Oblivion's Crown

by M. H. Johnson

  Confused eyes widened with horror. Elsith had time for a single desperate scream as Kentric threw her right into the gate, forcing her to face its nightmares alone.

  Kentric flashed a final cold grin as Elsith’s shocked gaze immediately faded to shadows and gloom. “You can do that at least, pathetic dog. Now go. Fulfill your obligation, endure your mission, and I just might let you live.”

  9

  Val shivered in awe as he found himself at the very edge of a lush grove, perfectly ripe apples and pears dangling from branches burdened with ripe fruit, and far above the trees he saw not night but the brilliant sparkle of crystal flashing in the dark high above.

  His heart soared as he dared grasp hold of an impossible hope, holding back sudden tears at the knot in his heart as a soft voice he thought forever consigned to dream caressed his ear once more. It was all he could do to slip into the peaceful gloom fading to brilliant light as he took one hopeful step after another, heart racing as he ducked under a final branch, beholding a sight that filled his eyes with tears.

  Beholding a beautiful woman with chestnut curls seated upon a rocking chair before a marvelous structure of Elementium and crystal holding endless trays of ripening fruit and vegetables, enough to feed a small city, it seemed. Silver-gold light and a soft soothing hum emanated from the marvelous artifact, basking the young woman holding a precious bundle to her breast and a dozen dwarven children in its gentle light as the young mother entranced them with stories of mystery and wonder. The history of her people, endless feats of derring-do, and the hidden morals and lessons within the tales she told.

  He was captivated by the priceless sight before him, savoring the wondrous tales she told. Though no story was quite so wonderful, quite so remarkable, as him being there at that very moment, catching sight of the dwarven girl he had loved so fiercely, rejoicing in being there once more.

  “And that ends the story of our city’s founding. Are there any other tales you would like to hear?” Ava’s smile was almost apologetic, rocking her child. “I fear my Avelina misses the comfort of her crib.”

  “The Great Awakening!” enthused one of the girls, the others supporting the suggestion with excited nods and animated whispers from all the children present.

  “Yes!” declared an animated little boy, practically bouncing in his seat. “Tell us about the time we were trapped in the cold!”

  Several children’s eyes grew large and looked on the verge of tears. “I don’t like to think about the cold,” another girl whispered.

  “And you shall never have to again,” Ava soothed as her daughter yawned, opening perfect cornflower-blue eyes before shutting them again with a smile. “For winter has passed, and now we may savor spring’s gentle embrace for the rest of our days.”

  “Because of the hero,” declared the first girl who had spoken.

  Ava nodded solemnly, her daughter happily suckling once more. “That is correct, Elia. During the darkest hour of our race’s long tale, just before the last flickers of our being were lost forever to oblivion’s caress, a hero came. Shining brightly upon the cords of fate, his noble heart was a beacon which Grandfather answered. And together they strove against the horrid darkness, bringing light to our precious arboriums, life to our sacred groves, and hope to our people. For even when death’s dark sentinels, automatons grown mad with time’s decay, struck beloved Arilius Battleborn down, our hero risked his life to save him, embracing magics perilous and grand in a desperate effort to save Grandfather and bring hope to our people.”

  “Because he held the Silbion, like the sun that makes Silee plants grow! Is Valor a sun god?”

  Ava’s melodious laughter washed over the children. “No, darling. For our hero’s brilliant virtue was more like that of the gentle moon. Soft light and deepest shadow are both his domain. He is a child of Phoebe, after all, may the goddess watch over us eternally.”

  “But where did he go, after he woke us up?” asked one of the boys, and all Ava could do was stare, beautiful eyes growing wide as she began to tremble, tiny Avelina wakening with a soft cry.

  For the answer to the boy’s question had appeared before her.

  Ava was breathless before the sight of Val, who was unable to bear shadow’s embrace any longer, heart roaring in his ears, now approaching the woman he had dreamed about, slowly walking past a dozen wide-eyed children gazed at him with something close to awe.

  Val, on one knee before the trembling girl he had missed so deeply, gently took a sobbing Ava in his arms as he gazed into his daughter’s eyes, feeling her soft breath for the first time.

