Part Five: The Cycles of Life
[About 12:30 pm Tashalla time (2 pm Angel Grove time)]
Andréa's old room was exactly as she left it; not one thing had changed. She looked on the enormous bed, Aurora's old wedding gown still laying where she had put it after Taliana burst in that one day telling of the attack, and wondered how any of it could have lasted that long. Nevertheless, Andréa picked it up and held it against herself, looking herself over in the full-length mirror. "Cool!" she thought out loud. "It looks like it would still fit me!" She wondered if she could somehow take it back home with her so that she could really wear it in her wedding someday. The gown was still so beautiful, far more elegant than any she had ever seen on Earth. "I better not let Adam see this quite yet," Andréa said to herself, hanging it inside one of the empty armoires for the time being. "It's bad luck." Judging by how strong their relationship had already become, she was confident that they really would get married in a few years; she could even picture the entire scene in her mind, grinning as if it were actually taking place right there. "Hmmm . . . Andréa Marguerite Park . . ." she sighed dreamily, liking how that sounded, ". . . Rae Park . . . wow, it's so much fun to dream like that!"
While still on the thought of weddings, Andréa discovered the old journal still atop her writing table. "I remember this," she said, finding it open its very last entry, written just a week before the attack. It was brief, but it seemed to describe everything perfectly . . .
I cannot believe what has just happened to me today! Adrian, that wonderfully dashing and handsome prince from Corinthia whom I had met and fallen in love with at my seventeenth birthday celebration nearly a year ago, has asked for my hand in marriage! Is that not absolutely incredible? Yes, he truly loves me and I truly love him, but I never thought that he would have asked me after such a short time of seeing each other. I am nearing eighteen and he is close to nineteen, yet whenever we are together, the people always think that we are much older and have been together longer than we have been in reality judging by the strength of our relationship. Right after he proposed to me, Adrian and I went to Mother and Father with the good news. They immediately announced to the people that within one week we would officially be married! Oh, how my life has changed since meeting my prince! I know that this one week will seem like an eternity (I had even said that to Adrian today), because when one must wait for such an event that is very close, it still always seems so far away . . .
Of course, Andréa now knew something that she didn't know then regarding what had really happened one week later. Instead of Aurora and Adrian being united forever, they had been pulled apart for thousands of years. "If I had only known how much of an eternity it would really be," Andréa sighed. She desperately hoped that something like that would never happen again where she and Adam could have been separated in such a manner . . . or even that something worse than that wouldn't happen.
Andréa continued to look through the journal for a long time. So many more memories flooded back to her. She started at the beginning when, at only fifteen, her father had placed her in control of the almost nonexistent armies. Normally, according to royal custom, the eldest son was put in charge at that age, but as the king had no sons, the position was thrust upon Aurora. In the time before she and Adrian had met, Aurora often wrote about how lonely she felt in that enormous palace with no brothers or sisters and how she rarely ever left Tashalla. Not only that, but she seldom was even allowed to venture outside of the palace and mingle with the commoners, not even with young people her age. There was no one she was in love with, and life was rather dull; sometimes Aurora even wrote about how she often wished she wasn't a princess. All that changed when she met Adrian. Then she began to write about how wonderful her life had finally become. Included with some of these entries were many pen-and-ink and watercolor drawings and paintings describing certain events and experiences, most of them of her and Adrian in the later entries. Aurora had always been a skilled artist, and so the old drawings reminded Andréa of the more modern portraits she had been doing lately of Adam, including the one she had been working on the day before when he came to her telling about the dream they had shared.
Just then, Andréa sensed a familiar presence in the room. She looked up to see Adam standing in the doorway. Once again, she had forgotten that this wasn't their first life together, and when she saw him, she almost wanted to call him Adrian. Except for the change in hair and eye color, everything about him really did seem as though no time had ever passed and no battles had ever been fought. "I kinda thought I'd find you up here," Adam said, a rather blank expression on his face. Andréa's expression was also somewhat emotionless. "What's the matter?" he asked, noticing the way she had been staring at him. "Is something bothering you?"
"No, nothing's bothering me," Andréa replied quietly. "I've just been . . . reflecting, you know, thinking of what might've been. But I should be asking you; you've really been off to yourself since we got here. This is the first time I've even seen you in hours."
