by Jaci Miller
“Can’t wait to see how she reacts to your binding.” He exclaimed, a chuckle filling the gardens.
“Maybe you should just keep that to yourself for now,” Rafe warned, stressing his words with a stern look.
Brannon pouted but agreed to let Rafe and Dane be the ones to tell her.
She wondered silently how Rafe’s sister was going to react to a woman coming so dramatically into her brother’s life, especially when she brings the Second Rising with her.
“I think I will go have another look at the Book of Realms,” she said, shooing Farrimore from her shoulder and standing up.
“I’ll come with you,” he responded, looking at Brannon and winking.
“And I will take a long walk around the barracks,” Brannon responded, calling for Farrimore to follow as he sauntered outside, the setting sun’s rays painting the evening sky with oranges, pinks, and purples.
Rafe grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a deep sensual kiss, his tongue exploring her mouth, his touch igniting her skin. “Shall we look at the book later?” He asked, his voice husky with desire.
She smirked and rolled her eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Scooping her up into his strong arms, he carried her down the corridor into his bedroom.
An hour later, wrapped in a bedsheet, she sat at the small desk leafing through the pages of the book looking for anything that could help them find the others. Carefully, she turned the pages, the fragile parchment crinkling in displeasure as their crumbling edges scattered dusty pieces over the table top.
“There,” said Rafe over her shoulder, pointing to the page she had just flipped to.
Written in an ancient script was a paragraph that detailed how the celestial would rise. It stated that she would appear as a harbinger of the future and a messenger from the past. She would be born of the ether to create balance and stability between the ancient powers. She would join with others, those who share a destiny. Her knowledge would guide them and together they would deliver fate upon the new world.
She gaped at the paragraph, shaking her head in exasperation and flipping through the next few pages looking for any other information that may help them in their search for the celestial and the other Arcanists.
“That makes us look like we are out to destroy the world?” She said pointing to the last line of the paragraph. “Why does this book consistently refer to us as evil?”
Picking up the massive tome, she shook it in frustration. “Show us something. Anything!”
The metal spine creaked, and the pages rustled as suddenly a folded piece of paper fell from its depths. She stopped shaking the book, watching as it floated softly to the floor. Placing the Book of Realms back on the desk, she picked up the paper from where it had landed. Rafe’s name was printed in bold black letters on the front.
“It’s for you,” she said, holding out the folded paper toward him.
He looked at the black ink scrawled across its face, recognizing Seri’s handwriting immediately. Taking the piece of paper from her, he read it.
My dearest Rafe,
I will no longer be of physical form when you read this, but you need to be prepared for what is coming. I had a vision before my transcendence back into the ether, a vision about your future. Your destiny as a great warrior has yet to commence for your greatest battle lies in a future that does not yet exist. The time of mankind is where your destiny unfolds, in the new world known to us now as Earth. You are a part of the prophecy that foretells of the Second Rising but be forewarned, all will not go your way. For your destiny has a fatal end if you allow your emotions to rule your judgment. I tell you this for your destiny includes another. A daughter of the forgotten realms, the one whose bloodline is both Warlician and Celestial—one of the Arcanists, and the one fated for you. You will bind with her, your life force becoming forever linked with hers.
Heed this advice old friend, for there may come a time when her life is in peril and you will want to intervene. Your desire to save her will be overwhelming, but you must not, for her destiny is her own and you cannot interfere. For if you do, the cycle of fate will be forever broken, and the prophecy will unravel. You must resist the fate of the binding, the desire to protect her, for she is the key to our survival. Trust that she is strong and her destiny powerful. Trust in the power of fate. I send this warning across time as Claaven lost his life because he was unable to resist the emotional tie that bound us. You must not make the same fatal mistake. Heed my warning dear friend. For the prophecy must follow the path it is destined to take, or all will be lost.
Rafe took a deep breath handing the paper to Dane who read it quickly. “What does it mean?”
“It is of no significance now,” he replied, his face emotionless as he tried to hide his anxious energy. She decided not to pursue it as she felt the conflicted emotions battle inside of him. He would tell her when he was ready. Scanning the note again, she saw an odd-looking script just below the note at the bottom of the page.
“What is this?” she asked, pointing to the dark ink.
“The language of the celestials,”
“Can you read it?”
“Yes,”
“Really? You know a lot of ancient languages,” she teased.
“I know the languages of the realms, those that belong to the races I protected,” He replied, matter-of-factly.
She nodded realizing that Rafe did not understand the futile banter of mortals. “What does it say?”
He looked at the thick black symbols frowning. “The celestial has the answers. Find her or all will be lost.”
“So, we need to find the celestial before the others?”
“That would be my interpretation yes. Seri was very forthright; she would not include this unless it was of dire importance. The celestial must be found first.”
