Chapter Eight
The basalt walls of the great cavern that had previously entombed D'assan exploded into splinters as Kari, Davis and Kiara fled, frantically scrambling back up the narrow spiral pathway that had led them to this place. The searing impact of the blast sent all three stumbling forward to the ground, and Kari chanced to look back over her shoulder as she assisted a stunned Davis to his feet.
The girl was aghast at the devastation that the blast had caused. It had not only shattered to pieces the lair in which they had found the onyx-skinned fiend, but had also demolished most of the far side of the chasm as well. Layer upon layer of rock had been shorn from the wall, allowing the three who had escaped to see the battle beginning to unfold upon the ledge that was now all that remained of the demon's prison.
"Kari? What's happening?" Davis shouted above the din of subsequent explosions and rubbing at a hand that had been skinned in the fall.
"They're fighting it," Kari answered, visibly and audibly dismayed at the sight as the black-skinned demon (who now towered over both T'Kai and T.K.) thrust a massive claw at the young a'ladon Warden. The boy rolled away from the blow, then watched in alarm as the thrust that had been meant for his head splintered the rock where he'd stood only seconds before.
Just then another concussive echo burst from somewhere above the trio, and a rain of small stones and other debris tumbled down upon them. "Kari, we've got to get out of here!" the boy shouted urgently in her direction, raising his voice above the resonant sound. "I may be blind, but even I know that! This place sounds like it's coming down on our heads!"
The brown-haired girl wheeled on the boy furiously, grabbing him by the collar of his coat and shaking him. "Just shut up, Davis! Shut up right now! You've been nothing but trouble ever since we got here! And it's your fault that that thing came to life. He only freed himself because you brought your stupid jealousy and pride in here! He said so!"
Davis bowed his head in chagrin, but then a quiet voice reached her ears from behind. "No, daughter... this time, he is right. For perhaps the first time since you have arrived in our land, he has spoken out of concern for someone other than himself. It seems as though a maturation is upon him."
Kari and Kiara turned as one at the sound of the voice. "Who--?" Kari started, then caught sight of the speaker as he emerged from behind a sulfurous cloud. Her hands fell from Davis' collar as she blinked, recognizing the peculiar figure who had been the first to greet them at Kiara's temple. "You... you're Cheyne, right? Reverend Father?"
The brown-haired a'ladon nodded, removing his brown cowl as he stepped forward to join their little group. "Come," he said, indicating the spiral pathway that would lead them back to the upper reaches of the cavern. "Let us walk a little way, at least to be out of the way of imminent harm."
"Shouldn't we just get out of here while T.K. is keeping that thing busy?" Davis asked of the elder creature, turning in the direction of his voice. He licked his lips nervously. "If they get beaten by the... whatever it is--"
Cheyne was grim, though of course Davis could not see it. "If it should happen that the Paragons fail in their task, child, there shall be no place in our world that will be a haven from D'assan. His power, then fully unleashed, will grow and fester with each new day that comes upon us. He will seek out evil wherever it exists, and that evil will nourish him until his power is unmatched."
The boy's lips quivered beneath the gauze which served as the bandage to his scarred face, the words of the squirrel-like creature haunting to him. "And I woke-- but I'm not evil!" he insisted.
Cheyne took the boy's hand from Kari and started to lead him gently up the walkway, the two girls following close behind as they craned their heads to watch the battle below. "No, child, of course you are not. As Takeru has been trying to tell you since you arrived in our land, he at least understands that you are far from it. Though from some of your actions it would be possible to assume otherwise."
"But then why... why did that thing--"
"React to your presence? This is a place for the purest of hearts, Daisuke Motomiya. The most holy. Else why, do you guess, that priestesses and not soldiers would guard such a danger to our lands? And though you are a fine and decent soul you are not blessed... not as these others are. They have been consecrated to a duty that you have not."
Kari only half-heard the words of the a'ladon, instead continuing to peer down into the depths to watch the battle which raged beneath them. T'Kai and T.K. were now on a offensive of sorts, and they worked in tandem to attack the creature with weapons that were literally aglow with the golden light of the human's Crest. Each blow that the pair landed upon the demon's ebony hide caused it to howl in agony, yet still the darkness grew in an almost desperate attempt to swallow up the two brave children.
