Forgiveness and Flight - Chapter 26
Forgiveness and Flight - Chapter 26
“What…?” Gloriana blinked in surprise. “Now! Rina!” Morien cried. “Eat this!” Julia suddenly appeared. “…what?” Hobie blinked back sleepily into the waking world. “Wait! Waitwaitwait!” Rina cried.
And God said unto me, “Love thine enemy.” And I obeyed him and loved myself.
-Kahlil Gibran
“Holy-!” A thunderclap of energy stopped Julia in her tracks. What was that? Whipping her head back to see, the sound of screams sent a chill down Julia’s spine. Erin! Yann! Laschna! Everyone! Hobie momentarily forgotten, Julia ran back to the campus field to see what was the matter, crowds of panicked students flowing past her all the while.
“What’s going on?” Julia asked a nearby student.
“Erin and a witch! They’re fighting! She has the other colors!” the student gasped out frantically, before returning to the retreating crowd.
Colors? Fighting? Witch? Julia was only more confused by the student’s explanation. But once she finally made it back to the field, to see the teaching staff and Erin waging war against the witch, Julia finally understood.
“Yann!” Julia saw him nearby, directing the flow of students and making sure everyone was safe. Quickly Julia dashed over to him.
“Is everyone okay?” Julia asked.
It seemed so, Yann nodded. Although…
“Who is she?” Julia pointed at the witch. “What does she want?”
In answer, Yann merely pointed to the colored lights around the witch’s head, which glowed with greater fury as she easily shrugged off the teachers’ collective attacks.
“Other… colors!” Julia’s eyes widened as she realized. “She’s after Erin’s green!”
“Indeed!” Gloriana cackled, as she exploded with a tidal wave of energy, to swat the teachers away like flies. “And I won’t have anyone interfering. This is between her and me!”
“If you come to our school and attack our students, then you’ve made it our business,” Laschna hissed as she returned to her feet.
“Laschna! She’s going to kill you all if you don’t stay down!” Erin pleaded, as she locked staffs with Gloriana.
“And if we do that, she’ll kill you!” Laschna and the other teachers prepared another assault.
“Yes, she’s right,” Gloriana grinned, as she quickly overpowered Erin and left her sprawling. “Look at it.” Gloriana gazed up at the statue of Erin that stood in the field, its black marble shining against the lightning that cracked. “Look at how they fawn over you! You! A low-born commoner!”
“Morgana Academy is open to all who wish to study,” Laschna and the other teachers let loose a blast of energy.
“But mine is the blood of Clem!” With a flip of her staff, Gloriana redirected the blast to shatter the statue. “My house has ruled since ancient times!”
“A tiny plot of land, on a tiny island in the sky,” Laschna lunged towards Gloriana, her hands reaching for the witch’s hair. “You really think you’re all that? Get over yourself.”
“Ha!” An extension of the Golden Clasped Wishing Staff stopped Laschna from getting any further. “Still better than some common sow like you!”
“Laschna!” Erin screeched as she saw the blood rise from her friend’s broken chest.
“Now time to finish this,” Gloriana tossed Laschna aside, before sweeping over to Erin to lock staffs once again and slowly drain the energy from her.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Erin felt herself grow slowly weaker as Gloriana’s hungry eyes pierced into her.
“Just a little trick I picked up from Red,” Gloriana grinned. “Why don’t you just give up already? A half-rate witch like you? There’s no way you can win against me.”
No! Erin’s eyes went wide as every spiteful glare, every vicious taunt, every moment Gloriana had tormented her at school came crashing back in her mind. Instantly she fell to her knees, as she saw her childhood torturer, standing tall and powerful, ready to kill her then and there!
“What’s going on?” Professor My suddenly appeared beside Julia.
“Whoa! How’d you get here?” Julia leapt in surprise.
“Teleport charm,” Professor My flipped up the charm she held in her hand. “I felt a disturbance and came here. Again, what’s going on?”
As Yann did his best to explain, Julia’s mind suddenly began to race. Light. Erin’s power came from light it came from the color green green was where she got her power and this witch was getting her power from three other colors and was trying to get Erin’s green light green light green light! Green light like the Heart like the Key of Sky like that time she had used Hobie to defeat Bluebeard if they only had more light…
“Sorry.” With one deft motion, Julia snatched the goggles and teleport charm from Professor My.
