12. Varyx
VARYX
T he days passed, and my feelings for Lena grew ever stronger, the bond between us undeniable.
Many of the activities the resort offered seemed meaningless to me until I did them with her.
Watching Lena on the beach, sharing a drink with her, dancing under the nebula-filled sky—all involved her, and anything that involved her was a joy.
But there was no putting off the end. I felt the pressure of the Void growing, and the Gate creaked under the strain. It was stronger than it had any right to be, building faster than I could explain.
I did my best to contain the Void, spending hours at the Gate absorbing as much void energy as possible. It wasn’t enough, but I slowed the process. Selfishly, I delighted in wringing a few more days with Lena from the uncaring universe.
They would be the last days I would have with her, and perhaps my last days ever. If the Gate failed, my islands would dissolve into primordial nothingness, and I would go with them.
Abandoning my post was not an option. It was too dangerous for Lena to stay.
“What’s wrong?” Lena asked on the fourth day, catching me staring at the cliffs. We lay on the warm sand, her soft body resting against my hard muscles. “And don’t tell me ‘nothing,’ you’ve been distracted all day.”
I sighed, turning my attention back to her. “Pressure on the Void Gate is growing faster than I expected. I fear I may need to spend more time there.”
She sat up, turning to look at me. We lay together on the beach, the afternoon sun’s golden light bathing us in its warm glow in a moment I wished could last forever. I knew it could not.
“What are you protecting us from, anyway?”
I chuckled at the bleak humor of her question. “Nothing.”
Her annoyed sound of protest was all it took to make me relent. “I am not teasing. Not much, anyway. This island, this entire world, hangs in the Void, and the Void wishes to reclaim all it touches. If I leave, the Void will undo everything, and I cannot permit that.”
“Why not?” Lena frowned, taking my hand in hers. The touch was electric, lighting up my soul with a pulse of flame and almost driving her words from my mind. “If this place only exists temporarily anyway, what difference does it make? As long as you get everyone else out first, where’s the harm?”
“You are too clever for your own good.” I squeezed her hand as I spoke, hoping to take any sting out of my words. “Of course, nothing is that simple.”
Perhaps she will take that as the answer she needs, I thought, though I doubted it. Sure enough, the passion that both drew me to her and aggravated me kept her thinking. Nothing less than the complete truth would satisfy my Lena.
“If you wish it, I will tell you. You will not like my answer, though.”
“Fuck that. I want to understand what’s holding you here, what’s more important than being with me.” She grinned, but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. They shone in the fading light, wet with tears she refused to shed.
“I am a creature of the Void myself,” I told her, reluctantly accepting her need to understand.
“Nothing is more important to me than you, but if we leave, we won’t have long together.
The Void would consume this world, and without its energy, I’d fade and die.
Or worse, it might follow me into whatever world we were on. ”
“No,” she said firmly, as though certain that if she denied my words with enough conviction, the universe was bound to follow. My heart swelled at the simple, fierce desire to spare me my fate and damn any consequences. “I don’t accept that, even if you do. There must be something I can do.”
“Can you learn why the Void is so active? This shouldn’t happen unless someone draws power from it.
” I looked toward my mountain home and frowned.
“If I knew why, I might be able to reverse it. Or, I suppose, a sufficiently learned witch or sorcerer might reseal the Gate. I don’t know anyone that powerful, though.
Even the sorcerer who created it lacked that skill.
But you said you have witchery in your family? ”
“My aunt, yeah, but I’m pretty sure she’s not on that level,” Lena said with a sad smile. “I doubt I’ve got time to fetch her, anyway.”
Shaking my head, I replied. “I should have learned sorcery myself, but until you arrived, it hardly mattered. I had my home, I had occasional visitors for company, and I wanted for nothing. Then you came along and spoiled it all.”
This time her smile reached her eyes, shining through the tears. “I guess I should apologize for being too perfect, then.”
“Hah! Yes, I can blame it all on you.”
We shared a laugh, muted but genuine, and did our best to turn our attention to happier things.