"Yeah, I've been kinda . . . reflecting myself," Adam said, partially lying as he paid more attention to what was going on outside. The two French doors had been opened up onto the small balcony overlooking the city below, and so he could see just what was all taking place down there. "But you gotta remember that it's over with and we can't go back. What's happening now is more important than what's already happened." The way he said it was almost in a pessimistic tone.
"I know," Andréa answered, watching with a slight daze as Adam crossed the room and stood out on the balcony, "but it's just so strange how everything that happened back then is so much like the way things are with us now, you know what I mean?"
Adam leaned on the balcony railing and stared off into space. "Yeah, it is. It really is strange how while everything else around you seems to change, you barely change at all. And it's not just you and me, but everyone in one way or another . . ." His voice trailed off as he began to wonder why exactly he was doing this to himself. For over eighteen years now, Adam had always thought that he was basically a normal person. Now all of a sudden, he wasn't just Adam Park, your slightly above average teenager living in Angel Grove, California, who also just so happened to have been a Power Ranger for the past three years, but also Adrian, crown prince of the now nonexistent Khalterrian kingdom of Corinthia. He began to wonder if he was only here for Andréa's sake. Oh, he still loved her—Adam loved Andréa more than anything else in the world—but was all this trouble of coming here and then finding out that everything he once had was completely gone really worth it?
There was only one way for him to truly find out for sure, he thought. After a few minutes of doing nothing more than just thinking and staring out at the countryside, Adam stood up. "I'm going out to spend some time alone," he said, almost snapping at Andréa. "I'll be back later. Don't follow me." Then he walked out of the room, nearly bumping into Taliana in the doorway as she was coming in.
"Andréa," she asked, looking back at Adam as he disappeared down the hall, "is something bothering Adam?"
Turning to go, I heard you call out my name
Like a bird in a cage,
Spreading its wings to fly
"The old ways are lost" you sang as you flew
And I wondered why . . .
"To be honest," Andréa replied, sighing heavily as she too looked down the hallway, "I think it's the fact that Corinthia doesn't exist anymore and he feels there's really nothing left for him to fight for. He doesn't even have to say it or think about it; his actions speak volumes. Ever since you told us about that, he's been staying completely off to himself and acting rather strange. I've never seen Adam this out of it before, so this must be really bad that he won't even admit it to me."
"Has he ever been like this before?"
"Not that I really know of, but in this life, Adam's had his share of bad times. Things now on Earth aren't like what they used to be for him here. When he was little, other kids always made fun of him and he barely had any friends. And then when he was twelve, he lost his older brother, someone he had always looked up to as a kid, in a brutal accident and has always had a hard time coping with it since then." Andréa paused for a moment, looking down at the open journal and then closing it. "But then again, my life hasn't exactly been the greatest either. My mother disappeared when I was nine and I didn't even find her again until a few weeks ago. Two years later, my father was killed in front of me. In between that, I had to move to a new country, and after that happened, people never seemed to accept me because I was such an outsider and I was often left with very few friends, most of them being outsiders too, who would really listen to me before I became a Ranger."
"So the two of you do have much more in common with each other than just your past lives and being Rangers," Taliana said. "I never would have guessed."
"I wouldn't have either before I really got to know him," Andréa continued. "But if there's one thing I've really learned about Adam in the eight months we've been together, it's that he rarely ever gives up on anyone or anything. And as long as I've known him, he's been one of the most caring and understanding people I've ever met, as well as one of the bravest warriors I've seen in either lifetime. He may often be shy and quiet around other people, but when it comes to being a Ranger, he fights with a skill, honor, and passion few have despite his only being leader of the team on two brief occasions. But even though he was an excellent leader those two times, he never really gets a chance to show it, and that's something else that's bothered Adam since he became a Ranger three years ago." She paused for a moment and looked down from the balcony, where she saw him ride off through the townspeople and out of the city. "I think I know exactly where he's going," Andréa suddenly said, running past Taliana, quickly heading out the door, and racing down the hall.
The thundering waves are calling me home,
Home to you . . .
"Where are you going?" Taliana called after her.
"I'm going after him!" Andréa called back, already halfway down the hall.
The pounding sea is calling me home,
Home to you . . .
"I thought he told you not to follow him!"