"Here, now," the a'ladon Reverend said as they reached a portion of the walkway some three levels up. "This should be far enough to keep us out of harm's way for the time being."
Kiara and Kari instantly rushed over to the ledge and stared down to see what was happening beneath them as Davis stayed beside the older a'ladon, still keeping his tight grip upon the other's paw. Then the creature leaned in closer to the boy, and whispered, "Your sight I return to you, for a time, that you may be another witness to what must happen here. Receive the gift of Light," he murmured, then reached up and tore the rags off of the boy's eyes.
Davis blinked for a few moments, as his eyes had dried out from several days of nonuse. Then he glanced at the a'ladon with surprise before moving to join Kari and Kiara. Kari looked at the boy, then turned to the Reverend Father. "How did you-- who are you... ?"
The creature seemed to grow a little before her eyes, and he smiled affectionately in response. Now, for the first time, Kari noticed the great trumpet that was dangling from his side and caught a brief glimpse of the sigil of her Crest scrawled upon it. She was almost certain that it hadn't been there before. "Do you not know me? For I assure you that we have met before, Daughter... though before I only stood before you only as a Ward that the dreams would not swallow you. Now that Takeru has taken on that duty, I am called to be elsewhere."
Kari's mouth slowly opened in astonishment as she stared at the Reverend a'ladon, who smiled gently in return at seeing the recognition in her eyes. The Crest of Light that was bound to her wrist seemed to flicker at the creature, and as the glint fell upon Cheyne he nodded at it with a response so familiar that it transcended words. "Think on it. It may come to you in time. But look now... the battle turns. And as you watch, I charge each of you to never forget what you see on this day. Never forget, and never let your children, or your children's children forget... the great price that must be paid for all to be free of evil's dominion."
Davis barely heard the charge, lying on his stomach with his head leaning over the ledge to get a better view of the battle. But thankfully he was no longer scratching at his wounds, and was instead entranced at the sight far beneath him. But Kiara had heard, and now joined Kari beside the Reverend creature. She bowed deeply before him, as deeply as she had before T.K., and took his paw in her own. "Father? I have... have a confession to make."
From far beneath them an anguished howl echoed up to their ears. "Yes! Tear him up, T.K.!" Davis shouted down.
The eyes of the creature shown with gentle amusement, though his expression was still kind. "You beg forgiveness, Daughter? the a'ladon returned, then reached down and placed a paw upon Kiara's furry stomach. "Why? You have not sinned, but been bound in a union that shall bless this world better than it shall ever know. Even D'assan the Fallen, the Apostate, cringed from the presence of your kits, though the spark of life has just now fallen upon them."
The two girls glanced at one another in confusion for a moment, then Kari's eyes shot wide open in astonishment and her cheeks flushed a dark red hue. "Kiara! Are you--? I mean, did you and T'Kai... ? When did you find the time to... ?" The human was stammering now, unable to find a way to phrase her discovery that wouldn't seem too... naughty.
But Kiara was significantly ahead of the other girl. "Babies?" they whispered in delight to one another.
"Children," Cheyne said sternly, interrupted their glee and nodding towards the battle unfolding far beneath them.
Kari was almost horrified at having forgotten the danger which T.K. faced down beneath them, and also lay flat on her stomach to get a better view of the battle going on far below. Kiara placed one furry paw upon her abdomen, far beneath which two sprigs of life had just begun to sprout, then looked down to the father of her babes in a struggle for his, and all of their lives.
************
Each breath that T.K. now managed to steal burned within his throat and set his lungs to aching anew. For even though he was in excellent condition, the creature that he and T'Kai were engaged against was apparently not subject to any of their physical limitations such as fatigue or distraction. And the sulfurous nature of the air in the chamber was not helping matters in the least. Thus far T.K. had been able to evade the worst of the creature's blows, and at the timely direction of the Crest of Hope he had turned aside with his stave the couple that had been too fast for him, but he was tiring fast.
The human boy was able to spare only a brief glimpse in T'Kai's direction. The young a'ladon warrior looked completely exhausted, yet was still a blur of motion as he repeatedly slipped through the demonic creature's grasp only to reappear moments later to thrust at the flanks of the beast with his blade.
