"I know it's very painful to see the one you love in harm's way, Izark," Agol has come quietly and wants to comfort me. He's seen his own wife go through pain he couldn't do anything about and die when he would have done anything to prevent it.

I understand and I try to be grateful, but I can't have anyone with me now. I shake my head at him. My emotions are too big to share, even this one. He sighs. "I understand," he says quietly. "But know we are here with you." I nod and he backs off.

He's brought me out of the cycle of self recrimination I was lost in. Wishing I could do anything to heal Noriko, to take from her the pain she's in, so I could hear her voice and have her arms around me. I need that comfort, but it remains unfulfilled.

I think of that comfort and warmth and wish for it, then see in my memory how pale her face was, the tears still glistening on her cheeks and I want to find Rachef, or whoever took her away, and punish them for putting her through this and whatever they put her through from the time she was stolen from me.

My fingers curl into a fist and I pound on the wall. Why does this happen to us? Why do we have to fight so hard only to be brought to pain? It has to stop.

"Ah, Noriko! ...No, don't get up!" The words jar me, and I'm moving quickly. She mustn't move. I put my hand on her shoulder to hold her down on the bed and to let her know I'm with her. She's already returned to my side. My heart winces.

"Izark." That looked like it hurt to even just say my name.

I brush back her hair, trying to brush back the pain that shows on her face. "Don't talk if it hurts, Noriko."

"Izark...I'm so sorry," Tears leak out from the corners of her eyes, although it's her heart that is crying more. Perhaps with as much grief as I'm holding in mine. "I'm sorry I got stolen away again. I'm sorry it took so long to come back. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you and that they locked me away in a room you couldn't find me in."

I may need to hear some of those words, but I'm aghast that she still will apologize for things she has no control over. "Noriko! Noriko! Please, stop!" The room goes still. They've only heard my side, but I have to get her to stop. I gently touch her shoulder, not sure if touch is also painful. "Does it hurt?"

"No."

Relieved, I sit down next to her and carefully pull her up enough to hold her to me. She needs my comforting arms as much as I need hers. "Noriko, it isn't your fault. Please, don't apologize." I want to cry again. I feel like I felt when I finally understood she was playing the servant, the princess that was afraid to get eaten. Please, don't. Don't be afraid of me.

"But, Izark -"

"NO!" I take the shout into our personal communication. The others don't need to hear this. She's surprised into being quiet. When I've calmed down enough, I try to teach her. "I was worried. I was afraid, but I was able to maintain enough control. I didn't even ruin my clothes this time."

Her mixed emotions of wanting to giggle and her pride that I was able to have that level of control washes through me and then I understand. We're both overwhelmed by the emotions of what just happened and it's too much for us both. I let her take the lead, since she walks through them better being more practiced at untangling her emotions. Mine follow one after the other in nice order.

I try to follow her. She's trying to calm down. Her heart cries still with the pain that she wasn't where she belonged. I try to send slowly and gently my forgiveness. I know she couldn't help it or she wouldn't have been gone to begin with. When she's stolen, the only thing either one of us can do is try to return to the other. I'm not angry with her.

She takes in my forgiveness. Then all of the emotions that go along with being stolen all come up at once and it's overwhelming. As I said, mine march in order. I can only hide my face in her hair as my eyes cry out her loneliness at not being able to feel me either, her fear at being lost and imprisoned, her terror at the confrontation she was subjected to, and the pain of the injuries done. That last brings up anger for me, but I keep that one below the surface. Now is when she needs to heal and that won't help her.

I find that in crying her tears for her, all of my equal emotions are also cried out. When I've reached the end of mine and they are all hers, my tears stop and I simply anchor in the comfort of knowing she's in my arms again. I can't hold it, though and the grief I felt from before comes to the surface again. I couldn't save her from all of what she had to go through.

When she can, she takes her turn to anchor. "It's not your fault. They surprised us again." I hold on to her calm understanding until I can forgive myself.

Because my emotions follow one after the other, anger rises next. I'm a little surprised when she pushes back on it, unwilling to let it come out. "Don't Izark. Don't let anger overwhelm you. I can't save you from that if you become angry when I'm already with you. I'm here. I'm sure there is something you can do, and anger does bring power, but please, don't let it be what leads you to act. Choose to act rationally, for good reason, then use it's power to accomplish that good."

I raise an eyebrow. This is the first time we've talked about such things. She also believes as I do, but I wasn't properly considering it when it comes to her. Just because I love her and have special care for her, that doesn't make it right for me change how I act. I should still hold to my integrity to be what I want to be. I let the anger go for now. I'll use it later if I get the opportunity to and it won't cause me to overreact. We sit quietly for a bit longer as our emotions stabilize.