"I know! But I have to talk to him and clear some things up!" Andréa then turned the corner and disappeared from view.
"I pray that you will be able to, princess," Taliana said quietly, still standing in the doorway. "Both of you need each other to win this fight . . ."
* * *
No sooner had Andréa raced out of the palace was she already riding off in Adam's direction. Not far from the castle gates, in a nearby grove, she spotted him. "Adam, wait up!" she called out. Though he had heard her, Adam kept going, kicking his horse up into a handgallop. "Why is he being so stubborn?" Andréa complained to herself. Waiting to stay a far enough distance from him, she too signaled her horse to go.
Adam looked back. Andréa was still following him, and he wasn't pleased. "Rae, this is the one time when I don't want you around!" he growled to himself. A stone wall that looked to be about three feet high appeared ahead. "Maybe that'll keep you from following me," Adam said as he approached the obstacle and easily sailed over it.
Andréa stopped a good distance from the wall. "Really Adam," she said to herself, "like that's gonna stop me. I've jumped cross-country courses a lot higher than that!" With that, she spurred her horse back into a controlled gallop and cleared the stone wall with ease.
Adam looked back again and could still see Andréa following about a half-mile behind. "Doesn't she get it?" he complained to himself. "I told her not to follow me!" This didn't concern her, so why was she trying to get involved? It was time to finally lose her. "Get up!" he shouted at his horse, which then whinnied and broke into a full-out gallop.
Andréa slowed her horse back down to a halt and sighed in defeat as she watched Adam disappear behind a hill. "Oh, what's the use?" she said. "I'm never gonna catch up with him at this rate. If I only knew what the heck was making him do this." She was still being shut out telepathically, so there was no way to know for sure what was going on without talking about it. But then something occurred to her. "Hmmm . . . Adam may have told me not to follow him," Andréa thought out loud, "but he never said anything about me just showing up there!" After waiting a few minutes, she kicked her horse back up into a gallop and headed over the hill in Adam's direction.
[Corinthian ruins, about 3:15 pm]
Adam rode through what remained of the Corinthian gates, looking up at all the destruction. As Taliana had said, everything was in complete ruin. "My god," was all the one-time prince could say. The city, once bustling with people, was abandoned and desolate as an eerie and haunting silence hovered over the ruins.
Riding even further into the old city, Adam came upon what was left of the palace. He dismounted and looked around again. Tears nearly formed in his eyes when he saw how the great towers, once standing proud and high, were reduced to rubble. "Why did this all have to happen?" he asked himself. "If . . . if there'd only been a way for me to stop everything that happened!"
He climbed up some of the rocks that once made up one of the many palace walls and looked down once more at the ancient ruins, a strong breeze coming up from the sea far below and blowing his hair into his eyes. "I'm sorry, my people," Adam then said to no one, falling to his knees. "I'm sorry I had to let you down. Please forgive me."
At the same time, Andréa rode quietly into the abandoned city. "Now I can see why Adam didn't want me around," she said to herself, looking around at the ruins. "This must be driving him crazy!" The destruction was far worse than what she had imagined, and so she wondered just how badly Adam was taking it all.
She dismounted and climbed up to where the palace once stood. In the near distance, she saw Adam sitting on a large rock and staring off in another direction. Unsure as to what he might have done had he known she was even there, Andréa stayed hidden behind part of a wall that still remained and watched him silently.
Dulcea walked up to Adam next, the Phaedosian warrior noticing the Black Ranger's sullen expression. "Adam?" she asked. "Adam, what's wrong?"
Adam looked up at the woman. "I'm a frog," he replied flatly, referring to the symbol on his Ninjetti outfit and obviously not pleased that he had to have that particular animal as his totem spirit.
Dulcea smiled. "Yes, a frog!" she said. "Like the one you kiss . . ." She then kissed him on the forehead. ". . . to get a handsome prince." The Black Ranger looked back at her and then at his teammates, a thin smile forming on his face after hearing that kind of comparison.
Adam sighed upon recalling that two-year-old memory. "If only Dulcea knew just how close she was to the truth back then," he wondered out loud. "But I wonder if she might've even known from the start who I really was before I did. I guess I can't exactly be called a frog anymore then."
