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secretstories · 3 years

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One Last Time

“Are you sure he won’t mind.”

“No, but we won’t find out unless we try, besides there is no law of the Drev that I know which says I can’t.”

Standing at the base of the mountain the three of them looked upwards watching as blue flames flickered on the edge of the distant slopes. Kanan shifted uncomfortably. “This seems wrong, I mean the only ones who should be going up the mountain are saints, and I’m no saint.”

“Fine then you can wait outside while I go talk to him.” Sunny said taking her first step up onto the stone.

Adam followed after her quickly outstripping her pace with his superior climbing abilities. A climb that Sunny herself had thought difficult was a climb that the human was willing to make without the assistance of rock climbing equipment. Sunny shook her head at the thought, humans could scale what seemed to be sheer cliff faces by using their hands and feet alone. Even with an extra pair of hands she was not comfortable or good at climbing.

He vanished overhead for some time, and was waiting for them at the top when they made it to the top during mid day.

The shadow of the mountain cast them into cool shade and Kanan dropped to his heels huffing and puffing as Adam lifted his hat looking up at them from what looked to be a rather restful nap. He grinned at them and Kanan flipped him off as he sagged to the ground.

Sunny raised a hand to the two of them trying not to let them see how hard she was breathing.

“I’ll head in first, wait for me here.”

The two of them nodded and she turned stepping through the open canyon, passing familiar lines of rocks and small runnels of water which trickled down around her feet. White moss began to appear around her in patches and then in clumps until it began to take over the entire canyon. She squeezed herself through some tight spaces and out the other side where a beam of orange gold light fell down from above and onto the surface of a small turquoise pool.

Sunny took a deep breath inhaling the familiar scent of months spent training, months spent training and revising Drev doctrine on the top of the sacred mountain.

“Naktan?” she called cupping her hands around her mouth.

She could have gone further into the small thicket of trees at the far end where she knew he slept, but she did not wish to bother him like that. She waited, and waited, and for a moment she thought that something might be wrong, when a soft sound came from behind her. She turned flicking her spear up just in time to catch the haft of Nakta’s spear as it was swung towards her head. She caught him in place holding her arms steady and keeping his gaze as they stood locked together.

Naktan held on for a moment his fiery eyes boring into her before he dropped the spear, “Chalan, I did not expect to see you return…… no one has ever returned to my mountain.”

“There is no rule that says I cannot.

He lifted his head, “That is true….. but you also brought visitors.”

“I did. Since there was no rule against that either.”

He walked around her I n a tight circle, “And a human no less. One who is neither of our creed nor our species..”

She kept straight, “He is sentinel of a clan, AND my battle partner.”

She watched Naktan carefully as he rested his spear over his right shoulder. He didn’t even look surprised at that revelation, “And the other/”

“My brother.”

He nodded slowly.

“I suppose I am glad to see you come. I had expected to grow old without ever speaking again though your appearance has stopped that fear.” She watched as he relaxed his guard, and she did as well knowing that he had accepted their visit.

“I cannot allow them to enter the inner sanctum unless they are willing to observe one of the rights, but at the head of the valley there is a small cave that was once made for those who cared for me in my youth. You and your friends may use it. I will be with you shortly.”

Sunny nodded bowing to Naktan before turning and heading her way out of the cavern.

She found Adam and Kanan playfully flicking pebbles at each other when she showed back up.

They looked up at her and she motioned them to follow, leading them into the small opening which Naktan had spoken of. Inside they found a cave whose walls were glittering in diamond formed as some sort of old lava chamber. There was an indentation I the floor for a fire, and other rocks sitting about for stools. The stone was already black but even more so blackened by smoke.

They sat there for a long few minutes before an echoing from the inside of the cave alerted them to a presence.

Kanan and Adam stood as Naktan appeared from the darkness holding his spear. Light glittered off his black carapace glittering in little sparks like the diamonds imbedded in the ceiling. Both Kanan and Adam raised their spears and bowed. Neither of them spoke as Naktan took his seat. Together they waited, and waited, and waited for what must have been an hour or more before naktan lifted his head.

