by T M Caruana
Leo was hoping his reason had been good enough for Michael to see past it.
“Hmm, too bad that we got back too late,” Michael said, nodding at the grey sky and the bare trees where only some had become a little bushier since they had arrived.
Leo noted that Michael had changed subject to avoid turning nasty.
“I have an idea, but I don’t know if it will work. For sure, no one will like it, especially not Tarus. But it’s the only way I can think of to be able to save the worlds,” Leo sighed deeply and looked over the withered landscape.
“How can you not know if it will work? Can’t Hakon see the future?” Michael asked abruptly.
The fact that Michael had picked up on that fact didn’t make the answer any easier for Leo to explain.
“For some reason, Hakon is only able to see the future to a specified point in time in the future,” Leo replied. “From there onwards everything becomes black, he says. He says he doesn’t know why, but that it has always been like that and that his visions always end at the same moment each time. I can’t figure out why it happens, but my best guess is that something happens to him. But I don’t want to mention that to him. Moreover, he understands enough of it himself and maybe there are even parts he is not telling me about.”
Leo felt his eyes heavy with sorrow and he fixed his gaze determinedly on the landscape in front of them.
Although Leo’s explanation had been in a low voice it was high enough to be heard by Tarus’s tiger hearing from the tower, where he sat at Susy’s bedside. Tarus knew that if Leo had a plan, it would be the best chance they had, but he didn’t like how he had also promised his disapproval. He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts and hopefully gain some fortitude. No one else had the stomach to tell Susy about the day’s events and prepare her for the truth. Even he shied away from the task, but he loved Susy too much to allow her to be embedded in a falsehood that could have catastrophic consequences. She would need time to process the sad news. But where would he start? Your greed over your own happiness resulted in the seven worlds’ downfall. It wasn’t easy, but if he lied, she would see right through him. When she woke up, he would have to try his best.
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“Everything was blurry. I could hear voices, but only weakly. I couldn’t move; I was attached to tubes that led to machines seemed to worsen my headache at every blip,” I murmured before I completely woke up and sat up a little.
I instantly looked for the short-cut pink flowers placed on my bedside table – and even here on Pixi, they were there.
“That was how they must have kept me locked up in the first years on Teli…with drugs. I can remember these pink flowers. As always, on my nightstand when I woke up. I had also seen them at Europa point in Gibraltar, but I still couldn’t remember if they had a meaning. Do you know who put them here?” I asked, amazed at how they could manifest themselves out of thin air at two such different places.
Tarus looked indifferently at them and shook his head. “I think it was Gabriel. He said they were your favourite flowers,” he said hesitantly, seemingly not knowing where the conversation was going.
Favourite flowers? I thought. Well, it was true even if I had never thought about it. My fingers roamed over the individual petals as I thought back to a time when I thought that my life was only going to be lived in a little room, where I had assumed that my life had begun and would also end. In solitude, I had often dreamt of a prince who would come to save me, as I had counted the petals ‘love me, love me not, love me, love me not, love me, love me not, LOVE ME’. It always ended with ‘love me’ and, ironically, the dream had come true. The prince had finally come.
I sensed that Tarus tried to find comforting words, and didn’t forget to remind me of his love as promised. Then he was quiet again. Tarus was often quiet in my presence although it always looks as if he wants to say something, even if he has to improvise. Right now, he was reticent to remain silent and that worried me. He had to give me a report on the victims of the war and I knew he would try his utmost to delay sharing that knowledge. I had already understood that we had won, and the battle was over, but at what cost?
“The worlds…Susy…we didn’t make it in time…” Tarus faltered over his words.
Confusion was the first to fly over me before my desperation grew over how long we would have until all had died out. Would I regret that I had sacrificed everything for my love, or would I die knowing that I let love conquer all? Maybe the thought was just a defence because I didn’t want to take responsibility for what I had done? Now it wouldn’t matter who had died in the battle: we would all die. The Universe had begun its countdown to doom, but one step at a time and I wanted to know who had died today.
“Today, who? Did anyone? Is everyone?”
It was just as difficult for me as it had been for Tarus to formulate the dreaded question.
“Finor, Victorina, Net, Simona and…Nina.”
The last one was the hardest for me to hear.
“Now what?” I asked
“Leo said he had an idea and he is probably on his way here to discuss it with you.”
I nodded.
“But Susy, one thing. Before they come. There’s something I want to tell you. I don’t want to keep any secrets from you.”
His hand touched mine and I had never experienced it so hot. His energies thrived being near me.
“In the battle, I met a boy. He was very skilled.”
“What…why was there a boy in the battle?” I interrupted Tarus, but he stopped me quickly to continue his story, but didn’t get the chance to say more.
Kora appeared in the doorway. “I believe he symbolises the last clue in your poem,” she said as she hovered in to give some news.
“When You gathered what’s been apart, make sure You find the secret heart,” I whispered to myself.
I knew what the poem meant, but not whose secret heart I had hidden away. If I didn’t know, Kora certainly didn’t either. What did she know about the secret heart?