After tossing a small stone out into the vacant depths below the remains of the palace, Adam noticed something that looked like it featured a golden emblem of Corinthia, the dragon, shining through the rocks in front of him. Curious as to what it really was, he moved some of the rocks out of the way and revealed a large brown leather pouch that indeed bore that symbol on it. "What is this?" Adam asked himself, wondering how anything could have still been hidden among the ruins after thousands of years and yet still be in such good condition. Whatever it was, it was quite long and had some weight to it. Believing that this strange object might have had some significance to him in his previous life, Adam stood up and opened the pouch, pulling the large object out.
Adam couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a massive sword, one that he recognized from his youth in Corinthia. "No way," he said as he pulled it out of its scabbard and looking it over, "how could it still be here?"
"This, my son, is the Sword of the Draganta, or Dragon-Hearted One," the king of Corinthia—and Adrian's father—said as he showed the sixteen-year-old prince the magnificent weapon. "It is named for one of the first great heroes of Corinthia and one of the greatest kings to ever rule over this land. Someday, when you become king, it will belong to you the way it belongs to me now."
"And when might that be, Father?" Adrian asked curiously.
The king smiled at his eldest son. "I don't know, Adrian," he replied. "Whenever the Gods decide that my time in this world ends is most likely when you will assume the throne."
Adrian held the massive sword in his hands. Looking it over, he ran a hand over a large indentation in the shape of a four-pointed star on the hilt, one on each side; perhaps something was supposed to have fit there, he thought. "What is this for?" he finally asked.
"There is a prophecy that tells of a great and powerful talisman that when placed here will reveal an equally powerful warrior, the Warrior of Corinthia, who is supposed to be the true ruler of Corinthia, known only as the fabled Immortal King," the king explained. "It is said that the talisman was once a part of this sword but had mysteriously disappeared from it during the time of the Seven Heroes of the Universe, that its power had once been called upon by the Draganta in battle, but it has not been seen since. No one knows who the Warrior is or when he will be revealed, however it is also said that he will first appear in a form like that of the Draganta with this talisman at a time of great need in Corinthia, bringing peace to our land for all time."
Adrian looked the sword over some more, wondering who this Immortal King might have ended up being; could it even have been him someday? And what was the prophesized talisman that was supposed to reveal this king? But no matter what happened, Adrian knew that he would someday be king himself, and the sword he held would then belong to him.
Adam continued to hold the sword in his hands in the same manner he had when his original father had placed it in them thousands of years before. But then he looked around at all the ruins. "It'll never belong to me!" he shouted angrily, thrusting the blade into the rocks. "What would there be for me to rule over anyway?"
Just then, he turned around and saw Andréa peeking out from behind the wall. "I know you're there, Rae," Adam said coldly, turning back away from her. "Didn't I make myself clear enough when I told you not to follow me?"
Knowing that she had been caught, Andréa reluctantly came out from her hiding place and approached him. "Adam, this is just . . . I . . . I don't know why you're acting like this," she tried to explain herself. "You and I both know that sulking like this won't make the situation any better! You even said that—"
"I know what I said!" he snapped, cutting her off. "But at least you have something to come back to and fight for! Look at this!" Adam motioned at all the ruins. "Corinthia's gone! I don't have anything to fight for!"
"Adam, that is not true!" Andréa protested, trying not to raise her voice at him. "Don't you remember anything that Taliana told us? After we were gone, Corinthia fell and the people fled to Tashalla and other places. It happened after we were gone; neither of us could've done anything about it even if we tried! This is now; what's happened's happened. We can't change the past." Adam turned back towards Andréa, but he still refused to look at her. All he could do was look down at the sword driven into the rocks and think of what could have been for the two of them. "Adam, listen. Yeah, I know it's been thousands of years, but those people living back there in my homeland are just as much your people as they are mine. You do have something to fight for, Adam. You have them." She paused for a moment as she reached out and took his hand. "You have me. Shouldn't that be enough?"
Before Adam could even say anything, a sudden, fierce wind picked up and a strange, swirling light appeared in front of the two of them. "Oh my god . . ." he then said softly as he saw what—or rather who—appeared from the light. Despite things changing greatly since long ago, only one word could come to his mind. ". . . Father?"
"Yes Adrian," the spirit of the last Corinthian king said, calling his one-time son by his true name.
