Incarnations (11 page)

"And are you so sure you know what you are agreeing
to?"

"We are giving ourselves freely in order to wipe the
slate clean. Magic will be no more."

"So, you do understand, then." Caleb took two steps
down the dais toward them. "And do you also understand that I can
not guarantee you will come out alive on the other side?"

Both girls nodded in affirmation.

"Interesting. All this time, all the fight to make
sure you would land in our hands, and here you are depositing
yourselves of your own free will. Why?"

"Our reasons aren't any of your business. Are we
going to do this or what, because quite frankly, I'm getting
hungry, and your little altar boys back there are starting to look
delectable." Jaxon grinned and flashed a bit of fang that still
hadn't receded all the way back into her gums yet. A couple of the
young Brotherhood members jumped at her threat, while Caleb only
laughed.

"Since you both agree, of your own free will, please
step up on the dais and let us begin." he pointed to either side of
the altar. “I need each of you in your rightful places,” he pointed
to the side that had a tree of life with the sun shining down on it
carved into it, “light of the earth, here.” Then he pointed to the
other side with a moon etched off to the side of a darkened tree,
“darkness that falls, here.” The girls moved into their positions
without a word.

***

HUMANITY

"Moon and sun shall merge this day,

taking all our magic away

Into the nether it shall go

until he brings us into the fold.

He who walks two worlds tonight

shall be the force to end this blight"

The guard looked up from his seat outside the crazy
old man's cell and started yelling for assistance. "Hey, I need
someone here immediately. The prophet speaks!" When no one
responded, he stood and went to see what was happening. He found
his way out of the cellar and into the central room of the
fortress. There, he saw twin lights in the middle of the dais, one
a twisting of green and yellow so bright it looked as if emeralds
themselves were reflecting the sun’s light. The other was a
twisting darkness that shone with a light all its own. Both were
like nothing that man had ever encountered before or ever would
again. The lights appeared to be eating each other and growing
around each other at the same time. Shards of smaller,
multi-colored lights were being sucked into the two orbs as if they
had their own gravitational pull. Caleb was there, in the center of
it all on top of the altar, chanting as this was happening.

The guards, and all the other members of the
Brotherhood as far as he knew, had always been told that the
Brotherhood was against magic. Magic was the root of all the evils
in this world. Now, he stood there watching as the leader of their
Brotherhood, Caleb himself, was working some sort of sorcery.

The guard took off on foot, trying to put as much
distance between he and the evil wizardry as possible. That was
until the very trees in the forest surrounding the fortress seemed
to grab him up and pull him into the darkness beyond.

~*~

"How in the hell did we manage to lose them?" Seth
was yelling in the middle of the street, while still clutching the
woman who had only moments ago looked like Jaxon.

"Seth, you might want to let the nice young lady go
now, you're attracting a lot of attention." Brigid was the voice of
reason now, because Ash had already stomped off into the woods just
beyond the little town. "Maybe we need to go see what Ash is up to.
He has those Fey abilities to travel like Caislyn, maybe he can
find her."

Seth let the woman go and followed Brigid past the
buildings into the woods beyond.

"I still don't understand how they managed to slip
out from under us," Seth was grumbling as they walked up on Ash
laying on the ground.

"Shhh, can't you see I'm trying to sleep here?"

"What the hell?" Brigid was just staring at the Fey
who was sprawled across the ground looking for all the world as if
that were a good a place, and this was a good time, to take a
nap.

"I'm trying to connect with Caislyn's subconscious.
She doesn't necessarily have to be asleep, but I do." He eyed both
Seth and Brigid for a minute, "so sit down and shut up for a
minute, will you?"

Seth and Brigid both agreed to be quiet. They had
absolutely no better way to track the girls down anyway.