There are things we all need to know to move forward. I want to let her rest, but we should know them before she sleeps again. I pull away from her a little so I can see her face. It's more relaxed now, like I'm beginning to feel inside - at least some of the rocks are gone. I brush my hand against her forehead in lieu of my lips. "What did they do, Noriko? Who was it?" I say it out loud to include the others in the room.

"Rachef and Tazasheena."

"Rachef and Tazasheena, hum? I guess that isn't surprising." There are dark and worried mutterings in the room.

"Rachef wanted to talk to me, but he was supposed to kill me right away. Tazasheena told him that if he didn't that his plans were sure to fail."

"Rachef wanted to talk instead of kill you? That's surprising."

"He wanted to know what my special power was and wanted me to give it to him, instead of giving it to you."

"What special power of yours did he want you to give him? Being a water fountain or teaching?" Those are her two best ones. I'll keep the third one to myself, since no one else needs to know she knows how to play act.

She smiles a small smile. "I gave him teaching. He didn't want it. He would have killed me when he came back but Tazasheena wanted me dead first so she, illogically, brought me the chimos. I escaped. She was expecting me to die coming back to you, but even the hope that Irktule and the spirits might have gained a little strength was enough to tip the balance.

"Rachef only left long enough for me to decide that I would give him my special power. He wouldn't believe me, even though I'd told the truth. What more could I have told him? It was more likely death if I stayed than if I escaped." Her breathing is becoming labored again. We're taking too long.

Her words are sobering and help me heal a little more. I wouldn't have reached her in time. She had to come to me. "So it was death either way," I say softly and summarize for the others. "I'm glad that you had the chimos with you, that Tazasheena was illogical, and that Irktule's spirits had enough in them to keep you alive." Others in the room feel as I do.

"They're still there. They won't give up this time, now that they know where we are again," Noriko warns me.

"No, that's true. If they knew where to steal you from, they won't leave us alone until we're in hiding again." That causes all kinds of consternation in the room.

"Izark, there are ominous clouds gathering over the ruins and evil is rising in that area." It's Irktule.

My answer is terse with suppressed anger and irritation. "Rachef." Noriko shudders as her fear rises again. "What do you need, Noriko?"

"Kiss." She's too tired to even ask with more than one word.

I can't help the blush, but I understand. Like I still want to have her hold me, she also wants to be holding me. Perhaps it's still a shared unaddressed emotion. I carefully lie Noriko back on the bed. To keep it as private as I can, I keep my back to the room and lean over to kiss her. She doesn't really have the strength to return it, but I do feel the gratitude she sends me and that comforts me for now.

"I love you, Noriko," I say softly to her.

"Thank you, Izark. I love you, too."

When I stand back up, I turn to the others in the room. If we have a place identified now, we can begin to act. "Doros, I'd like to borrow your chimos."

After a moment, Doros runs out of the room. He comes back in and says, "I - I'm sorry Izark. For some reason they can't. May-maybe the source of evil is trying to take them. All I can do is hold them to keep them."

"Tch!" I'm irritated, but it might be a good indicator that Rachef is here indeed.

"She can't stay here, if the source of evil knows she's here, and is coming," Agol protests.

"But she can't be moved in her weakened state," Gaya argues. "Not only is she too fragile, this is the desert. There is no way she can travel on the desert."

We're trying to think of what to do when Noriko weakly says out loud, "Izark..., I'll be fine. Just do ...what you need ...to do." I can't believe I just heard those words.

Barago gets out the words before I do. "Fine? You'll be fine?" He throws his hands in the air, then balls them in frustration. "What shall we do? What can we do?"

"Let us help you. We'll protect Noriko." The room goes still in shock and all heads turn to the newcomer to the room. "Let us join in your battle against the evil," Mayor Mardwoog requests.

"What?" Agol asks.

The mayor looks around the room, then at me. "Your other friends told me. You are the Sky Demon and she is the Awakening, and you've been fighting against the source of evil. How alone you must have felt to be fighting this battle without anyone else." My eyes widen. It must have been the de Gilenees since everyone else is here. Niana would do it even if the others hushed her. What does he mean by fighting all alone, though?

Mayor Mardwoog continues, "We'll help you. This city has defenses against the darkness and evil. It's the only place that does. The old schematics of where to place the moonstones to use the energies of the people of the city are still in my possession, as are the moonstones.

"With enough volunteers to go out and set them around the outside of the city, we can protect Noriko and those inside the city from the powers, though we may still have to do battle. We also have moonstones we can set in the room to protect her more directly. If she is separated from being seen or found, using the moonstones, then she will be even safer."

