Zatanna: Princess of the Wind

Chapter 8:

The End

Dick was led from the dungeon out to the courtyard to be hung. He struggled against the executors more and more as they neared the noose. He looked about for help only to see Zatanna, near death, being led out in a wedding dress by Klarion.

"This will happen to you if you don't obey me!" Klarion declared.

Zatanna seemed thin as if she was starved and her cheeks were hollow. Her eyes were dead like ice and her... presence seemed to have been taken as if she wasn't there. As if she was an empty corpse of herself. It was the L'energia Eolica. It was draining her life to keep itself going to save Stregoneria.

"Zatanna..." Dick gasped at the dreadful sight of her.

They led him up the platform and to the noose. At that moment, he felt like there was no hope... as if he was really going to die... as if Klarion had won. When the hangman reached up to the noose to put around Dick's head but the wind blew it out of reach. Dick looked at Zatanna. She was hunched over like a being whose soul is lost as if she were a living marionette that's strings weren't being pulled.

The noose began floating directly upwards but it seemed to be held up by something. There was a laugh and Zatanna suddenly went completely limp. A pulse check proved she was dead. There was another laugh and wind began to blow in Dick's face right in front of him. It was strange to say but the coldness on his lips somehow made him feel he was... being kissed. He felt someone cup his face in her hands and he recognized the touch. Out of thin air, Zatanna appeared, floating in front of him and kissing him. Everyone saw her and Dick pulled her into his arms, her clothing and hair flowing around her.

"My love," she said after pulling away and she wrapped her arms around his neck "I feel so free. As if I'm one with the L'energia Eolica,"

She gracefully jumped away from him and he got a better look at her. She was a pale dim pink overcoat with only the middle button done over a dark blue dress with very ruffles underneath. She had no footwear and she wore a silver band around her head. Zatanna walked over to her body. Her sickly thin, drained, body. She waved her hand over it and her corpse regained its health.

Everyone was so confused. Was she dead? A ghost? What was she? Klarion stared at her in shock before shaking his head and getting up.

"I get it now. You're not theKeeper of the L'energia Eolica, you are the L'energia Eolica," he said.

The L'energia Eolica, the Energy of the Land, the Life of Stregoneria. A being whose very life force makes Stregoneria thrive. The L'energia Eolica was never a power... it was always the True Leader of Stregoneria. In the event the L'energia Eolica dies without an heir, it will rise as what they truly are... Air. The Ancient Stregonerians... the Air Elementals.

"Get... out... of... my... queendom," Zatanna said and the winds picked up.

The Übelian guards ran for it and Dick's shackles opened. He walked towards his true love and tried to reach her but the winds were getting stronger. Zatanna was curled up in midair and Dick tried to grab her arm but his hand went right through her.

"Zatanna!" he shouted.

Zatanna remained still, a storm brewing directly above them. Klarion was cowering with Teekl by his side. Zatanna uncurled and glared down at him with glowing eyes.

"Klarion Bleak. You have drained the Energy of the Land from many countries. Your actions have caused this world to suffer," she said, the sound of thousands behind hers "For your crime, I shall take your power!"

A small tornado began to form around all of them and Dick clawed at the ground to stay put. Klarion began to scream as different coloured energy was ripped out of his heart, up his throat and out of his mouth. He fell to the ground as a frail old man with long white hair and no energy to move. Teekl went from a proud tiger to a small tabby to a stone statue of itself.

Across the lands of the Übel empire, life was reborn. The people awoke as if from a dream. The plants regained life and the sky brightened. It was like a storm cloud had finally passed.

Dick started yelling Zatanna's name with all his might and began making his way back to her. She was becoming something of pure hatred and rage. This wasn't the girl he'd fallen in love with.

"Zatanna!" Dick exclaimed and, this time, he managed to grab her arm.

Zatanna began seeing visions of the past. All the good in her life summed up in a few seconds. Then she began seeing visions of her future. Marrying Dick, ruling Stregoneria, teaching her own children the song Dick taught her. It all slipped away. If she killed Klarion, she'd lose her future.

The winds finally died down and Dick held Zatanna in his arms. She was crying. They leaned back to look at each other.

"I love you," she said but she sounded far away.

As if the winds of time were reversing and the world was renewed. Klarion's tampering with the destiny of the world was undone. Zatanna kissed her lover and he held her in his arms. Dick loved her so much.

"Goodbye... I have to return to Stregoneria as its life force. I'm sorry to have to leave you but it must be done," she said as she floated out of his arms.

"No, Zatanna! I love you! Please! Don't go!" Dick begged her "Please... I need you,"

Zatanna, floating above the ground, took his hands in hers and held them between them.

"I love you too. I'll visit, I promise, but I must save my queendom! I'll be back, my love, we have a future together and I've seen it..." she said, tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

Dick kissed her and she disappeared into thin air.


Next up the epilogue