Adam had no idea what was going on. "What . . . what are you doing here?"
"You have forgotten who you truly are, my son," the deceased king told him.
"But . . . I remember everything about my past," Adam replied. "How could I have forgotten who I am?"
"Though you may have been able to recall all of your memories," the king explained, "you still do not remember who you are supposed to be. Your time here may have ended long before you had the chance to become king, but your opportunity will still come someday when you choose to make Khalterria your permanent home once again. Aurora is right when she says that there is still very much for you to defend. You must fight for the freedom of all Khalterria as well as your descendants. You must defend the honor of Corinthia and everything it has stood for. You must remember who you are, Prince Adrian." He then stepped backward into the light and began to fade away.
"No!" Adam called out after him. "Father, please, don't leave yet! There's still so much I need to know! Please!" But it was no use. Seconds later, the light was gone and everything was silent again. "Please . . . come back . . ."
Andréa had just stood there the entire time, stunned by the strange apparition. "Whoa," was all she could really say. "If that just wasn't so much like that one scene out of The Lion King, then I don't know what would be." She looked over to Adam, who was still staring into space. "Adam, are you all right?"
Adam eventually broke out of his daze. "I'm . . . I'm fine," he said. "But I just wish I knew what it all means!"
Andréa cracked a thin smile and tried to get him to look at her. "To be perfectly honest, I think it's a lot like what the ghost of Mufasa told Simba in the movie about taking his place in the Circle of Life, and then Rafiki telling him that he ought to stop beating himself up over something he couldn't control and do what needs to be done."
There was a brief silence as Adam finally looked back into her eyes, realizing that she had a good point even though she was describing it in terms of a scene out of a Disney movie. "Yeah, you're right," he said. "I don't know what I was thinking before."
Andréa looked down at the sword. "So what exactly is it about this thing that made you just about lose it a little while ago?"
"Oh, this?" Adam asked, pulling it out of the rocks. "It's called the Sword of the Draganta, named after one of Corinthia's greatest heroes and rulers. The name means Dragon-Hearted One, and it's been passed down from generation to generation to each king and queen since his reign. I was supposed to be the next to get it, but obviously that didn't happen."
Andréa's mind started to wander once she heard that name. "Draganta . . ." she said, knowing she had heard that name not too long beforehand. "Like the Mystic Knights?"
"The who?"
"There's an old Irish-Celtic legend I read about in school once—I don't know if it's true or not—about some team of heroes called the Mystic Knights," Andréa explained. "You could say that they were a lot like a medieval version of the Power Rangers, going out and fighting evil and stuff. But anyway, one of their other missions was to seek out this other legendary hero named Draganta—no 'the' before it though—who would bring their kingdom a hundred lifetimes of peace, only to find out that he was in front of them the entire time as their leader, the Mystic Knight of Fire."
"I think I can sorta relate to that," Adam commented, referring to how he was supposed to have the Black Dragon Ranger powers the whole time and never knew it until just the day before.
"No kidding," Andréa replied, knowing what he was talking about and also being able to relate to that somewhat as well. "But I was just trying to think if there might've been a connection if the legend's true, you know, like he maybe showed up in Ireland during the Middle Ages with a new identity the same way we ended up in this time period. It's just a theory, so I don't know for sure, but that all seems like too weird of a coincidence not to be connected to this. You know what I mean?"
"Kind of." Adam looked over the sword some more before slipping it back into its scabbard and strapping it to his back. "Man, though it's probably not related, I remember Mom always saying something about how she had some Irish heritage on her side of the family, but this is almost ridiculous."
Andréa laughed some. "You know, it's really good to have the old you back again."
"The old me?" Adam asked. "Are you talking about me as Adrian or me as, well, me?"
"Actually, I was talking about both," she replied. She changed the subject, looking out over the horizon at the setting sun. "Adam, isn't that the most beautiful sunset you've ever seen?"
"It is beautiful," he said, putting his arm around her shoulder as she rested her head on his, "just like the many sunsets we used to watch from here."
When the moon on a cloud-cast night
Shone above on the tree tops' height
You sang me of some distant past
That made my heart beat strong and fast
Now I know I'm home at last
"I guess some things really never change," Andréa responded.