Noriko moves slightly and speaks again. "Yes. That's what happened before, ...when they stole me. Moonstones in the corners." I turn to her. We were separated artificially? That can happen, too? "You wouldn't hear me again. We would be separated. But Tazasheena couldn't see either. Only chimos can get through. Rachef...doesn't have any. Ennemarna is ... only safe place. The world of light ...we are here on purpose." At the end I'm finally understanding.

We've been brought here on purpose. The world of light has given us a gift. The only place on the planet that can keep Noriko completely safe is where the final confrontation will take place. "You knew? How did you know?"

She tries to smile. "Read it. Yesterday. Understood it today." Because she was captured to see the example.

I lean down and kiss her forehead. "And the door?" I ask with a whisper.

Noriko looks into my eyes. "When you're ready. I'll rest and gather my strength until then." I love this woman. She has so much strength and hope, even right after such a terrible ordeal. I reward her with sapphire eyes.

She moans. "Not fair. I don't have the energy for that." I hold it and let her look as long as she wants. I know what blue does for her. I can feel her emotions turning, trading places, until she is full of the warmth of her love for me. It keeps going until I can see it in her own eyes, coming from her own body, that power that she can control when she goes into the light. I can actually see it. I'm as transfixed by it as she is by my eyes.

She wraps that power around me, the warmth of the light, it's peace and strength. I don't fear it this time. This time I watch it, feel it, and accept it until I'm calm and centered in it, the same as I've learned to be in all of the other energies and powers I've learned to use. We sit together in that still, strong center, holding eyes, until I'm ready. Slowly we separate. She knows where the door is now, but she'll wait to open it - wait for me to say it's time.

-o-o-o-

"I can't go any farther with you, Izark." Irktule hovers over me as I run.

"That's fine. Thank you for leading me. I can feel them. I know where they are now," I reassure him. He watches me run on, then turns back to return to Ennemarna.

I stayed long enough to see them put the moonstones in the corners of Noriko's room. Then I walked out the door and lost her to heart connection and feeling. I walked back in and she was there again. That was enough to reassure me - that and the three pairs of eyes that looked at me with determination. Gaya, Barago, and Banadam refused to leave her side and I trust that they'll do everything they can to protect her.

Gaya is still mourning that she didn't stay with Noriko this morning. I think Rachef would have still taken Noriko regardless, but Gaya will need to work it out for herself. Rachef is the sort to take whatever he wants without regard to the pain it causes others. He wants me, after all.

It's time to meet with them. I'll meet them where they are to keep them as far from those I care about as I can. They've taken over a ruin near a mine. Dark clouds hang over it and it isn't hard to tell they're there. Like I could feel the power of light around Noriko, I can feel the power of darkness that is in this place.

Even though they've darkened the village, and it has the feel of being a place where evil was done, I know how to reach for all of the other energies now, and I've filled up with the fire and light and air energies of the desert on the way here. This time, I won't lose to my emotions. I will not lose to the men who want to destroy this world and rule in evil. They are only men.

I arrive to find Keimos waiting for me. Beyond him are Rachef and the old seer standing by a dome of black darkness. "Show him, Keimos! Show him that he is just a pawn in the plan to resurrect my master. He is only a worm who I will own! Show him he cannot defy us!"

Keimos greets me with an evil grin of delight that he has the opportunity once again to prove he can best me. "Hello. I've been dying to see you again."

I don't want to fight him again. It's a waste of my energy. I leap into the air. The dome resonates with the power that filled the temple of the evil spirit called the Source of Evil. It's connected to here so that Keimos has access to the power there. The moonstones that support that spirit feed it. If I can enter it and destroy the moonstones, the power that allows the spirit to remain will disappear and so will the Source of Evil and all that supports the evil that has arisen on this world.

Rachef and Gorya disappear into the dome and are gone, likely back to that temple to watch from there where they can feel safe from me and wait to see if Keimos can do what he wants to do here. I dodge Keimos' attack - quite a powerful one actually since I've ignored him and that's made him angry. He's also been practicing and getting stronger. I throw an attack back at him to push him back and try to get to the dome again but he refuses to let me pass.

You'd think they'd want me there to begin with. I guess not. They must fear the me that is healthy and living. - I smirk to myself, but then have to focus. Keimos is being insistent.

Our swords, wreathed with power and energy, clash with a resounding Clang! and the explosion blasts us apart. I leap over his head and smash down on him with an energy filled power blast that slams him into the ground. I use the opening that gives me to get closer to the dome.

I'm suddenly blocked by a strange surface. I slash at it to create a tear in it and leap through, only to find I'm looking through the tear at my back, and the tear is closing quickly. Keimos is in front of me now between me and the tear. I quickly turn around and the tear is also behind me, as is Keimos through it and me looking behind me at another tear.