But then D'assan came to a frustrated halt and threw back his horned head in a feral howl. T.K. covered his ears in pain at the sound, and T'Kai winced visibly. The cry was one of complete domination over all natural effects within his field of influence, and at his command a great curtain of aberrant darkness fell over the small group of combatants. The golden glare of the Crest about T.K.'s neck instantly swelled into greater life to prevent them from being entirely swallowed, but the range of vision of both children was constricted greatly. The blond-haired human could no longer see the claws of the demon as they shot past him in the dark, though he could feel the whistle of the breeze as they came within mere feet of removing his head from his shoulders.
On the other side of the dark creature and himself enveloped in darkness, T'Kai panted heavily. He did not have T.K.'s holy light to provide him with any illumination, and so was forced to rely on his already sharp and now enhanced sense of smell to tell him where the beast lurked. "Grand Cross!" he cried sharply, cutting the mark of the Cross into the darkness before him with his great sword. He felt the traversing thrust glance off of something, and the demon towering above him gave a short grunt of pain in response.
The a'ladon was uncertain just how long he could keep this battle going. Having stayed up the entire night before he was already exhausted, and the amount of energy that he was spending in order to avoid being crushed by the demon's claws was exhausting him as quickly as it was his human counterpart.
Then T'Kai's foot slipped just slightly as he stepped on an imperfection in the stone floor. Not a great misstep, and if he had not been battling in utter darkness against a creature with such supernatural speed it would certainly have gone unnoticed. But as it was, the slip proved costly. Once again the dark claw of the demon shot forward and, as the young a'ladon tripped, the filthy nails of the creature tore into his shoulder and threw him forcefully to the ground.
From the other side of the cavern, T.K. heard his short-lived cry of pain. "T'Kai!" he shouted as he heard the sound, though the word cost him yet another breath. There was no thought of counterattack now. he was forced to expend everything that he had left to keep from being struck down by the deadly beast. But the truth was, if he stopped to admit it, that he was tiring... and tiring fast.
T'Kai gave a weak cough as he rolled onto his knees, his left arm dangling uselessly at his side. The impact from the creature's blow had thrown him violently out of the area where the battle was being held, meaning that the Lord Takeru was now being forced into a single combat against the beast. The young Warden struggled to get to his feet, but the damage that had been inflicted on his lean body was tremendous. Almost impassively he glanced over at the furry shoulder where he'd been struck and saw the blood beginning to thoroughly soak his already auburn fur.
"T'Kai!" shouted a voice from far above him. The dazed young creature looked up. and up. and up some more. Even with his enhanced vision, the vulpine creature could just barely make out the group peering down at him from the top of the spiral rampway. "K... Kiara?" he murmured, taking an involuntary step back as a wave of vertigo washed over him.
"T'Kai... Dearest! I love you! You're going to be a father!"
The words had no meaning for the pain-stunned a'ladon, and he staggered now dangerously close to the edge of the chasm that led to the abyss. He closed his eyes and paws tightly to marshal his remaining senses into some semblance of lucidity, then looked again into the black void that was swelling before him. He could still see the golden light from his Lord's crest shimmering with its holy fire within that black void, and could just manage to catch a glimpse of D'assan as he attacked the boy god. It all seemed so... familiar to him at that moment...
Then T'Kai gasped and reeled away, his head spinning. Familiar? He had seen this before... but only in a vision. It was the vision that had haunted his dreams, even as a young kit. It was the one that had sent him scurrying to the safety of his mother's arms to protect him from what would befall him at the end. It was the one that foretold of his death...
Two paths of destiny stretched out before the boy: one long and foreboding in its darkness, the other short and brightened by a vibrantly burning light. Yet that light was his own life, and in pouring it out to brighten the path it would soon be extinguished. In his childhood he had trod the steps of each of his dooms frequently, yet the conclusion of neither brought him solace.
