Dire Destiny of Ours

by John Corwin

  Heat rushed to my face. "An hour?"

  "It took time for logistics to take shape," Underborn explained. "We had to wait for Mr. Shelton to arrive with one of his unfolding doors."

  "With omniarches, that should have taken only minutes to complete." Fjoeruss clasped his hands behind his back and gave Underborn a long look. "Do not think I'm unaware of your fondness for orchestrating events."

  "Sometimes life does not imitate art precisely enough," the assassin said, not a hint of shame in his voice.

  It took everything I had not to strangle the man. "You could have sent reinforcements earlier?"

  "Truly, not much sooner, Mr. Slade." Underborn folded his arms across his chest. "At the most, perhaps fifteen minutes. Once I heard about your attempt to fly straight at Daelissa with a malaether crucible, I thought it the perfect time to launch our attack."

  "You were saved by an army of robots at the last minute," Fjoeruss said. "Quite literally, Deus ex Machina." His voice sounded cold even by his standards. His gaze shifted back to Underborn. "I believe you spent too much time as a literary teacher at that high school."

  I took a step toward Underborn, my anger rising to the boiling point. "If I find out you could have come to our aid sooner, I promise there will be no last-minute intervention from a god to save you."

  "I can assure you the timing was merely coincidence." Underborn shrugged. "Interview all the academy students you want. You will find that we were moving things along as speedily as possible." A small smiled touched the corners of his lips. "Perhaps one day I will tell you how you ended up going to a high school with the name Edenfield, or how the name of the foreseeance which told of your coming was designated as four-three-one-one."

  I resisted the strong urge to punch him in the face. "Are you saying you somehow engineered it so I would go to a high school with the name Eden in it?" I took a deep breath to ward off the anger. A few questions with people from Science Academy would help me decide what to do about Underborn.

  The assassin shrugged at my question. "A bit too providential, wouldn't you say?"

  "And what in the world does it matter what the number of the foreseeance was?"

  "Perhaps if you imagined the numerals." Underborn took out an arcphone and put the numbers on the display. 4311.

  At first I didn't see what he was talking about. Just as I opened my mouth to retort, my nerdy side made the connection. "Those numbers spell the word 'hell'." I didn't know whether to roll my eyes or backhand him across the cave. I vaguely remembered getting this reference before, but it certainly wasn't at the top of my most memorable occasions. "You went through all the trouble of having the foreseeance assigned those specific numbers."

  "It was no great trouble. I simply switched the real four-three-one-one with four-four-six-three."

  "You've got serious problems, man." I'd originally come here to thank him for his help, but with all the meddling he'd done in my life, I had a feeling there was quite a bit more he wasn't telling me. "Maybe you should see a psychotherapist about your OCD."

  "Fjoeruss is no less guilty of tampering with events," Underborn said. "You have proven your worth, Mr. Slade. You are exceptionally intelligent when you put your mind to it, and gifted in rare and unusual ways. We wish to open communications with the powers that be in Haedaemos. As of yet, that realm has remained largely untouchable by our physical standards. We believe you are powerful enough in the spiritual sense to gain the attention of Baal himself."

  "Whoa there, Nellie!" I backed away palms out. "Are you trying to recruit me into one of your secret little cabals?"

  "It is a business opportunity," Fjoeruss said. "Also, with Daelissa gone, there is a power vacuum to be filled here in Eden and Seraphina. Should you so desire, you could take advantage of the political situation and gain a great deal of influence in the new order."

  It wasn't surprising to me in the least that these two were already scheming for power. Choosing me to help them was surprising. "If you think I'm going to replace one dictator with another, you really don't know me all that well."

  "On the contrary," Underborn said. "We know you quite well. You would be an excellent leader of the new Overworld Conclave—a chancellor or president, perhaps?" He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "The title really doesn't matter. Thomas Borathen, soon to be the new Supreme Commander of the Templars, can help you gain whatever power you desire."

  I shook my head. "Not interested."

