15-4. Back to Earth

Sara was far from ready.

Elijah watched with mingled amusement and annoyance as she darted from one side of her suite to the other, gathering clothes, packages, and even small parcels of food. When Elijah asked about the latter, she admonished him that one should always remain prepared for all potential situations.

Given the number of times he’d been stranded in hostile environments where food wasn’t readily available, Elijah could only agree with that assessment. Still, he wished she had taken care of some of it the night before.

“Sara.”

“What?” she asked, looking up from a massive chest she’d been struggling to close. She exhaled, blowing a strand of golden hair out of her face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you really need your entire wardrobe?”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t. That’s the answer you’re looking for.”

“How do you know that? We might be there for a year,” she pointed out. “What if there’s a ball attend? Or a tower run? Or a safari?”

“There are clothes and equipment on Earth,” Elijah answered. “If one of those unlikely situations crops up, you can get whatever you need there.”

She shook her head. “That’s not happening,” Sara responded primly. Then, she leaped onto the chest, trying to pummel it into submission. Strangely enough, it worked, and the automatic straps latched, pulling it closed.

Sara looked up, pushing her hair out of her face as she said, “See? Told you it would fit.”

“The real question is what you’re going to do with it now,” he responded. The suitcase was bigger than she was, and it was only one of a half dozen. Elijah had room in his Arcane Loop, but he refused to use it frivolously. Besides, he had more than a dozen sacks of various coffee cherries inside, and they were currently taking up the majority of his spare space.

“Don’t we have Porters going with us?”

“We do not.”

“Bodyguards?”

“Nope. And if we did, they wouldn’t be carrying your bags. They’d be guarding your body.”

A look of pure panic crossed her face. “You mean I have to carry all of this myself?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Elijah answered.

She glanced toward the pile of luggage, then back at Elijah. That motion repeated, the horror of it all slowly creeping into her expression. Elijah wasn’t certain if that came from the fact that she was probably going to have to leave some of it behind, or if she’d finally come to understand that she was leaving her privileged creature comforts in the Empire of Scale. But whatever the case, he had trouble not laughing aloud at her minor existential crisis.

Then, Sara frowned, setting her jaw in a parody of determination.

“Well. Fine. I’ll just have to be more selective,” she said airily. As if she hadn’t just verged on a panic attack.

What followed was a whirlwind of activity as she pared her luggage down to two cases. Normally, that wouldn’t be enough, but both were spatially enchanted to hold the contents of a large closet. So, Elijah figured she would have plenty of supplies. Or clothes. Or little stuffed animals she’d tried to hide from him.

In any case, it was midday before she was ready to depart.

That was when Kirlissa showed up, partially to bid her children goodbye, but mostly to remind them that they were on a schedule. “One year. If you do not return by then, I will be forced to fetch you both.”

Her tone left little doubt that that would be an unpleasant experience for them.

“We’ll be back in time,” Elijah assured her.

Then, Kirlissa hugged him tightly. Often, the dragon came off a little cold, largely because she was millions of years old. Or something like that. Elijah had never gotten an accurate count. But that age – and her level of power – tended to isolate her from everyone else. So, the warmth of the gesture came as something of a surprise.

It almost felt like being hugged by his real mother.

“Be careful,” she half-whispered into his ear. “I have big plans for you.”

Elijah assured her that he would be as careful as the situation allowed, and after giving him a narrow-eyed look, she moved on to her daughter. Sara received her hug much more enthusiastically than Elijah had, and she promised to be careful as well.

“No getting caught by cultists.”

“I know,” Sara said, rolling her eyes.

“I mean, you didn’t exactly mean to get caught before, right?” Elijah asked.

She glared at him. “I said I’d be careful. Besides, your planet’s safe, right?”

Elijah raised one arm and tilted his hand back and forth. “Eh. Safe’s a relative term.”

“I will be fine,” she insisted.

Kirlissa cut in. “Stay on the island until Elijah tells you it’s safe.”

“Ugh. Okay.”

Then, she put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and said, “This is a good opportunity for you. Listen. Learn. See how they do things in other cities. On other worlds. Some of that insight could prove invaluable once you begin to manage a city of your own.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelPhoenix; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I know, mom. That’s why I’m going.”

“Just so.” Then, Kirlissa glanced at Elijah. “Take care of her.”

“I will.”

With that, the goodbyes came to a close. Kirlissa walked them out of the palace – with Sara struggling to carry her luggage. Not because it was too heavy, but rather because the crates proved an awkward burden.

Out of pity, Elijah offered to help, but Sara refused. It might’ve had something to do with the fact that he was struggling to contain a laugh. Or that he let her struggle for most of the trek through the palace.

“Oh no. I’ve got it.”

“Good,” came a low voice. “A true Warrior should carry her own bags.”

“Hey, Mano,” Elijah said, glancing at the giant dragon. The world flexed under the combined presence of his halberd and the reality of his power. “Bodyguard?”

“Until we reach the circle, yes. After that, you are on your own.”

“I’m not a Warrior, by the way,” Sara insisted.

“Everyone is a Warrior, even if they’re not,” Mano countered.

“That makes no sense, you big idiot.”

“Wisdom will come with age,” was his sage response.

She huffed, then charged ahead, nearly tipping over when she turned a corner. She managed to keep her balance and stomp away.

Mano chuckled. “Too easy.”

Together, they followed the angry girl through the palace and out into the moon. Unlike Elijah and Mano, Sara required a bit of help to survive the atmosphere outside the grounds. So, she’d equipped a ring meant to do the trick. “Not my first time on the moon, boys,” she said with a grin as she passed the boundary. Her confidence wavered as the chill of the lunar air sent a shiver through her. She pretended not to notice.

