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| Larklyn the Sylph |
With Assistance From: +Jeffrey Gartshore*, Cheryl Fasset, S. Rose LeClaire*, +Raven Ramsey, Autumn Siegel, R. R. Virdi*, Olivia C., Jennifer R, Samantha Stanley, +Chelsea the Napster*, Amy Hopkins, Kelly Blanchard, Ashleigh Meikle, +Lee Hawke, Kimberly Rogers*, Nan Sampson Bach*, Jessica R., Dara Klinkner, Rachel Lindeken, +A.D. Poole, Meaghann Ande, Zachary Totah, +Kileah McIlvain*, +Cassie Greutman , Kayla Vanderbilt, Dawn Chapman, +Joe Conzatti , Ryan Howard, Sheryl Rowdy, Suzanne Wdowik, +Christian Falde, Claerie Kavanaugh
*These people helped with the plot of Serenity's Light/Soul Mates specifically!
The Final Entry:
"Serenity's Light/Soul Mates" Part 10
Nerissa was tired. The thick, inky blackness seemed to absorb
energy the same way it absorbed light. As she sparred with Larklyn all
around the exhibit hall, she was dimly aware of Kenneth picking up the
artifacts one by one. Hope and despair battled equally within her. Would it actually work like all the legends said? Would he really be able to
wield all the artifacts at once? Or would his human nature get the
better of him and twist him into yet another denizen of The Darkness?
Larklyn
lashed out with another tendril of Darkness. Nerissa hissed through
bared teeth at the sudden pain. It had been so long since she had felt its icy, burning, stinging touch.
Behind her, Kenneth yelled
something about his friends. Nerissa threw a punch, realizing too late
that the sylph she fought had stopped to stare in horror at whatever the
Lore-Master was doing. Her fist connected squarely with Larklyn's face,
and everything burst into brilliant white.
When
it cleared, she could clearly hear twigs snapping as Larklyn's scream
of pain prolonged. Nerissa's eyes adjusted to the dimness after the
light, she recognized the unnatural stillness and the twisted ruins
surrounding them.
"No!" Larklyn wailed. "It wasn't—I didn't mean—"
"What
is this place?" Kenneth murmured as he looked around. The flicker of
Serenity's Light still rested in the front of the crown on his head.
Nerissa
gestured to the blank emptiness all around them. No Light meant no moon
or stars; just black, black sky and the dim golden essence of so many
torches dispersed at random by a people desperate for light of any kind.
One burned brightly over their heads.
"Welcome to my world, Earth-dwellers," she announced.
With a long wail, Larklyn appeared in the firelight, her swollen and bruised face streaked with dirt. Her clammy hand clutched at Nerissa's arm.
"I'm sorry," she choked. "Sorry... So sorry! I—"
Nerissa
pushed her away. "You listened to The Darkness and let it lead you away. You allowed it to extinguish Serenity because the allure of power was too much for you. You had no consideration for the consequences of
your actions—consequences that the world has suffered just so you could
have and do what you wanted."
Larklyn collapsed in a quivering
heap on the ground in the middle of the group. "I did this; I destroyed
the world. I condemned an innocent world to darkness forever." She
began to weep and moan.
"No."
Relaya stepped
forward and crouched in front of the sylph. Larklyn lifted her eyes as
the Fae continued. "Not forever," she said gently. She pointed to the
gem now set in the crown. "There is still Light in Serenity yet. We can
have hope."
Nerissa nodded. "Indeed; now that the pieces of Serenity are in one place, all that remains is to combine them and
Serenity will return to its rightful place to give Light to us all."
All
eyes turned to Kenneth, who immediately raised a hand to the Collar
around his neck and balked. "Well, wait a minute... I mean, do we have
to do this now? What about—"
Nerissa smiled. "Your wife; I
understand. Luckily, now that we are here, it will be easy to travel by
portal and back again." She turned to Larklyn, who still cowered on the
ground. "You'll stay here and wait for my return, and will bring the
Relics with me to return Serenity; is that clear?"
"Yes," Larklyn muttered miserably.
Nerissa stepped back and nodded to Agnes.
"Rift-Keeper, shall you open a portal?"
Agnes fingered the special earrings she still wore. Like little sonars, she
could hear a faint ringing sound like the chimes in her backyard if she
focused on a particular spot.
"There." She pointed, and her
fingertip seemed to puncture time and space, parting the air in front of
them to see a place bathed in bright golden light on the other side.
Fascinated,
Kenneth reached forward as well and pulled the portal wider so they all
could fit through.
They stepped onto a thick green turf in a world
awash with color, as alive as Nerissa's world had been dead.
Nakoma shrieked with laughter and executed a cartwheel.