Down the dark path, and he would be safe. He could retreat... could flee the awful fetid odor of this place to the spring that awaited outside. Yet in his flight Takeru would fall to D'assan, exhausted after battling the tireless beast to a draw for hours. Lady Hikari would succumb to the creature soon afterwards in her carelessness to reach her Lord's side. Kiara too would die, the demon king making a single mouthful of the girl and her unborn kits. But he would be safe, hiding where the demon could never find him even as it plunged his world into a perpetual and everlasting darkness.
Yet he would be safe, and free to live out his life to its natural end. Else in his other destiny...
He would shine brightly for one brief, heroic instant. He would pour out the whole of his life into one single, righteous attack upon the beast and bind it here in perpetuity. His blood would finally wash the a'ladon clean of the ancestral sin that had haunted them for ages, and upon the foundation stone of his sacrifice a new life could begin for his people... for his beloved and their children.
He couldn't make this choice... he couldn't. He didn't want to die... there had to be someone else more suited for this. He was no hero, he was just a child. He had been consecrated in Takeru's temple less than a month ago. His lips started quivering rapidly, a barely audible whisper spilling from them over and over again like a frantic mantra. "I don't want to die... I don't want to die... "
Yet there was no third option. He could live as a coward, or die as a hero. There was only one thing that he had left to hold on to. Takeru's Vows... It was Takeru's Vows for him. It had always been.
I believe.
"Lord Takeru! Help me!" he cried, taking a firm grip on the hilt of his sword and throwing himself into the unnatural darkness of the void.
The young human turned at the call of his friend, and in a scant instant the golden relic alight upon his chest became as the sun. A great surge of heat and holy power burst from the Crest to dissolve the murky cloud that surrounded the combatants, and D'assan raised a single claw to shield his eyes from the presence of the Paragon children and their divine weapon.
As the great light washed over T'Kai he began to evolve once again. Now the auburn fur covering his body was transmuted into a magnificent silvery hue, and the muscles of his arms and legs hardened while the dark cloud that had been lingering over him passed away into nothingness. Peace finally came to the boy as holiness washed over his body, driving his pain and the visions away... save for the one that would stay with him for all time: that of his children, living happily and in peace together with their mother. "My life I sacrifice to that end!" he shouted, drawing back his massive sword with both paws.
"Holy Cross!"
************
"Kari, come on!" Davis shouted, literally dragging the beleaguered, brown-haired girl from the cavern's egress. The mountain trembled beneath their feet as though it would collapse, and all around them smaller wildlife scampered for the sanctuary of lower ground. Several steps in front of the humans, the priest Cheyne carried Kiara (who had fainted dead away at T'Kai's call) within his furry arms.
"No! Get your hands off me, Davis!" the girl screamed madly, straining against his grasp in a frantic attempt to get back into the rapidly crumbling cave. She dug her fingernails into the skin of his arms, and Davis clenched his teeth together against the pain.
Then the veil of sightlessness fell over Davis once again as he stepped into the sunlight, and in horror his hands fell away from Kari's shoulders. "No! Not again! Not now!" he cried in despair, placing his hands out in front of his face and starting to flail about blindly. It was bad enough that he couldn't see where he was going, but he couldn't let Kari get back into that cave...
Kari threw Davis to the side, rushing back towards the deep fissure in the side of the rocky peak. She had not seen T.K. die, so in her mind there was still a chance... no matter the fact that an entire mountain had just collapsed on him, there was still a chance...
Just as she was prepared to enter the dark cave once again, a torrent of small rocks and debris came pouring down the side of the mountain and buried it as the girl watched in horror. "No!" she screamed again, leaping onto the pile of rubble and frantically digging into it. The rocks were sharp, and in scant moments her hands were raw and bleeding, but she did not pause even an instant to think about the pain. "T.K.!" she cried, coughs and sobs tearing at her throat with each breath. "Hold on, T.K.! I'm coming!"
She dug and scraped and cried for several long moments, until a voice at her back stopped her. "Daughter."
Kari didn't turn. She could still dig as long as she pretended that she didn't hear.
"Daughter, stop," the voice of the Reverend a'ladon, impossibly deep for one of their kind, ordered. Kari was almost desperate to resume digging, but she was powerless to resist the command.
"I can't stop!" she wailed hopelessly. "T.K.'s down there!"
