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“What? No! Of course I didn't know!” she shouted angrily. This was when I started blurting it all out like I was some kid again, confessing all my childish sins to my parents and praying for them not to ground me.
“I didn't know myself until the Keepers of Three told me… who, I should probably mention, are most likely squashed right now in the temple of the Tree of Souls, but before they became grotesque piles of goo on the floor, they showed me Lucius’s memories. I didn't realize at the time, but they were showing me what was manipulated by Matthias and what he wanted me to know. He needed to get me into Hell, which was what kickstarted this whole thing. Lucius tried to stop me, begged me to listen to him.” At this my father took pity on me, as he framed my face with his hands and told me,
“My sweet, dear child, it was not your fault, this was your Fate, this wasyour destinyand as much as I hate to admit it, much as I did when your mother did the same, you cannot change who you are, despite how those who care for you may wish to change certain compulsive actions of yours. You are here now because you were always meant to be here,” my father told me, and I have to admit, it felt good hearing it. Like having his blessing was cleansing my soul of all the remorse I felt. Because ever since I had stepped through that Tree of Souls, I had felt guilty about so many things. I blamed myself for every minute that had happened after I did the one thing that Lucius asked me not to do. But my father was right. This had been my destiny. Because Matthias wouldn't have stopped. He wouldn’t have just given in and given up. Not when this was a grudge that spanned over two thousand years. A hatred and resentment that went far beyond Lucius or his brother Dariush. It was one that lay at Lucifer's feet and ironically, it was one that, in the end, he didn't have to fight.
Matthias would have continued in his quest to destroy us all. One way or another it wouldn't have stopped had I not stepped through the Tree of Souls and started this journey. So, the Keepers of Three were not wrong when they told me I was the only one who could stop this. The only one who had the power, because the infection would have kept on growing and more souls would have been lost to the roots of his rage. A dark essence Lucius had unknowingly released to the roots that lead straight to the core of his own souls.
And now it was done.
Matthias was finally where he belonged. Lucifer should have killed him long ago, and maybe that was his mistake. Or maybe, like he said, this was simply all Fated to end this way.
Either way, as I looked back towards where his body still lay, his head severed and his dark soul being no more, I felt that sense of victory warm my heart. We had won and for me now, well there was still one more thing I had left to do.
“Amelia?” my mum called my name in question when I walked away from them both and over to where the Eye of Crimson was still lying in the dirt. I reached down to pick it up and sighed when that too felt right being back in my charge.
“Fae! Be careful, don't touch it!” my mum shouted too late, for it was back in my grasp and once more protected, as was my responsibility to do so. I was still its Keeper, and I would do right by the Fates. So, I turned back to face them and said,
“It's okay, everything will be okay now.” Because I knew with everything deep inside me that it no longer had just one keeper.
No, now…
It had two.
PEACE AND FORGIVENESS
LUCIUS
Forgiveness.
It was a word unspoken yet here I was.
Proof that it happened.
The sins of my reckoning forgiven. The words of damnation lost now to memory, for no longer did anything stand in my way from entering Heaven. A place I still to this day had always believed myself holy unwelcome. And yet, here I was, with my daughter's body in my arms and even though I could feel that her soul was long gone, just being here allowed me the gift of hope once more.
All I could do was hope.
As honestly, I had not a single clue as to whether this would work. I had nothing but a faith that I once believed in that had been firmly eradicated from my heart, now powerfully resurrected in my soul. For white wings in Hell had never been seen before, and that was all the sign I had needed.
This had to work.
Because the moment my Chosen One had told me who it was that lay dying on the battlefield, I knew it in the depths of my own soul to be true.
It was,at long last…
My Kala.
All of this time walking the same earth together and I never knew. All this time she had been trapped. Her own body made a slave to that of my wife's, so that Dalene could continue to grow her obsession of hatred and revenge against me. Using her own daughter,my daughter,as a weapon against me. Her own body becoming a cruel cage she couldn’t escape from. It was the cruelest of realities to accept. For it meant that she hadn’t just taken Kala’s first life, but she had made our daughter a slave in her second.
I had always believed the Gods hated me. I had always believed that Jesus, the man I would have given my life for, had forsaken me.
But I had been wrong.For he had done as he had promised he would. He had resurrected my daughter, and I had not been there for her. If only I'd have known, I could have done something. I could have saved her.
I could have saved her this time.
And now I was here, and the bitter irony did not escape me being the one to bring her to this white paradise. An endless pristine garden that was overflowing with white flowers of every kind known to man. A wall of flawless marble arches surrounded us and each without the grey veins of stone to blemish them. They stood like silent heavenly sentinels guarding this sacred space. A forest of trees beyond them, that look bleached of any color and leaves so delicate they looked more like woven lace flittering like butterflies in the wind. Then, there in the center of it all, was four gleaming white pillars standing at each corner of the raised dais. The raised platform held a large pale stone altar, one surrounded by blooming white roses. Of course, I knew that the white rose symbolized loyalty, purity, and innocence, making me understand why this garden existed.
I lay her down so gently, it was as if I had convinced myself she was but a doll made from the finest of glass. Lowering her breathless body down on a place I knew was waiting for her among the white bed of roses. And just like on that dreadful day, the worst of my life, the same tears fell as they did then. Yet despite my heartbreak, I grew some comfort at seeing her finally looking so peaceful. No doubt, the most peaceful she had ever been since her rebirth.