“Either you both understand the meaning of patience, or Chalan has told you of my little test.

“She may have mentioned it at one point.” Adam admitted.

“Honesty, a good quality.”

He lifted his head to look between the two of them, “I can accept your presence here though I am not one for idle conversation. Tell me, what do you seek in visiting me.”

Sunny paused and shook her head, “Nothing, we just thought you might be…. Lonely?”

“Loneliness is a truth universal which I accepted long ago. Company is nice but not required.” He looked between the group of them, “Though there is something that I sense in you.” He paused and then scooted to sit on the floor crossing his legs.

“Sit with me and follow as I do for I believe I can show you something.”

Adam, Sunny and Kanan did as requested sitting on the obsidian floor.

Naktan pulled a bundle of sticks from somewhere in the cave, set them in the floor and lit them with he strike of a flint. When he had a good fire going around them, the room began to heat up. Sunny could see little beads of sweat appearing on Adam’s forehead.

Naktan raised his hands and withdrew something else from another unknown location turning and throwing it down upon the fire.

There was a burst of sparks and the smoke hued purple, “Breathe deeply, and listen to my voice. Keep your hands on your knees and close your eyes. Breathe only and listen only to my voice.”

Sunny did as told as did the other two, though kanan seemed mildly hesitant.

Then Naktan began to chant. It was slow and melodic and deep like the booming of distant war drums, and as sunny sat that sound pulsed with images. Images of her childhood, of distant wars, of moments glimpsed into the past of memories half forgotten. She saw faces and heard voices and spun in spiraling circles down and out of her own consciousness until it felt like she was floating in nothingness.

“Open your eyes.” Naktan whispered.

Sunny did as told, but when she opened her eyes she found before her a grey landscape.

It was almost perfectly grey accept for the distant hills and the sky overhead was white.

There was no wind and there was no visible sun. There was just silence, and the vast white grey landscape before them.

Sitting in a circle around her she could see Cannon sitting to her left and Adam sitting to her right, though he looked to be almost in pain.

Naktan was standing at the center turning an eye on Adam, “Your theater is still strong, you must let go.”

Adam grimaced, “He doesn’t want me to.”

“Who doesn’t want you to?”

“The spirit…. Deus.”

There was a pause as Naktan nodded almost as if he had known what was coming, “I will not dabble against the great sun, you may stay as you are. Relax and breathe.” The human did as ordered and eventually opened his eyes.

“Where are we.”

“Thousands of years ago, our ancestors communed with the spirits upon the astral plain, seeing guidance and hope from those of the past. This ability and the techniques to impose it have been lost over time, and even I do not have a firm hold of the power. Communion with the spirits is difficult more for some than for others.” He looked over at Adam <”it would be impossible to commune with the creatures of your species. They are too old, too powerful, and they are discouraged from such interactions.”

He turned then to look at Sunny and kanan, “As for the Drev I may be able to request their presence.”

Sunny’s eyes widened, “You mean….. someone who is dead/”

He nodded once turning to Kanan, “I sense you have someone in mind.”

He nodded slowly.

“She waits for you on the other side of the veil, go quick and be swift, I will bring you back when you need returning.” And with a nod Kanan vanished leaving the three of them sitting on the open plane, “I leave you here now as I sense a visitor on the other side. I will bring you back before the danger.”

“Danger/”

“Do not worry, you are in safe hands.”

And then Naktan vanished as well leaving the two of them sitting in the white.

They sat across from each other staring.

A gentle breeze rippled Adam’s shirt, though the way it moaned felt distinctly cold and hollow.

There was nothing here, no life, no spirit, it was a place in between.

And that is when they heard the crunching of footsteps, turning their heads in surprise and looking up as a figure approached over the distant cracked earth. He was tall and simply a silhouette at first, until he drew closer and the shining gold of his armor plate reflected off the ambient light. Whoever he was he seemed to glow with an inner light of his own, like a star descended from the heavens to walk the earth. Sunny took to her feet in shock mouth open as she watched the figure approach.