"And you could dig up the entire mountain, and still not reach him," the creature answered. "Come, now. The Paragon is beyond your help, but there are others who need you still."
Kari was angry for a long moment, then her lips quivered as she started to cry again, realizing the horrible truth of the creature's words. The mountain was still trembling with thunderous discontent, and both Kiara and Davis needed her help. Slowly the brown-haired girl picked herself up from the pile of debris and, with her head bowed in despair, walked back to their small group, placing a limp hand within Davis' groping one. She didn't care anymore. Let the mountain collapse... let all of them die... she was no longer soulbound, and was without hope...
Cheyne led the other three down a small trail away from the mountain. No one said a word as they walked... not after the horror, and the terrible sacrifice that they had just witnessed.
************
It was several hours later as Davis, Kari and Kiara all sat about a small fire, the two girls staring sightlessly into the flames. Neither had said a single word since they'd sat down, and each was heedless of the thick smoke that swirled about their heads and red-hot embers that leapt at their feet.
"Kari... I'm so sorry," Davis murmured quietly, slowly reaching for her shoulder before allowing his hand to fall to his side once again. He wasn't sure of how such a gesture would be received at the moment. "I... I know how much he meant to you."
"No... no, you don't, Davis," the other whispered in response. She slowly lifted her eyes up to see the Reverend a'ladon Cheyne gathering a large pile of dry wood and twigs a short distance away. She didn't care what he was doing; it didn't matter now anyway. "I just can't... I can't believe that after all this time that it would end like this--" she continued, half to Davis and half to herself.
The elder a'ladon stopped what he was doing, standing stock-still for a moment and bowing his head. Then he turned and came to join the small group. "How else to bring an end, Daughter? Do you think that evil, once wakened, is so easily turned back?" His brown eyes stared alternately at both Kari and Kiara, a faint glimmer of sadness in them. "Throughout the history of all creation, the turning aside of evil has been at the cost of a willing Paragon's sacrifice. This has not been the first time, and it grieves me to say that it shall not be the last. The day will come when evil shall be put into its final place, but until then, the Children must continue to prove themselves against the myriad forms that the Fallen will wear."
Kari gave a sniffle, and tears were rolling unchecked down her cheeks. "I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye... " she whispered softly.
The older creature stood between the two grieving girls and looked down at them, placing a gentle paw on each of their shoulders. And when he spoke, though in response to her words, Kari had the distinct impression that what he said was intended for Kiara. "A goodbye was not needed, child. Indeed, for him to hear the word may have been disastrous. His last thoughts were of you, and the hope that he would one day be with you again. To strip him of that hope may very well have meant that D'assan would have overcome him."
Though Kari continued to weep Kiara had stopped at some point, and the girl looked up at the Reverend creature with unshed tears deep within her eyes. "I... I think I understand, Father," she whispered quietly. "But you must tell me... please... did he know? Did he know how much he meant to me?"
"He does know, child. Now, in that place where he is, he understands to a greater extent than even you yourself do. And he watches you, and waits. It may be harder for you that it will for him, for time will pass the faster for him until that day when you are again united. So do not despair... until that day, he has left you with a charge of priceless value." And once again he placed his paw upon the girl's furry stomach.
Cheyne stopped then, aware that the girl was fully content with T'Kai's sacrifice for her sake. In the whole of creation, there were not a dozen individuals who could have made the offering that was called for... it was her sorrow and blessing to have been placed with one who could.
"And here comes another," Cheyne whispered quietly, his eyes falling now on Kari as he craned his head over his shoulder.
The human girl's head was bowed. She couldn't really help it. At the moment she felt so... so heavy. T.K.? T.K., please just let it be like it was before. I need you here, most beloved. I need you here to take the pain and the weight from me like you used to... in the days before. I can't do this without you...
And then there was a small rustling in the brush at her back, and the hair on the back of the girl's neck bristled ever so slightly. She felt... alive.
The blond-haired boy stumbled into the clearing, virtually dragging his left foot behind him and his golden shirt torn to tatters. A dazed expression was in his eyes, and black soot covered every inch of his frame, from his yellow hair down to the shoes the a'ladon had provided him. In his arms he carried the limp form of the Warden T'Kai.