I've never seen anything like this. He's used the power of darkness to create a space that can't be escaped from. He must have gotten frustrated that I kept escaping. He's not going to let me do that this time. The space domes up around us, completely closing us in. Fine. Let's get this over with quickly.

He's reached a new level of power for sure. He changes into a monster himself - a rather disgusting one that can lick its hair and eyebrows with its own long pointed tongue. He has additional eyeballs not only on his face but now also on the backs of his hands as if all the evil that loves blood and death has come to inhabit him and watch as he dishes it out and likely as he receives it as well. I shiver, then repress my personal reaction.

Doesn't he know that this kind of strength isn't real strength? To have given himself over to this he's lost his sense of personal satisfaction in knowing he can be strong on his own. It's time to let him rest from the wretched existence he's lost himself in now that he's fully mad over his singular desire to defeat me who cannot be defeated.

I call upon the power of light that's within me, feeling it rise up in me more powerful than the Sky Demon, and I center in the calm of that power. Keimos scowls and calls on the power of the earth and darkness and sends the earth itself to attack me, similar to how he controlled the tree roots. I send a blast of energy and power at him and through the earth coming my way.

My attack makes the earth crumble back to the ground and is about to slam into Keimos when he seems to dissolve into dirt himself and disappears with a slurp. There's a similar sound behind me a few seconds later and I can feel him again, now behind me. He can move through the earth? I move to dodge and catch his blow on my sword.

It was a ruse to get close to me. He opens a mouth full of pointed teeth and bites down on my shoulder, pinning me as I gasp in shock. Then I'm being slammed into by three painful spikes of earth coming through my back. He's used again a modification of what worked before. The pain and frustration blast out of me in a large burst of energy that disintegrates the earth spikes and blows him back from me.

I'm most frustrated with myself, that I let him get that close to me. I also should have learned from that previous experience. He hits hard and fast when we get close enough for physical contact. I'm much better off with Keimos keeping my distance. Of course, I wasn't expecting him to be able to move through earth.

I follow up that blast of energy with another one and Keimos slips back into the earth. I have a little problem with that. Because earth is my opposite energy, I can't tell where Keimos is when he's buried in it. I have to wait for him to appear again. When he does I send another blast of energy and he disappears into the earth again.

The next time he appears he's leaping for me and we again clash sword to sword, shield to shield, and an explosion rocks this space we're in. I'm barely holding my own, and being wounded now I'm conserving in between clashes as much as I can. What can I do to shorten this battle?

Then I remember all of the others I've fought who've had this sort of power. Does Keimos also have the seeds of evil within him? I defend myself one more time, sending him back into the earth. How can I get him to hold still long enough that a power attack to get rid of them will hit him? There's one way to do it. If I'm also connected to the earth I'll be able to know where he is. It will tell me. Then I can hit him even while he's still underground.

He sends the earth spikes at me again, staying in hiding this time. That's what I want. My shield disintegrates the small earthen spikes. Frustrated, he sends one large one at me. I allow it to come and to slam into me. Following that link I discover where he is. I put everything I can into one great blow, adding in the earth energy now inside me, and focus it on Keimos' gut.

Air energy doesn't fight air energy. Fire energy dances with fire energy, it doesn't flee from it. Earth energy wants to return to earth energy. And Keimos' evil energy embraces itself. The earth energy, poisoned by his evil energy, mixes with my power and follows the link of like calling to like and unerringly slams into Keimos, felling him from the air. Once I could send the energy back to itself, I couldn't miss him, and his shield and energies wouldn't shield him.

A massive amount of evil spirits, not just evil seeds, leaves Keimos as he falls on the ground. The earth piercing me dissolves away. The shield around us tears at the top and falls back down to the ground, revealing the sky and the ruins again.

I want to get to the cavern and destroy the moonstones, but that additional wound has sapped my strength. I still have the poisonous energy inside me. Noriko would scold me to rest for sure, and my body is in agreement with her. My mind and will argue rather strenuously with both.

It becomes a little bit of a moot point as Keimos rises to his feet again. I'm surprised he can. I suppose I'm a little relieved he didn't blow away like the Brunei brother did. It means he still retains some level of humanity.

Keimos sends a power attack at me, but it's back down to the level he had when he fought me outside Calco. I lightly bat it away with my sword. I could breathe with the wind and do the same, if I had the strength to control the energy. "I'm impressed you didn't fade into dust, Keimos," I say to him. I'll compromise and walk instead of run. That will give my body time to work on healing. I turn for the dome and leave him behind.

"Wait! Izark...wait! Don't turn your back on me!" He sounds almost desperate, as if a child crying out for a parent. I turn back to see and he's pulling the evil spirits back into himself. I really don't think that's a good idea.