He was wearing gleaming golden armor against his gleaming golden carapace, and in one hand he carried a spear made of crystal. A cape billowed at his back seeming to be woven from sunlight and threads of fire.

“Father.”

Adam’s eyes widened as Sunny took to her feet, unable to contain her joy as she raced across the open ground. Her chest tightened with congestion and she tried not to cry as she raced towards the figure and he opened his arms for her, catching her in an embrace that could have brushed her if he wanted, but she couldn’t hold back her emotions and began to weep openly as Lanus held her to his chest. He smelled familiar, felt familiar.

He rubbed a hand gently against her back, “Daughter.” He said quietly, “how I have missed you.”

She hugged him tight sobbing into his armor.

For many moments they did not speak, standing o the open ground with their arms around each other before he pulled away, resting a hand against her cheek. The expression in his eyes was one of such tender joy that sunny KNEW it could e no one other than him.

“I am so proud of you Sunny.”

“You’ve been watching me/’ she said, wiping at her neck

“Not so much watching as listening. I hear about you commonly. You are returning the old doctrine to its proper place, and soon one day they may be ready for the full doctrine.”

She was curious but didn’t press him further.

“So you know I-“

“Became a saint.” He smiled, “I was hardly surprised. If it was going to be anyone, it was going to be you.”

She smiled and said a few more things before pausing, “Father…. There is someone I would like you to meet.”

He tilted his head at her curiously letting her know that he probably didn’t know about this one.

She took him by the hand and led him back to where Adam was still sitting o the ground politely looking away so as not to intrude on their reunion moment.

Lanus stopped a few feet away from Adam, and Adam slowly lifted his head.

The two of them locked eyes.

As soon as gold met green, Lanus took a step back in shock, “You!”

Adam stood quickly and sunny rested a hand on her father’s arms.

Lanus looked confused, but she sensed no anger in his face as he stared at Adam. She felt a sudden pang of worry in her chest, wondering how her father would feel about her being battle partners with the man who had killed him.

“I know you.” He said quietly, “One of the aliens, one of the humans.”

Adam looked down.

“The one that killed me.”

Adam lifted his head and in his eyes Sunny could see the remorse building there, a look of pain on his face that made her want to go and comfort him. Adam was no killer, and though they had talked about the death of her father it was not a subject he liked to bring up. If there was one thing in this world that Adam regretted, it was taking the life of her father.

The pain on his face was so poignant and so obvious that Lanus could surely see it.

“I am…. Truly sorry.” He said softly, “For what I did, for taking you away from your daughter.”

Sunny felt the sudden urge to defend him, “Father wait, the humans they were drugged and-“

Adam held up a hand, “No sunny, there are no excuses. It was war and I take full responsibility for what I did.” He looked at lanus, “We came to your planet as members of the GA, and left your planet a monster and a broken man.”

Sunny watched her father’s eyes as they softened slightly, “I have never blamed you for my death. War is impersonal between warriors =. At least I died with honor on the battlefield though I am surprised to see that you two know each other.”

Adam and sunny looked away simultaneously and thought lnus surely suspected soemthing, he didn’t say anything.

“Tell me, what has happened since I was gone, what happened to your mother.”

That made Sunny wilt even further.

“Perhaps we should sit.”

He did as told and with sadness she told him how, after he had died her mother had fully snapped. How kanan had to run away for his own safety and how she had been forced to seek help with the humans searching out Adam to learn how she might defeat her own mother before she could make anything worse. When describing her final fight with kazna, the look on his face was one of pain and sadness. Though they had not gotten along in the past, it was clear that he still loved her.

Soemthing that would never change.

“Your mother was not always like that.’ He said when she finished.

“When I met her on the battlefield….. she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.” His eyes went glassy, “She was a mighty warrior fighting with two short axes in either hand throwing bodies from left to right like the goddess of war……” He paused, “I was a young Drev then, and I was ready to show my strength. I met her in open battle on those bloodied fells as fire roared around us.”