“How? The passage in the Book of Realms is vague at best and gives us no clues as to who or where she is.”
“We will find her when the time is right,” he said, feeling that familiar tug as her frustration washed over him.
He leaned down and pressed his lips to her cheek feeling her heart lurch at his touch. “Let’s go to bed,” he whispered in her ear. It was late, and they had to make the journey back to her world tomorrow. They both needed rest but what he wanted more was to hold this beautiful, headstrong woman close to him. He needed to feel their hearts beating as one, for deep down he was afraid—afraid of what was to come and what he may lose because of it.
Chapter 34
The portal felt different on the return. This time Dane was pulling a tether with her, an invisible line that attached her energy to the ancient magic of Dywen. It was an odd sensation, like walking against a strong wind, the tether dragging behind her, resisting her attempts to move forward.
She could feel Rafe beside her, his physical body barely visible as the green light of the portal pulsed around him.
“You will get used to the sensation.” His voice filled her mind. He had never used their Warlician connection to communicate with her telepathically and it was oddly eerie, especially with the portal encasing them in its throbbing green light.
He watched, as she struggled to pull along her connection to Dywen, remembering the first time he had gone through a portal. The drag behind him almost pulled him to his backside a few times but eventually, the tether became a part of him, a way for him to draw energy and knowledge from his homeland. The less his mind focused on the resistance, the less resistant the tether became, until it was merely a twinge in his mind. She too would eventually absorb the tether’s pull. She had proven to be innately powerful and profoundly capable wielding the ancient magic that flowed through her, and he had no doubt that this too she would master.
She glanced over at him, her eyes blazing with defiance and exhaustion.
Composing herself she smiled, winked at him, and moved with a renewed confidence through the portal back to earth.
The brilliant green light pushed them out right at the base of the Elder Oak. Stumbling, she fell forward, her feet scrambling to find solid footing. She felt a strong hand on her elbow helping her to secure her trajectory and regain her balance.
“Steady,” Sebastian said gently. “Take a moment to get your bearings. Portal walking can take a lot out of you when you haven’t yet learned to absorb its effects.”
Her head spun as Sebastian’s face blurred in front of her eyes. She shook her head slowly bringing everything back into focus. “Why did I not feel like this when I went through to Dywen,” she asked weakly.
“Mainly because you didn’t belong to a higher plane like you do now. Immortality does not exist in the energy of this world only in our realms. The tether connecting you to the Thanissia Universe and the ancient magic is new. Your body must learn to adjust.”
She could feel Rafe’s energy beside her as she stood bent over, her hands resting on her knees, her eyes closed, as she waited for the strange sensations rushing through her to subside. His energy was not stable either, but he was handling it much better. As she pulled herself up to a prone position she looked at him, his green eyes concerned.
“I’m ok,” she reassured him.
“Did everything go as planned?” Sebastian questioned.
“Well if you mean was my first meeting with Rafe contemptuous like you thought, then yes,” she answered smiling uncomfortably. “He held a sword to my throat for a very long time without moving, it was quite impressive.”
Rafe looked at her cocking his head slightly, “Sarcasm?”
She smiled and nodded approvingly, “you’re getting it.”
Sebastian ignored the banter. “I mean did anything happen that I did not predict. Anything that one may deem of importance?”
Rafe glanced at her, a dark shadow passing through his eyes as his jaw clenched and his fists balled. “The ancient dark knows who Dane is, it senses her essence. It tried to gain control of her mind not long after I found her.”
“It was in her mind?” Sebastian’s said, his voice unable to disguise his apprehension.
“Briefly. It seems her second awakening gave her powers beyond just those of the Warlician. It seems she is also a Timestopper.” He hesitated, waiting for Sebastian to process this new information. He reached out and squeezed her hand.
“She will learn how to control the gateway to her mind.”
A burst of energy exploded in the air around them surprising both them and Sebastian with not only its power but its veracity.
Sebastian gaped momentarily, his eyes going back and forth between the two of them before he regained his composure.
“A binding,” he whispered, with a surprised curiosity. “Interesting, and I suppose better than him killing you.”
“Thanks,” she said still trying to regain her senses.
Rafe smirked, “It was a surprise to us as well.”
Sebastian looked troubled, his mind seemingly searching for something in his memory.
“What is it?” She asked, acutely aware of the confused energy that now encircled him.
Returning from his own thoughts he looked at them both. “The binding is not part of the ancient prophecy. Only six destinies are to be intertwined. I am not sure how this will affect that which has already been written.”
“Well surely our combined destiny is part of the larger one or it would not have happened, right?” She said looking at Rafe for support.
Sebastian’s face darkened. “Possibly, I just pray your fate is not shadowing your ancestors.”
“What do you mean?”
Rafe’s eyes darkened as he scowled at Sebastian, a subtle caution.
