"He did not come to share a sentimental moment with his long, lost sister. He distracted you so that he could swap the book. You could not even tell that this book was fake. Go! Find the real tome before I decide to end your worthless life." He shoved Dalla forward with a force that unbalanced her. She tripped and rolled halfway down the hill. She ran away, and Vin could not tell if she was fleeing for her life or hurrying to carry out her last order.
But that was not the end of it. There was already a lot of elemental energy at work. The angels had called forth a great deal to defend the barrier. Vin, himself, was using it in the winds. Antonius also called forth his own, lesser, elemental connection, unleashing energy in vast quantities. Despite his loss of the Book of Elements, the deacon was still going to try to bring down the barrier by summoning every ounce of energy that he could muster; from himself and the pools provided by all of his students in the field below. Such raw forces of nature had rarely been witnessed and were seldom survived by mankind.
The response to the deacon’s summons was the portentous tremor Vin felt rising from the ground below. Vin moved a little bit closer to Caeli, but was still several feet away. He faced Antonius across the ten foot gap that separated them. Vin sent his winds to encircle the madman, and Caeli immediately cried out in pain.
"Do not attempt to hinder me further boy, or your lovely wife will pay for your meddling with her life." Antonius sent another short blast of energy into his hold on Caeli and she fell to her knees, suffering with stifled cries. Two of the deacon’s followers arrived to stand behind him offering additional support to their mentor.
"I will not let you do this. You will ravage the world with your insane notions. The laws of nature cannot handle what you have already unleashed, and the planet itself is writhing in agony. Can you not feel it beneath your feet?" Vin asked of the deacon.
"What I feel is the harbinger of freedom. It is freedom from life and death; freedom from testing in this world to prove your worthiness for the next; freedom from the control and manipulation of those who do not consult you about your own life."
"You are mad! Without the book, you cannot hope to succeed. So why persist? Why cause all this needless destruction?" Vin tried to distract his adversary with logic, while he sent his own energies to counteract the hold the deacon had on Caeli.
A sudden and fierce tremor shook the entire countryside. The ground heaved, and everyone physically standing on it was thrown from their feet. Fissures began to form along the valley and upon the ridge where the primary struggle was being fought.
"Ah, but the destruction is a passing event. It will be but a fraction of the changes in this world once the barrier is gone. Now that the shift has been set in motion, I need only the book to complete my purpose. And look, your sister returns even as we speak, carrying the very object of my desire."
Sure enough, Dalla regained the top of the hill with Salma’s backpack over her shoulder and walked around the deacon’s back to stand at his other side. She obviously had the same ability to feel the book’s presence as Vin did. That was how she located it so quickly.
Just as Dalla was passing the backpack to the deacon, a large rolling wave rippled across the top of the hill, followed by the widening maw of a deep fissure which opened directly below Dalla’s feet. Antonius had one hand on a strap of the backpack while Dalla clung tightly to the other strap. He could have chosen to reach out and pull Dalla forward, but instead he pulled a wrapped bundle out of the bag and turned it loose. Dalla plummeted to her death in the depths of the crater. Neither Vin nor anyone else would have been quick enough to save her. Antonius did not deign to do so. All that mattered to him was that he obtained the real book once again, bundled conveniently in its linen cloth so that it would not cause him pain when he carried it down from the rise.
"Dalla!" Vin wished he could have helped her, but perhaps this was for the best. He returned his angry gaze to the deacon and his lackeys.
"Well! It seems you have a useless book. I certainly will not wield it for you, and Dalla is now beyond your reach," Vin stated angrily.
"Eyvindr, you are a short sighted fool! Did you think I would place my single chance of victory solely in either yours or that whore’s hands? I have yet another pair of hands that will do a much better job for me. Antonius made a slight gesture with his left hand, and his two lackeys moved closer to Caeli and Vin, their intent to start a fight was clearly evident by their expressions.