  “I had missed you so much. I had dreamed of you,” the girl he loved sobbed. “Oh, Val, how I longed for you!”

  Val smiled into her brilliant gaze, kissing tear-stained cheeks, holding her closely to him as they left the grove together before Ava gently placed her tiny bundle in his arms, deadly armor of war blinked off in a heartbeat, Val savoring the feel of his sleeping daughter against his chest.

  “Her name is Avelina,” Ava whispered.

  Val smiled back, heart in throat. “Avelina is a beautiful name.”

  Ava wiped away tears of happiness. “She looks so much like you. She will make you proud.”

  And with a dozen cheering children leading the way, Val found himself once more in the heart of a magnificent city of gleaming golden bronze towers soaring high above, with countless domes of Elementium-reinforced alloy capping so many buildings reflecting the crystalline light that it was like the first streaks of pink as sunset cherished the golden afternoon. Bright, beautiful, and soft on the eyes. Yet the marvelous architectural wonders of this perfectly preserved dwarven city were nothing compared to the wonder of walking by Ava’s side once more, and the grand colosseums, temples, and baths they passed, each and every one a priceless treasure, paled in significance compared to the glorious feel of his daughter’s sleeping warmth pressed snugly against his chest.

  The excited murmurs and welcoming expressions from so many dwarves who bowed, waved, or flashed him cheerful grins buoyed Val's spirits and eased the weight upon his soul. But nothing raised him up so much as Ava’s gentle gaze as she held him in her arms, their daughter sleeping peacefully in her crib and Val sobbing uncontrollable tears as he dared confess the bitter burdens of his heart.

  A gentle finger was placed against his lip, her smile forgiving everything. “I can taste the terrible burden upon you. Come, husband, let me ease the weight of your soul.”

  Powerful hands possessing the most graceful fingers slowly undressed him even as Val untied a blouse containing treasures ripe and full, bursting with a mother’s bounty as he caressed them, Ava smiling into his eyes as they sank into her plush bed together. “Thank you for coming back to me,” she whispered, before soft lips caressed his own and all thought was replaced by desperate hunger and sweetest bliss. Ava’s soft cry inflamed him with a desperate need to fill his love with all the sweet rapture he could, as if these precious moments could somehow make up for all things he had seen and done, and for all the months he had vanished from her life.

  Endless heartbeats later, lost in delicious languor, Val wanted nothing more than to savor the soft warmth pressed against him, Ava’s eyes gazing so tenderly into his own. She flashed a shy smile.

  “I missed you, Valor Hunter. More than words can say.”

  Val kissed her soft lips, gazing into her eyes, running his fingers through her luxurious chestnut curls. Still at a loss for words, his heart overflowing with gentle adoration for the powerfully built and exquisitely sensual girl in his arms. “I love you so much, Ava. I’m sorry I was so long away.”

  Her cheeks dimpled with her grin. “It always warms my heart to hear you say it, Valor. Even more to feel the truth of your love, whenever we are together.”

  Val swallowed, lost in Ava’s gaze before her sweet kiss sent his heart racing once more. Then Avelina cried and Ava flushed the palest shade of rose, perfectly complementing the light gray cast to h
er features. “I fear someone is getting hungry, dearest Val.”

  Val just shook his head with wonder, gazing at the beautiful little redheaded miracle happily suckling away at her mother’s breast once more. “She is so beautiful, Ava, but I think she looks far more like you than me.”

  Ava gazed happily at her daughter, fingers delicately caressing the fuzzy down atop her head. “I’m just grateful she’s alive and well, born into a world where hope shines brightly down upon us once more.” Cornflower-blue eyes locked upon his own. “Thanks to you, hero of my heart. Only thanks to you. For which my people will forever be grateful, and never will a day go by that I don’t give thanks to Phoebe for rescuing a foolish girl and her two wards from tragic folly. For giving me hope, joy, and a child to cherish all my days in a city full of light and love, when before I had known only despair."

  Val lowered his gaze, heart suddenly squeezing with shame. “Ava. Ava, I’m so, so very sorry.”