“Wha- hey!”
Before the teacher could protest, Julia had already disappeared.
“Do you have to leave so soon?” Naomi pouted, as Luk loaded Jolly up.
“Well, duty calls,” Luk smiled simply as he mounted his saddle. “The Shaw brothers have to be tried by the caliph for their crimes.”
“But there was so much I wanted to talk to you about,” Naomi followed after the camel on foot. “So much I wanted to ask.”
“Yes, I’d… gathered as much.” A somberness briefly flashed over Luk’s face, before he went back to his usual, jovial grin. “But I’d have had to go back sooner or later. Better to leave before anything gets started.”
“Then… here!” Naomi pulled out a pearl from her pocket and handed it to Luk.
“…What’s this?”
“Something I made for class,” Naomi pulled out another, matching pearl. “You can talk to the person on the other end. It’s like a crystal ball, but smaller.”
Luk examined the pearl for a bit. “You think it’ll be powerful enough to reach me? You’re leaving Mashreqi airspace soon.”
“I know,” Naomi smiled sadly. “But… I just thought…”
Luk glanced briefly at Naomi, before putting Jolly to a trot.
“Well,” he said quietly. “I’ll think about it. I lead a busy life. Who knows if I’ll even have time to talk?”
“I’ll be waiting,” Naomi called.
Naomi watched the cowboy as he slowly disappeared into the distance, singing a lonely song all the while. And further back, Erin saw the look on her friend’s face, and knew that it was all over.
“Hey! Yann! Yann, can you hear us?”
Yann glanced down, to see a familiar face reflected in one of the chunks of statue on the ground.
Morien? Yann peered quizzically at the reflective surface of the black marble.
“What’s going on?” Morien asked frantically.
Why was everyone asking him that? Yann sighed as he pointed to the battle. Gloriana and Erin were still locking staffs, while Professor My took to healing Laschna, and the other teachers futilely tried to dislodge Gloriana from her position.
“Erin?” Rina exclaimed. “The Erin? Oh no! Morien, we have to help her!”
“But… how…?” Morien’s mind began to race as he stared out at the battle before him. Light. They hadn’t been able to kill Bluebeard his life had stayed in his light and now the witch had those lights but did she have the lives as well he couldn’t tell but if Bluebeard’s life had been trapped in one plane of reality a plane of light a plane of color…
“Yann!” Morien cried. “I’ve got a plan. Do you remember the antibody?”
Yes, Yann nodded. Why?
Soon Naomi began spending less and less time with the trio. Soon she began spending more and more time simply talking with her cowboy. And even though she made plenty of time to spend solely with Erin and Laschna, soon Erin felt as though a rift had occurred between Naomi and her.
“I don’t get it,” Erin muttered, as she sat alone with Laschna.
“Not much to get, really,” Laschna shrugged. “This doesn’t mean less for us. It just means more for her.”
Laschna said those words, but Erin could not believe them to be true. Visions of being alone crept into her heart more and more often, and she soon found herself hating the cowboy. Night after night, Erin felt Naomi slipping away from her. It wasn’t fair! She didn’t want to lose this feeling, this happiness, this sense of belonging!
The pearl proved to be most powerful, its signal getting through no matter where Hibernia floated. And over the course of their nightly chats, Luk and Naomi soon came to know each other more and more. When Luk told Naomi of his childhood, how his Augustine parents had died when he was a baby, and he had been taken in by a kindly Mashreqi couple, she listened with rapt attention. When Naomi told Luk of her upbringing, how her birth and her wings, the sacred color of al-Khidr, had stood as a testament to the Persian Empire’s synthesis of Rahmanite and pagan cultures, he listened with awed amazement. Their conversations could carry on for hours, until the first flickers of sunlight came creeping into Naomi’s window. Their topics could range from the everyday and mundane to the detailed and philosophical. And with every word and story exchanged, the cowboy and the princess grew closer and closer together.
“You’re lucky,” Naomi said one night. “You can go to Yerushalem, but I can’t go to Fairyland.”
“Well yeah, I suppose,” Luk replied. “But honestly, I never felt the need.”
“What?” Naomi cried. “Why not? It’s your home! Where your ancestors came from.”
“So? I have all the stories, all the memories, right here in my heart. Visiting some special place won’t make them any more real.”