  "Indeed," Thomas said from behind Underborn and Fjoeruss.

  Though neither of them jumped or looked the least bit guilty, I saw Underborn flinch.

  Thomas stepped around them to my side. "If you two have any useful input on the new ruling body of the Overworld, perhaps you could set up an appointment. I would be happy to take your suggestions."

  I stepped closer to Underborn. "If you ever get the notion to mess with my life again, maybe I'll use my Haedaemos connections to mess with your life. I guess you don't know this, but I have spoken to Baal and he's pretty happy with what I've done so far."

  Underborn's face actually went a bit pale. "You have truly spoken to Baal?"

  I hadn't, of course, but that didn't really matter. "Yep. He's a scary son of a gun, but he said he owed me for containing the Daelissa threat." I put an arm on Underborn's shoulder and squeezed hard enough to make the assassin wince. "You'd better hope I don't find out you intentionally delayed reinforcements from Science Academy either. I know you like to pretend you’re a genius mastermind, but you're probably just compensating for something else." I glanced down at his crotch.

  Fjoeruss's lips turned up at the corners just a fraction. I had the feeling he enjoyed seeing Underborn in a bad spot.

  I released Underborn's shoulder and nodded at Thomas. "I leave them in your capable hands, Commander Borathen."

  Remaining here another minute would drive me crazy. I wanted to go someplace nice and quiet with the only person in the world I wanted to see right then. I found Elyssa and we sneaked away through an omniarch portal to a deserted island beach with a nice sunset.

  Elyssa in my arms, we lay in the sand listening to the water lap the shores.

  "This is perfect," I said.

  She ran kisses up my neck. "More than perfect."

  "The war is over, but I can't stop thinking about how much we have to do to get things running again."

  "It's almost like we're starting over from scratch." Elyssa groaned. "I don't want to think about it. Can we get back to enjoying quiet time?"

  I jumped up off the sand and proceeded to remove my tattered Nightingale armor.

  "What are you doing?" She gave me a mischievous smile.

  "What does it look like I'm doing?" I winked. "Get out of those clothes, Miss Borathen. That's an order."

  She slid out of her uniform to reveal her shapely athletic curves and fair skin. "As you command, Mr. Slade."

  I looked at the water about a hundred feet away. "Race you."

  She nodded. "On the count of three. One—" Elyssa lunged toward the water.

  I'd anticipated something like that and paced her. "Nice try."

  She stuck out her tongue and promptly tripped me. I recovered my balance, but she hit the water first. I took her in my arms and swung her around.

  "I suppose you win a prize."

  Elyssa giggled. "And what would that prize be?"

  "Let me show you."

  Chapter 39

  By the end of the week, most of the wounded were back on their feet and the cleanup process at El Dorado began. An entire committee was assigned to handle the delivery of bodies to families located all over the world. It sickened me to look at the list of the dead, but it also put into perspective the cost of the war.

  Ketiss decided to keep his troops in Eden a while longer so they could feed and grow strong enough to counter Cephus and his people when they returned. He also requested that more of his troops be brought to Eden so they could dual feed. Since I hadn't given a lot of thought t
o handling the new situation in Seraphina, I wasn't keen on giving him a huge advantage, so I told him we needed to wait until everything here was settled. The last thing I wanted was a supercharged Darkling army committing genocide on the Brightlings.

  Thomas sent scouting parties to Thunder Rock and the Grand Nexus. Daelissa had left little in the way of security at either place since she'd truly sent everything she had against us at El Dorado. The Templars were able to secure both locations without resistance. Mom removed the Mega Chalon from the Alabaster Arch at El Dorado and reassigned control back to the Grand Nexus to be certain their hack wouldn't destabilize and cause another Desecration.

