Jarek lets me go, and I creep towards Cadel, swiping the tears off my cheek as I go. He pulls me into a hug. Mordecai and Jarek join in, and the four of us just stand there.
“No matter what happens, I will love you,” Cadel says softly. “No matter where we are or how much space or time separates us, remember that, and if I can, I will come for you. I promise. I will come.”
I sniffle.
“Same. Nothing will stop us, Kaida Keres, from returning to your side, not even death itself.”
We stand like that until the air gets cold, and then they pull away from me. Cadel takes my hand and picks his way through the forest. When it gets dark, we sit down, and Mordecai builds a fire.
“What do you think their plan is? Do you think they even have one?”
Mordecai snorts. “I don’t think they will have a plan, but I think that they will need to get one quickly. The Path is going to be coming for them.”
Jarek pulls me into his arms and lays down, wrapped around me from behind. I lay there staring at the flames, his hand casually stroking up and down my thigh.
“Do you believe we knew each other in past lives?” I ask Jarek.
He stills, just for a second. “Yes, I do.”
“Do you think we’ll find each other in our next lives?”
He hesitates again, and when he speaks, his voice is sad. “Of course. We’re destined for each other. I think we would find each other no matter where we went.”
“That is a comforting thought,” I say to Jarek with a sigh. I close my eyes and fall into a light doze.
Their voices draw me up out of it, not enough to wake me, but enough that I can hear them.
“You are a god,” Mordecai whispers. “Surely, there’s something you can do?”
“What about you? This is your purpose. Every cycle, it’s you three who save the day.”
“We can’t talk about this,” Jarek snaps. “Stop it.”
The other two subside.
“I’m scared,” Cadel admits. “I’ve never felt like this, and we’ve seen what they are capable of; it's hard to imagine there is anything that we can do that will stop them.”
“Whatever the plan is, we will keep working towards stopping them until we win,” Mordecai says easily. “We’re all here for a reason. Have faith.”
“The faith I had in people vanished when…” Cadel trails off. “I still have gaps, little parts of my memories that are missing. Like I can’t remember what happened the night the stars fell. Or how I came to be chained up.”
“It will come to you when you need it.”
“I hope so; these holes in my memory are disturbingly scary. I keep wondering what else I’ve forgotten.”
“Yes, it’s not pleasant finding out all these things about yourself that you had no idea existed.”
They fall silent for a long time, and when I open my eyes, they are both asleep on the other side of the fire, but I’m staring at the flames, watching the intense dancing flickers of red and orange.
I can see a city burning, but it’s not like Foreen; this is a city that is older, and people are everywhere, screaming. I know I’ve never seen a city like this. It stretches long and flat. There are no skyscrapers. People are wearing dresses and material that is older and made out of wool. They are screaming as they jostle each other and fight to make it free. I don’t know who they are.
But then, in the flames and smoke, I see Mordecai and Jarek just behind him. They look up and smile.
I don’t know this city,I think in a panic.
I’d remember it.
Wouldn’t I?
