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“Terra!” I called again.
The more I screamed, the more worried Cyrene looked.
“Stop that!” she hissed. Her anger gave way to uncertainty, and then an emotion that looked very much like fear.
“Terra!”
A bright flash of light filled the room, and Cyrene screamed. She covered her face with her arms and cowered away.
A being appeared before me, the light so bright it was hard to look at her at all.
“Erol,” she said. “You called.”
“I-I did. I need you.”
“I didn’t think I would hear you call again.”
I didn’t know what to say. I sank to one knee and bowed my head.
“Don’t let Cyrene take Hazel away,” I begged. “She only ever wanted to help me. She only ever loved me, despite everything I’ve done. I don’t want her to die, and I don’t want to be the one to kill her. Please, help me.”
Terra kneeled before me. She reached for me, and when she touched my shoulder, warmth flowed through me, although I couldn’t feel the physical touch at all.
“What do you want, Erol?” she asked.
“I want Hazel to live.”
“And for yourself?”
I dared to look up into the bright face. I couldn’t make out her features, but I had the strange sensation that she was smiling at me, her eyes warm and welcoming.
“I want to be rid of this darkness forever. I’m so tired…tired of doing the wrong things, tired of not having my own choices. I’m tired of living in darkness and fear. I just want to do what’s right, without all these voices in my head arguing with me about it.”
“What will you do if you return to the light?” she asked.
“Live a life of goodness, a life that matters,” I said. “I have nothing to show but destruction and pain, and I don’t want that to be the rest of my life. I want to help people. I want to live fully, and I want to be with Hazel.”
“Do you love her?”
“More than I’ve loved anyone,” I confessed.
Terra regarded me, and I waited for her to speak. I was terrified she would turn me away. How could she forgive a man like me, who’d hurt and killed so many? How could she banish the darkness in my life when it had controlled me, defined me, for so long?
“You are a good man, Erol.”
When Terra said that, my eyes welled with tears. Hazel had called me a good man, but Terra was a goddess. She knew all, saw all.
“How can you say that after all I’ve done?” I sobbed.
“I’ve seen your heart, and I saw that everything you did came from a good place. Our actions don’t always define us. You chose to sacrifice yourself to let your family live. There is honor and goodness in that. You were willing to die so that Hazel and the others may live, too. That goodness has prevailed despite all the years you have been drenched in darkness. I see your heart, and I approve of your love for Hazel, and the purity of your intentions.” She took my hand and held it in both of hers.
“Come home, Erol,” she whispered. “I hereby set you free to do the work of the good, to spread light throughout the earth as was your calling all along.”
Light flooded my body, rocking through me as if it had been slammed into me, wave upon wave. I cried out, and tears rolled over my cheeks. Terra didn’t only drive away the darkness, she also healed all the wounds created by Cyrene digging her nails into me. She washed away all the pain and forgave all my transgressions—there were so many, but she wiped the slate clean.
I fell to the ground, holding myself up with one hand so that I wouldn’t crush Hazel beneath me. I looked down at her limp body.
“Will…will she be okay?” I asked.