  Yet before he could utter another word, a gentle finger touched his lip once more. “I know,” Ava soothed. “The moment we made love, your secrets were my own.”

  Val flushed, acutely embarrassed, even as she chuckled softly. “It is the way of our people, Val. You know already that you cannot lie in the dwarven tongue. Thoughts and intentions are conveyed with our words, which suits your own linguistic gifts perfectly. When we commune in the deepest of all ways, our hearts, our souls become one. And though I regret that there is so much I cannot share with you, I know that when we make love you sense how fiercely I cherish you, Valor Hunter. Just know that I feel your love in turn, and your secrets, no matter how dark, I accept as part of the truth that defines you, bitter and sweet, and I will never condemn you.”

  She squeezed her eyes tightly shut then, shaking her head sadly. “Even as you dance with direst folly, even as our goddess demands the sacrifice of your very soul to avert the awful doom hungry to claim us all.” Her gaze transformed to wonder. “And yet, somehow, you live. Earning the awe of Phoebe herself. And that’s not the first time you have catalyzed your own existence from quantum flux. It was the spirit of a dying boy brought to life once more in a vat of Silbion that came to my rescue the very hour I needed a hero so desperately, praying with every flicker of my fading soul for Phoebe’s mercy.”

  She gently kissed her daughter’s brow. “I do not know what path destiny has chosen for you, but you are no common mortal, hero of my heart, assuming you are mortal at all.”

  Val blinked, nonplussed, having no idea what to say to that.

  Ava gently laced his fingers with her own, gazing intently at him once more. “You dare the most perilous of arenas, upon the world above, and I fear terribly the danger you face. But I will never judge the choices you make as you pit your piece against all the forces laid against you, forging alliances and finding comfort where you may. I only pray that when the madness is over, you will remember the gaze of your daughter, and the woman who cherishes you with all her heart.”

  Val choked back a sob, wrapping Ava and their baby in his arms. “I will always cherish you, dearest Ava. I will always love you. Whatever darkness I must embrace to survive the game of kings and thrones above, I swear that you will always be the secret calm in the depths of my heart. The hope and serenity that keeps me strong. That keeps me… sane.”

  He could feel her smile. “Good. Then play your game, embrace your wives, and emerge victorious from the crucible of war awaiting you above. And when you achieve victory, even should the entire world bow at your feet, I pray with all of my heart that you will never betray the city that owes you everything, and will forever hold you as their eternal hero.”

  Val flushed at those words. “Never!” he swore. “I will never betray you. I could never betray the people I risked everything to protect!”

  Ava smiled sadly, tears streaming freely from her eyes. “Then you know what you must do.”

  Val blinked, aghast at her words. “Ava...”

  Her gaze hardened. “You dance with Highlords, contesting for the crown of an entire world. Unleashing powers terrible and fey. But all that we can survive, nestled safely within our pocket dimension, save one terrible secret that could doom us all.”

  Val swallowed, pale-faced and wan. “Ava, don’t ask me to do this.”

  Tears streaming freely, Ava shook her head. “I’m sorry, Valor Hunter, husband of my heart. What I ask of you is to embrace my greatest fear, but I must ask it. For the survival of my very people depends upon it. You know it does, Val. If our enemies should pick your secrets in just one awful moment of weakness as you duel in Shadow and darkness, facing the most fearsome of opponents in a bid for the throne? We are doomed.”

  She sobbed softly, gazing at their child. “Our Avelina is doomed.”

  “Ava… please!”

  She adamantly shook her head. “I could taste your odd talent. The way you can partition your own mind. If you would truly keep us safe, Valor Hunter, on the hour of your departure, you must make yourself forget. Hide away all memory of the precious secret we share together. Hide all memory of the woman who would hold you by her side all her days. Hide all memory of the beautiful city you rescued from utter ruin. Forget us, Val. Let us be no more than an interesting ruin tapped of all treasures and discarded. So that any monster that peers into your soul doesn’t look twice, peering instead for other fruit with immediate resources they can pluck free.”