“But they’re just words. Empty words and yellowed pages.”
“Empty? Words?” Luk seemed genuinely surprised. “I… I’m sorry, Naomi, but I can’t agree with that. My parents, the couple who gave birth to me, I never even saw their faces. They died before I had the chance to know them. But the couple that took me in, the ones who loved me and raised me as their own, through them I got to know what kind of people my parents were. I’m a drifter, a poor, lonesome cowboy, with only a camel to keep me company. But I can carry those stories, I can remember them on a lonely night, I can take comfort in their truths. And that’s really all I need. The stories of my first parents, the faces of my second, and the tales of my ancestors, even with only the clothes on my back left I still have those. Always.”
“You… you really mean that?”
“Of course,” Luk laughed.
“But don’t you want to settle down? Find a place to call your own, start a family and pass those stories down?”
“Well…” Luk became somber. “I do. But… I guess I just haven’t found a place I felt comfortable enough to settle down in.”
“Then…”
A week later, the Shah of Persia received a visitor, with a pearl bearing a message from his daughter, asking the shah to take the visitor in as an honored guest. The shah received the visitor with open arms, and blessed him with all the hospitality he could provide.
“Whoa!” Even with the goggles on, Julia was still taken aback by the sheer brightness of the Heart.
“Oh. You’re here,” Jinjur grunted. “Is something going on outside?”
“Yeah! A crazy witch is trying to steal Erin’s stuff!” Julia exclaimed.
“I…” Jinjur clenched her teeth. “I’m sorry. I still need to stay here. I need to guard the Heart.”
“That’s fine, I totally get it,” Julia gazed around until her eyes caught where Hobie was lying. Then, quick as a wink, she grabbed Hobie and one of the wires on the Heart, before slamming the two into each other. “But I need to borrow some of this real quick!”
“Wha- no!” Jinjur cried as an electric surge of green coursed through the wire and into Julia.
Julia screamed as she felt the power pulse through her like a bolt of lightning, every inch of her surging and scorching and screaming. All this energy! It was more than she could bear! But bear it she had to, if Hobie was to regain his life, if Erin was to retain her light, if everyone was to survive that witch’s onslaught! Jinjur was almost upon her, ready to wrest her away, but… yes! A familiar gleam was returning to Hobie, and before Jinjur could stop her, Julia pulled out the charm and disappeared.
“Ah, my friend,” Shah Achmed smiled as he found Luk on the balcony. “What ails you?”
“Just… I feel really honored, and you’ve done so much for me…” Luk stared out at the morning sky. “But I…”
“You feel the call of adventure tugging at you once again?” Achmed smiled.
“I…” Luk was surprised the shah had figured him out. “How did you know?”
“I’ve got eyes, haven’t I?” Achmed said. “I know you only came here because my daughter asked you to, and there’s little point in arguing with her once she sets her mind to something. She takes after her mother, that one.”
“I don’t know what it is,” Luk sighed. “I’ve never felt more at home. You and the shahbanu have been wonderful to me. But… I feel something tugging at me. Something I can’t understand.”
“I know,” Achmed smiled. “And if you wish to leave, I won’t stop you. But come, my friend, the day is young, and my lords and I planned an auroch hunt this day. Will you join us? It may be just what your tugging heart requires.”
“Well,” Luk saw no reason to deny the request, and soon he and the shah were hunting along the mighty Persian plains.
The auroch was a mighty bull, big enough to feed a family, and strong enough to plow through twenty men. And aurochs did not walk alone, preferring to stay put in their rolling herds that roamed across the plains. To bag an auroch required great cunning and skill. As Luk gazed through his spyglass, to see the massive herd from the hilltop hiding place where he and the hunting party lay, he knew it would be a difficult undertaking. But should they succeed, there would be meat and glory for every man, and Luk was never one to back down from a challenge like that.
As the shah signaled for the hunt to start, several lords summoned a minor storm, nothing too terrifying, just enough to spook the beasts. And once they were properly spooked, the hunt was on. With their mighty battlecries dancing in the wind, Luk, the shah, and the other members of the party chased after the retreating herd. Now came the tricky part. Normally horses were used to divert an auroch from its herd, the equine species being far more agile and quick-thinking than other mounts. But Jolly was no ordinary mount, and he easily wheedled his way between one poor auroch and the rest of its group. Achmed gave a mighty laugh as he saw Jolly huffing and chuffing and the auroch snorting but slowly surrendering. Soon there was enough distance between the beast and its herd for the other lords to cordon it off, and after that, the creature was theirs. All that was needed was to loose arrows at the auroch from a safe distance until it collapsed. But the creature, smart enough to see its fate, gave one final burst of speed, and soon outpaced the hunters.
