Chapter 49

Spark of Life

Darkness.

A void of endless proportions and infinite in size, and yet confining.

It was as if one was stuck in the absolute middle, unable to go anywhere, like a prison.

But that wasn't how it felt. It wasn't a feeling of incarceration, but of safeguarding, like a mother's warm embrace.

Voices emerged in the darkness. Distant, faint, and unintelligible, yet unmistakeably friendly and warm, welcoming and comforting. Strangers, yet familiar.

Time passed. It had to. But how much was impossible to say.

Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. Years. Lifetimes.

Impossible to tell.

Does it even matter?

Nothing changes.

The voices continue to speak, and while the words can still not be identified, they are soothing.

Fear, doubt, pain. They are all fading away, leaving only serenity.

In the distance, as far as one could tell, a tiny speck of warm, golden light suddenly comes into being. Growing larger and larger.

It beckons.

It welcomes.

But it does not force.

And the voices agree.

Moving is possible again. The massive orb of light growing closer as the distance shrinks.

New light spreads from the opposite direction, where a second orb now awaits.

It urges.

It pulls.

But it does not force.

And the voices again agree.

A decision has to be made.

Two orbs of light, similar yet different.

The first, warm and welcoming, unknown but with promises of happiness.

The second, uncertain but familiar, with all that was known.

Indecisiveness.

Both orbs were appealing, but only one of them really resonates.

A choice is made, and the latter orb is approached.

The light, all-consuming, blinding. A sense of falling, as light turns to darkness, of a sudden but soft stop.

New voices grow closer. They are familiar. Comforting.

A new light spreads.

"-rah? Can you hear me?"

Eyes fluttered opened, only to screw shut again, the light burning sharp.

"J-James?"

"It worked! She's back!" Dahlia could be heard, her voice filled with joy, surprise, and relief.

"Thank God! Or, I guess, thank Lathander." James said.

As Sarah's eyes adjusted to the bright daylight, she sat up and started rubbing her aching head.

"Wait! Don't do that!" James instantly exclaimed.

"What?" she asked groggily, only to instantly pull back her hand when she felt a sharp tingle in her brain. "Ow! What the…?"

"Careful!" Dahlia said as she held the cheetah's hand and offered her a bottle of the magical water. "Here, take a small sip."

Doing so, Sarah soon felt all the numbness and pain in her body fade away as all her wounds were healed.

"Oh, that feels so much better." she sighed in relief. "But what had I done with my head? It felt like a… a brain freeze, I think?"

"You seem to have received a nasty blow to the back of your head." James explained. "There was a fairly large hole that went all the way to your brain. That's what you were poking at, your own brain."

"Gross! And no wonder I had a killing headache. How did I even survive something like that?"

"Well… that's just it. You didn't."

"What…?"

"There's no easy way to tell you this, Sarah, but you died."

It took a few seconds for the cheetah to even register what James had said, and once she did, she paled, the colour draining from her face.

"D-died…? I died…? How- the gnolls! They killed me! But… how am I alive then?"

"That would be my doing. Or rather, mine and Lathander's." Valin said, and only then did Sarah notice that the cleric was sitting on his knees next to her.

"I'm sorry, but just who the heck are you?"

"Be nice, Sarah." said Dahlia. "He's the one that brought you back."

"You give me too much credit. I was simply a vessel for Lathander's light. Without his powers, I could not have accomplished this."

"Lathander? Is… he your god?" Sarah asked a bit cautiously, to which Valin nodded. "Does that mean I have to convert now?"

"Oh no, my dear. Nothing so dramatic." Valin chuckled. "If you feel that you want to, I will gladly help you, but you must not feel that you have to because of my involvement in your resurrection. I am simply offering what ever aid I can."

"Um… okay. Well, thanks, I guess. Feels a bit… inadequate, though."

"Think nothing of it for now, instead focus on resting. Returning from the dead is a draining experience. And there is still one more in need of resurrection."

With a small bow, Valin stood up and walked over to where Moe's body laid. Sarah swallowed upon seeing her friend.

"Is he…?"

"I'm afraid so." said Dahlia. "But with a little luck, we will have him back in an hour."

"Were there any others that died?"

"A few, yes." James began as he also examined Sarah. While the water might have healed her, he was still highly sceptical about the resurrection spell, and he wanted to be certain that she was fine. "A couple of the Nordlings fell, as did Scorm."

"Scorm too? Damn, I really liked that guy…"

"And then there was Mikey as well, but he came back to life on his own."

"Excuse me, what?!"

"Just relax, and we'll tell you all about it."

Meanwhile, Michelangelo was still being coddled by his family, with Kate still barely having let go of him, even for any of the medically trained to examine him. His wounds still remained, but they were not bleeding, and surprisingly enough, he felt no pain from them either.

Once James had given the all clear, Devina used her healing magic to patch him up a bit, and she was supposed to continue to do so over the coming days, so that James could be certain that the wounds healed properly.

"Don't you ever do that again, Mikey! Do you hear me? Don't ever do that again!" Raphael scolded his youngest brother.

"Do what, Raph? Protect those I love?" Michelangelo replied in his usual, happy demeanour with a smile and a slight shrug. "I mean, someone's gotta look after you lot."

"But you died, you goof ball!"

"Did I?" Michelangelo scratched his head and thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, I guess I did. I already forgot." he chuckled.

"Same old Mikey." Monalisa half sighed in relief. "We're so glad that you're back with us that… I can't find the words, actually."

"No worries, sis. Heaven might have been nice, but I actually found it lacking."

"Lacking? Heaven? How so?" Kemeko asked.