Adam looked into her eyes. "But nothing will ever compare to your beauty, fair princess," he continued, sounding very much like his former self.
You offered me an eagle's wing
That to the sun might soar and sing
And if I heard the owl's cry
Into the forest I would fly
And in its darkness find you by
Andréa smiled. "Okay, so maybe nothing's changed at all." The two of them stared at each other for some time, the sun continuing to set behind the distant hills. Her previous self showing as well, she said, "I will always love you, Adrian."
And so our love's not a simple thing
Nor our truths unwavering
But like the moon's pull on the tide
Our fingers touch, our hearts collide
I'll be a moonsbreath from your side . . .
"As I will always love you, Aurora," Adam replied as he took both of her hands into his, leaned into her, and kissed her tenderly.
A few minutes later, there was the sound of rocks tumbling down along what remained of the walls. Andréa looked up, startled by the sudden noise. "Aw man, why do we always have to have these kinds of moments interrupted by someone?" she complained upon seeing a swarm of Piranhatrons climbing up the walls and surrounding her and Adam. "Divatox just won't leave us alone, even when we're not interfering with her plans!"
"No kidding," Adam agreed. "I didn't come all this way just to fight more Piranhatrons!"
Andréa assumed a fighting stance. "Guess it's back to the daily grind already. Let's clear 'em out."
As the daylight grew dimmer and dimmer, it became increasingly more difficult for the two Rangers to fight the Piranhatrons. Andréa had been forced away from the palace area and down into the vacant city, so she couldn't exactly call on Adam to back her up. "Enough is enough," she growled to herself after getting kicked around way too much. "Purple Phoenix FireStar Power!" Finally after morphing, she was able to gain the upper hand over the foot soldiers thanks to her built-in night vision.
Meanwhile, Adam did his best to hold his own against the Piranhatrons in the dark, but not even his quick moves were enough. Backed into a corner, he drew his sword and looked at it again, noticing the indentation that still remained on the hilt. "I wonder what would happen . . ." he said as he pulled out his crystal and realized that it was the exact same shape and size as the indentation. Could my crystal be the talisman that was supposed to fit in here? he thought. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Glaring at the Piranhatrons, Adam then placed the crystal into the sword and raised it high above his head as if he knew exactly what he was doing.
There was a crack of thunder and a streak of lightning that struck the point of the sword, illuminating the night sky, and then something strange happened. Andréa looked up and all of a sudden saw the lightning, then saw Piranhatrons being thrown over the edge. "What the heck is going on up there?" she asked herself as she saw more and more of the foot soldiers plummeting down from the palace ruins. "Adam? . . . Oomph!" Distracted by what was taking place overhead, one of the Piranhatrons she had been fighting pounced on her and knocked her to the ground.
But then, all of a sudden, a streak of black mixed with gold flashed by, ripping the Piranhatron off of Andréa. She looked up, but she couldn't see who or what it was that flew by. The streak flashed past her again, knocking even more of the foot soldiers to the ground, and then stopped behind her. "That's the last time you go after her like that!" a familiar voice shouted commandingly.
Andréa slowly turned and looked behind her, totally stunned by hearing that voice. Standing there was a white-haired, blue-eyed warrior dressed in incredible black armor that could only be described as being a cross between that of a knight and that of a samurai, a golden dragon's head emblazoned on the breastplate. But of course, he wasn't just any nondescript warrior. "Adam?" Andréa finally asked, recognizing his face in the darkness. "Is that you?"
It definitely was Adam, but it certainly didn't look like him; he instead looked more like his former identity of Adrian. He gave the remaining Piranhatrons all a hard glare, pointing his sword at them. "If you know what's good for you," he commanded, "you'll go back to Divatox and tell her never to tangle with Prince Adrian again!" Cowering at the sight of the Ranger and his new power, the foot soldiers all started to run off and then disappeared.
"And don't come back!" Andréa then shouted in agreement. "Power down!" Her Purple Ranger costume melted away to reveal her common clothing. She glanced back at Adam (or was he Adrian?), still amazed by his armor glistening in the moonlight.
"Rae?" he asked, finally looking himself over before returning the glance. "What's going on? How did I end up like this?"
"I was hoping you could've told me," she replied, "'cause whatever happened, you ended up looking and sounding a lot like Adrian again."