“Quickly men, after it!” Achmed howled, the thrill of the chase pulsing through his veins. Deftly he drew his bow and prepared to strike the auroch down before it escaped, when suddenly, a mighty lion leapt out from a hilltop hideaway. It seemed the shah and his retinue were not the only ones who had sought to bag an auroch that day. And though the pesky humans had deprived the lion of its quarry, a horse and a man were enough of a feast to make up for it.
The shah cried out as the lion leapt upon him, and though the men tried to aid their lord, the sight of a lion was enough to spook the horses away. Achmed was already bleeding heavily from the initial pounce, and as the lion drew up its paw for a final strike, the shah knew he would not reach his sword in time.
But though the lion had scared away the horses, Jolly was not so easily deterred. Luk’s battlecry drew the beast’s attention, as the cowboy’s pointed finger began to draw in energy. The tattoos on his hands glowed and pulsed with magic, and then before the lion could attack, a beam of light shot out to strike it dead. Achmed gasped in amazement as the creature fell to the ground, and Luk leapt to the shah’s side.
“Your Highness!” Luk knelt down to examine the wound. “Are you alright? You’re bleeding badly.”
“Highness! Highness!” The other lords, now off their horses and running to their king, quickly began to conjure up their best healing spells. Soon Achmed was back on his feet, low on blood but still alive.
“Your Highness…” Luk steadied the shah as he felt a dizzy spell, and then saw a deep and wondrous gratitude brimming in his eyes.
“My son!” Achmed wrapped his arms around Luk in a heartfelt embrace.
“Y-your Highness!” Luk cried.
“Had it not been for you, my friend, I surely would have perished,” Achmed’s eyes were filled with tears of joy. “From this day forth, let all present know that I formally adopt you, Luk Ben Ashaknaz, as my son and heir!”
At that the lords erupted into cheers, as Luk gaped in stunned gratitude. Though they had lost the auroch, the lion and the story of that day’s exploits adequately served as the main courses of the banquet that night. And as lords and ladies came to fill the cowboy’s cup, Luk could only think what a shame it was, that Naomi was not there to share that night with him.
That was when he understood the tugging in his heart at last.
No, no, no! Erin couldn’t let Gloriana win! With everything she had, Erin unleashed a newfound surge of energy against her foe. For a moment Gloriana shifted back, her eyes wide with fright and dismay. But it was only for a moment, and as Erin’s surge subsided, the greedy, goading gleam in Gloriana’s eyes returned. Erin began to shake as her last dregs of power dried up. She struggled and screamed, as the teachers all around her howled in futile fury, but it did no good. Gloriana had the power of three Spectral Sorcerers, as well as her own potent magic. She was simply too powerful.
Pardon me, a tap on Gloriana’s shoulder elicited a surprised head-turn, to reveal a handsome bard making ready to dunk a chunk of marble over her head.
“What…?” Gloriana blinked in surprise.
“Now! Rina!” Morien cried.
“Eat this!” Julia suddenly appeared.
“…what?” Hobie blinked back sleepily into the waking world.
“Wait! Waitwaitwait!” Rina cried, her magics already at work.
“Yann no!” Erin cried, Hobie’s light already about to burst.
“What the…?” Laschna stared in bewilderment.
Oh dear, Yann gulped.
Then there was a titanic explosion of light. So bright was the light it outshone the sun, and it was seen for miles around. For several moments after its initial flash the teachers on the field groped about blindly, their vision temporarily scalded away. Once they could again make sense of their surroundings though, they found to their shock and dismay that nothing remained of the seven combatants save a single chunk of marble, lying smashed upon the ground.
Oh my, Yann took in his new surroundings as best he could.
“Great Yehovah!” Julia exclaimed, as she floundered dazedly about.
“Wh-where are we?” Erin gazed around weakly.
“What… just happened?” Hobie was more confused than anything else.