"T.K.!" Kari shouted, scrambling to her feet and tripping over imperfections on the ground as she rushed to his side. The boy gave a very, very weak smile at her as she clutched at him, but his voice stopped her for a moment as he looked to Cheyne. "Where?" he murmured, clutching T'Kai's boyish face protectively to his shoulder.
The older a'ladon extended his paws to the human Paragon. "I will take him from you, Lord Takeru."
"No!" T.K. said sharply, almost angrily as he held the other boy's body tightly against his chest. "Where is the place?" he insisted.
Cheyne closed his eyes in empathy with the other's pain, then nodded his head towards the bed of sticks that he had lain earlier. With a haunted expression in his eyes the young hero turned and hobbled in that direction, Kari at his heels, and rested the body of the little creature on what was to be his pyre. Tears poured down his soot-stained face to fall upon T'Kai's furry body as he looked at the closed eyes, the peaceful face of the other boy, and for one last time he held the other's paw tightly in his hand. "Rest well, little keeper of your promise," he whispered as a farewell benediction, then turned away while choking back the sounds of sorrow that would be torn from his throat.
Kari looked at T.K. carefully for a moment, then solemnly and hesitantly stretched her arms forward to embrace him. The brave expression on T.K.'s face failed at that moment, and he broke down and fell into those waiting arms while tears poured down his face. The girl held his head tightly against her shoulder, rocking the boy back and forth in a soothing manner as she stroked his hair lovingly. "I thought I'd lost you," she murmured into his soot-darkened ear.
T.K. didn't respond, and lest he collapse in fatigue and sorrow could only cling tightly to the girl as she held him up. It was a long time later when he finally looked at her, his eyes red from crying and the tears having left a clean trail of skin down his darkened face where they had fallen. Together he and T'Kai had been victorious against the evil of D'assan... but somehow, the boy didn't feel like he'd won. "I love you, Kari," he murmured weakly, his words scratchy as they left his parched throat.
The two fell silent... the bond that existed between them made any further words unnecessary. Silently they turned to where Kiara and Cheyne stood quietly above T'Kai's body and looked down at him. "Is this how it had to be?" T.K. asked of the priest, and for a moment the human boy looked very, very young.
The other turned and gave a single nod. "It has been so since the dawn of all."
"Is this why we were brought here?"
Again a nod. "It was. T'Kai was betrayed by one he trusted... he was sent on this journey to die. Were it not for you, Takeru, he would have fallen before he fulfilled his duty. Were it not for your example, he would have fled rather than stay to fight a hopeless battle. Were it not for your words, he would not have had the confidence to betroth himself to Kiara, and to sire the next, the greatest generation with her. And it was you, Lord, who taught him what a true sacrifice in the name of good must be. Do not grieve for his passing. He has done what he was meant to do. If you must mourn, mourn for those of us who are left behind... who must continue to strive against evil until that coming day."
T.K. gave a slow nod, as if he understood the words where few others would. Then he looked back at the campfire, where Davis still sat alone. "And our friend?"
"He too was called here out of need, though not for the sake of the a'ladon. Whereas this world needed the return of its Lord and Lady, he needed to see you within it. His bitterness concerning the bond between the two of you was such that it had threatened to envelop his soul, and our Master was not willing to allow that. He still has much left to do."
"I guess I can be thankful for that, at least," T.K. exhaled slowly, leaning heavily on Kari's shoulders since his own legs no longer seemed to possess enough strength to hold him upright on their own.
With that the a'ladon lifted his paw, and the glimmer of a white fire appeared from somewhere to dance about his fingers. With the faintest touch he reached down and set to life the pile of sticks on which T'Kai's body rested, and the small group watched quietly as the flames flickered, then roared into existence, consuming both the kindling and the young hero's limp form.
"Lord Takeru?" Cheyne murmured after a long while as tears rolled silently from his eyes.
"Yes, Reverend Father?"
"Will you bring your friend up here? It is time to return to him what he has lost."
T.K. nodded, and slowly limped back down the hill to fetch Davis. As the other boy led him back up to the smoldering fire, Davis bowed his head. "I'm glad that you're safe, T.K."
