Chapter 51: Parallels and Meridians Two

"Maybe the Universe pitied her. Maybe true love really was stronger than anything. Whatever it was, in that terrible morning, when everything seemed lost, the Heart of Kandrakar did something unexpected (...)"


The three dragons that attacked the village under Zorarose's control caused massive panic and chaos. Two wingless green ones and one dark blue with sharp horns and big bat-like wings. The creatures were as big as a medium two-story house in suburbia. They terrified and destroyed everything and everyone in their way. And the dust-like combustible substance Zorarose threw out of her satchels, reacted with the fire, creating the strong explosions that had broken the heavy door of the hut down in the first place. The rebels were caught by surprise. Their creatures weren't anywhere near, and their best warriors were all either drunk or away. No one had expected for Zorarose to find their secret village, which was protected by the Mage's magic. No one, but the smug Queen who observed everything being demolished beneath her.

"One of you has been distracted enough to allow themselves be followed by her through the protective spells and shields! That's the only way for her to find us!"- Nerissa was beside herself as she gave hasty, but clear orders to the rebels. "You, douse the fires! Attack the dragons with poison bombs, do not launch sharp objects at them, their scales are too thick. You, get reinforcements. Now! Go, go!"

"Not so smug now, are you, Mage?"- the Queen laughed from atop, making Nerissa grit her teeth even harder. "It was like a ball for you to destroy my plantations, but without Avani, without your trained creatures and caught by surprise, you're unable to resist the attack. You will fall tonight!"

Nerissa didn't say anything, she just conjured a rain of electric arrows that she sent as her eloquent reply. Zorarose managed to avoid them all...

The dragons whelmed everything in their way in fire and their mistress blew anything she could to pieces, mercilessly, as she was determined as she balanced on the head of the biggest dragon. She was determined to destroy the biggest rebel base once and for all.

"Hey, Zorax!"- Irma yelled as she came from the sky, driving a giant water sphere, the size of an ice rink, after herself. "Take this, you cunt!"

The intense water doused the fires and pushed the dragons back, but they didn't lose balance. Only Zorarose did, overwhelmed by the wave, she slid down the winged one's body and fell to the ground. For a second, it looked as though she was defeated, but when the Latina attempted to grab her, things took a different turn. Irma screamed and was sent flying back, crashing into the roof of one house; the wing of the dragon had pushed her back before she could get to the Queen, who jumped back on her feet, throwing more bombarding dust towards Nerissa.

"Hey, when is Avani coming back?"- Will managed to ask as she and the previous guardian of quintessence flew up together, escaping the dragons' attacks and managing to launch ones of their own.

The rebels attacked with their weapons in hands; the Queen's people were still not entering the battle scene, as they didn't want to get fried by the three dragons and their fire breath.

"She was supposed to be here already. She was traveling back from Touris Filney."- Nerissa replied and then gave her a sign to lay low again. They both hid behind one big fallen tree.

"But we have to get rid of Zorarose at once."- the Mage hissed. "Before she has destroyed everything here."

"We're low on power. The Heart's acting up as usual when we're divided, and you only have that charm bracelet..."- Will shook her head. Nerissa gave her the stink eye. "We may need Cornelia..."

"No, we won't."- Nerissa interrupted her. "The Heart's not "acting up", you just don't know how to use its powers properly! After all these years, it's just a- "

Will pulled her up from the ground before the dragon's breath could ignite them both.

"I know what the Heart feels and wants, Nerissa, it's disgruntled."- the redhead sighed angrily." It feels torn between all of its guardians, our emotions, our fears. We're all chagrined and it doesn't help when we're not together. The five of us are pulling in five different directions and that befogs it, it's unable to transmit our full powers to us-"

"And I feel daunted that my son will be harmed because of your unity nonsense. You don't have to have your guardians in every battle! Now help me. Their mouths."- Nerissa cut her off again and focused her powers on the winged dragon. "Closing their mouths will render them powerless!"

Will watched the other woman's quintessence weave itself around the dragon's beak-like snout, deftly, like a snake, until it sealed the creature's mouth entirely. The redhead secured her hair behind her ears and mimicked what the former keeper had done on the next dragon.


Coronia...

Hay Lin was determined to save her friend. She knew she had to; Taranee was in danger every next minute she spent surrounded by these people.

When Kadma's flying leaf stopped in front of the Aureate Edifice and her decisive glare met that of the royal guards that started approaching them at once, Hay Lin was on to it. She conjured a destructive typhoon that scattered the coming men like bugs. Phobos's monsters were more challenging, but she was hell-bent on dealing with them. The winds had dragged clouds with themselves. The clouds poured rain over everything and everyone as the tornado winds blew them away.

" Very well, channel all that emotion into power, Hay Lin. But be careful."- Halinor put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look filled with concern. "If you lose control over the emotion, your raw elemental power might demolish the entire capital and all its people. Air's a very powerful thing...especially here, in the open, where nothing can stop it."