"Toss her into the pit!" Antonius pointed at Caeli as he gave the order, and then had a final parting caution for Vin.
"I hope you will stay and fight, throw around those wild winds of yours. You might even be able to save your precious Caeli. Who knows? But, it is important that you participate in your own doom. You can pretend that you have some choice in your fate, if that pleases you. All the while, you will know that this is exactly what I need you to do, and you will not be able to choose otherwise. Try not to let her die too quickly. It’s a good trek back to my waiting puppet who will allow me to finish this once and for all."
The ground trembled again as Antonius began his descent, unwilling to expend the energy to travel by means that would have taken him immediately to his destination. The young apprentices made their move toward Caeli, keeping a shield up to protect them from Vin’s expected attack.
In yet another unpleasant twist of fate, the next quake was enough to jostle Caeli. She was only a few inches from the mouth of the fissure herself, and the shift sent her tumbling over the edge of the cliff, scrambling for purchase with her hands and feet. Caeli managed to get hold of a vine and eventually slid to a stop twenty feet below the rim.
"No! Caeli!" Vin unleashed a stream of concentrated air at the two scrawny thugs, but it was deflected by their previously erected shields. Vin's anger carried him beyond reason, and he would not be denied. He sent wave after wave, nearly pushing the men over the edge. Unfortunately, in his uncontrolled rage, Vin was not focusing his energy well enough and was not using his rational ability to effectively break through their guard. One of the men even pulled a knife, and now, being closer to the vine which tenuously held Caeli, started to crawl forward in order to cut away her anchor. To his alarm, Vin was beginning to notice an odd decline in his power with each successive thrust he made at his opponents. He was confused by the sensation.
Vin suddenly felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Raphael came to his aid and was pouring calmness and clarity into Vin’s very soul. Vin turned with tears of rage and desperation in his eyes to look imploringly at his friend.
"I have to save her. If I cannot do that, then what is the point of all this? Please, help me, Raph," Vin pleaded.
Raphael nodded toward the ravine, and Vin followed his gaze. Tabbris and Urim stood before the two men, preventing them from reaching Caeli’s lifeline. They fought equally for a few moments before finally maneuvering the men to meet the same fate they intended for Caeli. Then both Tabbris and Urim disappeared from sight.
"Where’d they go? Never mind, I have to find a way to get Caeli out of there."
Raphael’s hand on Vin’s shoulder restrained him, kept him from moving any closer to the rift.
"Not yet, Brother. You cannot save her like this. There is one thing you must do first. Tabbris and Urim will support her for as long as they can, but you must be quick. Their strength, like yours, fades with the shifting of the barrier’s energy," Raphael explained.
"I don’t understand. I can just lift her out."
"No, you cannot. The forces within that gulf would stop you, might even destroy you. Even as we speak, the strength of our friends who are aiding her is ebbing away from them, absorbed by the gaping maw below. It is full of raw elemental energy, and ingesting more with each moment that passes. Yet, do not despair. Tabbris and Urim will persist for as long as they may. They, too, are counting on you, Vin."
Vin was overwhelmed with the pressure of the task upon him. So many times he came close to saving Caeli, and each time he failed. Why sho
uld it be so difficult to save one life? What more could Vin give to keep her safe? He had nothing more to offer.
"I do not know what to do. Tell me, Raph. How can I fix this?"
"Finish what you started. Stop Antonius."
"I have been trying. It seems there is always an obstacle planted in my way at the last moment. Can’t you just smear him across the ground yourself?"
"No, we cannot reach him. He is protected from us, and we cannot yet abandon this field. We must continue this distraction to allow you the time needed to bring this confrontation to a proper end. Go now. Find him. Finish this. Free Caeli."
Raphael waved his hand and Vin found himself all the way across the field, near the forested side of the old building. A shudder ran through him as he looked briefly into those trees. Vin did not know where Antonius was headed, but it certainly must be some place close. The building had been his sanctuary for many years, so it seemed logical that the deacon would have kept his backup plan there. If he found another heir to the bloodline, someone like Dalla, then this would be a battle to the death. Vin could not allow this to happen again.