~*~

Jaxon and Caislyn took to the dais not knowing what
to expect, but once Caleb instructed them to hold hands, and the
chanting began, they felt raw energy channeling through them. Jaxon
was shocked by the intensity of it all and nearly dropped Caislyn's
grasp. The only thing that kept her hanging on was Caislyn. She had
a smile of pure joy on her face. After seeing that, Jaxon figured
it must not be all bad and stopped fighting the process. The minute
she gave herself over to it, she was flooded with emotion. All the
joys and pains of the humans who inhabited the earth came crashing
through her. It wasn't painful, she just recognized the emotions
for what they were. She also started feeling little bits of magic
course through her body and begin to glow outwardly around her.
Caislyn had a glow around her too. Jaxon just closed her eyes, as
she noticed Caislyn had done, and focused on the feelings that were
passing through her. She felt the light continue to grow around
her, but it no longer mattered. The world was changing, because of
them. It would soon be a better place. There was nothing more
important than what they were doing right now. That thought alone
kept Jaxon standing on that dais, channeling more energy than she
should have been capable of.

~*~

"Caislyn," the all too familiar voice called out to
her, but she couldn't focus on where it was coming from. "Caislyn,
you have to stop this. All will be lost."

Caislyn heard the voice, but the feelings that flowed
through her with the energy were pure joy and ecstasy. There
couldn't possibly be anything wrong with that. She felt the
humanity in it all, even as she felt the pull of more magic as it
washed through her and into the glowing orb that was growing around
her.

"Caislyn, please, you have to hear me. I'm not gone.
I'm here for you, honey."

"Dad?" Caislyn questioned, momentarily, and then
realized she was probably just being hit by so much energy that she
was imagining her father's voice.

"Caislyn?" The voice was fading, but she couldn't
stop what she was doing. It was for the best anyway. This way not
only would Jaxon and herself be safe from those who wanted to harm
them, but so would everyone else. Problems of the other-than-human
world would cease to exist and everything would be human and normal
from now on.

"Caislyn? Where are you, sweetheart?" This time she
recognized the voice to be Ash's, but she didn't have the ability
to respond to him. She just wished him well, and hoped that she
would see him again on the other side. Maybe when they were all
equal and no magic tricks could be employed, she would really be
able to follow her heart and figure out who she wanted to be with,
who she truly loved.

The glowing orb around her began heating up. It
wasn't an unbearable heat, but it was definitely a bit stifling.
And then everything washed away in a flashwave of heat and emotion,
giving way to a pleasant nothingness.

***

STARTING OVER

~Caislyn~

"Gregore?" Caislyn questioned as she looked up from
the blanket that was covering the ground. A picnic surrounded her,
and Gregore was standing over her smiling down.

"Yeah, Cais?"

Caislyn shook the cobwebs from her head. She wasn't
sure how she had gotten here with Gregore. She couldn't shake the
feeling that she had only moments ago been somewhere else, doing
something important. She took a sip of water from the bottle that
was in her hand. In an instant the fog cleared and she remembered
everything. Gregore had asked her to come on a picnic today to get
away from the rest of the village for a while. They were always
such busy bodies, wanting to know when the two of them were going
to finally get married. Gregore and Caislyn just wanted to enjoy
their time together without all the pressure.

"This is lovely, Greg." Caislyn smiled up at the boy
who had been in her life since her earliest memories. He was from
the next village over, but they often ran into each other down by
the river.

"You're so beautiful," Gregore said, coming to kneel
next to Caislyn. She smiled up at him, all worries about what the
rest of the week held for her were lost in the blue pools of his
eyes.

"I could drown in those eyes of yours," she found
herself whispering.

"I'd save you before you drown." Gregore placed his
hands on either side of Caislyn's face and leaned in brushing the
lightest of kisses across her forehead. "Close your eyes," he
whispered to her as he tilted her head back. Caislyn obliged him
and closed her eyes, "now relax," he said.

She felt herself give in and just relax in his arms.
Featherlight kisses were placed here and there over her face as
fingers traced her jawline. Sweet light kisses were placed on her
eyelids, then her nose, cheeks, and finally, on her mouth. The last
kiss was just a gentle brushing of lips, but it was that moment
that Caislyn stopped relaxing and started demanding more. She threw
her arms around Gregore's neck and pulled him down to her, enjoying
a much more passionate, demanding kiss.