"My home!" She crowed. "The Druid Circle!" Kharrie flapped her wings and joined the exuberant wood Sprite.
Kenneth
chuckled. "The Druid—" He stopped and his eyes flickered. "Then that
means—" he began scanning the various clouds of fairies for the
butterfly cloak he could not forget.
"Welcome travelers," said a voice behind them. The three humans and two Fae all whirled around.
The
speaker smiled from under a crown of gauzy wings. "I am Lady Allyra,
the Warden of the Fae." She noted the man wearing a crown. "Not a Fae,
but a king, I see. What is your realm, your majesty?"
Everyone
watched nervously as Kenneth bowed his head. He coughed to steady his
frantic nerves. "Um, ah, my realm is far, Milady." He reached up to his
neck and fumbled, finally yielding to Nerissa's assistance to unbuckle
the Collar. "But I have a gift for you, if I may." He held out the open
collar to her.
The woman who called herself Lady Allyra nodded
benevolently. "Most generous! It has been some time since I have
received a gift. You may approach."
Kenneth took slow,
measured steps, his movements slow, as one approaching a skittish horse.
He put the Collar against her neck, and she bent her head forward for
him to clasp it.
The minute the catch slid into place, the
woman stumbled forward in a mild faint. Kenneth braced his feet to catch
her in his arms.
"Whoa, easy there," he murmured.
Her hands clutched his elbows.
"Kenneth?"
She slowly lifted her head and stared straight at him. "What are you
doing here?" Her head craned from side to side, as if becoming aware of
her surroundings for the first time. "What are—where is—who are
all—why—how did..."
Nerissa darted forward and shoved Kenneth
and Arielle toward the curtain at the edge. "The magic of the Collar is
leaching her mind! Get it off and get her out NOW!"
Kenneth
wrapped an arm around his wife and felt Jens supporting him from her
other side. Together the group barreled through the gauzy barrier and
into the midday forest on the other side.
Nerissa darted in and unsnapped the Collar as Arielle regained her feet.
"Oh
my head," she moaned. "Kenneth," she reached for her husband, "what are
you doing here?" She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead and
squinted up at him.
Kenneth took her hands, trying not to let his excitement get the better of him. "Arielle," he stammered, "Arielle, I—"
"Yes?" She frowned at him. "Ken, what's with the crown? Why are—"
She could get no further as her husband wrapped his arms around her and kissed her deeply and fondly.
Arielle pulled away, concern mingled with shock in her eyes.
"I am so confused right now!" She whispered.
Kenneth took a step back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—I've just, I've been waiting so long to do that—"
Arielle
blinked. "Do what? Kiss me? Are you kidding? You're my husband, you
don't have to—" she stopped as their present situation overwhelmed her
again. "Wait, okay, what are you doing here, again? And who are all
these—" she glanced around at the burly giant and the two slender women
with flawless skin and pointed ears, "people? And, come to think of it,
where's here? What was that place?" She turned back the way they came,
but her eyes saw only empty forest. "Wh-where did it go?"
Kenneth gulped. "Arielle, honey," he said softly. "How much do you remember?"
Arielle
came back to stand beside him as she thought. "Well, I remember the
team, we came here looking for... Something. I got lost—" she gasped.
"The meteor! The Hebrides! The nebula! That's where we are?" She looked
up at him. "Wait, how long was I lost?"
Kenneth gave her a wry smile. "They told me you were missing almost two years ago."
Arielle
jerked away frantically. "TWO YEARS?" She exploded. "I was in that
place for two years?? And, what, you just left me there? You didn't look
for me for two years?" She stared at him with reproach in her eyes.
Kenneth
shook his head. "No, you have it wrong; those two years... Every day
since you went missing... I didn't just start looking for you after two
years." He held out a hand to her. "I never stopped. It took me those
two years just to find you. And—" he gestured to the group standing
respectfully off to the side. "These people helped me find you. That's
Nerissa and Relaya, Jens, and Agnes." He held Arielle's hand and smiled
at her. "I would never have gotten you back without them." He turned to
make eye contact with each of them. "Thank you all," he said warmly.
Agnes
smiled and nodded, but Nerissa coughed and fidgeted with the hilt of
the sword hanging from her belt. "Well, um, I think it's time for us to,
uh—" she gestured to her head and raised an eyebrow to Kenneth.
He recalled the crown he still wore. "Oh," he snatched it off. "You should probably have this."
Nerissa
accepted it, and clasped his hand. "Thank you for saving Serenity,
Kenneth," she said softly. "The story of your valor will be passed down
to our descendants for many generations to come."
Arielle sniffed. "Valor?" She murmured. "What valor? What is she talking about?"