My premonition is correct. I've damaged him too much for him to have the strength to control them. He returns to attacking me, and I defend, but the evil spirits start spilling out of him and deforming him in ways that aren't what he was like before. He cries out in distress, but unlike the Grey Bird, he wants them to stay in, to behave. That's not how it works. They only obey strength and evil will, not weakness and petulance.

Still, I also think forcing them out again won't work. He needs to be released from this pathetic existence. There's really only one thing men like him can accept and walk away, and he's asking for it, calling to me with the words of all of them as I turned and walked away. "I can still fight, Izark! Come and let me kill you!" He can't hardly even walk.

I return to him, walking up to him. His face is full of confusion and distrust - of me, of the spirits, of anything really. He could only ever trust in his own strength and now it's gone. Still, he tries to marshal his strength one more time. Before he can move, I slam my hand through his body, which is mostly now evil spirits anyway. "Keimos," I say with conviction, "you are truly the most formidable opponent I have ever fought. I don't think that I will ever meet a more powerful warrior than you." It's true. I likely won't.

His eyes fixed on mine relax. He smiles his proud smile and with a swirl of dust and shadow he disappears, as gone as the Brunei brother. Only his will to be proven the strongest warrior on the planet kept his form together as host to those spirits that are also now gone because I've used light energy in that attack. The evil spirits cannot abide in light energy.

How fragile he was. You were such a fierce warrior, yet were so easily broken in the end. It was because he gave up his being and his true strength to the evil, which is a false strength of ash and darkness.

I tremble. Even pulling on that much light energy was too much just yet and my legs buckle. The evil energy coming from the dome rises up in the earth around me again, to pull up the very earth to attack me. The Source of Evil isn't done with me yet, and is powerful enough to do its own work now that I'm weakened. My shields protect me from the smaller poisoned earthen spikes. I'm holding it and hoping my body can recover faster.

Suddenly a flash of light comes from within me - a flash of the power of light that isn't my own energy, nor did I call on it. "Izark." It's a whisper felt inside.

"Noriko?" Is this Noriko's power? I'm glowing with the light and nothing the evil throws at me can touch me.

The next time it's clearer. "Izark. Come here. The world of light is here."

I turn inward, seeking for Noriko. I can feel her and that connection helps me walk to where she's standing. I can hear her words, and I can feel her calm strength, her sure knowledge that she stands in the world of light and has opened the door for us. And then I'm in the world of light, standing in it with her, seeing her spirit. I stand there, feeling this place.

In this place I know things. I know how to reach it again. I know how to come here and be here not just in spirit but physically as well - a thing I know only I and perhaps a very few others will ever be able to do. I know how to access the door to open it for full healing instead of the partial healing I've had until now. And I know that I will never die.

I'm a part of this place and it's a part of me in a way that I'm not sure any other creature is. It's as if I've been born of it from the beginning. This is my true form - a creature of light that was given mortal existence so I could protect and defend my world from the darkness and evil that threatened it. I could go to any world in this place, any universe, and protect it as well. I could send Noriko home (but not bring her back). I am light.

All of this knowledge comes to me in one fast moment. I'll have to meditate on it later. Right now my body is healing and Noriko is here, holding out her hands for me. I take the final step towards her and take her hands in mine, relieved she can be here with me in this new place, even though it only holds peace, warmth, and life.

"Izark. Can you feel it? That the world of light is where all are connected? Everything is here, all in one. This gentle strength, this energy of light, it is in all things. The river that cooled me, the beautiful field of flowers you showed me, the chimos, Doros and our friends, even you and me. It is within us and within all things."

I wrap my arms around her and hold her closely to me. "Noriko." Here in this place we also are one. If I wanted to never lose her I could take her into me and make her a part of me, and it happens briefly because thought makes it so, but that isn't what I want. I want Noriko as Noriko. So I only hold her warmth in my arms and give her my own and both of us are enveloped in peace and love.

"Come with me and rid the city of its attackers. It won't take long and then they'll be able to not be afraid. Then I'll go with you." I don't want to leave the city unprotected and my body needs more time to heal. The light emanating from it is protecting it from all attacks by the Source of Evil - which isn't one. It's merely a strong spirit that's been evil too long and also needs to rest like Keimos needed. I follow Noriko back to her body.

She gives me permission to enter it with her, a new and interesting thing to learn. Each physical body is keyed to the spirit in it and that spirit has to grant permission for other things to enter it - spirit, energy, power. It being her body, I'm careful to be respectful. She rises to her feet and holds out her hand, palm facing outward.

