Stars granted wishes.
Did it matter who wished, or which star answered? Was there a need for a celestial conference, or could one fallen star spread miracles in its blazing wake? Who examined the methods of miracles, or even the definition of miracles? To whom did a star's head bow?
It had always been to no one. Not even the Corona of the Heavens had his soul's fealty.
His compass had always pointed to himself.
If he could see it now, the needle would be wavering. Yet he held his course.
He granted wishes, as stars do.
-BREAK-
Rayla trusted him, right?
The question nagged and tugged at him all day even more than the thorny underbrush they pushed through near the coast. The forest was going to give way to the beach at any time. He kept telling himself to get it over with, to find some excuse to get the coins into his hands, but actually asking for them was nerve wracking. Would she let him go off alone with them? What would happen once he brought them back? Runaan, last he knew, had been on a mission to kill Ezran. With some explanation, of course, the situation could be resolved, but did they have the time?
He wished that there was some other way. Distantly, he knew that this was how Aaravos operated, to offer himself as the best, if not only solution to problems. There was nothing to do about it.
Callum could hear the waves of the Sea of Castout. They were so close… if he wanted any chance at privacy to free the Moonshadow elves, it was then. That afternoon, no later. They were on the brink of the next phase, a port away from open seas. His heart was pounding.
He had to do this.
"Rayla? Can I ask a favor?"
"Sure." She slowed down her walking pace, falling in line with him. Callum knew she didn't like the open ocean, and she already looked somewhat green with apprehension.
"Can I see those coins? I have a theory. On how to free them."
Rayla perked up, beaming at him. "Really? You do? What is it?"
"Um… I mean I don't want to promise anything, but it's an idea."
"Can you explain it?"
No, actually. Callum rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace. More lies. "No, it's… it's like a feeling. Like if I feel them for myself, something will come to me. Weird things have been happening lately, and I just- it's like if I have that connection, I'll get an epiphany."
"Oh."
Despite Rayla's disappointment, she handed over the coins, her hand lingering in Callum's for a moment. "Listen… you've been about as stressed as I am lately about them. It's okay if you don't get some weird eureka! moment." Her shoulders were low, and Callum knew he'd ignited and doused hope in a cruelly short span of time. "You're enough Callum, without having to try and do so much for me. I- I'm sorry that I ever made you feel like you weren't."
Callum swallowed hard. "I- um…"
Rayla had never been great with the sudden big feelings talk, and she laughed nervously, looking away. "Let's stop for lunch, and you can do your sitting on a rock and making faces thing." She gently elbowed him to try and relieve the tension, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the three coins.
Callum got a gut feeling.
This was a bad idea.
He had to do it, but this was such a bad idea.
He couldn't back out. Not when he thought he could get away with freeing them, and basically for free. It was just at the potential cost of the trust of everyone around him. Only if I'm caught. "It might be nothing."
She laid her hand in his, giving him Lain, Tiadrin, and Runaan.
He hesitated.
Callum locked eyes with Rayla, hand in hand. She had a wistful smile on her face. She'd only grown more beautiful over the past couple of years. Callum's heart was no longer mired with the grief of her leaving, time finally having worked some magic inside. They were so close. Callum angled his head ever so slightly, considering sealing the tiniest gap between them. Rayla mirrored him, eyes locked on his. It would be a perfect moment… "I'll be right back."
Callum held the coins to his chest like they were precious gems, but they were worth even more than that. Rayla had hope. Rayla had parents. She had something Callum could never ever have again, and he wouldn't let anyone keep her from having her family back. He strode to a quiet place out of earshot from everyone else as Rayla announced the sudden lunch break. Callum rubbed his temples, gathering his wits.
Despite the dance Aaravos and he had done together, letting Aaravos lend him magic and borrow Callum's body still felt unnerving.
Glancing once more to ensure he was alone, he turned his eyes back to the coins. Three faces looked up at him. They seemed somewhat able to move, although Callum couldn't tell if they recognized anything they saw. Did they know time had passed? He took a deep breath, pulling on his connection with Aaravos.