“He has been in hiding for his own safety, Susy, but you will see how similar his facial features are to Noah’s.”
“You are a grandmother,” teased Michael.
That was new information to me that I hadn’t been aware of. Leo must have been the one hiding him away well enough for me not to sense it. I, in a way, always saw myself as everyone’s ancestor, but it was in a more creative way and not in a biological way. It had always been a sore topic for Tarus that I had a descendant with another man, and this time was no exception. But he had made the right decision to tell me. I had a right to know.
I looked at them all who apparently had interpreted the poem wrongly. It couldn’t be he whom the secret heart referred to. I hadn’t even had a clue that he existed.
“His name is Hakon and he has your eyes and stubbornness, I would say. Moreover, he has all the powers that you have and the Oracle’s.”
Tarus tried to make me stay positive, not to exert myself, after having just woken up from having almost died making the powerful spell.
“He has always known who you are and would love to meet you,” said Leo protectively from the door and I could see little fingers pushing his legs to the side to push past.
Hakon looked at me and waved gently with his fingertips and then looked toward Tarus with adoring eyes, as if he was a superhero.
“Come Hakon, come closer, don’t be afraid,” I called.
Luckily that fear was more from nervousness, because he could register my feelings as easily as I his.
“You have your grandfather’s cheeks, your father’s hands and, very clearly, my eyes,” I said as I inspected him.
By beholding his whole body I registered his features and stored it safely in my memory.
“Have you had a good life with Leo and Myra?” I asked him, Leo’s paternal feelings for the boy were evident.
The question was irrelevant and was only to hear his voice, as I was clearly convinced that t
hey would have taken good care of him. He didn’t have a scratch on his body despite the fact he had just been in a war.
“Yes, grandmother, Leo has taught me enriching knowledge. Myra and I missed him in his absence when he was on Teli to bring you home. And I’ve been waiting to meet you,” babbled the little boy in an eloquently polite language.
There was no doubt about who had raised him. Leo gestured to the others to leave us alone and even Tarus followed the others outside.
“I’m glad I got to meet you Hakon. It must mean that the prophecies were wrong about the future. Do you know if life will be saved?”
Hakon sat down on the bed next to me. He must be a very brave little individual and very wise.
“To die in glory, carrying out my own choices, that is the purpose to the meaning of life. I would die happily for my cause and having been able to help as many as possible, without being tempted by the seven deadly sins. I can’t tell you about the future because I know that it would cause consequences that we might not be willing to live with. I know that you still haven’t regained your ability to see the future and I can’t answer your questions. Since birth, I have only been able to see the future to a certain point and then I’m just as unwise as you. I know why…but what will happen from your choices are your own cause, which I don’t reject.”
The tone of forgiveness in the boy’s voice made me feel uneasy. Would I still have time to make more bad choices?
“We must hope that everything will work out then,” I said cheerfully to try to avoid heavier conversation topics.
“Grandmo…” the boy said and paused, looking sadly at me. “You know as well as I that ‘hope’, creates problems for which you will always need help. You may not wish for the world to be something we desire it to be. We have to accept what is and will be, for otherwise it could paralyse you with disappointment. Your decisions will be reflected by the reality you choose.”
His answer was jaw-dropping. Surely these would have been my words to Myra when she was worried about Leo when Pallas died. I was reminded of Pallas and I wouldn’t have much time for explanations, but I wanted to tell Leo about the incident. It was only fair that he should know the truth if we were all to die. Hakon must already have registered my thoughts as he crawled up on the bed to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“If I can’t stop her, I have already accepted my fate. You have to accept yours. You know, everything turns out as it should in the end.”
Hakon smiled and gave me an assenting nod to my thoughts. He hopped down from the bed and walked towards the door. In the doorway, he turned to look at me again.
“I will do my best to protect the secret heart. See you soon grandmother,” he promised before he left the room.
I felt confused about everything he had said. I understood that all his words had their important role, however, it was too cryptic to decipher. Everything would become clear in time, but I wanted to know now. Who was the woman he would try to stop? Eutychia? What was the fate that both of us could be expecting? Did Hakon know about the secret heart, and who else knew about it? And what was the sad choice I still had time to make? I didn’t have long to think before Leo came back into the room, closed the door behind him and walked to the edge of the bed.
“Hakon told me that you wanted to explain something to me,” he said.
Of course he knew as well as I that Hakon always had a reason for his actions.
“Sit down,” I ordered, patting the bed.
Leo obeyed without hesitation even though it was a little too close to me for him to feel comfortable.
“Leo, when Noah and I were on Medi, picking up the ingredient for Tarus, I met Pallas.”
“What? No, that’s impossible. I have already looked everywhere and haven’t been able to find her soul amongst the living or the dead,” Leo interrupted.
Hunter had been right: it wasn’t a subject you mentioned to Leo unnecessarily. I could see and feel how upset it made him. I knew that Leo must have believed that Pallas was stuck in Hell with no chance of being saved. The fact was that it wasn’t possible to open the portal to Hell, only to Heaven, and in one rare circumstance, to Limbo.