I'll need to use my own spirit to channel my power, which is the power of the world of light, like hers is, but it's different. My power protects, attacks, but it isn't evil. It's cleansing, used with mercy and temperance. I carefully merge my hand and arm with hers and we look out at the monsters of sand that surround the city of Ennemarna. They're only artifacts of power, the same power that's attacking my physical body.

I use my power and intent to destroy the monsters that surround the city. There's no limit to that power when I'm in and part of the world of light itself. But, I know now how to channel it, control it, not let it overwhelm, and how to use only what's necessary. Noriko walks the perimeter of the city wall until all of the monsters have been destroyed.

She returns to a kneeling position so her body can rest again, although she also has been healed by the world of light. We return together to the world of light, following the path her spirit can walk to reach it. "Thank you, Izark," I envelop her again, my love and gratitude for her merging us again. Again I keep it brief. She knows and that's enough. It's time for me to finish my work so I guide her to where my body is. "You're injured, Izark."

"Yes, but the life in the world of light has been healing me. It won't be too much longer." She understands. Knowledge comes to her from here also. The world of light is thought and everything is known if one desires to know or understand it.

There isn't a need here for her to merge with my physical body. She will come with me, by my side as always. As I return to be with my body, it's brought into the world of light with me so that I stand on the boundary at that nexus of dark and light. It's also the nexus of physical and spiritual. Like I stand balanced between dark and light, I stand at the door between life and death. I can be injured, but I cannot die. This is me, what and who I am.

I am human so I could choose light or dark, good or evil, to care for others or only myself, but I am light also - that which is life and brings life to all that exists. That light exists in everything as well, but in me it's slightly different. I can tell Noriko will want to research that difference. It's a thing that tickles at her curiosity. I smile to myself. I'll let her do that in her own time. It will be fun to watch her eyes light up as she learns new things.

I return to the physical world enough to stand up on my feet and face where I need to go - the doorway back to the place where the evil lives and needs to die. Noriko stands in the doorway to the world of light, keeping it open. The love and peace and strength of the world of light swirls around Noriko and up into me, moving to her will and my need for final healing and energy to complete my task. She smiles. I look back at her, in that place, then want to tease and show her what I can do now that she's here where my power resides.

I'm suddenly in her and around her, filling her and surrounding her with my power so that she can understand it. It's the power of a protector, one who cares for others and understands the responsibility that comes with that power and role. She lifts her face to it and to me, feeling what I feel constantly. I can feel that she's glad that I'm no longer afraid of it, or of myself.

I land in front of her again, folding my arms. It's true. I am whole, one with myself like the World of Light is one with all creation. Noriko is fully anchored, fully peaceful, just as strong - a balance to me and a companion. She's still courageous, still sure. I shake my head at her. "Noriko-who-is-not-afraid," I name her.

"Izark-who-is-always-kind," she names me back.

I frown slightly. That's another way she sees me that I have trouble seeing. "Can I be kind when I'm angry?" I'm remembering my anger that Rachef has hurt her, made her afraid.

Noriko is compassion. It surprises me. She has compassion even for her captor? Noriko holds out her hand, palm up. I place my hand on hers, palm down. She shows me what happened while she was with Rachef. His words of emptiness, his expressions in his eyes, her teaching and Rachef's reaction...and all along, her own reactions, including her sorrow and compassion in the end.

"His walk through life has been hard, Izark. Now that we are in the world of light, when we see him we will understand and know him. There will only be compassion. You can't let it stop you from doing what is necessary. He has chosen starvation, the world of light has begged for release from this evil that stands behind him. The consequence must come.

"That in itself is compassion as well, for both the original priest of eons ago who still suffers under the ruins, and for Rachef. Anger is a strength, a warning, but it should never be wielded as the sword. Compassion and love are the arm and the sword for the world of light. Empathy the source. You will understand it."

I trust her for now. She's already understood more about this place that I still need to learn about. Because I want to protect her, for then and for now, I merge with her for longer this time, until we understand one another in a way that can only happen in this place where thoughts and memories cannot be hidden. When that understanding has reached the level it can, we end with gratitude that we've been given one another. I release her and we stand looking at each other once again.

"I love you, Izark."

"I love you, Noriko. ...It's time to go." I gather myself and my energies up and return to my body where it waits on the planet. She follows me in her way until she is spirit next to me. We look at the dome of darkness. It now has taken on some of the aspects of the spirit that inhabits that place in Reinka. It stares at me in anger, unable to see Noriko or anything of the light.

As I rise to my feet, a great blast of energy is thrown at me. My shield is large with the power I contain within me now. The attack pushes me back but can't reach me. "Are you alright, Izark?" Noriko asks.

"Yes. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

My wings of light unfurl as I call on the full calm strength of the world of light. I approach the dome of darkness and four dark spirits arise out of it, the four spirits of the priests to served the priest of evil. They attack me and I cleanse them with the light, setting them free of their thousands of years prison.