  Nightliss and many of the revived Seraphim who'd fought on our side, both Darkling and Brightling, began to interview the revived Brightlings who'd fought for Daelissa. They already knew who many of her inner circle were, and those who'd committed atrocities during Daelissa's initial rule. We decided it unwise to let those Seraphim live free and put them in special prisons until we decided how to handle them in the long term. In the meantime, Cinder continued reviving the remainder of the husked Seraphim, starting with the Darklings first.

  During this process, I came upon an idea that might soothe the problems back in Seraphina, namely the religious conflict that threatened to destabilize the Darkling nation. Any revived Darklings who were willing would return and tell their descendants the truth about the Seraphim War. While I fully wanted Cephus and his people punished, I needed the other believers and non-believers to coexist peacefully. I still had a feeling it would be difficult to overturn thousands of years of religion even if we had incontrovertible evidence that the history behind it was flawed.

  Ketiss had a very hard time dealing with this prospect, but Flava convinced him that it was necessary. I asked Nightliss and some of the revived Darklings to start with the Darkling troops from Seraphina as their test subjects.

  I also promised Ketiss that once the rebuilding was underway here, I would return with him to shut down Cephus and his base of operations. Once that was done, we would find a way to end the war between the Brightlings and the Darklings. Solving a conflict that was nearly as old as mankind itself wouldn't happen quickly, but it would definitely happen.

  I left Thomas in charge of rebuilding the Overworld Conclave. We agreed that it should remain similar in structure. While it wasn't perfect, it was much better than a descent into anarchy. The Custodians already had their hands full reintegrating into society the new vampires unlawfully drafted into military service by the vampire elders. Many of them had been forced to fight by compulsion, so we couldn't hold them liable for the war. Most of them also wanted to go back to their old lives, only to discover that they couldn't. Some of them did it anyway, forcing the Custodians to arrest them.

  I knew it would take a long time to fully clean up this mess.

  I finally got to keep one promise I'd made. Elyssa, Katie, Ash, Nyte, Shelton, Bella, and I all went out for pizza at Antonio's.

  "Is this for real?" Ash said as he took the first bite of a thick slice of pie with all the works. "I thought this day would never come."

  Katie laughed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Don't talk with your mouth full, silly."

  "I can't believe we made it." Nyte took a sip of his drink. "The three of us had to help clear the wounded off the field since the healers were so busy." He blew out a breath. "It was awful, man. I never thought I'd see so many hurt and dead people."

  "I never could have imagined I'd be in a war like that," Katie said. She leaned her head on Ash's shoulder. "I know there's a lot to do, but now we can finally catch a break."

  "Amen to that," Elyssa said, holding up her drink for a toast. "Here's to rest and relaxation."

  "Hear, hear!" Shelton said a bit too enthusiastically.

  "As if you'll be doing much relaxing," Bella said. "Have you told the others what you'll be doing?"

  "Please, god, tell me he's not going back into bounty hunting," Elyssa said. "I think he's caused enough emotional trauma to innocent families."

  "Ha, ha." Shelton said in a deadpan voice. "I plan to start causing emotional trauma on a whole new level." He grinned. "I'm going to be a teacher at Arcane University."

  I slapped him on the back. "Congratulations, buddy!"

  Bella lifted both eyebrows. "They asked him to be the Grand Chancellor over both Arcane University and Science Academy, if you can believe that."

  "Who is 'they'?" Elyssa asked. "Someone in an insane asylum?"

  "Professors from both institutions who were cleared of sympathizing with Daelissa voted on it." Shelton wiped his hands on a napkin. "Just so happens Zagg and a few other friends of mine are now in the new Ministry of Education."

  "As I recall, Zagg tried to kill you not long ago," Elyssa said. "You have a funny way of making friends."

  "Yeah, turns out collecting the bounty on someone's girlfriend isn't the best way to go about it." Shelton shrugged. "At least things got sorted in the end."

  "Why didn't you want to be the chancellor?" I asked.

  "Too much responsibility." He picked up another slice of pizza. "Besides, a position like that requires using diplomacy. You know I'd be the first person to tell them to kiss my ass if they pissed me off."

  The table burst into laughter.

