Chapter Nine

Later that same afternoon Hali found herself sitting alone in her bedroom. In many ways it was a relief to be alone with her current thoughts. At the same time she found it somewhat irritating and insulting that she was not allowed in any way to join the activities of the others. Out of concern for her freshly broken wrist, they would not allow her to practice at all. But it didn't end there. It didn't take Ryo two hours to forbid her from doing anything that required more than one hand—including household chores! Using this lack of anything better to do, Hali had retired to the security of her bedroom for the afternoon while the others sparred and exercised.

Yet, within moments of reaching this haven, she found her thoughts returning back to the events of earlier in the day. Though she had been enjoying her testing of Kento and had hoped to move on to the others, she had deliberately thrown the match. No, Sage had not hidden his thoughts completely. For Hali there had been no missing just how carefully—and curiously—he had observed her match with Kento. Nor could she have missed the penetrating gaze he held trained on her that so expertly sized her up.

Though she had meant to test Kento, she hadn't thought it would draw so much attention from Sage. The others she didn't expect to catch it; at least, not right away. But little got by Sage, especially being so close to her. It had been that very closeness between them that had tickled the back of Hali's mind at the intensity and power of his thoughts during the match with Kento that had made her hesitate. From that very instant she had intended to throw the match. But she had not expected him to break her wrist.

Tenderly Hali reached to touch her bandaged wrist unconsciously as she gazed out her window sadly. Yes, she could not help but feel a touch of sadness at all of this. For so long she had wished to live at least some semblance of a normal life. At long last she had found what she sought, only to find herself on the verge of losing it once more. There lay no doubt in her mind that Destiny had brought them together. But would this very same bizarreness of destiny tear them apart as well?

Hali sighed heavily, mournfully. No, she no longer feared losing her newfound friends. She knew that the future was uncertain at best. The weight of her thoughts came from the certainty of what she knew was to come one day. Perhaps the battles she had fought had at last ended. Perhaps theirs had as well. But some of the most damaging of all time were yet to come. The battles to come in the all too near future Hali knew would stem from within. Unlike those of the past, this would be a test of friendship, love, and endurance. Yes, Hali knew these things.

She stood as the test.

For the others it would not be so bad. They had faced most of their demons. Even Sage himself had done so in the days of Talpa's invasion. But for him, this would prove to be a harder test. Unlike the others, Hali could sense the secrets of his heart. Nothing even needed to be said for her to hear the doubts and darkness that plagued his mind almost daily. Sage's destiny had been a curse to him all of his life. To this day he bore the scars and the weight of this beneath a mask of alternating ice or casualness. But there was nothing unfeeling or casual about any of this to him. If anything, he took all of this—in his unnaturally broad vision—with a deeper seriousness than any of the others, including Hali.

Desperately Hali wished to tell them what she truly was and why, especially her beloved Sage. Her heart wrenched at the darkness of his doubts and the growing distance she felt between them. How long would it be before those doubts turned to open suspicion and questions? How long could she hide both her truth and her destiny from them? How long?

Even as Hali thought of all of this, she asked desperately, angrily why she had been chosen for all of this. Why couldn't she just be normal? What had she done to deserve this? Why couldn't she just tell them? Why couldn't they just accept her for what she was?

"Why couldn't they?" Hali whispered as a flicker of something akin to hope kindled itself in the back of her mind.

Why couldn't she just tell them? What did she have to lose? At the worst they would turn her away from them leaving her alone once again. It had been done so many times in the past, why not again? But Hali doubted she could take such a painful rejection now. Not now. Perhaps never again. As quickly as this flicker of hope had appeared, it was gone again. Even if they weren't normal, human young men, there was no way they could ever accept her for what she was. Even they would come to fear and distrust her for her power and knowledge. It would never work.

Yet as Hali's eyes returned to the snowy scene before her, she tightened her jaw and set her mind firmly. Maybe it wouldn't work to tell them, but she was not about to go through with this. This destiny had cursed her enough. It had cursed Sage enough. One way or another, she would find some way around it. Somehow, someway she would find a way for life to go on for all of them. She would not allow destiny to hurt her or them anymore. No matter what the cost, Hali was determined to find another way to go on living with them in a life of peace and happiness. No longer would destiny have to be so condemning for her, for them.

"No more…." She whispered unconsciously to no one in particular.

But for all the strength of these thoughts, and all the determination in her heart, the lingering touch of doubt could still be felt deep within. Was it even possible for her to stay with them and still be able to put the past behind her? Could she really convince them that she was as normal as she claimed to be?

Could living on this side of their destiny prove to be as painful as she so greatly feared it would?

She could only wonder…..

Across the vast expanse of infinite time and aeons of existence, through the blur of countless possibilities and endless realms, and beyond the thoughts and conceptions of myriad life forms these simple thoughts of two single beings trapped upon their mortal plains reached the consciousness of something that had long laid itself into a state of seemingly eternal dormancy. For time incomprehensible it had lain asleep. No longer did it serve its purpose for there had been no purpose to its existence in the wake of such creations as it now held before it.

"Destiny…."

The creature knew this word in its mind, for this had been the word that had awakened it. Not by any mere mortal had this been spoken, but through the lips of something beyond the boundaries of life and death. But that mattered not. For its purpose had been reawakened. It was now called to a duty its master had long overlooked him for in the sight of such joy in the partaking of life as a being and not a master. But now his Master called him to duty. Long and well had been his sleep. But his master grew weary of such things. After time immemorial of experiencing life, his Master had at last bored with his games and lives.