They disappear silently, as weak in their age and darkness as all other things I've fought like them. Take away their connection to the evil dark emotions that trap them here and they become nothing because they had no living substance to begin with.

I'm falling into the darkness of the door between this ruin near Ennemarna and the buried palace on the eastern continent. Because in the world of light distance nearly has no meaning, Noriko comes with me easily. The spirit tries to keep me out but the light passes through it like an oil lamp chases away the darkness of a room.

Neither have substance - darkness and light - but they have effects and darkness can only affect light if light allows it to. Naturally, all light will banish darkness. I am that light come to banish this darkness that has been allowed to grow too large.

"DON'T! Don't come here! Don't destroy my dreams!" With the desperate cry comes a strong energy blast that tries to prevent me from entering the space of the ruins. At first I shield against it but it wasn't the energy of a power that could harm. It was emotion and will only. With a gentle flap of my wings, I pass through it and scatter it.

I understand what Noriko understands because we are in the world of light together. She knows it's Rachef's mind, his emotions, and we are hearing them and feeling them. Whatever control Rachef might have had before on his emotions is gone now that I'm here to face him, whole and unharmed.

We can feel that he's already alone. Even his seer, Gorya, is gone - of his own hubris and carelessness. There's only Rachef, and the priest - the Source of Evil. That spirit is no support for Rachef. He is also only insubstantial emotions.

All of Rachef's memories - of his mother rejecting him as a child (I shiver as I relate to them very well), of Rachef killing her by pushing her down the stairs, being taken in by a kind man, then betraying him, his destruction of everyone who could have turned him to the light if he'd stopped and tried to understand and his repeated rejection of the light, even Noriko's last gesture, the last opportunity given to him by the world of light to turn away from the darkness. We see it all. And all through it is his insistence that only more and more and more of the things that don't satisfy will be an acceptable substitute.

Noriko sighs sadly to herself as I land on the top of a giant moonstone. I can understand now what she meant by being able to become compassionate for even one's enemy. Rachef and I are very similar. We chose opposing paths is the only difference.

There are many moonstones here, the majority of them massive, as tall as we can build houses and buildings, although there are all sizes here. Because we're in the world of light, we can hear the stones and the surroundings. Incessant desire. Gnawing need. Restless discontent. The place is full of obsession, obsession for those things that cannot fulfill. "I have to destroy them all. The Source of Evil survives because of these. They tie him to the world, and amplify his evil," I explain to Noriko.

"Stay away from me! Stay away!" Rachef is screaming, his face full of impotent rage and desperation as he looks at me. "Get out of my sight!" The power of his emotions, and the energy of this place give the priest sufficient power to attack me, but my shield of light melts the attack before it can reach me, the same as before, even though this one is more powerful than the earlier ones were. He can no longer touch me.

Rachef takes in a sobbing breath and tries to reason with me, as the memory of his mother's rejection surfaces again. "Don't destroy this place...please," he pleads. Then with more urgency he says, "It took me a long time to find this. If I can conquer this world and shape it according to my own design, I will be freed from these feelings. Despite all my success, I have never found peace. Not until I found this."

"This is peace?" I ask, but Rachef doesn't hear.

"Oh, Rachef, if only you could have heard my words, even just enough to experiment on them. That isn't right. How I wish you could turn your feet back." Noriko's words also fall on deaf ears. He's not where he can hear or see the world of light, he has walked so far away from it.

When I don't respond to Rachef, he returns to panic. "My sanctuary! ...You cannot destroy my dreams!" His desperation hurts me and I can't look at him. I wish I could take this away for him, undo what he's done to himself. Noriko sends me the small reminder that to let him go is also compassion.

I sigh in my heart, and let the pain go. It's Rachef's pain. It's time to release him from it, even if we carry sorrow that it has come to this as the only way to do it. He won't on his own turn his feet back.

I turn away from Rachef to face the moonstones on the other side. With the power of the world of light I destroy all the moonstones in front of me, the full width of this wide cavern. We can tell it's circular, like a wheel. I spread my wings and begin to fly around the wheel, the moonstones crumbling into dust and shards in front of me as I go. Behind us, we hear Rachef's desolate scream, "NOOO!" as he stumbles through the standing moonstones to see the destruction I'm leaving behind me.

Rachef's soul's pain is heavy and we choose to block it out. We can't carry it for him. It's more power to the priest, however, and one more time that evil spirit tries to attack me, and once again it has no ability to. As I use the power of the world of light to destroy the moonstones, I'm also using it to cleanse the lingering spirits of this place so that they also can be free of this prison.