Meanwhile, Elijah and Mano followed. However, the big dragon’s demeanor shifted from subtle amusement to unerring focus the second they left the palace behind. Despite the fact that an attack was unlikely, he took his job as a bodyguard very seriously.

Thankfully, his intervention was unnecessary, and a few days later, they reached their destination. By that point, Sara was frazzled beyond reckoning, and she’d spent most of the last two hours complaining.

Mano and Elijah ignored her.

Then, the Circle of Victory came into view, and Sara let out a gasp of surprise.

Her awe was warranted.

The Circle of Victory was surrounded by an oasis, the greens, reds, and yellows that came from flowering plants and healthy grass. Even Mano appreciated it, evidenced by his slightly wider eyes and subtle look of contentment.

Sara forgot her annoyance when she saw the trilithons, and she dropped her luggage on approach. As she eagerly inspected each one, Elijah grabbed the cases and followed in her footsteps.

“In the abyss, it is easy to forget that such beauty can exist,” Mano said quietly.

“I miss the purple rivers in the sky,” Elijah admitted. Indeed, that was what he thought of when he remembered Gorveth. Treebie’s branches dancing in the wind, violet streams of corruption streaking across the atmosphere, and a blanket of vitality smothering the abyssal nature of the planet.

“I’m not talking about the environment.”

“Oh.”

Elijah glanced toward his adopted brother, and he watched Mano’s eyes following their exuberant sister’s awe-filled enthusiasm for the world around her.

“A child sees the world with such innocence that they can appreciate it for what it is. No death or destruction. No battle between good and evil. They only see the pretty flowers. She only sees that,” Mano remarked. “There is beauty in that, Elijah. It is worth protecting.”

“I agree.”

“Good. I will not be pleased if something happens to my sister on your planet. Protect her innocence for as long as you can.”

Elijah nodded. He didn’t believe that Sara was nearly as innocent as Mano seemed to think. After all, she’d seen the nastier side of civilization on at least two occasions. Once, when she’d been abducted by a desperate gnome Berserker and nearly drained by the Cult of the Devourer. And again when Cyran turned a sparring match into a statement on vulnerability.

Sara looked back at them. “Coming? I thought we were in a hurry!”

With Mano following, Elijah entered the oasis, and the second he did, he let out a sigh of relief. “It almost feels like coming home.”

Of course, he expected his return to the Hartwood Grove to be much more impactful. Not only was it just as ethereally dense, but it was also far more vital than anything he could create in short order. The thought did elicit some concern as to how his island would compare to Esik, though.

Only one way to find out.

Over the next few minutes, Elijah and Mano followed Sara as she enthusiastically reenacted some of the scenes carved into the trilithons. She even had sound effects, though they were nothing like the real thing. More like something one would expect from a cartoon.

She stopped and stared when she reached the section dedicated to Kaela, though. A wave of sadness infected her expression, but only for a few moments before she admitted, “I talked to her, you know. Or she sent me a few messages, at least.”

“What did she say?”

Sara shook her head. “Nothing good. Her parents are making her get to deity as quickly as possible. No waiting for a good Legacy. No time spent for cultivation. She thinks they’re going to send her to the front lines as soon as she can survive the abyssal atmosphere.”

“Oh.”

Elijah knew good and well what that meant. He’d probably never see Kaela again, and if he did, it wouldn’t be for decades. Maybe centuries. And that was assuming she survived. Most deities – especially fresh ones – didn’t.

“That is stupid,” said Mano. “She can’t do anything worthwhile at that level.”

“That’s not the point,” Elijah muttered.

“They’re sending her there to die. Or to get her out of the way,” Sara added. “She’s a black mark on their reputation, and they just want people to forget that she exists. Maybe she can survive. Maybe she can make a name for herself on the frontier. Others have done it. But for now? This is exile.”

“Such a waste, and for what?” Mano growled.

“Reputation,” Sara answered.

Elijah’s shoulders slumped. He knew the history that led to draconic culture, but that didn’t mean he accepted it. Nor did he believe it was a monolith. Mano and Sara were evidence of that, and he hoped that, one day, things might change. Not in time to save Kaela from her fate, but perhaps someone else would benefit from a shift.

Not that Elijah was powerful or influential enough to lead the charge. Nor was that his priority. As much as he cared about Kaela, as intense as their bond had become, it was too fleeting to prompt everlasting change. Already, it had begun to fade. Not the memories. Those would remain for a while longer. But the emotions had dulled enough that he would no longer be controlled by them.

One day – perhaps sooner, rather than later – he would cease to think about her at all, save in very rare circumstances.

“Such a loss,” Elijah agreed.

Then, he left Sara and Mano behind as he approached the ancestral tree at the center of the dolmen. Its presence was comforting in a way that no person ever could be. After setting Sara’s bags at the base of the trunk, he rested his hand against the warm bark. Sighing, he injected a sliver of his soul into the tree.

And he was rewarded with a sense of contentment, novelty, and optimism. Appropriate, for a baby tree.

It helped soothe his own spirit.

When he broke away, he found Sara and Mano waiting for him.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

Sara nodded.

Mano clapped his huge hand on Elijah’s shoulder and said, “Be well, brother. May your allies be shielded and your path beset by enemies to whet your blade.”

“I hope you have fun too,” Elijah responded.

Then, he cast Root Nexus, focusing on the portion of the spell that would open a portal back to the Grove. The spell took almost ten seconds to cast, but when it completed, a gate composed of roots and branches had grown from the ground. Flowers bloomed along the curve of its arching crown, filling the air with the sweet smell of lilacs.

Elijah gestured. “After you,” he told Sara.

She grabbed her cases, then wobbled forward. “This is going to be so cool,” she said before stepping through.

Elijah followed, hoping she was right. But one thing was certain – he was ready for home.