4. Last Immortal Standing #2
“It’s so easy for you to say that when you’re on the right side of that future divide!” Eyros began to pace, his robes flaring out behind him.
Seeing Eyros’ distress, Fiona said, “Perhaps Eyros is right–”
“I am right!”
Fiona grimaced, “And the glow is somehow not important, maybe it’s best we try with the Skye gate and see what happens.”
“Fifi, it is too dangerous and uncertain for you to go to Skye and attempt to turn back time,” Charlie said. “People will be in Skye that will be murderous to you. And your powers are not working as they should. If we went to Solace and spoke to Seeyr, she–”
“She could tell me how to use my power!” Fiona’s eyes burned brightly as she realized his point.
“Exactly. She will know,” Charlie nodded. “This is one of those points in time that is crucial for everything to go how it should so she will understand what we need to do. The glow is to get our attention.”
But her enthusiasm faded as he spoke, “But we’d have to–to get past the Kalys again.”
“Yes, but we did that once already in Lasting. I don’t think these new slices will be in Solace,” Charlie guessed, “as we know the old ones are definitely there. The old Artemis likely is. The more complete one.”
“If only we could have you jam him into a soul gem,” Fiona muttered.
Charlie let out a laugh. “Yes, yes, well, I have a feeling I only got away with that because he was a slice of a slice. I wouldn’t want to go up against one of the more complete slices.”
“So we’d have to sneak down to Seeyr then?
She’s in the basement dungeon of the Spire.
That’s bound to be heavily guarded. The most heavily guarded,” Fiona objected.
She raked her lips over her lower lip again, before saying, “But more than that, we’d have to leave her behind even if we were to get to her. ”
“Yes,” Charlie nodded. “We would. Her fate is to remain there.”
Fiona’s hands came together in front of her body and she wrapped her fingers together. “But we know what’s going to happen to her–”
“And so does she,” Charlie said solemnly.
“You are all very eager to see those of us still here pass away or face our fates,” Eyros grumbled.
“No, Eyros. None of us want this,” Fiona told him.
“So why do the two of you think that going to Solace–talking to Seeyr of all people–would be the best solution rather than just working it out? Like you did when you turned back time to help Ashyr?” Eyros asked.
“Even if there was no such danger in going to Skye, the truth is that we could be here for a long time while she figures out what to do,” Charlie pointed out. “And I don’t know if we have time for that.”
“On the contrary, all you have is time,” Eyros said. “Ages of it. Eons of it. Oceans of it. From what I can tell from your minds anyways. The future is a long way off.”
“You shouldn’t be looking into our minds and seeing the future, Eyros!” Fiona had spun to face him and put his hands on his hips.
“Why not?” Eyros lifted an eyebrow at her.
“Because!” she sputtered. “Because it’s the future! Your future! And you could mess it up!”
“Could I?” The eyebrow lifted higher. “You mean I don’t have to die and have Elgar cradle my head for millennia?
I don’t have to become human and be turned by a Kaly slice?
I don’t have to be tortured by him for ages?
I don’t have to be exiled? You mean those things I could mess up? I could change them?”
Fiona’s hands fisted. “Eyros, the future is good.”
“But there’s a lot of the getting there that is bad,” Eyros pointed out. “And a lot of us have to pay for this future goodness.”
Fiona pinched the top of her nose. “Yes, as there is always risk in life.”
“Perhaps we can get to that good part without me suffering, without Elgar suffering,” Eyros said.
“There isn’t. You know there isn’t!” Fiona’s arms flew up and back down.
“I don’t actually know that at all. All I know is what you know. But you’ve traveled back in time. And I am able to read your minds. So maybe it can be changed. I can anticipate what’s going to come and avoid it.” Eyros’ silver eyes narrowed speculatively. “Maybe I can survive–”
“You do! You’re reborn!” Fiona cried.
“But I’m not me.” Eyros touched his chest. “This person I see in your mind is not me. Cats? Friends with Kaly? Afraid of–”
“You?” Charlie said quietly.
“Yes, supposedly afraid of myself! What sort of person have I become that I am afraid of myself? It’s absurd!” Eyros scoffed. “Such a being does not deserve to exist. I deserve to exist. I should exist in this paradise you speak of. I should–”
“No! Eyros, no!” Fiona frantically shook her head. “The future is good! It needs to be protected!”
“The future will be! In fact, it will be better protected if Roan doesn’t get to form a House that he tortures,” Eyros said.
“Better for me to be there in the future to keep Julian Harrow and Christian Thorn safe rather than this bungling version of me that you seem so fond of. I absolutely would do it better–”
“No! No, you wouldn’t!” Fiona hissed.
Fiona and Eyros’ faces were now six inches apart. Fangs were bared. Silver eyes sparking.
“There is so much wrong in what you just said!” Fiona was trembling.
“Not the least of which is your description of yourself!
Balthazar is the only one who can do what is needed for this future to come about.
I know what you go through is hard. We all went through hard things, but it's those things that have changed and shaped us–”
“You hated Balthazar! You didn’t lift a finger when he was exiled! But now he’s the end-all, be-all? Please, Wyvern! It’s pathetic for you to say that–”
“I didn’t hate him. I was jealous.” She touched her chest. “By Arcius’ love for him and willingness to go against his principles.
At least, that’s what I thought, but later I realized that helping Balthazar, standing by his side when things were so dire, was exactly Arcius holding onto his principles.
The experiences you go through as Balthazar will shape you in ways you cannot understand right now–”
Eyros’ eyes blazed as he growled, “You say that just because your future can’t be salvaged–”
“And whose fault is that, Eyros?” she snapped.
Eyros paled as if he realized then what he likely shouldn’t have long ago. He could read minds after all. “I…”
He didn’t wish to know. He hoped for it to be otherwise. But now… now he knows that she knows.
“Whose fault is that?” Her voice dropped low. “You think I don’t know? You think I don’t know what you did? What role you played in my Second Death, Eyros?”
Eyros took a step back, retreating from her. She didn’t seem angry exactly. More like Eyros was behaving exactly as she had always thought he would. And likely it confirmed what she already knew about Balthazar too: that Balthazar was the better Immortal.
“You think I need to read your mind to see the guilt written so large there that it could be seen from space?” Fiona shook her head
“You don’t remember–”
“I don’t have to remember! I know!” She let out a bitter laugh. “I know you did it. I know you killed me. I know it.”
Eyros looked like he was going to faint.
“And the thing is, that I would spare Balthazar this knowledge. I don’t want him to know what you did,” Fiona let out a watery laugh and shook her head. “Because it would break his heart. But yours? Yours… I don’t know.”
“Everyone…” Eyros began then stopped and swallowed. “Everyone did bad things, Fiona. Things that they regret. Things…”
“Now, you call me Fiona,” she let out another watery laugh and wiped tears away. “Now you do.”
“What do you want from me?” Eyros asked her. “An apology? An explanation? A–”
“Nothing.” She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “You’re still playing games.
You’re still thinking only of yourself. Oh, yes, Elgar is in there somewhere, but it is a far second to what is going to happen to the great Eyros in all that concern about the future!
It’s funny, but it’s what I used to think about Balthazar.
But when he was exiled after enduring the gods know what from Roan, he did everything to keep his people safe. ”
“I’m doing that now!” Eyros pounded his chest with one hand. “I cannot keep my people safe if I am dead!”
“Your people survive without you. The War is over once the Immortals are all gone, hidden or imprisoned. Kaly forges the Vampire world anew until Daemon returns,” she reminded him. “You’re the only one left they need to deal with, Eyros. You’re the last Immortal standing.”