"I did?"
"Yeah," Andréa answered softly, looking him over again, "but you look . . . wow, you look incredible."
Adam stared at her curiously, indeed feeling like his former self again. "You . . . you really think so?" Andréa nodded silently as she came up to him. With little hesitation, she reached up and kissed him gently yet tenderly, curious as to what it might have felt like with him like this.
Adam then suddenly pulled back from her and remembered something. He held up his sword and noticed how his FireStar Crystal fit perfectly into that indentation. "My god," he said, "could I be the one?"
"What are you talking about?" Andréa asked, noticing the look of shock on his face.
He didn't even hear her; all he could think about was that memory of being told about the Sword of the Draganta and what it was ultimately capable of. "A great and powerful talisman that will reveal an equally powerful warrior . . ." Adam continued to himself, his voice trailing off as he recalled what his original father had told him long ago. "But . . . but how can it be me? How can I be the Warrior of Corinthia?"
"Adam, will you please tell me what's going on?" Andréa asked again.
Adam removed the crystal from the sword and his armor faded away, his appearance reverting back to what it was supposed to be. "I . . . I can't talk about it right now," he replied, looking back at her. "I don't think you'd understand." If the Black Dragon FireStar Crystal was indeed the prophesized talisman, how would he have been able to tell Andréa that he was most likely not only the great Warrior of Corinthia told of in that ancient prophecy, but could sometime in the future also have been the fabled Immortal King? And how might it have affected his and Andréa's future together? Could he someday be separated from her because of it? "Let's just say that . . . I really don't understand it myself."
Andréa was just about to question him again, but she then decided that it would have been better if she didn't. "Well, whatever's going on," she instead said, "it looks like you've got yourself some new powers."
That's an understatement, Adam thought. "I guess I do," he replied. Returning the sword back to its scabbard, he looked up at the sky. "Rae, just how long have we been out here?"
She looked up at the sky as well and cracked a smile. "Long enough that it's already nighttime. You know, maybe we ought to be getting back. Taliana's probably wondering why we've been gone so long, even though I told her where we were going."
"Yeah," Adam responded in a slightly distant manner, still thinking about the prophecy, "we probably should." Each remounting their horses, the two Rangers rode down from the Corinthian ruins and back toward Tashalla along the moonlit path that they traveled on so many times before between their two kingdoms.
[Kingdom of Tashalla, around 10:00 pm]
Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides
Figures dance around and around
To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness
Moving to the pagan sound
When the two returned to the city, they found something they didn't quite expect: all sorts of music, singing, and dancing, and bright lights and colors everywhere. They dismounted and someone immediately came and led the horses to the stables, neither of the Rangers sure as to exactly what was going on. "What's going on here?" Adam asked Andréa, both taken by the whole spectacle.
Somewhere in a hidden memory
Images float before my eyes
Of fragrant nights of straw and of bonfires
And dancing 'til the next sunrise . . .
"Looks like some kind of traditional festival," Andréa replied, remembering how, on some nights, she used to hear these kinds of sounds going well past the midnight hour. "But I wonder what they could be celebrating right now."
A slightly decrepit but still kindly-looking old man appeared out of a shadow and pulled the pair aside. "So then you must be new to Tashalla," he said. "Have you heard the legend of Prince Adrian and Princess Aurora?"
"Yeah, actually we have," Andréa answered, rather apprehensive of what she and Adam had just been dragged into. We know more about it than you'd ever believe, buddy, she thought. "But why are you asking us this? And what does it have to do with what's going on?"
"We have been told that the prince and princess have returned to Tashalla after a several thousand-year absence, and now we are celebrating their return," the old man replied. "Come into the light where I can see you better, children." Adam and Andréa reluctantly took a step forward, their appearances illuminated by the nearby firelight. "My, my, you certainly are a lovely young couple. If it weren't for your hair and eye color, one would almost believe the two of you to be the legendary prince and princess. People have said that they saw two young travelers going up to the palace this morning with Taliana, the one-time royal advisor, and most of them described them as looking much like how you do here."
"Please sir," Adam broke in, trying to look for a way out of the situation and ad-libbing everything as he went along, "my . . . wife and I may be travelers too, but we're just passing through looking for a place to spend the night."