Kenneth glanced at his wife sharply. "What do you mean what valor? I'll have you know I can be very valiant!"
She shrugged. "I'm just saying, valiance really isn't one of your dominant personality traits!"
As
the Fae left, Jens trudged forward. In the Old Norse tongue, he told
Kenneth, "I thank you for your wisdom. You took in a slobbering drunk
and made him fit to lead his father's clan." The burly Northman cracked a
grin. "When I return to my own time, the stories I will have to tell will not be believed! Lee-viss and YowTowb... Least of all the
car-with-no-horses and the roasting-box!"
Kenneth chuckled. "It's called a microwave, Jens—but you don't have to know, I guess."
The
friendly giant waved over his shoulder and trudged down the path
leading to the portal that would take him back to his own time and
place.
Only Agnes remained.
"Where will you go?" Kenneth asked.
Agnes
pressed her lips and huffed. "Well, I can tell you that I don't fancy
traveling all the way back to my little old house in New York where I
live alone with no family and nothing to do but sit for the rest of my
days!" A slow smile crept across her face. "Luckily I happen to know a
perfectly decent family who could use an extra pair of hands around the
house—the one belonging to a certain museum curator we all know."
"Museum curator?" Arielle arched an eyebrow at Kenneth.
He
shared the old woman's grin. "I'll explain later," he muttered to
Arielle. To Agnes he said, "Say hi to Sarah and Lilly for me, okay?"
"I will," she promised as she stepped through the portal and disappeared.
Silence reigned in the forest. A thick, foggy cool crept in as the sun slowly sank under the horizon.
Arielle shivered and huddled closer to Kenneth's side.
"Now what are we going to do?" She asked.
Kenneth had not the slightest idea. "Well, if we can figure out what day it is—"
"You didn't say goodbye."
"AUGH!!"
Arielle screamed and scurried to the other side of the clearing. "What
is that?" She pointed, trembling and wide-eyed. "Where did it come
from?"
Kenneth met the little wood-sprite's glare with
suitable regret. "Nakoma! I'm sorry, we had a little emergency situation
to take care of..." He held out his hand to Arielle, but she still
balked. "It's okay, honey," he reassured her. "It's just another of my
new friends. I actually met Nakoma right in this very spot. I told her about you, and she offered to help." At last, Arielle inched forward and
Kenneth could introduce her. "Nakoma, this is my wife, Arielle."
The little sprite grinned, showing all her teeth. "You found your soul mate!" She gushed.
Husband and wife shared a glance. "Yeah," Kenneth said with a grin of his own. "I did, for good this time."
"I
can help you return to your tribe," Nakoma offered. She pointed to the
sky. "It is the first nightfall after the night you were lost in the woods, Kenneth," she declared. "Your tribe searched for you all day but
could not find you. They are still on the island for one more night.
Even now, they are searching one last time."
Kenneth heard faint threads of voices on the wind. He nodded. "Thank you, Nakoma." He crouched down and held out his arms.
The
young Sprite ran to hug him without hesitation. "May you and your mate
never stray far from one another again," she whispered.
Arielle
chuckled. "Yeah, I think my traveling days are over for a while."
Kenneth stood and grabbed her hand again. "That goes for both of us," he agreed.
Nakoma scurried back into the Druid Circle as the voices came closer.
"So," Arielle murmured urgently, "what's the story?"
"Well, when we first scattered in the woods, we were actually tracking Nakoma—"
"Poor thing!"
"Yeah; it's the guys from Dublin, they don't like unexpected variables of the non-human kind."
"The fairy-gold hunters? Oh, Kenneth!" Arielle frowned. "Why would you hook up with them of all people?"
He
shrugged. "They wanted the vast hoard of treasure supposedly to be
found in a Druid Circle. I happened to lose my wife on the very same
island where a Druid Circle could be found. I was willing to do anything
to get you back."
Arielle smiled and leaned into his shoulder. "And now you have me."
Kenneth
wrapped her in a bear hug. "Yes I do." He paused as things clicked into
place. "That's it! I was tracking the sprite and got lost, and then I
found the place where you had been living for the last two years—"
"And now you're bringing me home!" Arielle finished. She laughed, "It's perfect! Just enough truth—"
"But
with all the bits about magic portals and time travel taken out,"
Kenneth noted. He took her hand and led her toward the main path through
the forest.
"Ready?" He asked.
Arielle just leaned on his shoulder. "Oh, I never want to be too far away from you ever again!" She sighed.
He patted her head. "We're soul mates," he repeated Nakoma's term. "No matter what, nothing can separate us for long."
Together they walked down the path to the camp, and to home.
And they stayed together for the rest of their lives.
THE END.
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