“Uh… welcome to the Mirror World, I guess,” Morien grinned sheepishly.
“It’s over for you, evil witch!” Rina cackled.
Gloriana, meanwhile, was writhing and surging on the floor (or whatever the closest approximation was), as she vomited out great spurts of green.
“Wh-what did you do to me?” she screamed, all her bluster and grandeur gone in an instant.
“Well you see-!” Julia and Rina began, before realizing the other had spoken. “No, you go fir- No, you! I mean-”
“You tried the same thing we did back on Bluebeard, didn’t you?” Erin asked. “With Hobie as a receptacle for green.”
“And then we trapped you here, in the Mirror World,” Morien said. “Although, uh… I guess we may have failed to coordinate.”
Yes, very interesting, Yann peered deeply into the rainbow void, as he noticed certain colors growing more saturated than others.
“You… you dare…” Gloriana seethed as her body began to surge with green waves of energy. “You dare do this to me? ME!?! A daughter of the noble House of… of…”
Suddenly a glazed, frightened light began to shine in Gloriana’s eyes, and she screamed as she clutched her head in pain. Morien could only stare in horror as a tiny pustule began to perk up on Gloriana’s forehead, before growing larger, larger, and larger still. Soon the formation was the size of a man, and from its end glowed two gleaming, orange eyes, alight with the happiness of freedom.
“No…” Erin whispered. “It can’t be…”
Then, as the pustule popped, and a glistening orange Vanara jumped out, it howled a victorious battlecry.
“MONKEEEY MAGIC!” Monkey bellowed, as he took his staff into his hands and swatted Gloriana away.
“Monkey!” Erin cried. “You’re alive!”
“Indeed, Sister Green!” Monkey gazed down at his gleaming form. “Though perhaps not in the form I’m most used to.”
“But then… that means…” Erin turned to see yet another figure popping out of Gloriana’s howling crown. This one was a giant, with tattoos that flashed violet against the rainbow sky, and a voice that bellowed gratitude towards his freedom.
“Gogmagog!”
“Erin!” Gogmagog laughed, as the flasks of ink that Gloriana held shattered, and the contents within flowed back to their original host.
And then, as the third and final figure sprang forth from Gloriana’s scalp, and Count Magnus de la Groan reclaimed his stolen ring, the four Spectral Sorcerers stood together once again.
“You… stay back! Stay back, I say!” Gloriana hissed with all the venom of a caged animal.
“What say you, brothers and sister?” Monkey grinned. “How shall we deal with her?”
“I should like to pound her into paste, after what she did!” Gogmagog growled.
“No,” Magnus said. “Enough blood has been spilt this day.”
“He’s right,” Erin added. “She needs to be brought to judgment for her crimes.”
As the Spectral Sorcerers argued, and their companions looked on, Gloriana slowly began inching her way towards the key to her escape. With a desperate lunge, before anyone could stop her, Gloriana had Rina in her grasp, with a wild look in her eye.
“Rina!” Morien cried.
“Don’t anybody move!” Gloriana howled. “Anyone take another step and I kill her! Right here and now!”
“I-it’s okay Morien. I’m okay!” Rina said more to assure herself than anything else.
“Let her go!” Morien’s fists clenched in fury.
“Now then…” Gloriana ignored him. “You’re going to open me a way out, got it? No funny business.”
“A-alright,” Rina said, and with a nervous chant, a shimmering exit appeared behind the witch.
“Thank you,” Gloriana said, before tossing Rina back to her companions and leaping through to freedom.
“Not so fast!” Morien dashed into the portal just before it closed. He wasn’t about to let Gloriana simply escape.
“Wait, Morien, no!” Rina cried, but it was too late. Before she could warn him he had already leapt through, and the exit closed behind him.
“The iron dragon,” she whispered.
Morien stood in absolute darkness, save for the pool of light that shone down on the shimmering coins in which he stood.
“Oh no.”
The realization of where he was hit him like a ton of bricks, and Morien looked around frantically, desperately trying to find where Gloriana was. All thoughts of her past villainy had disappeared, to be replaced with a single, all-consuming fear of Zahhak and what he would do to them once he realized they were in his lair. There! Flying upward, her body weak, her wings half-formed, her flight constantly hindered as she hit the walls around her like a bird with a broken wing, there was Gloriana, her eyes ablaze with a desperate desire to escape.