"I will, I have an anchor thought; one that keeps me focused and in control of my powers and emotions."- Hay Lin nodded. "And that thought is Taranee. I'm here to save her and I won't allow anyone to hurt her."

Halinor nodded in her turn and forced a smile. In her heart, she felt discouraged, and she feared that something was going to go wrong.

Kadma, on the other hand, was as militant as ever when in a battle. She was used to fighting mercilessly but with dignity, like a true Queen. She sent her soldiers against the opponents and protected them at the same time from the enemy attacks.

"We shall split up."- Kadma turned to the other two women once they reached the big doors of the Palace. "The Heart of Zamballa and that of Kandrakar are great sources of power and they work in our favor. With Hay Lin's emotional charge and my direct wielding, we shall overcome anything. Stay focused and let's go!"


"Elyon and her supporters are plotting against me."- Phobos averred coldly as he glanced down through the big windows of the tower he was in. "Plotting is an understatement, actually. There's something bigger they're all after, something that I'm yet unaware of, but I'm sure you know. You know a lot about everything that concerns Leonida, and not only."- suddenly he turned around and his cold green orbs pierced the other man.

Phobos was tense. The guardian attack was the last straw and he was about to burst out in all directions his eyes saw. Starting with the father-son duo.

Emery almost flinched. Each time he was close to the Prince of Meridian he felt something strange. Intimidation, nervousness... Awe? With his cold ivory skin, cold green eyes, and that inhuman perfection of his skin, his movements... Phobos was like a twisted painting come to life. But no, these feelings weren't Emery feeling attracted to the other man, by any means. He resented him for all these qualities that he himself didn't have.

"Answer me, you dolt!"- Phobos got in Emery's face. "Why else would they stop themselves from taking actions against us while we're still gathering strength? Kandrakar may have fallen, but not beyond hope; the Oracle is not dead and the power sources of the five guardians are in full working order. This is not about Kandrakar and Elyon's will regarding Opal's welfare anymore, there is something that I'm unaware of. And, quite frankly, I'm not thrilled about that fact."

The prince's eyes grew even colder as he yelled again:

"What is it that you and your father are hiding?"

Emery felt his heart starting to beat like crazy when he heard that; then when Phobos's strong slender fingers wrapped themselves around his jaw, he staggered in horror.

"Tell me."- Phobos's demanding hypnosis was burning his eyes. Emery was on the verge of losing himself and betraying the truth. The truth about their society and about the Dark Descendant... "Tell me the entire truth once and for all!"

"What is going on here!?"

Visser stood at the threshold, staring at the scene before himself.

"Father..."- the younger man wheezed, helpless.

Phobos smiled coldly as he observed the old man's obvious growing unrest. He had watched people grow desperate in front of him for many years... He knew that feeling like the back of his hand.

"Splendid."- he sneered. "Maybe daddy dearest has something to add to the story? After all, he is the mastermind behind the entire elaborate strategy you thought you could hide from me. No, no... you thought you could use me to execute it."

"Prince Phobos you have no idea what you're talking of."- Visser shook his head and Phobos's smile quenched. The audacity... The fear in his voice, the fear that he expected was absent when the old man spoke again:

"The truth which you seek is neither your concern nor shall it ever be. As for you? I am tired of being concerned because of you."- ruthless and resentful, the old man pulled the beads around his neck. Phobos knew this beaded necklace. One of the beads was already full of the poison the old man had gained partial control over the Spiritual Master with. But the second bead...Phobos's eyes widened. If the second bead was full of the liquid as well then, another target had been poisoned...

"My brother Kandor left me with a lot."- Visser narrated. "He was a royal alchemist in the Edifice for many years before Icona banished him. He created many concoctions before his death and he bequeathed them all to me. You like jewelry, don't you? You like diamonds and precious metals. I put the same potion I used on the Spiritual Master on your items."


Halinor looked around herself, restlessly. The massive Coronian palace towered over her with its unknown dangers and dark secrets. She was very worried because she could feel something in her heart, something growing with unrest and inner tumult. This rescue mission wasn't going to be a success if they didn't wrap it up as fast as possible. And since Taranee's sake was their responsibility more than ever before, every possible threat terrified the ex-guardian.

She was flying towards the windowed terrace of one of the towers; that tower had attracted her attention. Before she could get close enough to take a peek inside of it, however, the imposing figure of the Spiritual Master stood in her way.

The mature blonde cautiously landed on the big terrace below the tower, never losing the old sage from her sight. He followed her lead, blocking her way once again. Halinor took a deep breath, knowing that his power was beyond them. This being was ancient and things could get gruesome real fast if she didn't pay close attention to every little move he was to make:

"Whatever it is that binds your will to that of the monsters responsible for all our troubles."- the ex-guardian called nervously. "...I can help. I can liberate you from Visser's influence...You have served this kingdom for centuries; how can you now endure being forced to wear it away?!"