He made his way through partially familiar halls until he located the one in which Caeli had been held. He glanced into the room that she previously occupied and, from the remnants scattered around the window and the arrangement of the furniture, Vin easily surmised the method of her most recent escape. The room was currently vacant and silent.
Vin heard sounds coming from directly across the hall. The door was open and Antonius’s enraged voice was bellowing out of the dimness. As he took a few cautious steps into the room, Vin noticed the empty hospital bed. The man he saw there earlier was gone. It looked as if he might have been whisked away in a hurry, without regard to the monitoring equipment to which he'd been attached, most of which now lay busted and broken on the floor. Antonius, linen-wrapped book clenched tightly to his chest, was searching the room in a state of near hysteria, wildly trying to find something. He stopped and looked up as Vin entered.
"Was he your alternative, Deacon? Your puppet? Was he another member of my lost family? Did you keep him in a comatose state so that he would not be able to fight you?" Vin asked in a flat, determined voice.
"You still have no idea. It is you who have been my captive since the very day of your crossing. Your every decision has been manipulated to ensure that you would find your way to me," Antonius snapped in response, still trying to come to terms with the fact that not only had Vin deceived him with a fake book, but he also managed to pull off a body snatch sometime during the previous night when nobody was paying attention. This was the deacon's last resort. Without the blood flowing in the veins of that body, he could not use the book. If he did not use the book soon, all would be lost. The comet would be gone, the battle outside would be lost, and the barrier would remain. Although, the earth itself would continue its roiling protest until the energies set loose were eventually expended.
"I no longer need to understand your madness. The time has come to end this, and you will die for this crime and all the others you have committed against our families and friends. Beyond that punishment, nothing else will matter." Vin stepped further into the room, closing the door to discourage it as an easy exit. The two men faced each other once again across the disheveled remains in the ransacked room.
"It should matter. It should be of the utmost concern to you. What I know could save your wife’s soul. Tell me where you’ve taken the body, and I will spare her. I will permit the two of you to be together again," Antonius offered in a throaty, desperate voice, a final attempt to salvage his work.
"You want to bargain? You have nothing left with which to bargain. Your lies and promises hold absolutely no interest for me. I already know what I need to do to save my wife." Vin constricted the air around Antonius, hoping to keep him from trying to flee.
The man took a deep breath, straightened to his full height, and strode a few paces toward the bed and rested his hand upon it in a show of defiance against Vin’s attempt to restrain him.
"You are not strong enough to stop me on your own. I’ve been using these skills much longer than you have. You may be strong, but your knowledge is limited. Plus, I am on this side of the barrier which gives me a more direct link to the energy source," Antonius responded in a more rational and composed manner.
Vin ignored him and continued to squeeze the air surrounding his opponent.
"You would do well to hear me out. If you do not, this will not end well for either of you. You have been misled by the angels. They know, as I do, that you cannot save Caeli. It is not possible. She will die today."
The air in the room became colder and began to swirl in agitation. Vin stood unmoving, the urgency of Raphael’s words in the back of his mind. But, he could not help himself. Vin heard a hint of truth in the deacon’s words, and he needed to know for sure. He decided to listen to the deacon's last tale.
Vin tightened his hold on the man while he spoke. This time, Vin knew that Antonius would have a difficult time breaking free. He also thickened the air further, making each breath that the deacon took heavier and more difficult to expel. He briefly wondered if the man would be able to fight him successfully, but it was a fleeting notion. Vin was secure in his ability, confident in his purpose.
"If it will ease your guilt to reveal your crime to me, then I will hear what you wish to say. But do not be deceived. Your words will not change my mind. I am no priest and I will neither forgive you nor absolve you. Anyone who would use his own granddaughter to such an end has no chance for mercy from me."