"I wish to free them."
Callum's, and Aaravos's, eyes glowed with starlight.
-BREAK-
It had become a habit.
While it made sense to avoid the rippling mirror which only reflected grief, Ethari found himself drawn to it. Every day, his path took him by the pond, knowing he'd always see the same thing, the solitary silver flower drifting on the surface.
Perhaps, he was secretly afraid that it too would sink before its time.
The others all saw it as a mark of shame, strong enough to condemn lethal cowardice. He still took bittersweet relief that it still floated. Rayla was out there, even if she couldn't return. Rayla, nearly the last remaining member of families marred with tragedy, lived to tell their tales.
Ethari's feet carried him mindlessly by the pond, barely glancing at the two flowers floating on it. His mind was on his current projects, his work giving him some sense of purpose in an empty home with too many bedrooms. At least there was plenty to keep busy with.
…
Two flowers.
He froze.
Two.
-BREAK-
They were one.
Doing such a complex spell required perfect synchronization, and Callum and Aaravos flowed into one mind. Their eyes glowed, chanting as star magic swept through the air, pouring energy into three hovering objects. Their wills were one, and all words from them were said as one, two voices in sync. Unlike before, when one had been muted, both the boy and elf spoke simultaneously:
BODY TO SOUL
HEART TO MIND
MEND WHAT WAS BROKEN
FOREVER BIND.
BODY TO SOUL
HEART TO MIND
SEVERED FROM THE WORLD
TORMENT LEFT BEHIND.
The coins vanished as the elves were released.
For Lain, Tiadrin, and especially Runaan, the sight of a human mage with glowing eyes was a rude awakening.
Lain and Tiadrin both stumbled on their own feet, dazed and disoriented, haphazardly leaning against each other. Runaan would have met a similar fate, but he locked eyes with Callum and recognition sparked incense.
"You."
Damn.
Aaravos had intended to leave Callum the moment the spell was over, but he was given no choice as Runaan rushed them. Aaravos and Callum dodged with lightning reflexes honed from Aaravos's millennias of experience. Runaan didn't give up, reaching for his bowblades, rushing Callum and Aaravos with a roar.
WE ARE NOT YOUR ENEMY. They still spoke together, voices eerily in sync.
"Like HELL you aren't!" Runaan was still charged with adrenaline from his capture, even as the silver binding dug deeply into his arm. He swung at them with his bowblades, gasping in pain as even the effort to swing his arm made his eyes sting.
Tiadrin raised her head, examining the situation. "Where… Runaan? Ow… For fuck's sake. I can barely feel my legs."
Lain steadied her, his eyes on Runaan. "Runaan, is that human our enemy?"
Callumvos dodged every swing, feet light as Runaan charged. They were as difficult to stab as mist, though Runaan kept trying. They didn't attack or strike back, only seeming to float through the air on their feet to avoid Runaan. WE HAVE FREED YOU. DON'T YOU SEE?
Runaan glanced back to Rayla's parents with a shout. "He's one of the human princes! A dark mage! It's not for anything good!"
WE ARE NOT VIREN. WE ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN A DARK MAGE.
The more they spoke, the worse their situation got. The touch of pride of being more than darkness wasn't helping either. Whether it was only fear of human mages or recognition of the deep voice paired with Callum's, Rayla's parents hesitantly drew their weapons.
They should have known that the commotion would draw attention from the rest of their party, though in this instance they were thankful. Rayla, Zym, Soren, and Ezran all burst onto the scene. Several things happened at once.
Rayla reacted first. "RUNAAN, quit it!" Then she processed what she said. "Runaan! Oh Runaan, you're back!" She threw herself against his chest.
Runaan paused, eyes wide. "Rayla?"
Tiadrin and Lain exchanged a glance and then turned to Rayla.
"Rayla?" repeated Lain.
Tiadrin crept forward, dropping her sword and then rushing to Rayla and Runaan, Lain close behind.