Noriko takes my hand for comfort as Rachef's wails ring through the emptying room. "He doesn't understand that it's this place that is preventing him from finding true contentment. He believes the lie that this is where it is. The path he's chosen in his life in an endless road to hell. The farther he travels on this road the worse his hunger becomes. There is no end to it the direction he's going."

I agree, "Unfortunately, he's already become a part of this place. When the moonstones lose their power, he will have to die. So..." Rachef has already also become caught up in the energies held by these moonstones: his desires, will, and energies resonate with them.

"So?" Noriko asks as we come around the final bend and Rachef is before us again.

I am compassion. I wish to give this brother one last gift before he also crumbles into dust and smoke. Perhaps we can help him one last time to find the strength to turn around and walk back towards the light where true fulfillment is. I fly directly towards him, pulling back my power as the last of the moonstones crumble beneath me. "So, before he dies, I want to show him the world of light."

I wrap my arms around Rachef's shoulders so he can't attack me and lift him up above the sands of moonstone. Rachef's body is already beginning to separate from his spirit, the loss of the moonstones taking the life from it. Noriko wraps her arms around him from the other side of me to anchor his spirit with us just long enough.

"Rachef, this is the world of light. Look at it so you'll remember. Open your eyes to the world of light." Our combined warmth, the love and peace of the world of light, swirl around the three of us seeking Rachef's heart, trying to fill the hole that he has for so long starved. "Find out what you really are. You were always loved." Together we say it again, wanting him to believe it, because for at least the two of us, and the world of light, it's true. "You were always loved!"

With a quiet rustle, the last of Rachef's body disappears into ash and smoke. Above us the entrance to this place begins to close, there no longer being any energy or anchor for it to remain open. I use a powerful stroke of my wings to fly through the closing door and back to the ruins near Ennamarna.

Sadly I whisper, "I did all I could do for you, Rachef." We watch the doorway close, the darkness swirling closed until it's gone. "The rest is up to you. You must try to get back on your feet and crawl out to the world of light."

We hope that he will, but not many do. Those who walk so far from it rarely try to turn and come back to it, even though it will always welcome them, and gladly. If anywhere in his heart he considered Noriko's words to him before he died, there might be hope for him. I can only hold on to that hope for now.

"You can go back now, Noriko. I'll be there shortly, but since my body is here, it has to get there. Let the others know you and I are okay and we've defeated the Source of Evil."

"You could fly," she points out.

I smile at her. "I will, but only until I see the city. I don't think we need to let them see the full power, even now. There is still evil in the world and much work to be done. It will be easier to do it if we still look like ordinary people."

"With extraordinary powers," she teases me. I must allow for that.

For just a moment Noriko yearns for Doctor Clairgeeta and turns that way. Because we're still in the World of Light together, I can feel her emotions still, and we can feel his. He's wondering about us, standing in the library of the university.

It takes a moment, then he looks up, then turns to see us. He smiles, happy to see we've accomplished the desire of his heart. He bows and I bow in gratitude for his hope, faith, and assistance when we needed it most. "Thank you, Doctor Clairgeeta," Noriko says with deep gratitude.

"No. Thank you. Both of you." We feel like we've just been thanked by the World of Light itself. We bow again and let the vision go.

"I'll see you, then," Noriko says to me and I let her go.

She returns to the door at the nexus that is within my body, lightly touching all of me inside as she goes. I can't help the slight shiver and teasingly scold her. She tells me it's payback for sapphire eyes earlier. I laugh my silent laugh, happy we can be free from fear now, and only love each other. She enters the world of light and returns to her body, leaving me, but I still feel her like I have always felt her from the beginning. I push off the ground and am in flight.

Flight is natural to me, but I play with it to learn it properly, enjoying the sensation of being able to dip and turn, things that I could already do in my martial arts acrobatics, but now I don't have to land or have surfaces to push off from. I just use the wings for that.

I am careful to not blast the desert with my power. That takes more practice - not being too violent with my wings. They are large and powerful so even light movements can move me sufficient distances. It's no wonder I left a large hole in Reinka. I would have used a very powerful sweep of the wings to escape.

When I try to see what that does, going straight up, I end up so high above the planet there isn't air to breathe. That's a marvel - to behold what's above the planet and beyond it, but I don't stay long. It puts too much distress on my body and I don't need to show up in Ennamarna to Noriko's worry and scolding.

I have to wonder if she's seen her own planet like this, or her people have. It's very obvious from there that the planet is round and that it does indeed go around the sun, rather than the reverse. I can sense there are other planets that circle our sun.

I'll ask Noriko about it the next time we have free time for a lesson. Now it's time to return and to be happy with Noriko and our friends that the end of the final confrontation has been the end I wished for it to be from my beginning.