Title: Mythology

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: I am so sorry about the delay in this update, I really meant to get it out sooner, but then I didn't have a chance to finish editing it.

Okay, just a reminder of who the major players still alive are:

Tess, of course

Alex-Tess's son, named after Alex Whitman

Nicolas and Khivar-same people they were on the show

Arya-the regional ruler from the province of Tel'ai, which is the capital province on Antar. She was recently deposed by Khivar and is now the leader of the Resistance

Khai-main general, used to be the leader of the Resistance, now the Protector of the Granolith, Rath's younger brother

Ceyla-A General of the Resistance under Arya

Naj-a spy for the Resistance

Places of importance:

Tel'ai-capital province of Antar, has Dimaras Rock, where Zan met Ava. The Triaji Desert, the Cortai Jungle, the Landra River, and the Fel Mountains are all located in this province as well.

Antar-the capital city of Antar has the same name as the planet.

Mt. Sinai-a mountain in Tel'ai, it's name means (in Antarian) 'mountain of fate'

this is the stuff of legends…

Chapter Thirteen: By the Banks of the Landra River

Day 13

They had passed through the mountains without incident. It was not a long walk, although it was grueling, having to continually climb over rocks and push through shrubs. But now they were on the other side, and for the first time in months, Tess found herself out of the desert.

They were standing next to the Landra River. The air was damp, moist, the ground soft under their feet. Dark blue-green blades of grass grew in clumps around piles black and blood-red stones. The water was slightly darker than water on Earth, but still clear enough that Tess could see all the way to the sandy bottom. The silt in the riverbed was black as well, and perhaps that was what made the water appear darker.

Tess contemplated this for a moment as she bounced her son up and down in her arms.

"Glad to be out of the desert, Ava?"

"Yes," Tess laughed, turning to Khai. "Yes, I am."

In the distance, the lone mountain, Mt. Sinai, rose like a great monument, its summit disappearing into the clouds. At the foot of the mountain, a war was taking place, a battle fought in the name of the Royal Four.

"How much longer until we are there?" Tess asked, turning to Khai. "How much longer of a walk do you think it is?"

"Two days," Khai replied, eyeing the distance thoughtfully. "I would say we can walk it in two days." He glanced over at Tess. "Will you be ready to fight?" he asked. "After having traveled so long?"

"Do I have a choice?" Tess replied.

Khai inclined his head slowly, agreeing to the truth in her words.

"Why are the stones so red?" Tess asked suddenly, leaning over and picking up a tiny pebble. She held it in one hand, turning it back and forth in the light, watching as it seemed to glow. Alex giggled and reached out for it, his tiny hand grasping.

"I don't know the science behind it," Khai replied, "But I can tell you the myth."

"Oh?"

"There once was a great battle by the river. It was before Antar was settled, when it was completely controlled by demons. Then one day a goddess, by the name of Anta came to the land. She had been cast out of her own home by a traitorous brother, and was fleeing for her life across the galaxy. She wanted a place to rest for a few moments, and she came to this planet. But the moment she set foot on the land, the demons attacked her. All she wanted was to sleep for a few hours, and they killed her before she could explain."

"Was she avenged?" Tess questioned, dropping the red pebble into Alex's hand and watching as he played with it.

"Anta's brother heard of what had happened and was filled with remorse. He had banished his sister so that he could take the throne and be king of the gods on his planet, but he had never wanted her to die. And so, when he realized what horrible thing he had done, he led an army of gods to attack the demons and avenge his sister. It was a brutal battle, and many gods died, but in the end, they defeated the demons. However, the ground was so thick with blood that the stones were stained red. And so they have been, to this day."

"That is a really depressing myth," Tess commented.

Khai shrugged. "In the end, the king god defeated the demons and settled the planet. He named it Antar after his deceased sister, and swore that he would never again allow greed or jealousy to separate him from his family. He learned his lesson, and that, at least, is something."

"But he learned it too late," Tess replied grimly.

"Too late for his sister, but not for the others in his family," Khai countered. "And I think Anta would have given his life willingly had she known the change it would have brought about in her brother, had she known it would have made the god-king a better god."

"Quite a myth," Tess remarked, placing Alex gently on the ground and stretching her tired muscles. Her back groaned and strained as she lifted her arms above her head.

"Well, perhaps your story will be added to our myths, and some day someone will ask about you," Khai answered.

Tess laughed. "Why would my story be made into a myth?"

"Because, for good or ill, you are effectively changing Antarian history. Whether you win, lose, or draw against Khivar, your story is one that will be remembered," Khai said seriously, his tone grave. "You do realize that, don't you, Ava? Everything that has happened…two days from today will be the end of a five decade long civil war. Khivar is the greatest, strongest, most powerful King this planet has ever seen, and this…this will change everything."

Tess swallowed apprehensively. "What if I don't win?"

