The world became a blur once more, and once the world stopped spinning, we appeared before the Great Tree in Riviana Star. It was evening, fireflies floating overhead.
I looked around before I turned to her, tears still wet on my cheeks. “When are we now?”
“The present.” She looked at the doorway in the tree. “I wanted to offer you one last moment.”
I stared at the tree and slowly began to understand.
“You’ll fuse with a dragon and may live for all eternity, Callum. You may never see them on the other side. If you’d like to take an opportunity to say goodbye, this is it. They both passed as old men, surrounded by their families, so they’ll look much different to you.”
I stared at the door as my heart raced in my chest. “I—I don’t want to think about a reality where they aren’t here anymore.”
“You’re already living in that reality, Callum. You’ve been living in that reality for a long time.”
“It’s still hard to face…as a father.”
“Know that they’re happy. That they only feel the golden light that warms their souls. That this would be a happy reunion, not a sad one.” She turned to look at me again. “You’re under no obligation, but I will not offer this to you again in the future.”
I inhaled a slow breath as I continued to stare at the tree.
“The decision is yours.”
I finally nodded.
She stepped forward and up the stairs of the dais. Then she approached the tree, placed her palm against the bark of the wood, and said something in a language I’d never heard spoken.
A golden light made the shape of a door within the tree, burned bright like fire, and then a pathway emerged. It was completely dark on the other side, like nothing could be seen from the mortal world.
She looked at me before she stepped inside the darkness and disappeared.
No father should ever outlive his sons, and while I was aware that they’d passed long ago, it was still hard to know they lived and died in a different lifetime. That when I faced them, they would be old and I would be young. But I wouldn’t deny an opportunity to see my boys, no matter the circumstances.
So I crossed the threshold.
The darkness was immediately replaced by a brightness so strong it forced my eyes shut. As a mortal, I was unable to handle the intensity, my living heart not belonging in a place like this.
A hand took hold of mine and guided me forward.
Only when the light started to fade from my eyes did I open them again.
We were in a great hall, a set of stairs that led to a white throne at the very top. The ceilings were higher than a cathedral. It took me a moment to take in the other details of the room and to see the two men who stood before me.
Their dark hair had faded to gray, their skin had weakened with age and formed wrinkles around the eyes and the mouth, but their dark eyes shone with the same childlike exuberance.
I looked at my boys as they stood as men in their eighties, far frailer than they were at the prime of their lives but full of the happiness that Riviana promised.
Darius smiled when he looked at me. “I knew we’d see you again, Dad.”
Tiberius moved forward and opened his arms wide to hug me tight. Hug with me a strength that a man his age shouldn’t possess. He squeezed me tight then clapped me on the back, like he was the father and I was the son. He pulled away to let Darius hug me next.
I hugged my eldest and held him with a gentleness, like he might break in my grasp. They didn’t look the way I remembered, but their energy perfectly matched. I could still recognize their features behind the changes. It just took a while to accept what time had done to them both.
Darius stepped back to look at me, still smiling. “How’s Lily?”
A painful smile pulled at my lips, eyes starting to moisten. “She’s good.”
“Dad, you don’t have to be sad anymore, alright?” Tiberius said. “We lived long, happy lives. We watched our childrenhave their own children. And now that we both know what it means to be a father, we love you even more.”
“That means a lot to me.”