Sunny stared at him in surprise, “You were from different clans.”

He nodded his head once, “We were. What remains of my clan was assimilated into hers.” We fought on that noll for what must have been hours, and it seemed that the very heavens would shatter around us. He smiled, I have never been so in love or more scared in my entire life. In the end neither of us won, and we collapsed together under the stars.”

He shook his head beaming with admiration as he remembered, “My clan was all but gone but she ordered the sparing of my life. I think by then she had already determined that she wanted me for herself….. and I broached no argument. She was brave, and courageous and driven and beautiful. I had never met a better warrior or a better leader. She took care of those under her charge, and though her fist was of iron, her soul was one of sunlight.”

Sunny wilted, “And then I came along.”

He shrugged, “I would say that her spiral began a few years after kanan. He shivered, “I will not recount the first day I saw true cruelty in her, but….. it broke my heart.”

Adam was looking down at his feet feeling like he had intruded on some sort of private conversation he shouldn’t have seen.

“But tell me more of what has happened.”

“She told her father of kanan, and the Omen and their adventures through space, which he looked on in astonishment and delight.”

Adam remained mostly quiet.

When the words petered out, Lanus paused and looked at her contemplatively, “I hope that one day this story will be continued when you find someone worthy to be your match.” Sunny and Adan looked between each other.

“I have found someone father.”

He looked curious, “Oh, go on.”

“He is a mighty warrior.” She said with a smile, “The best of his clan.”

Lanus was nodding, “he commands legions under the stars and in his youth he tamed the sky.”

Lanus laughed, “Those are big claims to make of a man.”

“We met some years ago, and there was little love lost between us, but as the days grew on we began to fight by each other’s side. He saved my life and I saved his a time or two. He was there when I stood up to kazna, and he was there when I visited her years later I have never experienced a companion with so much appreciation for who I am rather than what I am.”

There was a pause.

Silence.

Lanus was no idiot.

In fact, he was one of the smartest people that Sunny had ever met, both of her parents had been very intelligent, so she wasn’t surprised when he turned his head towards Adam, looking almost surprised, but looking him over with a critical eye.

Adam lifted his head.

“Father…. This is my….. battle partner, Adam Vir.”

Lanus paused staring at him and Adam stared back.

Adam cleared his throat, “A…. uh pleasure to meet you officially…. Uh…. Sir.”

“I promise he’s more articulate when he’s not nervous.”

Lanus continued to stare, than walked around him in a circle looking him up and down very critically.

“The best of his clan/”

“The best of his species maybe.”

He looked up at her.

“And how does he treat you.”

“Like a favorite memory lost in time.” Adam said softly cutting off her answer.

Lanus raised an eyebrow curious to see where this was going.

“A cherished memory you go back to often where once forgotten bur returned returns sweeter than before when it was gone never to be forgotten again.” He sighed, “I have made mistakes, sir as a human we are prone to them, but I could and would move worlds if I had to.”

Lanus stared down at him, an almost 12 foot height up against Adam’s mere six.

They looked at each other for a long drawn moment.

Then Lanus nodded.

“Perhaps not what I expected, but, a welcome occurrence.” He raised his spear to Adam and Adam raised his spear back.

“Father!” it was Kanan’s voice now raised over the dust and ash, and they turned to see Kanan sprinting towards them dragging another Drev after him in enthusiasm. Nehchal was laughing as he did pulling to a stop and letting go of his hand so he could greet his father. Sunny greeted Nehchal who picked her up in a crushing hug and spun her around, “I missed you.” She set sunny down.

Sunny beamed

Nehchal was one of the happiest people she had ever known aside from Adam and her smile and laughter were contagious. She had no issue introducing her to Adam.

“He’s so little and cute!” She exclaimed, patting his head like you might some kind of dog.

Adam grinned.

It was too soon when they had to return as Naktan’s voice echoed through the valley.

Nehchal and Lanus stood back standing with each other and lifted their hands to wave as the world began to fade.

But sunny was at least glad she got to see her father one last time.

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