The Sage just stood still and silent like a statue. If she had to wait for a reply... Halinor started walking towards him carefully. She had to try to liberate at least a chunk of his free will. That way he wouldn't be an obstacle. But before she could touch the Spiritual Master, a hand appeared out of nowhere, pulling her aside in shock:

"Halinor, what are you doing?!"- Kadma was breathing hard. First, she sternly glared at the blonde for her recklessness; then she looked daggers at the ancient, who was suddenly disquieted by her sharp interference.

"I was just trying to remove Visser's- "

"You would've failed. And you could've died had you come too near that thing."- the Queen then pointed at the runes on the man's body. "These runes serve as many things, including as a defensive mechanism, you don't know what coming in close contact with one of them may do to you!"

"But we can't just do nothing, he isn't going to let us in!"- Halinor cried.

Kadma, who had clashed with other powerful ancient entities recently, was about to say something in response when the Spiritual Master suddenly let out an anxious howl-like sound:

"What is he doing?!"

The two women could just stare as the Spiritual Master's hand movements and silent mantras began creating a thick curtain of light green smoke...It was smothering. Kadma and Halinor started coughing.

"He's doing it to keep us out, we have to do something!"- Halinor demanded anxiously. "We have to get inside the Palace right now, Taranee's in danger!"

"We have to fly away! The toxins of this unknown spell might harm us badly! We'll find another entrance..."- Kadma tried to pull the other woman back, but she was relentless:

"No!"

Halinor conjured a wild blue fire that crossed through the smoke and encircled the Spiritual Master, who was trying to take off; in the next moment, the contact between the gas and the blaze caused a massive explosion. Anxious, the former guardian had just been shooting blindly simply as to do something, but it hadn't been in vain.

When the smoke and dust from the discharge cleared up and Kadma's energy dome that had protected both her and her friend vanished, they saw that the wall facing them had been taken down, and the Spiritual Master was lying unconscious on the floor of the terrace near the ruins. He was out cold and they had just established a way inside the Edifice.

"Let's go!"- the former guardians said to each other simultaneously before rushing through the newly-created entrance.


Phobos laughed as he watched the old man stare down at his magic beads with wide eyes.

"Father, what is going on?"- Emery demanded, full of fear. And that justified- Phobos was about to kill them right then and there. "Why is the poison refusing to work on him?!"

"Because I refused to wear your poisoned items, you obtuse prick."- Phobos sneered at the father-son duo, who pressed their backs against each other, finally looking at him with the fear he had expected from the beginning.

"You know, I suspected your intentions from the beginning, but today you proved me right. You happen to know why I spoke up today? Oh, I was planning to keep observing you in order to divulge more of your actual plans, but I couldn't tolerate you close to me, my daughter and power any longer after the assassination attempt from the square."- Phobos narrated with growing rage in his voice. "I followed you after that. I heard you talking to that duchess and even if I couldn't make much of what you were talking about, I got the message. She was one of you turning against you...whoever you people are, you're not mere supporters of the princess, no... I've long known that you're not her genuine well-wishers because one simply doesn't have such when like her. Everyone is out there to get their own, you see, people are worse than animals in that relation. Your personal agenda has been hidden behind years of manipulating and barking Leonida like a tree in order to achieve your future goals and aspirations, but as you've concluded by now, the same is impossible to be done with me, for I trust no one but myself and I'm not naïve or manipulated to a state of madness with no return... Poor Leonida, however, is long lost in your webs."

The Prince made a short pause in which he estimated the two men.

"What was it that you wanted to accomplish? All the power is with Opal. Leonida and I are regents of that power, what were you hoping that would do for you? I'm just curious, for I suspect that Elyon's inactions, the wait she imposed, and your secret agenda are somewhat related. You have one minute to answer me before I grow bored and kill you both."- the man added coldly.

Visser closed his eyes in silent anger and refusal. He refused to believe that he would fail when this close to the finish line, but he had indeed underestimated Phobos. Never mind what Reina and the other ungrateful garbage people in their society had already started, undermining him for taking long and being old, now the prince, who had never accepted them, was openly threatening and planning to have them killed. No, Visser knew that such a quick and inglorious death wouldn't suit a man like him. A man who had devoted his entire life to the true people of Coronia, those who had to be glorified and celebrated, those who had been robbed by the peasant and all the ordinary folk that was undeservedly favored by the Golden Spring.

"Alright, time's up. Time for you to die."

Phobos unleashed his anger in a powerful spell which he threw at the father and son only to find out that they've escaped him in the last possible second. The spell hit the walls but it didn't turn two bodies to wither, for the two bodies had vanished before it could reach them... The Spiritual Master, the prince realized and gritted his teeth. Then he yelled out in frustration and smashed his fist in the painting nearby, wrecking it out of its frame.


"LEONIDA!"

Leonida turned around like the light, her honey-colored locks flying with the rapid motion of her neck. The guardians... Kadma, Halinor and Hay Lin were coming her way like three typhoons. How had they made it so far into the Palace already? They had come for Taranee, but she was ready for them. The princess stopped and greeted them with a smile as she held her daughter close to herself.