“Such an amusing creature,” a cold, callous laugh lit the air, before a pillar of flame erupted from the iron dragon’s gaping mouth, to hit Gloriana head-on.
Morien gasped as the witch screamed in horror and pain, and without even thinking, he whipped out his sword and struck Zahhak as hard as he could. Instantly the wooden blade broke as though it were a toothpick, but it was enough to make the dragon stop. Limply, pathetically, whimpering and weak, Gloriana managed to make her way to the window and climb out, but now Zahhak’s attention was fixed fully on Morien.
“So, the little mongrel returns,” he growled.
I’m dead. I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead I’m
“Go on then,” Zahhak tossed Morien into the air with his snout. “Go join her. I know you mongrels do love your Augustine women.”
As Morien careened though the air, his mind was blank save for an all-encompassing dismay, at the realization of his current situation. Morien cried out as Zahhak cackled, and the young man flew all the way up to the top of the tower. Then, for a single instant, Morien was weightless, as his trajectory hit its apex, and he simply floated in the air, before gravity regained its hold on him, and he fell once again. There! The window! It was his only chance! Morien reached out as far as he could, and plunged his broken hilt into the ledge’s stonework. Instantly a jolt of pain shot through his arms, and he felt as though they might be pulled out of their sockets. But he was safe, he was alive. Quickly Morien pulled himself up, as he heard Zahhak charge up for another breath of fire, and just as the column of flame shot through the air, Morien managed to escape to the ledge outside. Even though the fire did not touch him, its heat was strong enough to singe Morien’s back, and he cried out in pain. But there, huddled scared and cold, at the end of the balcony ledge where Morien now stood, it was Gloriana. She was alive! However, before Morien could make his way to her, he realized with mounting horror that Zahhak’s flame had torn a hole in the tower’s roof, and as the rubble rained down on the balcony, it too slowly began to collapse.
“No!” Gloriana sobbed, as the balcony edge began to fall, and she desperately tried to huddle over to safety. But, try as she might, Gloriana was simply too weak, and it was only by sheer luck that her sleeves managed to catch on what remained of the balcony’s edge. Now she dangled, her body too weak and wounded to pull herself back up, while Morien stood only a few feet away.
Morien noticed that not only was the iron dragon’s tower at the very edge of the school, but the edge of Hibernia itself. Nothing lay below Gloriana save miles and miles of océan. And who should blame him, if he were to simply stay put and let her fall to her death? The fear of Zahhak gone from his mind, Morien slowly began to remember just what Gloriana had done. She had killed three Spectral Sorcerers, taken their lives and their magic, and she had intended to do the same to Erin. She had almost succeeded, and had planned to kill anyone who had stood in her way. She was an evil, despicable, power-hungry madwoman, and there was no-one else up there to see them. The sight of Erin brought so low, when Gloriana had almost drained her dry and killed her, it filled Morien with such fury! All he needed to do was wait, to sit back and let the weakness of Gloriana’s sleeves take care of things for him.
Then he looked at her, and saw how cold, and small, and very scared and pitiful she was. And Morien knew instantly that he could not leave her there. No matter what Gloriana had done, he could not abandon her. He simply couldn’t. Quickly, before she fell, Morien ran over to lift her up.
“Gloriana!” Morien reached down and firmly grasped her arm. “It’s okay! I’m going to pull you up!”
“You…” For the briefest of moments, Gloriana’s eyes widened with unexpected gratitude. But then the pride of her family regained itself, and her face once again twisted with rage. “You dare? You dare lay your blackamoor paws on me? Me, a daughter-”
“Yeah yeah, noble House of Clem. Whatever!” Morien grunted as he slowly heaved Gloriana up.
“Unhand me, you beast!” Gloriana howled, as she writhed and squirmed in Morien’s grip. “I’ll have your head!”
“Fine!” Morien cried, as he felt the witch escaping his grasp. “But stop squirming! I can save you but you have to stop-”
“No!” Gloriana wrenched free, and though Morien groped desperately, reaching out to save her, it was all too late. All he could manage to grab was a single button that tore free from Gloriana’s sleeve, as she fell into the cold and uncaring sea.