"Then you will be remembered as the martyr who died trying to save us all, and others will continue your battle until it is won," Khai answered simply. "You were killed, sent to Earth, brought back to life, cast away from Earth, had thrown headlong into a all-out war. Whatever happens, this is the sort of story that legends are made of."

Tess licked her suddenly dry lips and looked away.

Mr. Evans sighed and picked up the phone. He stared at it for a moment, then closed his eyes and tried to organize his jumbled thoughts. He had never felt so lost or confused in his life, and he hated it. He hated not knowing whether or not he had made the right choice.

Then he suddenly remembered Isabel's tearful voice as she told him about Tess. He remembered the haunted look in her eyes, the way she kept averting her gaze as though ashamed of what had happened. It had brought her so much grief, and she hadn't told him, hadn't been able to tell him anything about it. She hadn't known how.

And he knew what to do. In that moment, he suddenly knew what he needed to do. There was no evidence that anything was going on, and as long as their was no evidence, then…

He dialed the number and listened to the rings. The answering machine picked up, and Mr. Evans left a brief message. "Sheriff Hanson? It's Mr. Evans. I've decided to stop the investigation. I'm sorry to have troubled you for nothing…"

He wanted his children to know that they could come to him for anything.

"Hey," Maria smiled, approaching Michael.

Michael glanced up, the perpetual scowl on his face lessoning somewhat at the sight of his girlfriend. "Hey," he replied, running a hand through his hair. He was sitting on a bench outside the parking lot at school. It was lunch, and the bright sun beat down on the students as they milled back and forth across the school grounds.

"We need to talk," Maria said without preamble. She took a seat next to Michael on the bench, and looked at him seriously. There was no reason to beat around the bush, this was going to be a hard enough conversation no matter what she said or did.

"Yes," Michael agreed slowly. "We do."

"Do you love me?" Maria demanded.

Michael was silent for a long time, watching the way the sun reflected off Maria's blonde strands of hair. "I did," he said at last, answering the question honestly. "I think I still do."

"Do you love Isabel?" Maria asked, folding her hands in her lap and holding her breath. She wanted, needed, to know if there was anything between the two.

"I…I don't know." It was as honest of an answer as Michael could give, he honestly had no idea how he felt. "For the first ten years of my life, I always thought that Isabel was my sister. Then, when Tess revealed the truth, none of us where quite willing to accept it. There was just so much going on then, with the skins, and finding out who we were in our past lives, and…Pierce," his voice cracked slightly as he stumbled over the FBI agents name, "and I never stopped to really think about how I feel. But now… I don't know, Maria."

"I see the way you look at her now," Maria murmured. "And I see the way you look at Jesse, the jealousy and anger. I don't know if you are just being protective or if you…if you love her."

"I don't know either," Michael replied. "You are…you are the first girl that I ever loved, and that will never change."

"But do you still want to be with me?" Maria whispered. "Because if you don't… I love you, and I don't want to stand in the way of you and Isabel, is that's what you really want. I love you too much to do that."

"And I love you," Michael said, and suddenly he knew it was true. "I love you, and I want to be with you."

"And Isabel?"

"I can't change the way I feel about her," Michael replied slowly. "Can you live with that? With knowing that I may love someone else as well?"

Maria looked at Michael for a long time, contemplating his question. "I don't know," she said at last. "But I'm willing to try."

"Hey," Liz said, taking a seat next to Max on the grass.

"Hey," Max replied, glancing up at Liz. He stared back across the quad, watching as Michael and Maria talked. He wondered what they were saying, wondered if everything was alright between them. He would have given almost anything to be a fly on that bench.

Liz followed his gaze and sighed. "I think they are trying to work things out."

"Yeah," Max agreed. He shook his head slowly, knowing how difficult this was for both Maria and Michael. He wished there was a way to make this easier on them, to keep his friends from getting hurt. What kind of king was he if he couldn't even protect his family?

And he was suddenly filled with the need to explain his feelings to Liz.

"I love you," Max said seriously.

Liz turned and looked at him, her face full of surprise. "Wh-what?" she stammered.

"I love you," Max repeated. "I know everything that has happened with Tess, I've blown you off more than once. It isn't because I don't love you or I don't want to talk to you. I've just been preoccupied with everything else, and I wanted you to know that."

"I know," Liz replied softly, lightly. "I love you too." But her eyes betrayed her inner anxiety, a fact that did not escape Max's notice.

"Then what's wrong?" Max asked gently.

"If Tess comes back, you'll have to go to her," Liz replied sadly. It was hard for her to say, the words got stuck in her throat. "You are her husband, the father of her child. You are a family."

Max nodded, knowing that what Liz said was the truth. "But I don't love her."

"Don't you?" Liz questioned. "You don't jump into bed with just anyone, Max. I know that much about you, so you must have felt something for her when you slept with her."

"I did," Max said honestly. "I loved her. But not like I love you."

"If Tess comes back…"

"Then I will deal with everything," Max cut in. "But we don't know if she is coming back. Once I help her defeat Khivar, she may stay on Antar." He looked away. "Besides, even if she does come back, I doubt she would want to be with me."