"Hi, Hay Lin."- she hummed at the sight of the agitated woman who was leading the delegation. "Did you switch your friends for your grandmother's?"

"Just because we don't take your baby away from you."- Hay Lin breathed heavily, suppressing her sudden desire to strangle the impudent blonde. "Doesn't mean that you can cross all borders, give me my friend back at once or you'll regret it gravely, Leonida. I will push the entire Palace down!"

"Please, don't act as if we're still prisoners of Elyon or that the entire mystic might of two kingdoms isn't ours."- Leonida sneered and rocked Opal in her arms. "As for you trying to take her away, I am well aware of your intentions. There's no need to play dense, honey. I know that you have the other two books."- and she turned her vindictive eyes to Halinor and Kadma.

Halinor resisted the look with a soft frown. This girl was absolutely mad...She had tried to locate the first changing book of Coronia, the one that Visser held, but in vain. Kadma, however, shouted at Leonida:

"And you have a pea-sized brain, you idiotic whelp! We're not here to talk about the books, but about Taranee. The power advantage is still ours, and if we have managed to enter the center of your Palace, your defense isn't that great either. You're definitely not ready for the war conquest insanity that you and Phobos dream of."

"That's right, Leonida, so if you'd like to even have the chance of ever gathering enough forces to battle Meridian and all its allies."- Halinor interjected. "You better stay on our good side."

Leonida looked at them like a dark cloud.

"Oh, and do not count on the Spiritual Master's help."- Kadma crossed her arms on her chest. "I trapped him."

The former princess snickered at that part:

"No one can trap him for too long, trust me."

And as she said that, she fired at the two former guardians, sending them to the ground as the shot had been unexpected.

"LEONIDA, are you deaf? Where's Taranee?!"- Hay Lin screamed at her and snatched the baby from her, pushing her with an elbow in the chest.

"Hay Lin!"- Leonida hissed in agitation, her eyes following her daughter's every move in the other woman's arms. "How dare you?! Give me my daughter back!"

"Only after you give me my friend back!"- Hay Lin demanded. "I'm not kidding, I will push the Aureate Edifice down, my wind tunnels are already circling around it, I have all the power to do it, Leonida!"

"The power, sure, but the guts, I don't think so!"- Leonida retorted and tried to grab the baby. "GIVE me back my baby, you dolt!"

Halinor, who had gotten up from the floor first, conjured a fire rope that started bounding itself around the young woman, pulling her back. Leonida screamed and rebelled, but she couldn't move.

"As surely as you had the guts to abduct my friend!"- Hay Lin cried. "You went too far this time, don't mess with the guardians if you can't handle them and their friends, send TARANEE to me right now!"

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

Kadma slapped Leonida as to draw her attention and make her shut up. Then she raised her index finger threateningly right in front of the pair of indignant, wide-open indigo eyes that glared at her.

"Shut up."- she told her in a tone that tolerated no refusal. "This is your last chance to cooperate. Either that or you lose everything, even if we can't put an end to the cult, we will put an end to you and Phobos. Permanently."

Her cheek stung and her hatred for these women intensified as she found the strength to smile darkly:

"But you can't change your mind anymore. Opal granted us a lot of her power already. A lot of properties and rights; even if you take her away, I can still teletransport her back here. You can't take away my daughter and my power anymore!"

The three women exchanged glances but before they could retort to that, the fire rope exploded and the flames attacked them instead, angrily. Hay Lin screamed as she felt Opal being snatched away from her arms as the fire burned her.

"Halinor!"

"It's not me, someone else is interfering with my element!"

"But how-"- Kadma couldn't even finish her sentence. The interference was so sudden that even her blonde friend didn't manage to push the fires away. They engulfed them, burning in blue at this point...

"Taranee..."- but Hay Lin's relief was short-lived.

Taranee was standing in front of them with an empty gaze when the fire calm down to the state where it simply burned in a circle around the three women. Kadma, Halinor, and Hay Lin looked at her with open mouths as she lined up with a content-looking Leonida. Opal was in her arms. Taranee had just taken the baby back for the crazed princess.

*Flashback*

"I know you're talking to the other guardians, Taranee. But you can lose your hopes. By the time your rescuers make it to here, you'll be long dead. You have no idea how much that would mean to Phobos."

Taranee recoiled. She had just woken up to find Leonida staring at her with a dark smile. She looked around herself, trying to estimate her surroundings. She was in a room full of straw, with stone floor and walls, and bars on the window. Was she...in a tower of some sort?!

"You don't know me well, Leonida, but I know you. I know that if you wanted me dead, you'd have already murdered me in my sleep."- Taranee stood up, pushing her glasses back. She glared at the other woman and her cold but girly collectiveness. Leonida was unhinged. Used and abused, mentally and emotionally. But the fire guardian saw a way to win time in her insanity. Time for Hay Lin and the former guardians, who were coming to save her...

"So, tell me. What do you want?"

"You're smart. I just want to challenge your brain. Let's play a game. You win - I set you free, I win - you give up your free will and become my personal guardian-slave."