"Granddaughter?" The deacon was taken aback by the word.
"I have no granddaughter. I have no family left. They’ve all been taken from me, taken to the other side of that damned barrier, where I am not permitted to follow. Everything that I once loved is gone, and my suffering of those losses has been great. If I had not known of my wife’s special bloodline, which introduced me to the other side of the barrier, then I would never have found my purpose to continue living."
"Then you are an idiot! You say that you are doing all of this out of grief for your son, but at the time of his death, your daughter-in-law was pregnant. She gave birth to the kindest and most beautiful woman I have ever known. You were too wrapped up in yourself to notice either of them. That is why your wife left you. That is why you never knew about the child and never shared in the joy of her life. I will never let Caeli know about her relationship to you. I would spare her the pain of knowing her own kin could commit such atrocities against her out of some perverse desire to lessen his own grief." Vin actually found himself feeling sorry for the man.
At one time, Antonius had loved fiercely, but the devastation of his grief damaged his soul. In his attempt to heal his own pain, the deacon became the instrument of misery and suffering for countless others.
Vin promptly set aside his pity. Antonius’s mind was clear, and his actions were deliberate. He understood the consequences of those actions, and yet he persisted. Vin did not believe that the end justified the method by which it was achieved, especially a catastrophic end such as Antonius intended.
Suddenly, Vin's words struck a chord with Antonius. A grandchild of his wife’s bloodline, the bloodline of power which opened his eyes to the path he now walked. It was astounding! Antonius knew it was true. Nemi was trying to tell him as much last night when Caeli tried to steal the book. Nemi saw what Antonius had not registered until now. Caeli’s fingers had been on the book, and she did not recoil in pain. Antonius would not have needed Dalla. The second bloodline had not ended with his son after all. And now, against all probability, the bloodlines of the two brothers, once impossibly separated by centuries of time and continents of distance, had been briefly reunited with Vin and Caeli's marriage. Antonius spared a fleeting regret that there had been no children from that union.
"Ah, now it makes sense. Yes, if I had known of her true heritage, I would have planned a much different strategy. She w
ould have been a much better puppet than you have proven to be." As Antonius admitted his shortcoming, Vin’s mind also grasped the words that the deacon used to describe Caeli’s grandmother. He said she had the bloodline of power. Then Vin knew as well. Caeli was a descendant of the other bloodline.
"Bet your new friends neglected to mention that little tidbit, didn’t they?" Antonius tried to use Vin’s discovery to his own advantage. Vin wasn't buying it. The jab was hollow considering that Antonius didn't even know his own granddaughter.
"It's irrelevant. Her heritage changes nothing. I have always loved Caeli for who she is. She is a part of my soul. She was the best thing that ever happened to me, and you ended that. I will not let you ruin the rest of her life," Vin insisted.
"There is something else those winged misanthropes have kept from you as well. Do you know how the term soul mate originated? It’s a long story, but basically it’s a tragic tale of ailing lovers who did not wish to be parted by death. They called upon ancient forces to remove a piece of each of their souls and trade them with a piece from the other. This would allow them to be together forever, for a soul cannot be separated from itself, lest it eventually perish, or so they thought. They were punished for their audacity, and the pieces were ripped out of their souls, leaving a hole within each. The pieces were placed in other souls. Thus, the two were doomed to spend eternity searching for the missing pieces of their souls. It's quite sad."
"Over time, there have been documented accounts of couples who have found such completeness in each other that they share physical and emotional pains. These rare unions are said to be those souls who have found their missing pieces and have attached to each other. They are granted the gift, or curse if you prefer, of an eternity together. Soul mates. These soul mates are, indeed, eternally bound. If one dies, the other cannot survive much longer. It must follow where its mate has gone. The partner must die as well."
"Tragic, but what's your point?" Vin asked impatiently. He listened, but did not let his guard down.
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