Rayla held back a sob. "Callum, you did it! C-"
Her words died, eyes linked with Callum's glowing eyes. Dread replaced every crevice in her heart that joy had filled, gaze locked on her worst nightmare.
They bowed, Callum's posture elegant, too dramatic to be just him, yet his expression seemed more Callum than anything else. WE GRANTED YOUR WISH, DID WE NOT?
"Nope. Not today." Soren didn't hesitate, grabbing Callum's wrists from behind, tying them together and ignoring Ezran's shout to let him go.
Ezran wasn't one to be ignored. "Everyone, STOP." He turned to Callum. "Let him go."
Soren shook his head, holding their bound wrists tightly. "No way, you see the glowing eyes."
They chuckled, Callum and Aaravos's voices together in smug mirth.
Ezran doubled down. "I wasn't talking to you. Aaravos, let him go."
At Aaravos's name, every Moonshadow Elf drew their weapons.
HOW CUTE. WE FREE YOU, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY US? An exasperated shrug of the shoulders, undaunted by the array of pointed objects aimed their way.
Rayla shook her head. "I wouldn't hurt Callum, but you- get out of him. Now." She tilted her blade at them.
IF YOU WISH TO HARM THE STAR, YOU MIGHT AS WELL SWING AT THE NIGHT SKY. BESIDES, YOU DO NOT SPEAK TO ONE, BUT TO BOTH OF US. WE ARE IN UNITY. OUR WILLS ARE ONE.
They smiled.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A LITTLE QUESTION GAME? WE CAN ONLY ANSWER WHAT IS TRUE FOR BOTH OF US, AFTER ALL.
Runaan glared. "No one in their right mind would speak to Aaravos, fused with this boy or not. I vote we knock him out."
Rayla moved from her parents' sides, standing between them and Callum. "No, no one hurt him! Not even a little! I'm sorry, I'm sorry I threatened you, it was stupid of me." She addressed Callum, even putting her hands on his shoulders, pleading with him. "Come on, fight him off! You can do it!"
More laughter.
WE ARE AS ENTWINED AS MOONLIGHT AND AIR. BUT YOU ARE NOT OUR ENEMY.
Ezran stood beside Rayla, facing Callum directly. He knew who he was looking at, some percentage of it being Aaravos. He kept his voice strong, as though he was at a foreign diplomacy meeting. "Then who is?"
They paused.
THOSE WHO HURT US.
"Names."
THEY DESERVE NO OTHER NAMES THAN BETRAYERS.
"See?" said Runaan. "Useless."
Zym had been hiding behind the elves but he crept out, eyes wide with fear. He made a small noise, teeth bared anyway at Callum.
GOOD AFTERNOON, YOUR HIGHNESS.
Zim swished his tail and growled.
HOW TRAGIC, TO HAVE LOST SO MUCH AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE. WE UNDERSTAND. WE TOO, KNOW LOSS. They turned to Runaan, eyes so bright nothing but light shone through them. YOU ARE EVERYTHING WRONG WITH XADIA. YOU TAKE, EXILE, AND KILL WITHOUT REMORSE. WHAT DOES KILLING A LOVED ONE MEAN TO A BRUTE LIKE YOU?
"We do not take lives lightly." Runaan grit his teeth. "It was the Queen's orders."
Lain looked between Ezran, whose crown rested on his head, and Runaan. The math wasn't too difficult to do. "Oh no. So Zubeia…"
Ezran shook his head. "We've been over this, and I won't entertain this discussion further. Old wounds hurt, but I will not wage war over them. We are working on peace. Real peace. Communicating with each other. Callum believes in this as much as I do." When he turned to Callum for support, he made a mistake.
OLDWOUNDS? They scoffed. YOU KNOW YOU HAVE NOT SUFFERED AS MUCH AS I HAVE.
Of anything they could have said to Ezran, there was little that else that could have been worse. He stood stunned, open mouthed, and then closed it again, eyes downcast. He tried to tell himself that it could have just been Aaravos, yet the knowledge that Callum had lost not just their father but remembered their mother too had always been an unspoken, un-trifled with truth. Now it was used as a strike against his soul.