Taranee felt her mouth hanging open at that. She gave up on trying to use her powers when she saw the Spiritual Master emerge from the shadows. But Leonida's challenge was something she hadn't expected:

"And if I refuse to play?!"

"Oh, then I'll merely have you killed."

Taranee stared into the full of madness indigo eyes that were facing her:

"Phobos's desire to punish those who've denied him as their king. Nerissa's fascination with obedience and creating thralls..."-she sneered, repulsed. "You studied them for years and you're willing to use everything they've used in the past for yourself, aren't you?"- little flames started dancing in Taranee's eyes.

Leonida smiled again:

"Mock me all you want, but give me a straight answer. Do you accept my challenge or would you rather embrace your death?"

*end of Flashback*

"Taranee, show your friends how you feel about them being here. Invading our home?"- Leonida ushered once she took Opal back. She looked absolutely triumphant. "Show them out for me, will you?"

"We have to leave. Now."- Kadma shook her head as Taranee approached them.

"She's her thrall now. Look at her eyes."- Halinor cried. They all knew that look when they saw it. Thralls. Leonida now made thralls just like Nerissa had used to.

"Taranee, attack!"- Leonida commanded in a celebrating voice.

"We have to leave, you both get your power from one source, if Leonida controls Taranee she controls one-fifth of the Heart of Kandrakar..."

Kadma was relentless as her telekinesis pushed Taranee away before she could launch that attack. They had to leave before something gruesome happened.

"But..."-Hay Lin was reluctant but she could understand why they had to leave. Testing the vast limits and possibilities of the Heart was not an option right now. She could even feel the power that was capable of tearing the Palace down leave her all at once. No, it wasn't wise to take risks now. Especially not when all of them were scattered across time and space.

With grave reconciliation written in her outlined with lilac and black pigments eyes, Kadma raised her Heart, teletransporting herself, Halinor, and Hay Lin away.


"I will kill every one of you if you don't bow down to me and if the rebellion doesn't surrender. And if the redhead."- Zorarose pointed at Will, who was pushed face-down on the grass, with one soldier pinning her down with his foot on her back. "-gives me the Heart of Kandrakar!"

Will sighed against the wet morning grass, unable to stand up or fight anymore. Something was definitely up with the Heart. Nerissa could say whatever she wanted to, but she could feel it. Their powers had left them almost completely.

Irma was brought to her knees too, next to her, the redhead could hear her breathing. But where was Nerissa off to? She had managed to escape in the midst of Zorarose's invasion that had managed to seize almost the entire rebel base and those present at it during that wretched morning.

"Your voice is like the sound of thousand screechers in my ear all at once!"

Everyone turned around at the sound of that new voice. Zorarose's eyes widened as she heard her. Avani. Her daughter...

Will also managed to steal a look of the new-arrived young woman, the one they had all been looking for. With long fair hair, just like Phobos's, secured with tiny braids behind her ears. The rest of it fell down to her back, framing her robust figure dressed in warrior gear. It was mind-boggling, really, how much she looked like him. Like Phobos...only the eyes were those of Zorarose. Behind the young woman, Will spotted Nerissa's tall frame and dark expression. So that was where she had vanished to. To fetch Avani...Why was that look of hers so alarming for the redhead though...

Zorarose started laughing maniacally, cutting Will off of her thoughts:

"You two will succumb to my will today."- she screamed at Avani and Nerissa. "Your duo has caused me enough harm already. It's time to settle our scores."

"I asked you to stop wailing like a darn harpy, mum!"- Avani exclaimed and pulled out her sword, unabashed, swinging it so close to the Queen that she almost cut her ear off.

"Hey, what's with the accent..."- Irma blurted out, for she hadn't exactly expected Avani to sound so strangely Scottish, but her question was drowned in the soldiers' yells.

The Queen's people were roaring with indignation for what had just taken place and attempted to rush towards the rebel leader, pulling their weapons ready to kill, but Zorarose halted them all with a frantic yell:

"STOP!"- she demanded with her hand up. "This is between us! She is my daughter, after all."- the Queen noted coldly.

"Please, don't call yourself my mother after you abandoned me! That was your direst mistake."- Avani retorted bitterly, glaring daggers at her mother. "You're capable of nothing but abolition, which is why you stand where you stand today, in your own turd!"

"You're right, Avani, simply abandoning you was a mistake. I should have killed you instead!"- the former concubine added spitefully looking down at the younger woman with hatred. "Then your bitter unfulfillment wouldn't have driven you to assemble a rebellion large enough to endanger my kingdom. You poisoned these people's minds, making them hate their own Queen without any reasoning."

"Your malice is the reason your people hate you and because you're selfish and vile!"- Avani screamed again, although her mother's words had once again hurt her. Even if she wasn't going to show it.

"Doesn't matter."- Zorarose shook her head. "Tonight, I will finally receive the Heart of Kandrakar and end shall be put to your nonsense, you little blond failure."