"I mean, sure, it was great to see good old Klunk again, and all the others were very nice too, but I just couldn't be happy there without the rest of my family." Michelangelo gave Kate an extra pat on her back, and she hugged him even tighter. "So, I left. Told them to hold my spot until later. Much, much, much later."

"I can not tell you how happy we are that you have returned to us, my son." said Splinter, wiping away a tear.

"Ditto! It was downright horrible without you!" said Pandora. "I… I was in a really dark place… blamed some people for it… attacked some… I was… I wasn't alright…"

"Sounds to me like you got some apologies to say. I pretty good at those, so I can give you some pointers." Michelangelo chuckled.

"Not before we get those wounds of yours handled." said Donatello. "You might not be in pain, but you're still hurt. At the very least, Devina should give you a once over with her healing magic."

"I guess you're right, bro." the orange masked turtle said, absently poking his finger into one of the holes in his sides. "Hey, this tickles."

A soft giggle was heard from Kate, the first happy sound that had come from her since she had been told of Michelangelo's death. Looking up from his chest, tears rolled down her cheeks, but she had a smile on her lips.

"There's the Katie I know and love." he said, smiling right back at her.

"I've missed you… so much…" she sobbed. "I thought you were gone forever…"

"Well, I'm back, ain't I?"

"You are, and I won't let go of you… I'll always be at your side… I'll take care of you… help you recover…"

"I couldn't ask for anything more." the turtle cooed as he kissed his viper girlfriend on her forehead. "Except maybe a pizza..."

Down by the docks, Tyroth was sitting on the edge letting his feet dangle off it, the tips of his claws occasionally dipping into the water's surface as the gentle waves rolled in.

He looked out across the water, towards the horizon, and he sighed deeply.

"That was a heavy one." a familiar voice said from behind him, and a few seconds later, his beloved mate sat down next to him. "Is it too much to hope for that it was of relief?"

"It was, partly at least, but mostly, I'm just dead tired… But at least the worst is over now."

"Yeah, and what a mess it was. By the way, the reason I came to find you, love, was to let you know that the cleric has brought Sarah back to life, and has started preparing for Moe."

"Thank the gods, or I guess Lathander in this case. What of Michelangelo?"

"He seems no worse for wear, despite everything. He busy being coddled by Kate and the rest of the Hamato clan, so Leo is a bit busy himself, which meant that I had to step in." Sephie held her chin in thought for a moment. "Now that I think about it, don't I technically have higher rank than Leo? I know you appointed him as steward, and thus second in command, but ain't I effectively Mutopia's queen, since I'm your mate? What even is the title of a jarl's wife?"

"I honestly have no idea." Tyroth chuckled, managing a smile for the first time in what felt like forever. "But, if you'd ever want to pull rank on Leo, I guess you could."

The couple sat in silence for a moment, just looking out over the waters.

"This certainly wasn't what I had in mind when we evacuated." Tyroth said, breaking the silence again. "I knew that we might find ourselves in the middle of Skyrim's civil war, if it was still ongoing, and I had hoped that we could have remained neutral regardless, but that could have been all if we were lucky. The odd bandit attack, maybe a giant or even a dragon, those things we could have handled. Instead, we end up here, and it's been one thing after the other. A dinosaur, slavers, politics, gnolls, and who knows what else is still to come."

"It hasn't been easy, but we've made it through it in one piece. Or, well, as close to that as possible."

"Did I make the right call, though? With the gnolls, I mean."

"I think you did." Sephie said, placing her hand on his. "It was as you said, either we faced them here, or they would catch us on the way to the capital, and seeing as we stopped them, or well, you mostly, I can't see how things could have gone much better. Yes, we lost some, and that's really sad, but we're also getting them back. We've been quite lucky, actually."

"I just worry for when that luck will run dry."

"True, we can't be lucky all the time, but hopefully once the stories of this spreads, maybe trouble will stay away."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, hun. A village of outworlders, teaming up with the feared Nordlings to stop a horde of a thousand gnolls. There weren't even a hundred of us, and we still won with nearly no losses. And then there's you, who faced more than half of the horde all alone."

"Not quite, I did have some help from Thaenia and Lokdrgoyol."

"Fair, but they wouldn't have been there if not for you. My point is that I doubt anyone will want to test their luck against a village whose leader can fight an army on his own and win. I sure wouldn't, would you?"

"Not really, no, and yet, I seem to find myself in those kinds of situations whether I want to or not. But I hope that you're right, after all this, I could really use a vacation… but there's still a lot to do."

"Yeah, the work never really stops, does it? Aside from our standard day to day work, what extra do we have now? Tell me, and I can let the others know while you take it easy. The gods know that you've earned it."

"You're too kind, love. Well, for starters, all the gnoll corpses need to be dealt with."

"Gonna take a lot of time, and space, to bury them all."

"I was thinking that we burn them on a pyre instead. Hopefully that will make sure that none of them come back as undead. Better check if they have anything worth keeping."

"You mean like weapons and such? Good idea. Even if they are rubbish, I'm sure Loki would love to rework them, well, the metal in any case. Luckily, they didn't seem to manage to cause any damage to the village, so we won't have to worry about any repairs. We should be able to get back to a normal life style in short order."

"Normal… Oh, Sephie, my dear, how I would love that… but our lives haven't been normal for over two decades."

"Standard abnormal then." she said, leaning against her lover and letting her head rest against his shoulder.

"That's good enough." he replied, putting his arm around her and holding her close.

Things are finally starting to slow down for our heroes, and what a ride it has been, but at least they can take the time to wind down now.
However, there are still things to do.