Tiadrin was Dragonguard to the core. "Do you intend to harm the dragon prince?"
Another pause.
NO.
"He's lying," said Soren.
WE CANNOT LIE.
Soren scowled. "Okay so… da- Viren wants to kill Zym, and you might help him, but just because you don't intend to do the dirty work yourself doesn't mean anything!"
TOUGH CROWD. They shrugged, gesturing with their hands. A few onlookers gasped as they spoke, hands clearly free, rope on the ground in pieces, the effort to magically escape so instantaneous it was like sleight of hand. BUT STILL. NO. OUR PRIORITIES HAVE CHANGED.
Rayla's face was deathly pale. "Then what do you want?"
WE ONLY WANT OUR FREEDOM.
"And after that?"
TO BE A FRIEND TO HUMANITY.
"I've had enough of this dude," said Runaan. He winced again, the silver binding rendering his entire arm blackish purple.
THEN WE WILL BE BRIEF. YOU NEED US. YOU CANNOT CONTAIN US. YOU CANNOT EMBARK ON THIS QUEST WITHOUT US. YOU ARE ALREADY FAR BEHIND VIREN AND CLAUDIA. YOU MUST TAKE THE BOY WITH YOU, OR WASTE PRECIOUS TIME WAITING ON WINDS TO BLOW YOUR WAY. WE ARE, AS WE SAID, INEVITABLE.
With that, they bowed again.
Callum collapsed, the world going black.
He wanted to sob. To scream. To claw himself out of his own body. Anything, anything to escape the black hole of despair he was in. To say he had chest pains was an understatement. Callum was crying without realizing it, and not even as much as he was crying was enough to express the agony rooted in his stomach, its blossoms pressing against his skin from the inside.
Betrayal.
Loss.
Despair.
Condense, repeat. Condense, repeat. The furthest any creature could fall, from love, from the heavens. He was so alone, he was abandoned, he was cut off from the world itself. His senses were dulled to all he used to know. He longed for the open sky, the sea, the stars, the sunshine, the soil under his feet. He felt as though he was trying to breathe through a pillow smothering his face, and like he'd been struggling to breathe for an eternity.
He was crying over faces he'd never known, people whose names he couldn't remember. There was the touch of someone's hand, a bite of an apple, a shared moment together, something wonderful, and then they were gone. He watched Elarion fall, he watched the humans be driven west, he watched mages fight and kill each other after the elves and dragons shut the door. He was a creature of hatred and rage, wrath his chosen addictive ichor. It sedated his heart like poison, it let him weave a tapestry of disaster across history, strings of his spider's web choking his chosen victims, vengeful ecstasy taken from their lifeless forms.
He choked for air as he sobbed and writhed, tearfully coming back to the realization that he had a body and was sitting on the ground somewhere. He stopped trying to claw himself out of his own skin, calling to who he wanted to see before he died of grief.
"Rayla, Rayla, Rayla." He trembled, weakly calling her name.
By some miracle, she was there.
"Callum, come on Callum breathe- I think he's coming back! Callum!"
Callum buried his face in Rayla's shoulder, vaguely aware that she was hugging him. The visions and foreign memories faded into something humanly bearable and he clung to her, still crying. He sniffed. "I'm so sorry , Rayla I'm sorry, I was having dreams and he came to me and I couldn't stop it, I wanted to tell you all so badly but I was scared. You all already worry too much about me." He rambled, eventually able to see again as he blinked away tears from his eyes.
Rayla didn't let him go, hugging him close she sniffed too, and Callum realized that she'd been crying too. "Stupid head."
"Y.. yeah."
"How did it get this far? How could he fuse with you like that?"
This was a concerned scolding, but one Callum fully felt he deserved, even though his plans were unchanged. Especially because his plans were unchanged. She laid him back and he stared blankly up at her and everyone else gathering around, so exhausted he figured he'd sleep any moment.