"The Heart of Kandrakar is going nowhere near you, bitch."- Avani huffed with surprising collectiveness that even made the Queen raise an eyebrow.

For a second nothing followed. Then, with a scream, Avani raised her sword up and it magnetized some sort of mystic energy which ran over the entire foothills of the mountains that surrounded the rebel base. The Queen's men all fell down, blinded and discouraged, unable to hold the rebels still anymore.

"Noooo!"- Zorarose let out a hoarse cry as she struggled to get up again.

Her reddened eyes fell on the sword and she recognized it...

"The Emperor's sword."- she hissed in disbelief. "A sword so powerful when used with strong emotion, it holds the power to raze one's enemies, entire armies with but a swing...Such a powerful artifact! I've been searching for it for years! How did you get your filthy hands on it, you- "

"After the ancient emperor was overtaken by cruelty, the use of his powerful weapon was altered. The Emperor's sword can only be seen, used, and found by true warriors with pure hearts and strong, genuine emotions."- Avani spat. "Which is why you'd have never had access to its real power, mum. You're corrupted and your heart is black. You stole this sword many years ago whilst crossing through different realms, and times and left it laying in your treasury where I found it. You never recognized what you had at your hands."

Zoraorse's eyes widened in disbelief as she took a step back. Will and Irma, who were finally back on their feet, looked at each other. Once again, the tables had turned. Zorarose's men, even her dragons, were all overwhelmed by the Emperor sword's powers. The rebels, on the other hand, were coming back to their senses. Some of them got busy with tying the royal soldiers and disarming them for good; others, mainly the women and the kids, started to exit the huts and safe places to have a better look at what appeared to be the final battle between the Evil Queen and their leader. No one dared to come close to the immediate battlefield, though. The battlefield was now occupied only by Avani and Zorarose, with Irma, Will, and Nerissa in the background.

"Avani..."- the Queen's red locks danced around her face as she shook her head in horror. "Don't do this...We have so much to talk about... Don't kill your mother..."

"Didn't you just say you should have killed me?"- Avani laughed bitterly. Her voice was effervescent, but her tone was so, so very bitter... "As an infant still? Really, now we have things to talk about? You're not just pathetic, you're appallingly pathetic. I will free this kingdom of you. I will take you down from the throne for good, but I will not kill you, mum. You don't deserve that-"

Zorarose exhaled in relief and cried:

"Oh, thank you, Avani, thank you! I promise I will do as you wish from now on, I've come to terms with my wrongs- "

"...I will leave you to rot alone in the dungeons for the rest of your life!"- the blond finished spitefully, cutting her mother's moment of relief short. "That's what you really deserve! I am the new Queen of this realm!"- she then turned to the rebels who all started cheering. Two of them caught Zorarose, holding her arms firmly behind her back as the others cheered more:

"All hail Queen Avani!"

"I will rule this kingdom thinking of my people every day, tirelessly!"- Avani went on. "I will be the true Light of Meridian! The light in your lives, today, tomorrow, and as long as I breathe!"

That's when people's elation didn't know borders anymore. They were all so very pleased to hear their leader say that, they were ready for a new celebration, regardless of the fact that one celebration had just ended a few hours ago... She wanted to be Queen? This was all probably very good and auspicious for this parallel realm but their realm still needed their help, Will realized. She was just about to open her mouth to protest or at least try a diplomatic approach of sorts when Nerissa outstripped her:

"Aren't you forgetting a little something, Avani?"- she questioned, making the young woman turn around to face her. "You can come here and be Queen after you repay me. You promised me. I help you, you help me. Us, that is."- she added, locking eyes with Will, who nodded. "You have to help us take back what your father stole and restore the balance in our time narrative, I told you everything, you-"

"Repay you?"- Avani interrupted her. "I'm sorry, Mage, the idea about the Emperor sword might have been yours, but I'm the one who executed it till the end, I don't think that doing what you want of me is comparable to what you did for me. At this stage, I can't leave my people. Try to understand that I have to take care of them just like you take care of your own, I can't abandon them right after I've taken the tyrannical Zorarose down for your sake. I'm sorry."

Nerissa's jaw hung in disbelief and outrage.

"Ungrateful much?!"- Irma interjected, feeling the anger inside her starting to boil. "Didn't her idea just help you achieve what you wanted to achieve your entire life? Listen here, babe, helping us take the mystic powers back is the least you can do, actually, after what you're psycho parents both put us through-"

"Excuse me, but who are you and how dare you talk to the Queen of this realm in such a manner?"- Avani interrupted her with flames in her eyes. "I don't know who you are, people, if your friends of the Mage, so be it, I shall give you all a bean to exit this timeline and return to yours where you can all deal with your own problems together. Don't drag me in the middle of something that does not even concern me- "

"Excuse you, yeah."- Will stepped upfront before Irma could cuss her out. She was getting pretty annoyed herself. This was sort of what she had feared might happen, but still; the extent of this Avani's impudence was beyond her expectations.