“The reason you weren’t able to find her previously was because her lost soul was wandering in the overgrown forest. When I explained your love for her, she could finally take her place in the Oracle’s train. I just wanted you to know that,” I said softly.
“So she’s in Heaven now?” he exclaimed and jumped to his feet again.
Leo was almost halfway to the door when the others stepped in. I couldn’t understand why he was in such a hurry. I couldn’t imagine that he would lower his morals standards enough to perform the forbidden spell that opened the portal to Heaven.
“Your idea?” Tarus said, clearing his throat at Leo. “Maybe someone can take the boy to the kitchen so he doesn’t hear your plans.”
I was surprised to hear Tarus being so protective of the boy and imagined how good a father he would one day be to his own son.
“Haha that’s funny,” Leo laughed.
Tarus’s amusing comment made Leo laugh, but he quickly tried to control himself when no one else realised why.
“Tarus, he can see the future, he already knows more than you and I,” Leo explained and turned back to approach me to sit on the edge of the bed again, but now on the opposite side to Tarus.
“Susy, the worlds’ energies are weakening constantly and it seems that the only way to keep them alive is if you are in the world and have the stones. The problem is that you can’t be in all the worlds simultaneously. I’ve already tried to give the stones to Hakon, but they don’t work with anyone other than you. I have an idea, but it isn’t in any way something I prefer,” he added cautiously and glanced up at Tarus to judge his distance before he looked back at me.
“Continue,” Tarus’s voice was serious and he appeared to be listening intensely.
“There’s a spell that could possibly help, but I’m not sure,” Leo said, bringing the words out slowly to prolong the process of having to explain the terrible plan.
“Carry on,” pressed Tarus, glancing evilly at him.
“My idea is to bind the stones with your blood and the four forces’ fluids.”
When Leo had finally pronounced the words from his lips, he flew hastily aside to fend off a possible attack by a fireball from the insane lover.
“What! Are you crazy? Then she would die! No! There must be another way,” Tarus said dismissively.
“It was just an idea. Sorry, I couldn’t think of anything else,” Leo answered and looked at me as if he was waiting for a pardon for having failed to perform to my expectations.
“No, absolutely not, and how would that work exactly?” Tarus hissed again.
Leo already had many lives on his conscience and would never, without having thought about it a long time, sacrifice one more. Would this be the only way to ensure that life continues? No, it wasn’t fair to Tarus. How would he cope having to live without me? I could see him place his hand over his heart to count the beats until he calmed down. If his anger turned him into a supernatural monster he would disappear from my sight and there was no end to what the others would plan for me. He wouldn’t trust anyone, after all Leo was Merlin’s son. There must be some evil in him somewhere.
“The potion that Eutychia has been searching ingredients for, over hundreds of years,” Leo murmured, “I have also been looking for them. I have all but one, which has proven more difficult than I thought. When we have them all, we can transport your symmetry energy to the fluid to collect in a medallion containing the stones. To make a liquid, which can be connected to the energy, we need your blood particles to collide at a high speed to activate your strong force that can bind energy particles. When that happens, I move the liquid to the medallion in a vacuum. That should achieve the same energy effect,” he explained carefully, with one eye on Tarus and the other on me.
“And what guarantee do we have that it w
ill succeed?” Tarus asked still sounding worried, although also partly convinced Leo was right.
I felt that he himself wouldn’t care if the worlds existed with only him and I in them.
“None,” replied Leo sadly, but continued to explain his plan to try to calm, or rather distract Tarus. “We have, over the years, received a lot of information about The Large Hadron Collider from the Chameleon who would most likely be able to perform the experiment.”
The words made me sigh in despair. Would I have to return to CERN? It was the last place I ever wanted to see again. I forced myself instead to wonder who the Chameleon was. They had hardly mentioned this character, who was the seventh member of the Order. Apparently, he was already stationed on Teli and no one had seen him, only spoken with him by phone. Who was this man and why would he help us? Could we really trust him? After all, he did call himself the Chameleon. Now I understood why Leo hadn’t wanted to use the ashes of the fire-rose to heal Michael; he needed it for the spell. Leo had really been of great service to me, first he had rescued my grandchild and now he was also the one who would ensure that the worlds were saved.
“Anyway, nothing will work if I can’t find the final ingredient in the spell. I need a black raven feather available only on Sabi and, as I said, I can’t go there,” sighed Leo.
“Susy, give me a power stone and I will go,” growled Tarus.
Tarus’s statement made me worry that he had lost his will to live, as he was well aware that Sabi would also annihilate him. However, he was stopped by Samuel’s hand before he managed to move closer to my necklace, who pulled a raven’s wing from his pocket.
“What is that?” Tarus snapped.
“It’s the last ingredient,” Leo gasped, snatching it from Samuel. “How did you know that we would need it?” Leo asked accusingly.
“It’s enough that I’m accountable to my wife. I don’t need to tell my story to you. Be glad that you have it,” Samuel replied defensively.
Leo nodded reluctantly, accepting Samuels’s response.