Yes, we want Hunter as a mate.Her drakaina repeated as she coiled around the world, roiling deep through Layla’s body in the ether.We are enamored of him, we are fascinated by him, and we share a bond of ideology. He wants peace in the world; did we not want such by pursuing International Relations in the first place? He wants harmony through all Lineages and deep inside his own self; did we not want such when we sought to understand our own rage and how to harmonize it through the Bind? He wants beauty and love in all things; do we not want such by going to him, and restoring to him what he has lost?
“I would resurrect his dead lover Nimir for him if it would change anything,” Layla breathed to her Dragon, shuddering to her depths to know how right her Dragon was. “But I don’t think it would. I think Hunter would still be mad.”
And yet, we want him in his beautiful madness anyway.Her drakaina spoke with a growl now that shuddered the entire cosmos as she faced Layla down, her glowing gold eyes large as planets.
“Yes, we want him,” Layla breathed, hating to say it but knowing it was true, “but what if his madness consumes us?”
But what if his madness is the perfect match to ours?Her drakaina breathed back.
“What?” Layla blinked, shocked as the space of the universe around her turned suddenly dark and deeply menacing. All at once, the void was no longer filled with stars or with the enormity of her drakaina, but with a vastness of terrible black spears. All around, Layla felt their menace stab in towards her like evil barbs, and she knew that these were her deepest doubts and fears – the ones that could take her under into the black if she let them. Shuddering with the intensity of her vision, Layla felt the edges of her protection in the Mirror-space begin to crack as Heathren finally began to lose his boundary around whatever was happening. All around, darkness began to seep in – a darkness Layla knew to the depths of her bones.
Thefinal strike.
What if we want the world to burn?Her drakaina whispered from nowhere and everywhere now as she flowed around Layla, coming from those terrible spears. Writhing like a serpent of the ages, she brushed Layla with that dangerous darkness, flooding all her scales and tarring them black. It was an infinite blackness, a void with no light. A long dark that was so seductive to fall into.
And so endless.
“What if we want to descend into that long dark with Hunter… and never come out?” It was Layla’s own voice that spoke now, as her drakaina coiled around her in the darkness. All around, the endless black came careening in, searing like a million fire-brands through Layla’s skin, though they were oh-so-cold. Some part of Layla heard Heathren give a cry, his massive wings shuddering as if he could barely restrain whatever was happening now. The blackness was devouring Layla, pouring deep inside her via every molecule and breath. As her eyelashes fluttered, she felt it fill her up – the sensation of sureness and cold-blooded certainty. It was a place with no emotion, only action; and as her eyes came open, she knew they were filled with that endless black light.
The darkness of thefinal strike.
It is not a strike.Her drakaina whispered as she coiled around Layla now, infinite and wide. But everything was black now – Layla’s drakaina, the cosmos, and Layla herself – nothing inside it, though she was everything. “It is the endless nature of the universe, which has no emotion.” Layla spoke, understanding as she stared with dark eyes into the void.
But what if there’s a better way?It was Reginald’s voice that cut through the darkness suddenly, and through that endless dark Layla saw a piercing shaft of light.What if the universe is not truly endless darkness, Layla Price, but endless light – and we are all part of it?
As if Reginald’s commanding voice had given her permission, light was suddenly bursting from Layla in torrents. It flooded her sinews, it blistered in her heart; it careened through everything as Layla felt its burn, so radiant and beautiful and wild. And then it settled, flooding out around her and consuming everything with a soft white radiance. A radiance that settled suddenly into an endless veranda with a view of the woods.
And a tall man standing before her.
Looking up, Layla gazed upon the man, and he smiled down at her with delight shining from his clear blue eyes. Wearing his glimmering white robe, he was elegance and strength as he made a welcoming gesture. His presence filled Layla up with love as he looked upon her with his perfect tallness and beautiful face. When he spoke, his voice was serenity in Layla’s mind.
Peaceful and loving in the light.
Welcome back, Layla Price.He smiled at her with his clear blue eyes.You have come a long way, and we honor you for being here.
“Where am I?” Layla asked as she looked around, seeing the infinite line of white chaises on the broad wooden deck, the sky soft above the trees with no sun. With a frown, she felt Heathren’s protective ring around her drop completely, as if he couldn’t help her at all now, wherever she was.
This is a waystation for wanderers, for seekers, and for the weary.The tall being spoke again as he indicated the veranda.My kind maintain it, for all who desire peace.
“Why am I here?” Layla asked, unsure.
You are here because you wish to be.The man smiled down at her, amused and kind.Just as your ancestor once sought our solace long ago, when she, too, was weary.
“Hunter’s lover Nadia.” Layla blinked, understanding where she had come through to. “You’re the Ascendant who interacted with her… long ago.”
We did.The man smiled down upon Layla with perfect benevolence.Though she came to us in desperation, she also came because she had the most beautiful wish in her heart, that needed fulfillment. A wish we granted – which has now been passed down through the ages, and will soon come to pass.
“What wish?” Layla frowned, wanting to know more. “To undo Hunter? Or to restore their trio’s Bind and return his sanity?”
Nothing so small,the man intoned with gentle grace.But now is not the right time to tell you, for you have much still to discover. And so we send you back, now that you have faced both your perfect darkness and perfect light via the Mirror. You have discovered the balance of opposites that you share with your father, and your ancestor. Would you like to go now and see him? And continue your line of query – to return the wholeness of everything you are?
“Yes.” Layla spoke firmly after a brief consideration. “I need to see my father and speak with him about our Bind-magic, and figure out how to potentially get my drakaina back. I need to understand what he knows… both about our power, and about Hunter’s.”
Very well.The Ascendant nodded, closing its bright eyes in assent.You shall now go. And when the time is right, we will speak again. Goodbye, Layla Price. Know that whenever you seek it, we shall be here waiting for you.
Layla was about to say thank you, when she suddenly felt herself whisked away back through the universe. It was the same sensation she’d had, of traveling fast through the ether as stars shot by. But as she felt herself come to the end of the stellar wormhole, she suddenly felt herself yanked forward into being once more. From formlessness, she was suddenly cast hard back into form – and Layla cried out as her knees and palms hit red sandstone, hard.
As Layla was thrust back into physicality from traveling via portal yet again, Heathren Merkami sprawled over her back – thrust out from wherever they’d been to wherever they were now by the Mirror. As Layla lay in a heaped tangle within Heathren’s long filaments, she felt the Archangel shudder hard as he heaved massive breaths atop her, as if his time guarding her in the Mirror had been exhausting.
