by Viola Grace
A member of the Sector Guard rushed up to her and pointed to a name on the manifest. “Abrinako Lenz, please come speak with me for a moment.”
She had called it out with her Avatar voice and a man with a shock of dark purple hair and sad eyes made it to the front of the crowd. She beckoned him toward her. “Please step over here with me.”
He was a little confused but he followed her. “What is this about? I wish to leave. My family remains and would take me, but my wife is long gone. I can’t live without her.”
“Your wife is Urikara Lenz?”
He blinked. “Yes. How did you…?”
“You are invited to go to Morganti where the Avatar will guide you to the seer who has made all this possible. She is a powerful seer, and she has been waiting for this day a very long time.”
Tears welled in his eyes.
“Please don’t speak of this, just go with this Guardsman and he will take you to Morganti. I don’t have a direct portal there but I have spoken to Gant and the seer is eager to meet with you after all this time.”
Tears welled in her eyes that matched his and light coursed down her cheeks that shattered into small stones on the ground. She laughed in surprise. “That was new.”
He smiled. “I could work with those. My skill is as a sculptor. I work with my hands.”
She wiped her eyes and pushed him toward the Guardsman who was waiting for him. “It will be a courier ship so you will be travelling fast. You should be there in under a day.”
“I have waited for two hundred years but this will be the longest day.”
Trala squeaked as he hugged her before he ran to the Guardsman with the hope of meeting his wife.
Gant, he is on his way. You might want to let her know.
Thank you, Resicor. She is already out of her tank and in medical. Reset is coming to help her out. When he gets here, she will be presentable, if a few years older than he remembers.
I honestly do not think he cares. She is all he has.
Thank you for this. She has been a good friend.
You are welcome.
Gant didn’t understand, but he couldn’t. He no longer had people of his own. Wanting the best for them was different than letting them have it.
Chapter Ten
Each volunteer was given a kiss on their forehead before they passed through the portal. They were given the touch of the light of Resicor and it would forever be seeded in their minds.
Envix stood at her side as she blessed the last of the emigrants and he held her while she cried.
Two weeks of logistics, public speaking and looking under every rock and shrub for the elusive Vorwing survivor had stressed her out and the moment that this final task was done, she felt the pain of Noma’s loss.
Envix wrapped her in shadows and held her tight as she wailed her grief and loss. Her twin, the other half of her soul was gone. Resicor filled her mind, but her soul was her own and it was in pain.
The world remained quiet and held herself back.
When Envix pressed his lips to hers in the darkness she answered the touch, seeking comfort where she could. He had stood at her side since this whole debacle began and now he was offering something more than just guard duty.
Her suit chirped. “Avatar, there is a delivery for you in the capitol.”
She pulled away from Envix and whispered. “I am on my way.”
He pressed his lips to her cheek and whispered, “Am I not worth waiting for a delivery?”
“You are worth waiting for, but I still don’t know who or what you are. I don’t even know why you are here.” She touched his jaw. “I appreciate your help but you are too much a mystery.”
He inhaled to speak and she flew out of his arms, away from him and toward the capitol with the swirling cloud of darkness behind her.
A huge crowd was gathered in the central courtyard outside the law courts building that now housed equal numbers of physical talents, psychic and normal citizens.
Several talents were lifting a huge object covered in a silken tarp and settling it on the pedestal in the centre of the courtyard.
Trala landed. “What is it?”
“It is a present from the Lenz’s of Morganti.” The man in the uniform of the Morganti Base grinned.
When it was settled, Trala reached out and removed the tarp and stared at the image of her sister carved in black granite and onyx.
The base of the statue said, Noma Sheewah, Founder of the Citadel. The light in the darkness. Child of Resicor.
Tears started flowing more rapidly than she could stop. Envix put his hands on her shoulders as slow applause began and spread through the crowd in the courtyard.
“How did they know?”
“She is a legendary symbol in the Citadel, but we were told never to name her. I met her when I first was given my energy by the dark nebula. She taught me to control the darkness and when she first saw my face she laughed. She said I was the promise but not for her.”
“Wait, what?” Trala looked up at him. “Where did you meet her?”
“It wasn’t where, it was when. I met her six hundred years ago when she founded the first Citadel out of the caged talents of Skora-Mark. It was her idea to charge the locals for the help they had previously rejected. When the aliens came, she defended her adopted world and made contacts that no one had thought of.” He sighed.
“Six hundred…”
“I came forward through a portal at the moment she flicked out of this world and back in time. We traded places but there was a slight miscalculation so I appeared on the dark side of your moon. It took me a while to find you, but fortunately you glow even on the brightest day.”
She blushed and frowned. “Wait, you mean to say that my sister set me up?”
“And the world you house in your body. I might have been promised to you, but you were also promised to me. It was an equal opportunity exchange.” He let his shadows retreat.
Trala looked up at the image of her sister and she glared at it. “Seriously? On the day I am finally feeling the pain of your loss, you do this to me?”
She could swear that stone Noma winked at her.
Something struck her. “There are records of her?”
He grinned. “Thousands. She knew you would want the archive so the moment that Resicor Citadel is up and running, a historical archivist will be there, with copies of everything pertaining to the first Citadel and the woman who pursued power for profit.”
“For a woman cloaked in shadow she could always find the bright side of things.”
He wrapped his arms around her as they stared at the image of her sister and what she was realising was his friend.
When they finished staring at the image he walked her back to her home in the depths of the capitol building and held her throughout the night while she grieved her loss.
In a matter of weeks they completed the transition from companions to mates and the balance of shadows and light made the folk of Resicor feel better during the transition from hostile to accepting.
There were bumps, there were misused talents but there were consequences and rewards on all sides.
* * * *
It was over. Temross had made it through the first two months and was successfully using technology to mask his colouration.
He was on his way back to his home after his third date with a baker and he was stopped by a bright light.
“You don’t think I forgot you were out here, did you?” The Avatar effectively blocked him.
“You don’t understand. I can help you rule this place. It has so much potential and my children could be a force to be reckoned with.”
“I do not need help to rule this place. I am Resicor and you are a grasping little snake from a dead universe.”
He backed away. “If you kill me, the power released will be devastating.”
She smiled and her voice changed. “She isn’t going to kil
l you. She just told me who to call.”
He turned and two of the Nameless were there. He screamed as they destroyed him, pulling the energy of the orb from him and leaving him nothing but ash.
* * * *
“Thank you. He was the last thing on my list of old business.” Trala smiled at her sister and winked. “I am glad you found something to work on after you passed away.”
Noma inclined her head. “Everyone needs a hobby. See you later?”
“You know where and when to find me, but stop popping in when Envix and I are in bed.”
Noma sighed. “But that is when I know you are together.” She grinned her mischievous grin and disappeared with her scowling companion.
Envix landed behind her and Trala turned to hug him. “How did you know?”
“Once Resicor went through pains to explain what a Watcher and a Nameless was, there had to be a reason.”
“I can see your heart has lightened.”
“It has explained a lot.” She linked arms with him and walked down the moonlit path with him. Her heart was finally at peace with everything that had happened and the future stretching before her.
Author’s Note
Yes, this is a two parter. Yes, you will find out most of what happened to Noma in its entirety in Fractured Darkness.
It was fun to bring back characters from Bound by Law, Fire Dance and Tech Tack, to name a few.
Mysteries have been solved, more have been planted, but I got my villain in the end in an unexpected way. I just couldn’t leave Noma in the past.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
http://www.violagrace.com
[email protected]
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.