Chapter 4 PastFuture
Past Or Future
Declan was falling into darkness. Even his night vision couldn’t pierce the velvety blackness that filled the crater.
Wind whistled past him, blowing back his jacket and hood.
His arms were spread wide. His legs were, too.
He had taken on the position of a skydiver, except that he didn’t have a parachute.
When he hit the bottom, he was going to hit hard.
If he had the great magic Vex claimed he did, he should be able to slow his fall or stop it altogether or, better yet, fly.
But no magic bloomed in his chest despite his desperate wish for it to.
Just like at the Venomthorn, magic was beyond him.
He continued to fall.
He was going to die.
He had jumped because he believed he was going to die anyway.
He’d hoped that the crater curved in sooner than it evidently did so that he could slide down to the bottom.
A few bumps and bruises, maybe even a couple of broken bones, but he’d live and he’d hobble away as fast as he could.
But he could not see the bottom and when he did.
.. He didn’t want it to come. He wanted to live. His friends… his found family… Aquilan…
Aquilan…
His eyes closed. He swore he could feel the Sun King near.
His warmth. His smile. His laugh. The sound of his voice.
The way he looked at Declan as if everything Declan did secretly delighted him.
The strength of his arms. If only Declan could feel those arms around him now…
cradling him… holding him… keeping him from death…
The whistling in his ears dipped in volume.
The wind was slowing.
No.
Not the wind.
He was slowing.
Something cold flowed around him. It felt as if he was being held in a giant’s hand.
He had been facing downwards–a swan dive of death–but he was suddenly standing upright.
He opened his eyes and blinked. He was no longer falling.
He was held aloft. Levitating in place for a moment, but then he was slowly lowered to the ground.
His boots softly touched the stone floor of the crater.
Without thought, Ardreth was in his right hand and he was swinging around to face his father.
But Vex was not there.
He had not come after Declan.
He craned his head as far back as he could to catch sight of the Night King still poised at the very edge of the crater. And indeed, a silhouette of Vex–black against the red of the magma waterfall–was there.
Rahven, the voice in his mind again.
He trembled. Adrenaline made him feel like a live wire. Death had caressed him. But he was still alive. There was still hope.
Father.
They stared at one another across this great dark gulf.
Declan felt nothing over their mental connection from Vex.
No anger like before. No grief either. And certainly no love.
There was simply nothing there, but emptiness.
Was Vex hiding his emotions or did he simply not have any?
The Kindreth had seemed so emotional before that seemed unlikely.
So it meant he was cutting Declan out of his emotional side.
Did you save me, Father?
Why had he asked that? Did he hope it was so? It seemed the only explanation. Unless Aquilan had somehow sensed the danger he was in and reached out… but no. The Sun King was near, but not that near. It was almost like Aquilan was facing away from him. His whole attention elsewhere.
So it had to have been Vex.
Perhaps, Vex answered softly. Or perhaps you saved yourself. He sounded almost tired. Weary.
With my magic? The magic I don’t have? Declan let out a bitter laugh.
You are my son, Rahven. I can assure you that you have magic. Great magic. Greater than the world has even known… other than me, his father answered.
Perhaps that is true. But I do not know how to use it, Declan answered.
In time you will. But somehow there was a threat in those words.
Will you give me that time?
I do not know.
Why do you want to kill me? I’m no threat to you! Not now and not even ‘in time’, Declan asserted forcefully. I don’t want your throne! I want nothing at all from you! If you had not sought me out, I would never have known whose son I was!
That was true. And it was also true that he didn’t even want answers any longer. They didn’t seem important. If Ashryn was dead… Well, there was nothing left of that prior life that he cared to know or remember or connect to.
And Vex?
Declan couldn’t feel anything about the Night King.
He was a stranger who evidently was considering killing him.
Not exactly the father-type figure anyone would want.
When Declan thought of a father, he thought of two men: Tyler Wilde and Michael Baston.
Tyler had raised him, loved him, and, perhaps, died for him.