Thus did the Master present himself…

Stepping beside his faithful servant of eternal existence, the Master showed his servant his latest game and joyous ending. The Guardians, the three realms, the Circle of Souls, the Creators, the disillusionment of the Guardians, the Deaths….the rebirth. And again did his Master relive in his mind that final moment before the destruction of his most entertaining "gods" of all.

Far in the distance of the mortal universe there sat a single vertex where three realms collide. There in this point of the purest power stood five. Many things had they become in these final two years of discovery.

Guardians, Teachers, Demons, Angels, Humans, Creators. And, after an aeons long search for the truth of themselves and the three realms their sundered souls had so painfully inhabited, at last came the moment of truth. Here and now they would free their six. At long last would they be together once more in their purest form. Yet only after freeing themselves through the destruction of Earth, Heaven, and Hell. Thus would they be together once more to recreate the realms they had began an infinite time ago. Here had they gathered, here did they stand, here did they call upon the ultimate powers of eternal destruction to begin….

But no. It was not to be.

Far below them stood a single man in the light of a street lamp far behind them in this mortal world they had long since given to its own self destructive means. Alone did he stand in this circle of light. For the streets had long since grown dark and cold in the emptiness of night. And, while the rest of the world around him slept, he alone knew the closeness--the caress--of the ultimate destruction on which the three realms now stood poised. Long had he played this game. And now, saddened by the truth of the situation, it must end. From the first disastrous attempt to sunder the spirits of these six 'gods' into four realms of being he had been there. He had trapped the one setting the stage for this game all those countless aeons ago. And now it would be his hand that ended it as well…. From his lowly position here upon the Earth he watched with the infinite sight of one beyond these six 'gods' he had created so long ago. So many realms had he seen destroyed. So many had he created. So many spirits had he seen destroyed. So many had he longed to bring back, but never had. Yet, even as he stood here upon the threshold of ultimate, irreversible destruction, did he hesitate. For in all the aeons he had played this one game of mortals, powers, immortals, and realms, he had never found a game so enjoyable. In all the games he had played across his infinite existence in myriad planes, none had he found so challenging—so different. For there had always been that lingering one; the one of the many he had chosen to play this game who had defied him for so long.

She had defied him in ways he never thought any being could ever have done. So unique she had been. Yes, 'had' been. For now she would be destroyed with the rest of them. But the instant had come. Now he must act. Already he could feel the powers drawing and climaxing. He must destroy all six of them, or allow the destruction of all three realms and the continuation of the game. No, he didn't want to see an end to one so challenging or fun. Yes, he was ready to move on.

With a sigh Lilioken raised his eyes to the sky once more. With a final flicker of his hand, he ended the game as he had so long planned. In the space of a human heartbeat he showed the six 'gods' the folly of their thoughts and actions…and the limits of their sights. To them he revealed all he knew, all he had ever known in his truly infinite existence.

Thus did the destruction cease that would have come from far into the universe in a single, unseen vertex…

With a smile, the old man standing beneath the light upon a darkened street on Earth smiled in his amusement. In the few, soft words he spoke next, he answered the one and only question that had so long plagued the mind of the one being that had stood to defy him for so long…

"'Why does God do what he does?'" he repeated her defiant question.

"Because it amuses him…"

Then, like the mortal he now posed as, Lilioken turned away from the glare of the light walking ever so casually into the shadows of infinity and darkness…

This did the creature see from his Master's mind. And now, gazing down upon these six mortals, did the two share the thoughts of this one and her beloved. So amusing had the game been. Yet, even more amusing stood the fact that she still lived. While the other five had been destroyed by the power of the visions this creature's Master had given them, she had not. She had lived. A twist to continue the game. But the Master no longer wished to play. Now he had more important circumstances to consider. For he had not planned on her continued existence. Nor had he known of her continued existence until now. Though more than a little of a surprise, it was much more now.

"Yes," the Master whispered thoughtfully to himself. "You, my Draconis, are special. You always were far more than you seemed. You were destined for more than the mortal life you so long to hold."

To his creature he said, "She is not ready. She cannot disregard that meaningless life she holds so dear. She is not yet ready to accept what I have for her. There is more to this than either of us knows. Teach her, my friend. Remind her of all that is out there. Show her what she can do. For she now has the power and the knowledge to travel so far beyond her realm or her time. Teach this one what Destiny is."

Still enraptured by the vision of this being he held before him, the creature began to speak as though in a trance.

"And Father Time works his magickal Wisdom in the breeze of Azriel's wings to blow the Sands across the Lands in waves of misery. But lo there lies a lull in the distance. Upon the horizon sets the Sun of a cloud in waking Dusk. Thus begins the Calm before the Storm to bring the Justice of the Obedience they possess.

"And Mother passes unto Father the gifts endowed by Nature to bring for the Twilight of everlasting Life in the perceptions of Death. For this provoking of conception in the thoughts of Satan draw forth the omnipotent fury of our Lord and everlasting Truth of our brother Daemon. Lo the Angels cry their Sins to we Mortals who worship in Piety the destruction given their Loyalty. And doth Fate condemn the Waves as they ever push the Sands. Dancing merrily along the Fire Destiny spins her Web deceiving the unbound Spirit chained to the ever-dying Darkness of Earth in the hellish Fire's Trust. Calling unto the lapping Serenity of the Waters the Heaven's cry through the Wind's screams for Hell's untamed Virtue.—"

As if snapping out of the trance, the creature ceased his hollow words spoken not by him, but by the being he had been listening through and studying for his Master's request.

"Yes, my Master," he said solemnly. "She sees much more than she allows herself to know. She knows much already. It will be done." Nodding only once, his Master resumed his contemplations with a mere sentence spoken in absence of thought.

"Yes, my Draconis, you will come to know this side of Destiny."