It's amazing how much Tara's world- Raven's world- like mine …

The way it used to be.

Before I destroyed it …

No. I mustn't think about that. Raven threw the Darkness out of me, but it's still out there- still waiting for a chance to reclaim me. If I allow despair to overcome me, I am lost … and so is everyone else that I might care about.

My friends- Mae, Malchior, Atlas- are still alive. They all exist on this world and time. I just have to find them and then I can cleanse them from the Curse that I put upon them.

I do not expect forgiveness.

At this point, my main concern is not being killed by one of them before I have a chance to cleanse them all. Once that's done- once they are all free- then they are free to do what they will with me. I owe them that.

I am stronger now than I was when I woke, but my power is still far below what I wielded as the Demon Lord. I am not even as strong as I was as a young man. But each day I am a little stronger than I was the day before. Each day my power, the dark fires with me, grow a little more powerful.

Each day I am closer to rescuing my friends.

Before I can save them, I have to make sure that Tara is safe. Just in case I am no longer around to watch over her once they are redeemed.

Finding shelter- a profession- was not that difficult. This isn't the first time I wound up on an alien world without family or friends.

No. That's not totally true. I wasn't alone. I had Tara.

In the first few days following my rebirth- when I was barely able to stand- she was the one who found us food and shelter. She took care of me while I recovered my strength and magic. Without her, I might not have survived.

In time, things get better.

I find a bookstore- a rather special bookstore- ran by an old man who was only too willing to hire me as his assistant once I demonstrate my facility with language and familiarity with the magical texts that he possesses. There's a small apartment above the bookstore that he allows me to use as a home for Tara and myself. It's not exactly a palace, but it's comfortable.

We find a school for Tara to attend. She's happy there. At times it almost seems like she's totally forgotten her past life.

I don't try to force her to remember.

This is a fresh start for her. A chance to live a normal life. To leave her past behind her.

I won't take that from her. I can't.

She doesn't talk about who I really am. She calls me "Uncle Trey." She doesn't refer to my mission, and I don't speak of it in front of her.

It won't last.

I think we both know that.

But for as long as we can, we try to be a family.

The old man mostly leaves it to me to run the store. He's not well. He doesn't have long. Even without magic I can see that. It's too bad. He's given me a home. So I do what I can to make his life easier, and work as much as possible.

If I had known she was going to walk through the door that day, however, I might have reconsidered.

"Excuse me? I know it's almost closing time, but Mr. Scribner called and said that a book I had on order came in, and it's really important that I pick it up right now." The girl looks at me anxiously as she opens the door.

Raven.

She's wearing her hood and cloak. Her skin is pale, almost gray. She looks at me and frowns. "Don't I know you?"

"No. You don't know me at all, miss." My skin isn't red anymore; it's nearly as pale as hers. I don't have four eyes; just two which are the same violet as hers. I'm tall and thin, but not inhumanly so. My hair is long and white … the only thing about me that has remained the same. "You're that super hero, aren't you?" I frown as though in concentration. "Crow?"

"Close. Raven." She offers a thin lipped smile. "The book, Mister-?"

"Byrne. Trey Byrne." There's a book underneath the counter. I can feel the tingle of magic in it as I pick it up. "This is a dangerous book."

"I can handle it. I'm a professional."

Arella.

She's so much like her mother that it makes my heart ache. How often had Arella said such things? How often had she faced danger with little more than bravado and a sarcastic remark?

Along among my friends, my fellow champions, Arella had possessed no great magic, no superhuman strength or physical durability. She had been just an ordinary girl ….

No. That's not true.

There was never anything "ordinary" about Arella Roth.

I'm reluctant to hand the book to Raven. Once she has the book she will leave and I may never see her again. That would be safer for her- the best thing for her.

But she's Arella's daughter. My daughter. I want so badly to be a part of her life, to protect her. To let her know …

No.

I can't be a father to Raven. She said it herself: I was never her father. I did not protect her. I did not raise her. I was never kind to her.

I gave that up when I chose power.

"Be very careful with that book, Raven. You are very powerful and skilled, but overconfidence has been known to be the ruin of many a sorcerer."

"You practice the Art?"

"Not any longer." Honesty forces me to add, "Not at the moment. I nearly died from my magic, and I'm still recovering from it."

"I'm an Empath. If you're injured I can heal you ..." She reaches toward me …

"No!" I pull back violently. If she touches me, she will know. If she knows, she will hate me. She will never talk to me again …

Something in her seems to deflate. She thinks that I'm afraid of her. "Thanks for the book." She tucks it into her cloak.

"Thank you for your offer of help, Raven." I smile at her. "But some wounds can never be healed. We just have to learn to live with them."

"I know the feeling. Goodbye, Mr. Byrne."

"Call me Trey." And because I can't resist. "Be careful!"

She smiles. "I will. Goodbye, Trey. Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

She vanishes in a puff of darkness.

I had not expected to see Raven again.

It's bittersweet.

It's the first time I've had an interaction with my daughter that didn't involve violence or conquest … but it's only possible because she did not know who I was.

She can never know who I am.

I can never be her father.

I can help Tara.

I can- maybe- save my friends.

But I can never again be Arella's husband.

I can never be Raven's father.

She will never know me for who I am and look at me with anything but loathing and hatred.

And it hurts more than I can say.