"Thanks Davis. And I'm glad that you're... well, better."
Davis gave a faint smile, though the scars and lesions covering his face made it seem gruesome. "I'm gonna have a hell of a time explaining what happened here to my family."
"Maybe not," the golden-haired boy answered as he reached the crest of the hill and handed off Davis to Cheyne.
"Now, child, do you comprehend what has happened here? Your sight was taken from you that you might see this. Why did your coming and not the others' awake D'assan? Have you thought on it... do you understand?"
Davis paused for a moment, then nodded slowly. What the creature had told him while still within the caverns... it all made perfect sense now. Why she could not love him the way that she loved T.K. They were... different. "I do... and I guess I'm sorry about what I've been putting them through--"
"Not to me," the creature interrupted, shaking his head.
Davis sighed and turned away, to where he perceived that Kari and T.K. were standing. "I'm sorry, guys. Whatever happened in the past between us... well, I wanted to say that I understand now... I mean, about the two of you. I won't do it again."
"We know, Davis," Kari returned quietly, her arm tightly about T.K.'s waist.
Then the a'ladon Cheyne nodded, and took Davis' hand and led him into the smoke that was roll upwards from T'Kai's body. The human boy coughed twice as the cloud swirled about his head, then blinked open his eyes and reached a single hand up to touch his face. He could once again see, and his skin was once again smooth with no trace of the damage which had marred his flesh for a time. "Smells like burnt dog hair," he muttered, wrinkling his nose. Then he looked towards the other four in evident alarm. "Oh. I'm sorry... I didn't mean... "
"It's all right, Davis," T.K. said for all of them, then looked over to Cheyne with a great fatigue buried deep within his eyes. "Are we done?"
"One last thing, Lord," the other answered, motioning towards the pair of human children with one paw. "If the two of you would come here for a moment?"
T.K. couldn't look at Kiara at he stepped to her side. The hurt was still too great. She had been T'Kai's... wife, he supposed, and there was a part of him that said she had every right to blame him for coming back where her husband had not. In the end and for all the power that the a'ladon attributed to him, he had been able to do nothing but hold the young Warden as he'd died. And it haunted him.
Cheyne was speaking now, and T.K. tried to focus on the Reverend creature's voice. "She carries the two which will lead the a'ladon into a time of unprecedented peace. Will you give them your blessing?"
Kari smiled and knelt by the young priestess' side, placing her hand upon the center of the other's furry stomach. How she wished that she could be there to see the birth of those babes. "Remember the love that your parents have shared, little ones. It is a love that has saved your world from darkness. Let that love give you strength when you find that yours is not enough." And as the girl finished speaking, the Crest of Light bound upon her wrist gave a small glimmer of happiness, and sent its blessing down upon the pair of unborn kits as well.
And when Kari had moved away, T.K. took her place. And he lowered his voice to less than a whisper, that Kiara herself could not even hear what he said. "Whatever blessing I have to give is yours, children. It will never be enough to replace what my weakness has cost you, but I surrender it to you anyway. The little good it has done me... I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Kari moved to T.K.'s side, sensing something was wrong. But the boy only bowed his head and motioned her away, rising unsteadily to his feet and moving away from the a'ladon girl. Cheyne then stepped forward and spread his paws open. "And their names shall be Ailora and Eloan. In the old language of our people, light... and hope... "
************
Six months later...
Far away from that place, the two surviving conspirators sat at a table in conference. "I would say that, all things considered," Jeron mused, nodding in satisfaction, "this entire venture could not have possibly worked out any better. T'Kai is dead, and with him died both his damned wild magic and the ancient line of kings. Aieron, my faithful friend, we've done quite well."
But back where her husband's ashes had been scattered, Kiara felt the two tiny lives again fight for room within her crowded stomach... and she smiled fondly as the twin girl beneath her heart willingly gave way to her brother, gave way out of love.
And within that infant girl's heart she carried both the gift of her father's wild, artistic magic and the stubborn faith in Her Lord Takeru that had seen her people proudly through war and times of vile enslavement.
And within her brother's veins ran the ancient bloodline of kings, the sanctity and faithfulness to become a great and righteous ruler... and the true, and eternal, faith of his father...