Chapter 17
"Stay here. Do not move until I return. Do you understand me? I promise to come back," Steffor said passionately.
"Of course you will," Calivera replied without hesitation, "but I will not wait for your return. I will follow and, the Provider willing, unite with you soon."
Her confidence instilled Steffor with a welcome dose of courage despite her stubbornness. He looked over her shoulder at Leanor standing a few feet behind, imploring the mysterious Mystic to help convince Calivera to obey his command to stay behind. The impulsive decision proved itself a foolish one, harshly reminding Steffor how little he understood of the woman or her role.
"You must take both of us with you,” she said with an assured smile.
"Steffor!" Kilton boomed, his stentorian voice heard from over a half a mile away. "We cannot delay another second!"
Steffor turned in his friend's direction. Just beyond Kilton, Grimlock, Martna and Vejax were moments away from reaching the valley's west wall. Kilton stood atop a barren knoll stationed between them and Steffor who still stood before the newly formed Mystic Tower. Poised to run, Kilton remained in place, reluctant to take another step until he saw Steffor move in his direction.
"It will take us too long to reach the Guardian Trail as it is, with the two of you in tow it will take at least half a day. This does not address the real issue of how either of you navigate the trail once there. Your coming is simply not an option."
"You possess the power to bring us Steffor," Leanor boldly confronted. "The Transcendent Age is close upon us. Calivera and I must be with you when it arrives."
"What do you speak of?" Steffor stammered, his patience wearing thin. It took all his power of concentration to block out the wave of screams heard moments before that creature erupted from the Provider's insides. The call of duty sounded, they must act now. Every second that transpired since losing their Mysticnet feed of Razum City was another moment of anguish as his soul sensed innocent life ripped from the world.
Calivera grabbed his hands, pleading his attention. "Listen to her Steffor. She....we....have seen...the Provider has revealed an existence that goes beyond our world, the transcendence that all aspire to and must reach. You are the key to realizing our destiny but it cannot be done alone."
"I do not desire to do this alone!" he said, losing his temper. "I have four, very dependable Guardians at my side and hundreds more on the way. I do not see how a Healer and a...Mystic can offer any assistance in battling the creature destroying our beloved city as we speak."
Calivera's crestfallen face calmed him, a glorious reminder of why he had not yet left.
He gently cupped her face in his hands and kissed her softly on the forehead. "Living within our boundless love is the only existence I care about. Please do not ask me to put you in harm’s way. I cannot bear the thought of losing you....not again."
With fresh tears in her eyes, she acknowledged her own fears of losing their time together in this lifetime. A fear that stemmed from prior lives together never completely fulfilled. Reunited as they were, the seed of their potential life together having just broken to the surface, neither could deny the desire to become one with the other.
"You must face this fear, see it for the challenge it truly is," Leanor said, addressing both of them now. "If you do not face the fear of losing each other, then how do you expect to meet the challenge of facing the Deagron Maker. Or worse, face the events yet to materialize but most certain to demand even more courage?"
Who was this woman? At first perceived as some kind of dysfunctional Mystic he would figure out later, Steffor recalled now that he did not find her among the Mystics probed when searching for a way to fix the Mysticnet. If she were a Mystic, she would have registered as such. Stranger yet, taking a moment to apply his ability to identify with any of the races, he discovered she did not conform to any.
She bares the mark of a race unique unto herself.
"I am but a faint reflection of what you have become, of what we all must become," she said, reading his thoughts. "Without Calivera and I you would have never returned," she said, steering things back to the issue at hand. "Do you deny this?"
"No," Steffor replied without hesitation. He had to acknowledge how Leanor's transformation related to Calivera's ability to connect with the soul of every living Citizen. How the relationship worked remained a mystery.
"Then use your staff Steffor," she commanded with a nod toward the weapon held in his right hand. In tandem with his garments shifting into sleek body armor, the staff had transformed into the shape of a formidable mace. He held aloft the material extension of himself and admired its unique qualities. A tailored grip conformed to every minute change in pressure or position, connected to a metallic shaft that flared into a diamond shaped head. The Guardian in him rallied, ignited by the sudden rush of power fighting to be unleashed.
My ability to yield the Source is limited only by my imagination. Inspired by the realization, Steffor siphoned off a portion of the raw Source pulsing within and, with his staff guiding him, enveloped Calivera and Leanor.
He addressed Calivera, his love bewildered by the sudden influx of foreign energy. "I will never lose you again," he stated. The relieved smile on her face saying all he needed, the three of them turned in unison and sped toward Kilton.
Known Afterlife (The Provider Trilogy: Volume I) Page 36