Chapter 121 #2
Calling forth Destruction was like reuniting with a long-lost lover, and I nearly wept as I released my hold on it, forcing it into the ground beneath my fingertips.
I groaned at the sensation; ecstasy closely entwined with agony as the original Destruction Magic flooded my veins to innervate Meru. It was like a never-ending torrent of power, and I could feel my soul shredding, thin wisps of it detaching completely to follow the flood of Destruction.
Multiple times, I tried to cut off the release of power, to remove my hands from Meru’s soil, but something cemented me in place, refusing to release its grip on my magic.
I cried then, tears streaming down my face to drop to the dry earth below until I was flayed open, my insides exposed to the cosmos.
Pain quickly followed Destruction, attaching itself to the end of the ashes and embers.
Where Destruction ripped my soul apart, Pain flooded my being with an agony so intense, I lost consciousness. Blackness consumed me as I floated in a river of the oily magic, demons and nightmares consuming my essence until I was certain I’d drift away forever.
But in the river of darkness, a bright light pulsated as a pinprick in the distance. It grew steadily larger, consuming the purple viscous liquid until it burned away completely, and I was consumed once more.
Light and pleasure like I’d never known invigorated my thoughts, causing uncontrollable giggles and a nearly indescribable urge to touch myself, to pleasure my physical form as my magic pleasured Meru.
Groaning and writhing, the desire took nearly a painful edge as I shut my eyes against the pounding light. Lust, thick and cloying, filled my lungs and made my movements sluggish as I fought against the torrent of emotions.
When I was certain I’d die from the Pleasure coursing through my veins, it began to wane incrementally, then all at once, leaving me cold and bereft once more.
I came back to my physical form, then, my eyes opening on a gasp as I saw the magic no longer writhing in the clouds. Instead, millions of crystalized droplets froze in the clear sky, each the color of an Original Magic.
Cautiously, mouth open in abandoned awe, I turned to regard Torin. Unsurprisingly, his eyes were already fixed on me, a similar look of wonder etched in his face.
“I have Water remaining,” he croaked, clearly having fought as hard as me as we released our magic back into Meru.
“Creation,” I whispered.
A breeze started then, whipping my hair and caressing my skin as I closed my eyes to simply feel it.
“Create,” the wind whispered. “Heal the earth. Bring the rain.”
I felt the command deep within my bones, as if the words were etched upon my soul from the moment I was born.
With a cry of desperation, I tugged at the magic within my chest, pulling it away from my soul and deep into my veins. The power of Creation rushed through my blood, and I pushed it deep within Meru’s soil with every ounce of energy remaining.
I felt rather than saw Torin do the same with his Water Magic. Immediately, the pressure in the air abated, and the wind died with a satisfied sigh.
Cracking my eyes open, I gazed at the sky just as a drop of water hit my exposed skin. I flinched, surprised to see I was able to withdraw my hands from the ground.
Searching deep inside my soul, I still felt four wells of power, though they were considerably less bright and much shallower than before.
I felt right. Whole. Like the deepest wells were never meant to belong to me—that I’d borrowed them for a time and was finally able to give them back to their rightful master.
Meru agreed, a rumble of thunder accompanying the pounding rain as the godly plane was revived once more.
Torin crawled across the ground until we were shoulder to shoulder. He reached out an arm and pulled me desperately to his side, nuzzling his face into my neck as we watched Meru heal.
Green returned, the once-cracked landscape now teeming with life.
The forest that was once sticks and calcified trunks shed its disease and flourished once more.
The sky brightened to reveal stars and constellations I’d never seen before.
I gasped at the changes; at the beasts of legend that seemed to appear from nowhere, at the mountain as it healed, at the lake at the mountain’s base that filled with water so crystal it was nearly translucent.
“Well done, my Children,” Fate remarked with a rumble that I felt in the ground. The enigmatic immortal being was nowhere to be found, and I released a breath I didn’t realize I’d held.
I’d had enough of Fate for the rest of my lifetime.
“Stay for as long as you need, my Children. Once you leave this place, you will not come back. Meru is healed, Elyria is safe, the magic is repaired. You have earned your rest, godlings. Thank you.”
His words hung in the air that was simultaneously cold and warm. Like the afternoon of a spring day as it bleeds into early summer.
With a sigh, I placed my palm on Torin’s leg, both of us silent as we basked in the beauty of Meru and remembered the sacrifices made to make it so.
“Where to now?” Torin asked after a time, pressing a delicate kiss behind my ear. I shivered at the contact, yet was still unable to pull my eyes from the nearly unbelievable scene.
“Home,” I said.
“And where is that, El?”
I paused, lost in thought, my nails lightly scratching Torin’s beard.
“Wherever you are,” I admitted softly. “Perhaps a place that needs to be healed like this. A place where we can simply be, can rest. A place with no more heartbreak, no more war. A home so far away from everything that it feels like we’re here—in another realm entirely. ”
“A place where you can have that goat you asked for?” he teased lightly.
I laughed long and loud at that—pleased that he remembered an offhanded drunken admittance.
“Yes. And a goat,” I conceded, my body still vibrating with mirth.
“Sounds like a dream,” Torin whispered against my skin, peppering it with kisses once more.
It did. But, for the first time ever, it felt obtainable.
There, surrounded by a world teeming with new life while the stench of death still clung to my skin, I celebrated with my husband, our bodies singing a symphony only we could hear, and desperately clung to the hope of my dreams.
After all, Torin was once just that.