begins to open and spread on the ground. Finished with the ritual, he lowers his staff with a heavy, tired sigh and steps aside for me to peer down, entranced by the pure white surface.
"Call out to her, she will hear you," He says, leaning on the weathered staff. Peering at it, I decide it's no harm in trying and so I call down at it.
"Hey, Sephora, hey!"
Not gonna lie, I'm a little skeptical, so it's something when I hear a muffled voice call back.
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Joan. Remember me? I ate that apple your daughter gave me." Her voice immediately brightens. "Joan!? Yes, I do remember, of course, I remember. Where are
you?"
"In Pyranaleath'tai still."
"It does exist then!?"
"Yeah," I grin. "Sure does. But, um, I called cause I have a little problem and I think you can help."
"Of course. What is the problem?"
"So, there's this giant named Kaos who was cursed by this guy with magic, but the guy with magic is dead now and I'm trying to reverse this curse on Kaos so he's regular human size again."
"I see..." She ponders to herself.
While she's thinking, I add, "Yeah, my grandfather is like a sorcerer or something but he's afraid he won't be strong enough to reverse it."
"Your grandfather?"
I wave her off. "Long story."
"So he does possess magic?"
"Yeah, but not enough to change him back. That's where I was hoping you'd jump in. Do you have anything that might help or something?"
She goes back to silent thinking. While she's thinking, I hear a voice in the background followed by a yip of a dog. I can't help but grin and call out-
"Hey, Mythia, pack your bags because you're going to Hogwarts- you're a freakin' genius." I hear her ask her mother who it is that's speaking before her voice comes through a bit clearer.
"You're that girl who helped me wash Peri, aren't you? The one I gave the apple to."
"Nice to see you remembered my name too."
Our banter doesn't really get off the ground before Sephora interjects with her response.
"There might be one item that can be of assistance." I hear her instruct Mythia on what to get before she focuses on me again. "How am I supposed to give you the item, though? I am unfamiliar with this communication."
"Uh," I glance back at Dhisnaek who doesn't understand I'm looking for an answer to that question, and so I roll with the punches. "How are you hearing me then? Is there like a white circle or something..."
"No, I'm speaking into a pot of water."
"Oh."
Just then, Mythia returns with whatever Sephora sent her to get.
"What I have is an elixir that should strengthen your grandfather's magic for a brief period; long enough for him to reverse the curse."
"Awesome, sounds good."
"But how am I supposed to transfer it to you?"
"Eh, just drop it in the water."
She becomes hesitant. "Are you sure about that?"
Nope.
"Yeah, just trust me."
"Okay."
She still sounds uneasy- like how most people are when trusting me- but I hear a quick "blop". Waiting for something to come up, I cross my fingers that I'm assumptions were right. I can release my ass cheeks when a small bottle bobs up to the surface of the white light puddle.
"Did it work?" Sephora asks nervously.
Plucking it up with a grin, I reply, "Yeah, I got it."
"Good," She breathes. "Now once your grandfather consumes it, it will immediately begin to work and last for about fifteen minutes."
"Cool. Thanks again, you're the best."
"Of course. Be safe and I wish you luck on your endeavors."
Standing up and stepping back, I watch as the hole shrinks into nothing but the regular stone floor again.
"Whatcha got?" Brent asks, eying the vial in my hand.
"It's for Dhisnaek, to help him be able to reverse whatever curse is on Kaos."
As I hand him the bottle, Dhisnaek gives me a wary look.
"Are you certain, even with this, that I will be able to successfully reverse the curse on my own?"
"Dhisnaek, you once gave me some encouragement, now it's my turn. You got this. You're a lot stronger than you think. Even if you weren't born with magic doesn't make you any less awesome- you can do some pretty amazing shit already and that's just what you learned. Now let's do this before I really begin to sound like a Hallmark card."
I like how he always smiles and laughs at my humor- it makes me think that he gets me, and I love when people get me.
"If you have faith in me, I should have some faith in myself, shouldn't I?"
"You got this."
So, uncorking the bottle, he takes a breath before drinking it. I, of course, ask the pressing questions once he's done.
"What does it taste like?"
He winces then shakes his head as he pockets the empty bottle. "Not something I would be prone to try again."
As I chuckle, Chasan interjects.
"So should we get out of here now?"
"Yeah," I say, glancing around. "Let's bounce."
As we begin to exit the vast, now empty, throne room, I glance back one last time out the window where stained glass still hangs jagged along the rim.
It's crazy to think it's over. It feels like I've been fighting uphill for months, but I did what I said I was coming to do.
Veni, vidi, vici, bitches.
With a small smirk, I turn away from the sight and with that, close the door.