Michael had opened his house and heart to Declan, had taken him under his wing and offered all the guidance that Declan needed to be a good person.
He did not need Xelroth Vex. He did not want Xelroth Vex. Not the version he had found here.
There was a sigh or maybe it was just the wind. Some would say your very existence is a threat to me, Rahven.
Only if you choose to believe that! Declan shot back.
Why did someone as powerful as Vex care about what anyone else thought?
There was truth and there were falsities.
And he was not a threat to Vex unless Vex was a threat to him.
Perhaps not even then. Their brief “dance” had told him that his father was stronger and more skilled with a blade than he was.
And that didn’t even get into the fact that Vex had magic.
Magic that could vaporize him where he stood. What threat could he possibly pose?
You make it sound so simple, Vex sighed again, but there was a sense of… wanting to be convinced. Maybe. But you are young–
Or perhaps the fault lies with you, Declan sent.
There was a long silence before Vex asked, softly and perhaps dangerously, How do you come to that conclusion?
Declan swallowed. He knew he was going to be walking a dangerous line if he said what he truly thought. But lies were useless with Vex. And besides, his father would know anyway. These might be his last moments of life. And Declan would not be scared off from standing straight during them.
He spoke simply, which was the best he could do.
By your own words, you have told me that Ashryn hid me from you, because she believed you would kill me simply because I existed, he said, recalling the story Vex had just told him very clearly.
She loved you, but she planned a coup against you not to take your throne, but to save my life.
That is the theory, Vex breathed.
It is what you believe, right?
Yes, it is, his father admitted.
Declan licked his lips and swallowed deeply once more. Then there is only one conclusion.
I’m fascinated to hear it, Vex replied dryly.
I think you already know it. I think the rage I felt from you earlier is not directed at me or at her betrayal, but at yourself, Declan forged on.
Such a tale you tell, Rahven! I am most intrigued! But though his words were cutting, Declan felt something from the Night King again. Worry and pain.
He was right. Vex did blame himself for what had happened to Ashryn.
Another swallow and Declan answered, If only you had been a different person or allowed yourself to think differently, she… she would be alive today.
He felt a pulse of something–definitely pain–over his connection to Vex.
He awaited angry denials or perhaps a fireball sent at his head.
But his father did not contradict him. The connection between them was tightly controlled again and Vex’s emotions were not leaking through, but he knew his father was still listening to him. Listening intently.
I do not know how she died. I know that I did not kill her. But I think… I think you did, Declan whispered.
You dare say that?! Vex’s figure seemed to grow larger. Blacker. Were there wings appearing behind him?
But Declan did not stop despite knowing he was in the most danger now that he had ever been.
She only did what she did, because of fear of you.
If she could have trusted you, told you the truth about her pregnancy, about her desire to keep me…
Everything that happened was because of you, Father. You know this.
Vex was silent. The silhouette was still.
The wings–or whatever they were–fluttered, but the figure did not swoop down to attack him.
He supposed if Vex wanted to kill him, the Night King could do so from this distance anyway.
Probably without even lifting a finger. But, unlike Ashryn, Declan would not act out of fear of Xelroth Vex.
When there was no answer seemingly forthcoming, Declan realized that what happened next was, in a way, up to him. At least, what he did next.
I am going to find my friends. I am going to get them safely home, Declan told his father as he hefted Ardreth.
The sword could open a rift back to Earth.
I have nothing against you. I want nothing from you.
Leave me alone and I will leave you alone.
Forget about me. Let me live my life as Declan Wilde.
Prince Rahven Vaeduzor Zinsadoral Vex never existed.
He was only ever a dream… Someone else’s dream. Not mine.
He did not wait to see if Vex would say or do anything in response to his declaration.
He turned on his heel and headed in the opposite direction of the Night King, the direction he had sensed Aquilan in.
His shoulders were tense, even as he allowed Ardreth to become a tattoo along his spine once more, as he awaited a killing blow.
But it did not come.