"Aaravos plays games. Would you rather it was solitaire or chess? Just him, or- or someone else having a say? I- I can write my own destiny."
He couldn't stay with them.
"Yeah, I know you can. I know you can. Come on Callum, please stay awake."
He couldn't do that either.
-BREAK-
Aaravos had forgotten what love felt like.
The reminder of it was threatening to make him go well and truly mad.
The soul of someone so young had stakes much higher than in his own. He'd grown jaded to his own heart, sealed away even as he had the occasional lover or confidant over the centuries.
Callum's heart knew no half measures.
Even a taste of the pure strength of emotions within Callum had Aaravos recoiling once they parted, stumbling as he caught the edge of his desk for support. He trembled, memories flashing before his eyes, and with them, love . Unconditional, all enrapturing, love . Love that grieved and mourned like death when apart, love that refused anything to be without the other, to jump off of the highest cliff rather than live alone.
He knew alone.
He was alone.
He no longer had someone like Callum's Rayla who he'd give anything for, who filled him with joy.
He no longer had anyone, anything, not even someone he'd call a friend rather than an asset. Callum was the closest thing, and now, and now.
He reached out in front of him as if he'd be able to touch, to feel Callum's jacket against his palm, to touch his hair, to adjust his scarf, anything .
He was kneeling, (when had that happened?) swaying in shock on the ground, sobbing.
How long had he been dead? Almost as long as he could remember, stretching so far back. He imagined he could scrape out his dimmed heart like rot from spoiled flesh. The flash of faces he once knew drove him to screaming, hands over his own ears so he didn't have to hear it, yet screaming to no one all the same, making up for years of hiding from the ocean of pain he pretended he could walk on. He'd grown a shell for a reason , and it was blasted away with no warning. He hadn't realized how thick it had grown, how like a corpse he paced and plotted and pretended he had some reason to breathe anymore.
Callum was alive, and how precious he was.
Aaravos felt a surge of protectiveness wash over him anew for Callum, the way he might've felt for some of his very first students. Even more than just for a student, for family . When had he dared last think of family in a way that hadn't been embittered with fury?
Aaravos mostly regained himself, breathing deeply, still in shock. If asked what he wanted, he couldn't have truthfully answered freedom first anymore.
He didn't want to be alone. That was all that mattered.
He ran his hands through his hair, still shaking.
Please don't leave me alone.
-BREAK-
Callum hadn't known if Aaravos was going to share his dreams again that night. It wasn't even night, and more like whenever he'd passed out again. When he found himself in the Elarion classroom, it was quiet. He and Aaravos sat side by side, looking out the biggest open window on a sunny day. It was the picture of peace.
"I'm sorry." Aaravos spoke first, voice hushed. "If I hadn't stayed, you may have been run through in the confusion."
"I know. It's okay."
Nothing really felt okay, but Callum couldn't hold it against him. He didn't have it in him to lecture Aaravos about what they'd said. He was certain all wouldn't be pleasant when he woke up again.
"You weren't meant to feel me. I hadn't wished to harm you."
Callum faced Aaravos, dreamlike sunshine and wind on his face. "I don't understand how you're still standing, carrying all that with you. I… I didn't know someone could contain all that. I'd ask if you're okay, but… I think the answer is no." Aaravos almost laughed.Um.Had it gone both ways? "Did you happen to, uh…"
"You love her."
Callum's face went bright pink. Aaravos continued.
"I needed to be reminded of what some things felt like. What a broad and bright place reality is. Thank you."
They were silent again. Trying to talk about what they knew of each other any further seemed pointless. Aaravos pulled Callum in for a hug and Callum accepted, hugging back with a reassuring squeeze. They stayed like that for a few moments, Aaravos's gaze fixed above Callum's head, looking outside at the clouds and forest, the world he remembered but couldn't touch in his waking hours.
Yet.
"No lesson for today. Get some rest."
Callum sank into a dreamless, deep sleep.