"She would," Liz said staunchly. She didn't know how she knew it, but she did. If Tess came back, she would want to be with Max, because Max was not the sort of person that you just gave up on. And Tess was not the sort of person who just gave up.

"I love you," Max repeated.

"I love you too," Liz sighed.

"How many battles have we fought to date?" Naj asked as he crouched at Arya side, surveying the destruction below them. They were perched on one of the small foothills at the base of Mt. Sinai, watching as the Resistance conducted a series of swift raids on the royal troops. The air was heavy with the smoke of fires and the smell of bloodshed.

"Too many," Arya replied. She closed her eyes and sent out a mental order to the Resistance, instructing them to fall back and retreat. Archers sent a rain of arrows down on the royal soldiers while the Resistance soldiers melted back into the shadows of the mountain.

Naj gave a short, bitter laugh.

The sound of footsteps on dry grass caused the two to turn, and they watched in impassive silence as Ceyla joined them. "We are being slaughtered," she remarked in a woild-be casual tone. Her voice betrayed her fear, wavering slightly as she spoke.

"How can we expect to win?" Naj murmured, turning his eyes back to the fray. The three were well hidden from view, but they didn't dare stay there long after the Resistance retreated. Khivar would send his troops through the foothills, hunting out stragglers, and they did not want to get caught here.

"The Queen will be here soon," Arya replied, turning and glancing out at the Landra river, where she alone knew that the Queen and General Khai were hiding.

"But will she be here soon enough?" Naj asked, casting a worried glance at Ceyla.

"We just have to hold out a little while longer," Arya replied, licking dry lips. "Just a little while longer."

The three slipped away, unnoticed by the royal soldiers, and made their way back to the Resistance camp. Neither had to say it, each knew what the other was thinking.

How much longer could they wait before Khivar destroyed them all?

They were walking a fine line between triumph and destruction, and they were running out of time.

"Promise me," Tess repeated slowly, her eyes boring into Khai's. She held the Granolith out to him, waiting for him to take it, to take the oath she was demanding of him.

Khai stared at her for a moment, hesitating. He could tell by the look in her eyes that he would not be able to convince her to change her mind. So he did the only thing he could, he nodded and took the Granolith. "I give you my word," he murmured. He looked away, and they were silent for a moment, each contemplating how the fate of the world may have very well been altered in that one moment. Then Khai continued quietly, "Although I do not like this…"

Tess rubbed her weary eyes. "Yeah, well, you win some, you lose some." She stood up and glanced around her, watching as the sunlight rippled across the surface of the river. "Or in my case, you just keep losing."

Khai raised an eyebrow. "You seem disheartened, Ava," he commented dryly.

"Khivar had the advantage in everything, and somehow he manages to succeed at everything he had done," Tess pointed out in frustration. "Larek, Sria, Shalimar… How am I suppose to stop him when I can't even protect my friends?"

"Perhaps you were not meant to save them," Khai replied pragmatically.

"What do you mean?" Tess asked, confused.

"Sometimes, you just can't save everyone. Perhaps the reason Khivar has won so much is because he was supposed to win that," Khai elaborated. He glanced away at the sun, watching as it sank slowly over the distant horizon.

"Like destiny?" Tess gave a bitter laugh. "I think I stopped believing in that a while ago."

"Well, perhaps you stopped believing in the other Ava's destiny. But you are a different person, and you have a different destiny," Khai countered. "Maybe your destiny was never to be with Zan. Maybe your destiny was never to stay on Earth."

"Great. So from the beginning my destiny was to lose everyone I cared about and everything I valued? That makes me feel better," Tess snapped.

"Don't be petty," Khai warned. "Your destiny might not be fair, but then, neither is life." He stood up as well and eyed Tess thoughtfully. "When Zan's mother and father sent the four of you to Earth, they believed you would find each other and come back to Antar to defeat Khivar. Granted things did not work out exactly as planned, but you did come back. And the four of you can defeat Khivar."

Tess nodded slowly. "So, in a way, destiny worked out after all."

"If Larek hadn't died, if Sria hadn't died, if Lotho, and Kani, and Shalimar, and Radim, and Sirch hadn't all died…Ava, if you hadn't been through everything you've been through, would you be strong enough to defeat Khivar?" Khai questioned.

And Tess was honest enough to admit, "No."

"Then that is why it happened. Don't you see? All this had to happen, Khivar had to continually win each round, because that was the only way that you would be able to win the final round."

"So fate was really on my side all along?" Tess mused, and despite everything she had lost, that did make her feel marginally better.

"Tomorrow, things will change." Khai looked out at the distant mountain where Khivar's troops were currently stationed.

"Yes," Tess replied in grim satisfaction. "Yes, they will."

Author's note: I know the last section with the promise was sort of vague, but all will be explained in a later chapter.

Next Chapter: At the Foot of Mt. Sinai

Due: Thurs. 3/23