  Val squeezed his eyes tightly shut, ignoring the bitter sting of tears.

  “Until you are able to claim the throne, you must hide our secrets forever more, Valor Hunter. So you never put in danger the wife and daughter who love you with all their hearts.”

  And before Val could say another word, there was a hollow knock on the bronze-plated door. Ava smiled sadly into his eyes before placing Avelina in his arms and answering it.

  Val’s eyes widened and he couldn’t help a smile despite the grief tearing through his heart, meeting the clear blue gaze of none other than Arilius. Grandfather to Ava, king of the dwarves. Together they had fought side by side in a desperate bid to save the city, facing down berserking automatons, restoring Silbion-depleted arboriums, and bringing their dying tribe back from suspended animation just hours before they would have been lost forever.

  Hard features crinkled in a fatherly smile. “It is good to see my grandson back amongst us once more. Holding the greatest prize any man could ask for.”

  Val smiled, gazing down at his daughter’s angelic features as she slept in his arms. “It is good to see you, Arilius.”

  Arilius dipped his head. “Indeed it is, boy. But before my granddaughter compels you to forget the treasure in your arms and all that you fought so hard to save, I would counsel you to walk by my side. There are many paths to the future, and I fear the safest road will peter off to a trail leading only to oblivion.”

  “Grandfather, we spoke of this! If what you contemplate fails, we lose everything. Everything we fought so hard to claim from death’s cold grip, our final hour averted by Valor’s mercy alone!”

  Hard eyes locked upon Ava’s. She trembled and lowered her gaze. Val held her close and she choked back tears, rocking their daughter in her arms. Arilius’s steely gaze softened, a look of genuine sorrow upon his features. “I am sorry, Granddaughter. As much as I wish to give you only comfort and solace, we have both studied history spanning millennia. All seclusion will buy us is time. Time enough for a miracle, perhaps, but failing that… it only prolongs the end to come.”

  “It buys us centuries!” Ava whispered.

  Arilius nodded. “It does. Centuries of peace and relative tranquility, as our enemies grow ever more powerful, ever more sophisticated, slow as their technological advancements are. But eventually they will find us and put all their resources to bear in subjugating us, or wiping us out entirely.”

  The older dwarf’s measuring gaze seemed to weigh Val’s very soul. “And should we choose the subtle path, embracing centuries hidden from our enemy’
s gaze, hoping for a miracle of innovation or intervention, we might have forgone our best chance of salvation, even as he stands here before us, ready to take on an entire empire to defend those closest to his heart.”

  “Arilius.” Val felt his heart start to race even as Ava trembled, just knowing he was on the cusp of something momentous, sensing fate’s dice rattling in ways strange and profound.

  “Yes, Val?”

  “I would hear your counsel.”

  The dwarf’s hard features crinkled in a smile. "And you will. But first I need to know. Are the legends true, boy?”

  Val felt a chill racing up and down his spine. He realized he didn’t even need to ask what Arilius meant. The powerful dwarf's gaze had pierced his very soul.

  “Yes,” Val whispered. “Yes they are.”

  “Good.” Arilius turned to his granddaughter. “I know how much you cherish this boy, get of my get. The solution is before us, and not even the most stubborn members of my council fail to understand how vital it is that we seize the moment now. When one who dares the Path of Kings walks by our side, embracing all the ancient powers once thought lost with the Dominion’s incursion, it is as if Phoebe herself has given us counsel.”

  The room grew utterly still, save for a restless Avelina, sensing her mother’s sudden distress.

  “If we are to have any hope of survival, we must join the fight, Granddaughter. Our armor must gild our champion’s fist. And together, if fortune favors the madness we would embrace, we might just see the dawn as a free people once more.”

  Ava trembled. “But, Grandfather, what of all the children who count this city as their one bastion of safety in a world gone mad? What of poor Avelina?”

  “Avelina would have a chance of seeing the sun as a free woman, Ava. Not hiding in the dark for a thousand years until eventually our enemies find us and purge us, and we too foolish to embrace the one chance of seizing victory for ourselves when Phoebe’s Chosen stands before us!”