“Claaven died because of his binding with Seri,” he said matter-of-factly, his eyes moving away from Rafe’s glare and back to Dane.
She frowned, confusion masking the uneasy feeling building inside. “Seri’s note, this is what she was warning you about.” She said to Rafe.
He continued to scowl at Sebastian, obvious annoyance evident in his glare. “Yes,” he whispered.
“Note?” Sebastian asked.
Rafe regained his composure. “Seri left me a message, it fell from the Book of Realms. A warning. She had seen a vision of me. My destiny in a distant future and my binding with Dane. She was warning me that if I took the same path as Claaven, allowing my emotions to interfere with destiny, all would be lost. The prophecy would unravel. The fate of mankind would suffer.”
“And will you be able to heed this warning if the time comes? Allowing destiny to unfold as it is meant to.”
Rafe scowled again, his heart pounding. “I must,” he said looking directly at her, pain visible in his eyes.
She could feel the despair that flooded through him. She assumed from Seri’s message that Claaven had died protecting her, but she did not know the details. “How did he die?”
The two warriors glanced at one another, a look passing between them as they shared a painful memory from the past.
Rafe shifted uncomfortably as he recalled the memory. “Vertigan Tierney, the man who murdered my family had a son, Darmond, a Warlician that we thought had perished in the Great War. Not long after Vertigan was captured and banished, Darmond reappeared, vengeance for what Claaven had done to his family the only thing driving him. He was half mad, driven insane by the dark magic that stained his blood. He attacked Seri, intent on killing her so that Claaven would have to live with the grief. He wanted him to endure his pain, know a loss so great you are consumed by it. As he aimed his energy ball at Seri, Claaven jumped in front of it ignoring his instincts, listening only to his emotions. The energy ball, like Darmond, was tainted with dark magic, it killed Claaven instantly. The effect of that magic on Seri would have been minimal, something Claaven would have known, but the heightened emotional connection between them due to their binding caused him to act irrationally. He did not think or rationalize, he reacted driven only by his love and devotion to her and it cost him everything.”
Sebastian moved toward her, his green eyes looking deep into her own. “Binding is intense and often results in carelessly driven emotional reactions. Seri must have felt the need to relay this message to Rafe because the consequences of him repeating this mistake would be more significant than just his death. Whatever Seri’s reasons for leaving him that message she means for him to take heed.”
Rafe was clearly uncomfortable with the discussion they were having, she could feel the anxiousness battling inside him.
“I will be fine. You know I can take care of myself, but if there does come a time when my destiny is at an end, promise me you will let me go, for it will be my choice.”
“I will,” he whispered.
She kissed him deeply feeling his heart pounding against her. His answer was not convincing and although she hoped it was a promise he could keep, she was determined to never find herself in a position where he had to make that choice.
Chapter 35
Sebastian cleared his throat interrupting the intimate connection between Dane and Rafe.
“There is much I need to tell you,” he said his eyes conveying a sense of urgency that she had not seen before. “Much has happened here since the Druidstone was activated. The magic of our realm is flowing through the portal and the prophecy will soon begin to take hold in this world. There is much we need to do.”
Rafe interrupted, “First, we need to find the one that carries the blood of the celestial. Seri made mention of the importance of this in her message.”
“Seri must have seen much before her transcendence, and she speaks the truth, for I can already feel the celestial that you seek.”
“Feel her?
But how?”
“It seems the celestial is in fact, not an ancestor of the ancient bloodline but rather a fallen and she has already begun her ascent. I can sense her essence and the light magic of the ether.”
“A fallen? That is rare.”
“It is, but I suspected this may be a possibility. My suspicions were the reason I tasked Dane with retrieving the Essence of Ether from Dywen. As you know the bloodlines of the celestials are unique and with their inability to exist without the life force of the ether, I was unsure as to how their kind would last through generations on earth. The Essence of Ether is her only chance.”
“She will require it if she is to revert soon.” Rafe acknowledged. “If you can sense her, we don’t have much time. Seri was right we must find her quickly or all will be lost.”
“Can someone fill me in?” She said impatiently her scowl directed at Sebastian. “Fallen? Reverting?”
“A fallen is a celestial from our universe who have lost their wings and transcended through time and space to exist in another universe as an inhabitant of a specific world. Here she would be a mere mortal.” The tone of his voice echoed the importance of this rare process. “A fall is normally only initiated in crisis, making it an extremely rare occurrence and a decision the Guardian of Deities never undertakes without great consideration, as it is both an extraordinary honor and an extreme sacrifice for the celestial who falls. Eventually, the reason for a celestial’s fall will come to pass, at which point they will begin to revert. A transformation that is required for the celestial to fulfill their destiny.”
She looked at both warriors, curious about the celestial’s transformation. “What is she reverting to?”