"I love you," Gregore whispered against her lips.
Caislyn kissed him again, and then returned the sentiment.

"I love you, too, Greg!"

~Jaxon~

Jasmine sat on the wooden park bench in the
arboretum, her favorite place to go sit for lunch. She was enjoying
the unseasonably warm weather when she noticed a couple walking by.
They seemed so familiar at first that Jasmine’s hand instantly flew
up in the air to wave at them before she realized what she was
doing and put it down. Instead, she sat quietly and listened to
their conversation as they stopped to admire the blossoming tree in
front of her bench.

"I am going to see him again, you big brute. And you
won't interfere this time, Seth, I mean it."

"What are big brothers for, if not to make sure your
dates are up to a certain standard?"

"I'm not twelve anymore, you know."

Jasmine was immediately intrigued by the fact that
the pair, who she thought were a couple only moments ago, seemed to
be siblings instead.

"Well, let's just get a second opinion then, shall
we?" The man said to his sister, "excuse me miss?"

Jasmine looked around, noting that she was the only
other person nearby.

"Can I help you?" She asked.

"I certainly hope so. You see, my dear sister, here
has decided to date this guy. And I need your help convincing her
that he is all wrong for her."

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Jasmine
asked.

"Okay, here's what happened..." Seth started.

"Leave the poor girl alone, Seth, you're startling
her."

"Am I?" Seth asked, his bright green eyes shining
down on Jasmine as she tucked the rest of her lunch aside and shook
her head no. "See, she's fine." Seth said before settling in on the
bench beside Jasmine. "See, my sister here, has horrible taste in
men. She always picks the worst ones. The latest, being the jerk
who stood her up last night. And she thinks he should get another
chance."

"Did he call?"

"That's exactly what I asked, but he only time he
called was this morning, to say, 'hey babes, meet me for lunch at
2.'" Seth looked back at his sister, "where was it he wanted to
meet you? McDonalds?"

"Shoosh, Seth, he didn't want to meet me at
McDonalds, it was McTavish’s."

"At any rate, no apologies, no acknowledgement that
he missed their date last night at all. Do you think she should
really drop everything to go see him at lunch?"

"I'm hardly dropping anything, aside from you!"

Jasmine had to laugh at that, not so much at the
teasing nature Seth's sister had with him, but at the God awful
face Seth made, to feign his hurt feelings. "I am truly hurt by
that statement, Brigid."

"I think he's up to no good if he didn't even mention
not showing up to your date." Jasmine said.

"Arrggg," Brigid screeched, "you're just saying that
because my brother's charming personality won you over."

"No, I'm saying that from experience. I just got out
of a bad relationship, and it started exactly that way."

"And how did it end, with you standing him up?"
Brigid quipped.

"No, with him beating me so badly, he put me in the
hospital. Thankfully, the police were finally able to lock him
up."

"Oh, my God, I am so sorry. I didn't mean to be so
flippant," Brigid insisted.

"It's okay, you didn't know. But I would trust your
brother's instincts on this one." Jasmine smiled and then gathered
her things to leave.

"I hope we haven't run you off with our rudeness,"
Brigid said as she noticed.

"No, I have to get back to work. You would think art
would be patient, since it just hangs around all day waiting to be
admired, but my boss is less so. I'm about to be late." Jasmine
started on her way to the arboretum entrance, and Seth soon caught
up with her.

"Hey, listen, I feel bad for getting you in the
middle of that and having to tell a total stranger what happened to
you. Could I make it up to you over coffee?"

"Umm, I'm not so sure..." Jasmine hesitated, and then
didn't say anything else as she continued walking.

"At least let me make sure you get back to work
okay?" He smiled back at his sister, "Brigid will be standing guard
behind us in case anything happens, we can duck and run while she
takes care of the bad guys."