"We're the guardians of Kandrakar, rebel girl, you ever heard of Kandrakar? That's right, that's the entire thing that stands behind what your mum has been obsessed with her entire life."- and she showed off the Heart that appeared around her neck. "I am sorry but what's happening in our timeline does concern you, especially after Nerissa helped you. I didn't know that you're already aware of everything, but if you are and you even promised to help, what does going back on your word after you've got things your way have to say about your character?"

Avani felt her cheeks getting crimson with anger as she looked around herself and the three women that were trying to bully her into working for them. Were they crazy? Didn't they know that rebelling was what she had done for 20 years?

"You're quite insolent! I-"

"No, you're quite insolent."- Irma interrupted her again, mimicking her accent sarcastically. "I swear to God, if you don't agree to help us, I will drag you to our Meridian by the stinkin' hair, you fucking brat! We didn't waste our time on your mommy issues for nothing, you know!"

"Enough!"- Avani spat and held her sword up, militantly. "You have five minutes to pack your stuff and leave all together before I throw you to jail with her!"- and she pointed at Zorarose. "I think that I was clear enough; I won't have you be a hindrance to Beta-Meridian's new beginnings!"

"But I don't think so."

Nerissa pulled the Emperor sword out of the shorter woman's hands and pointed it at her with dark fury in her green eyes. Disobedience and betrayal?! She was not going to spare that brat.

Avani's rebels were finally willing to rush to her side, seeing her in actual danger, but Nerissa raised the sword up and forced them on their knees:

"Get back, you fools!"

"You said you couldn't use the Emperor sword because although redeemed, you used to be exposed to darkness!"- Avani yelled, annoyed and terrified at the same time. "You lied to me, you said only warriors with pure hearts who channel strong emotion can use it!"

"And you did use it, channeling the hatred and unfulfillment you have for your mother."- Nerissa interrupted her, pushing her to the ground. "A negative emotion you tainted the sword with, making it accessible to anyone from that moment on, you stupid whelp. All Escanor children are the same, moronic and blind for the true essence of magical power!"- she shook her head with a bitter smirk on her lips. "No matter, I did help you. I didn't lie, you did."- Nerissa nailed her words dangerously. "And you will pay for that, ungrateful traitor!"

"Nerissa, don't do anything stupid."- Will warned, feeling the darkness within her loom above the scene. "Let's get everyone and leave with her now!"

"My son cannot leave with Cornelia, in case you have forgotten!"- the Mage bared her teeth at her and then suddenly turned to Zorarose who had let out a muffled sound of sorts. She was smirking. That really enraged Nerissa.

"You think this is amusing, don't you?"- she began, making the redhead's smile quench at once when she saw the sword pointing at herself. "This is all your fault, you interfered with me, you crossed me and ruined everything! You don't deserve to be jailed at all; history witnessed that didn't work well for Meridian with your darling Phobos either."

Zorarose could only shake her head frantically as the lethal green eyes pierced her relentlessly:

"You do deserve to DIE!"

"Nerissa-"- Will begged her, but the sword was already glowing with the ex-guardian's rage, magic, and its own forces...

"No!"- Avani stood up and tried to pull the sword away desperately. "I am not done with her; you can't kill her! I still need to know why she did all this to me! Why she threw me away!"

Nerissa turned to her, her expression cold and hateful, and her voice exuding only malice:

"Oh, get over it, she's a barking mad sociopath bitch whom you've never had any significance for!"- she snarled and stroke Avani down to the ground with her open hand. "And you're just a stupid liar and traitor that I'm yet to deal with!"

What happened next was terrible. Really terrible. Before Will could reach Nerissa to pull the damned sword from her hands, Avani threw herself on the sorceress's back. Irma was rushing to stop her when she tripped; she fell on top of Will while Nerissa dropped the sword midair due to the rebel that had jumped on her with her entire weight. It fired its magical blast, spinning in the sky. The lethal missile was launched into the open and it hit the worst possible target in the worst possible moment...

"Mom..."

They all saw the young brown-haired boy in the distance. He had been rushing towards his mother. He had unwittingly become the final target of the Emperor sword... They had all seen it. They were all gasping in shock, but Nerissa's ear-piercing scream echoed through the air, tearing the air like never before:

"CALEEEEEEB! NOOOO-"

She rushed towards him pushing everyone away. She screamed but she was deaf to everything around her. She caught him in her arms while his eyes were closing...

"NOO..."- she wailed inconsolably. "NO..."

"...mom the roof fell. We escaped though..."- his last words got stuck in his throat.

Then he was still. Still forever, as he'd be from now on. Caleb was gone.

Nerissa screamed in denial and tried to revive him with her powers, her magic, she tried everything but the Emperor sword was undeniable. It had killed her son. Her son was no more and her life was no more with him. She had to die too, she didn't want to live in any world where her son was dead...

"Nerissa, the attack on the village, we escaped the falling roof, Caleb came running towards you, I tried to stop him but he was too."