Why? Morien clutched the button in his hand so tightly he could feel its pattern imprint in his palm. Why had she refused his help? Had her pride really been so valuable to her, that she’d been willing to die for it? It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. Morien found himself surprised. Even after all that Gloriana had done, he had still wanted to save her, and he knew he would have done it again, if he’d been given the chance. Oh, if only he could have been given one more chance! If only he could have found some way to save her. If only…
Suddenly Morien realized that a calm and gentle warmth was radiating from his hand. He knew this warmth. He had felt it twice before. It was unmistakable. And yet, as Morien opened his palm, and saw the button glow a brilliant green, he could not believe it. How?
“The Key of Sky,” he whispered.
Erin had never felt more miserable than the day Naomi left Morgana Academy. When news of Luk’s proposal, and of Naomi’s acceptance, first broke, the school was ablaze with gossip and congratulations. And in one small corner, huddled in her top bunk, Erin was crying. What would happen now? Would Laschna leave her too someday? Erin didn’t want to be alone again!
Despite the pleadings of her lords and parents, Naomi managed to stay at the school until being granted an official diploma. After that though, a magic carpet with envoys from the Persian Empire soon arrived to take her back. Tears were shed as goodbyes were shared, and all the while Erin had managed to avoid Naomi. It wasn’t until she prepared to board her magic carpet that Laschna finally managed to drag Erin to their friend.
“Erin!” Naomi’s eyes lit up, as she ran over to hug her dearest friend. “I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to say good-bye!”
“Good-bye…” Erin muttered the words. They didn’t seem real.
“Here!” Naomi pulled out a pearl and placed it in her friend’s palm. “Take this! This way, no matter where we are, we can always talk to each other. And no matter where you are, you’ll always find Persepolis’ doors open to you. I promise. No matter what happens, we’ll still be friends. Always!”
Erin stared blankly at the pearl, then back up at Naomi.
“You’re leaving.”
“Well, yes,” Naomi said. “But we can still talk and keep in touch.”
Tears began to fall down Erin’s face.
“People always say that…” she sobbed. “But it’s a lie! They never talk, they never visit, they just leave you and abandon you forever!”
“Erin…” Naomi was stunned. “I’m not-”
“Yes you are!” Erin howled. “You are! You’re tossing me aside like a piece of trash! Well fine! Who needs you anyway? I don’t! I hate you!”
Naomi gazed calmly back at Erin.
“I know you don’t mean that, Erin.”
“Yes I do!” Erin screamed, and she flung the pearl back at Naomi before fleeing the scene.
I hate you, Naomi, I hate you! The words screamed inside Erin’s head as she dashed down the halls. Everywhere she went, she remembered a moment she had shared with Naomi there, and her heart only broke more. Why did no-one want her?
Erin had hated to leave like she had. But she had been so drained after her battle, and the other Spectral Sorcerers had been unable to leave the Mirror World, the only option left had been to return to the outside world and ask the teachers for help in finding Morien.
“Hold still,” Laschna muttered as she healed Erin.
“How can I?” Erin fidgeted. “Gloriana is still out there, and Morien’s probably dead by now, and all I can do is sit here and wait!”
That’s right, Julia bit her lip from the corner where she sat. He could be dead. He could be dead and there would be nothing she could do about it. Even as Yann glanced reassuringly at her, a tidal wave of fear and regret washed over Julia beyond her control.
“I’m sure he’ll be alright,” Hobie assured them. “After all-”
“Morien!” Rina lit up as she saw a teacher on a broomstick, with Morien in tow.
“Morien!” Julia ran over to the young boy and threw her arms around him. “Are you alright?”
“Ah! Um…” Morien stammered and blushed.
“I found him by the iron dragon’s tower, just like you said,” the teacher explained. “No-one else was there though.”
“So… Gloriana…” Erin muttered.
“I… I’m sorry, Erin,” Morien bowed his head. “I couldn’t save her.”
“Hey, what’s that, in your hand?” Rina pointed to the glowing button in Morien’s hand.
“Oh, this?” Morien asked. “It’s the Key of Sky.”
“WHAT!?!” Erin, Laschna, and Julia all exclaimed.
“But how?” Erin gibbered.
“That can’t be right…” Laschna muttered.
“But… Hobie!” Julia cried. “What’s going on here?”
“Huh?” Morien glanced around quizzically. “What do you mean?”
“It seems…” Hobie sighed. “I have some explaining to do.”