Andréa shot him a strange and confused look. Wife?! she asked him telepathically. Adam, aren't we just rushing things a little too much here?! I know you just graduated, but I've still got another year left of high school for crying out loud!
Rae, just play along with this, Adam came back. I'm trying to get this guy off our backs just as much as you are, all right?
Andréa sighed in defeat. All right, fine! "Yes, please, I really must find a place to stay," she then said out loud to the old man, suddenly thinking of something to say. "I'm . . . uhh . . . three months pregnant with our first child, and I was told that I should get plenty of rest each night . . . yeah, that's it!" As part of the act, she suddenly fell into Adam's arms. "Oh honey, I'm so exhausted," she went on melodramatically. "We really need to find a place to stay soon. It's already been long enough of a day as is!" Andréa then looked up at him quickly and winked. You happy now, Adam?
Adam couldn't help but grin and blush as he looked down at her. Good acting, Rae, he told her. Too bad we probably won't be getting that far for a couple more years yet. "Yeah, okay, sweetie, let's keep going then," he ad-libbed again, taking Andréa by the hand as she continued to lean heavily into him. "The sooner we find a place, the better!" Finally pushing their way past the old man, the two hurried off and disappeared into the crowd.
[Royal Palace, around 10:30 pm]
The two made their way back to the other side of the city and into the palace, thankfully before anyone else could notice them. It was much quieter there, but the music from the celebration could still be heard faintly. Adam and Andréa walked into the ballroom area, which was amazingly brightly lit despite no one else being there. As they stood there in the doorway, Andréa immediately thought of something. "Wait here," she said to Adam, beginning to run off across to the other side. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Then she disappeared up some steps and out of view. Adam stood there, wondering what she was doing, but then realized the familiarity of his standing in the doorway before disappearing from the ballroom for a short time himself.
* * *
A short while later, Andréa appeared on the steps. She was in a beautiful purple gown, the same one worn when Aurora and Adrian first met. She looked exactly the same as she did then with the exceptions of the brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders instead of white and her eyes being a grayish blue-green color instead of a clear blue. A moderately surprised expression crossed her face when Adam reappeared on the other side of the ballroom dressed in an outfit very similar to—if not exactly the same as—the one he wore that very same night. All he could do was look up and smile at her from the opposite end of the floor. She was smiling too, very different from the way their first meeting was here as she descended the steps to the floor.
The two of them began to walk towards each other silently, eventually meeting in the middle of the floor. Adam came down on one knee in front of Andréa, reaching out for her still delicate hand and kissing it. Then he looked up at her, his eyes changing back over to the same handsome blue color that they used to be so long ago. "May I have this dance, princess?" he asked in that same soft, quiet tone.
Andréa looked down at him, smiling in the same shy manner as she originally did. "Yes, of course," she whispered. Adam stood up and though there was no beautiful music playing like there once was and the surroundings were not quite as elegant anymore, the two began to dance. It was just the two of them in the old ballroom; no one else was around. Nothing else in the universe mattered to them anymore. As they continued to dance through the night, it was as if Adam and Andréa no longer existed; it was only Adrian and Aurora once again.
Finally, after perhaps an hour or so, they stopped and stood there looking at each other. "I don't remember if I ever said this to you that night or not," Adam said softly, "but I think you look absolutely beautiful."
"You . . . really believe it?" Andréa asked.
"I believe it with all my heart," Adam replied, kissing her hand once again. "I've believed it since the very first time we met here, and again when we met last fall. I don't care what others might say about us, because they haven't been through all the things we have, and they don't understand the meaning of true love the way you and I do." He caressed her cheek softly, brushing a lock of hair from her face. "And now I've finally realized why I've never been able to have feelings for anyone the way I do for you." Adam just stood there and looked at her for a moment before saying the one phrase that had just about started it all for them long ago and one of the most intimate phrases any Khalterrian lovers could say to each other. "Ishalám senta nari kama, Aurora," he said, calling her by her true name.
Andréa looked up and him and smiled. "Et ishalám senta nari kama toren, Adrian," she responded, also calling him by his true name.
Adam then moved his hand down Andréa's shoulder and around her back before drawing her in even closer and kissing her deeply. They stayed like that in each other's arms for perhaps an hour more, neither of them wanting to ever let go of the moment.