Broken-hearted and in utter shock, Irma and Will saw a younger-looking, wounded Julian standing silent in front of the terrible scene. His wife holding their dead son's body against her chest and wailing on the top of her lungs... Her wails could probably make the stone around crack. Everything shook as she cried. A mother's cry for her baby...

"What has happened? What is wrong with him, Nerissa?! What's the m-matter with our boy?!"- Julian fell down on his knees next to them, demanding answers. He shook her up as the tears rolled down his face. At the sight of her in this state he knew. This was it. This was the worst thing that could have happened and it had indeed happened. They had just lost him. They had just lost their son. This time, Nerissa had failed to protect him... from herself.

"I did everything to protect him, I did everything to save him and I failed, J-julian."- her voice was unrecognizable and she wheezed the words. It was the voice of all the sadness of her life coming all together out of her mouth... Never before had she cried like that. Never. Not even for Cassidy, not even on Thanos, not even when she had been forced to leave her family...

"Julian, he's dead. My Caleb's dead!"- Nerissa shook her head in denial and terror. Her heart was going to stop. Her heart was actually going to burst in her chest...

Julian didn't say anything. He couldn't. He just stared at the fallen boy, unable to move.

Nerissa kept crying at the top of her lungs. She scratched her face and pulled her hair in her agony, but nothing. Nothing would ever make this pain go away. Nothing would remedy what had just happened mainly because of her. She had done all this to save her son from Leonida, from all the evil that threatened him and, in the end, her mistake had killed him. If only she hadn't dropped the sword. If only she hadn't attempted to use it in the first place...

Then Caleb's body returned its actual shape and form again. He wasn't eight anymore. Her magic spells peeled of his lifeless body. He was a handsome young man. He was a young man who was no more, dead in his mother's embrace... The consequences of Leonida's curse had after all caught up with him... Despite Nerissa's attempts to save him from them...

One wound on my soul keeps burning,

even I don't know how am I still living,

you're not here to kiss my fear away,

black dirt is now covering your face...

"Caleb?! What has happened to him? CALEB?!"

It was Cornelia. Hearing Nerissa's cries, she had left the hut she was supposed to stay in for the sake of her fiancé's good. Nerissa's screams and that damned song she had been hearing in her dreams had made her heart beat like crazy, but the sight of her love lifeless on the grass was too much. Her blue eyes shone in alarm:

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM? WHY IS HE NOT OPENING HIS EYES?!"

"Cornelia..."

Will and Irma tried to comfort her, to hold her, but she went straight to Caleb's body and shook him up. No, she refused to believe it when he didn't even tremble. When she fell on his chest couldn't feel his breath.

With eyes full of tears and a heart full of denial, she ignored the whispering that went around them from all the people that were present and demanded answers:

"Nerissa, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?! ANSWER ME!"

Nerissa tried to, but the words were stuck in her throat. She couldn't breathe probably. Her agony and her shock left her wheezing for air as she struggled to reply but never managed to. It was too much on her. Too much. She had just lost her son...

"He's dead."- Julian said in an empty voice. His entire shoulder was covered in a big wound but he didn't feel it. He didn't feel where the roof had fallen on him when he had protected his son from the falling wrecks. Nothing came close to what losing him felt like...

"No, he can't be dead!"- Cornelia flipped her long hair to the back, stubbornly. "He can't be dead after everything that we went through! After I waited for him! We, we were finally going to be together again, he can't DIE! He can't die!"- she cried and fell to Caleb's still chest, her tears soaking his skin...

"I did everything to save his life! He can't die! I won't let him die, I need him, our son needs him! I will NOT let him die like that, never!"- Cornelia's cries came out like screams. Then like demands. She focused all her power on the fallen man whom she loved more than life. "We are going to grow old together! We are going to be together; Caleb won't die now, he won't die!"

Maybe the Universe pitied her. Maybe true love really was stronger than anything. Whatever it was, in that terrible morning, when everything seemed lost, the Heart of Kandrakar did something unexpected. Will gasped as it went to the crying Cornelia, going around her neck. Giving her all the power boosts, it had failed to give the other elements that night. Making her healing magic reviving... When everything seemed lost, her blinding green magic burned through Caleb's chest. He, who hadn't been breathing for minutes suddenly took a deep breath again and started coughing. Magic and love really did achieve wonders together...

Hearing him, Nerissa broke out of the shock-like state she had fallen into. Julian's bloody shoulder stung again as his heart trembled in disbelief. Caleb's eyelids flickered just when Cornelia let out a happy cry. Life was worth living again. Caleb was living again...

"Cornelia..."- he said in his husky voice. God, she had longed to hear his voice again so much. A weak smile spread over his face as she dove down and started kissing him everywhere, crying from happiness like never before. He could feel his mother and father too, they were rubbing his hands and talking over each other, somewhere in the distance he could hear other people too, but at that moment, Caleb was thinking only about her.

"...I missed your smell."- he murmured as he inhaled the rose scent of Cornelia's long blonde locks.


A/N: and finally, CxC are reunited :)) stay tuned