  I gave him an amused look. "You realize you're going to be one of those people whose friends can't believe you're a teacher, right?"

  "Meh, it's a living," Shelton said with his mouth full.

  "Is this seat taken?" a familiar voice said.

  I looked up and saw Dad, Mom, and Ivy. Behind them I saw Elyssa's entire family plus Felicia and Adam Nosti, Meghan Andretti, Nightliss, Stacey, and Ryland.

  Stacey planted a big kiss right on my lips before I could utter a word and pulled back. "You marvelous man! I knew you were destined for greatness from the moment I met you."

  "You mean when you used your felycan wiles to feed on me when I was clueless?" I couldn't suppress a huge grin as I stood up and looked at everyone.

  "We heard there was a pizza party," Dad said, pushing together several tables while a waiter tried desperately to control this new unexpected situation.

  "Is it my turn?" Felicia Nosti stepped up next to Stacey. She kissed me and then gave me a big squeeze. "I've been wanting to do that for a long time."

  "He's an incubus," Stacey said. "You know how they are."

  Elyssa rolled her eyes. "I'm going to let this slide just this once, okay, ladies? Next time, you're going to answer to me." She grinned as if she were joking, but the flash in her eyes indicated otherwise.

  I shook hands with Thomas and Michael.

  Elyssa's mother, Leia, kissed me on both cheeks and hugged me. Before she pulled away, she whispered in my ear. "I couldn't be prouder of you if you were my own son. Perhaps one day we'll be able to call you that."

  I felt a blush coming on and said softly, "There's no 'perhaps' to it. That's a definite."

  She smiled and backed away.

  Phoebe hugged me next. "I wanted to thank you again for rescuing me. Without your help, I might have died with Daelissa."

  Shelton stood up and banged his fork against his plastic cup. The room grew silent. "I hear a lot of people saying thanks to Justin." He put an arm around me. "If you think about it, everyone here has probably had their bacon rescued by him at one point or another."

  My face warmed and I felt acutely uncomfortable as murmurs went up among everyone.

  Shelton didn't give me a chance to speak. "Raise your hands if you ever tried to kidnap or kill the poor guy at some point."

  Felicia, Shelton, Elyssa, Ivy, and several others raised their hands. Leia nudged Thomas and he grudgingly raised his as well.

  Shelton chuckled. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm glad he saw the best in us. I'm glad he believed in us. When I met Justin, I wasn't a very good person. I'm proud to say that he gave me something in life I thought I'd never have again." Shelton choked up a littl
e at his next words. "A best friend."

  Everyone broke into applause. I felt hot tears in my eyes and saw quite a few others wiping their faces. I slung an arm around Shelton. "Here's to best friends." I held up my soft drink.

  Not everyone had a drink yet, but those who didn't pretended they did. "To best friends!" they shouted.

  I wiped my eyes and smiled like a fool. So many awful things had happened to get us to this point, but I felt happy. "There was a dark time when I felt lost and alone. If it hadn't been for Elyssa, I might have given up. Since then, I've gotten my family back." I motioned toward Dad, Mom and Ivy. "And I've extended my family by quite a bit." I waved a hand around the room. "You're all an important part of my life now, until the end."

  The room broke out into applause. Even some of the other patrons who didn't have a clue about the nature of my family joined in the applause and cheers. I idly wondered if a video of this would end up on the internet.

  More pizza arrived. I waved to the tables. "Now, let's enjoy the food and the time we have together."

  The rest of the evening was amazing. We laughed, we reminisced, and there were plenty of tears.

  The recent past had been incredibly painful, but it had brought us to this moment. The future would be full of hard work and uncertainty. But for now, I had the present to keep me happy.

  The world was safe for the time being. I had a big family to rely on. I had Elyssa, my one true love, by my side.

  Life was good.

  "Saddle the white horses," I told Elyssa. "It's time to ride off into the sunset."

  She beamed a beautiful smile at me. "As you wish."

  ###

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