Immortal (20 page)

“I want to see them!” Staysia clasped her hands together and smiled at Gabriel.

“Of course you do!” said the Sea Child.

“Staysia?” Staysia heard her mother’s voice.

“Mother? Mother?” Styasia turned in a circle until she saw her mother and father coming out of one of the tunnels. “Mother! Father!” she exclaimed. She ran towards them. They ran towards her and met in a long embrace. “I can’t believe you’re alive!”

“I’m so sorry you had to go through this. It was the only way!” her mother said.

Her father kissed her. “Oh Staysia, you will never have to worry about us dying and you will never die. We will be together forever.”

“I can’t believe this is really happening!” She kissed both of her parents.

“Are you going to introduce us to your friends?” her mother asked.

“Yes, of course!” The three of them walked towards Gabriel, Tristen
, and Jasper. Staysia walked in between them and held each of their hands. They stopped in front of them. “This is Gabriel and Jasper, and this is Tristen!”

They shook hands with Tristen and Jasper. When her mother extended her hand to shake hands with Gabriel, he pulled her in closer and hugged her, and then he hugged her father. They were both caught by surprise and laughed. After that, he hugged Staysia.

Staysia breathed in and out and took a second look at her mother and father to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Her mother’s long, red hair looked more beautiful than ever before. Her eyes shone more brightly than she had ever noticed in the past.

Her father’s smile took her to a place when she was a child. She could see herself in both of their features and this was more special to her than ever before. She was a part of them and they were a part of her.

She wasn’t alone anymore. Never again would she be alone, and never would she feel the loss that she had felt when she thought they were gone forever.

She moved her eyes to Gabriel. He was staring at her parents with the biggest grin she had ever seen across his face. That was a lot to say for Gabriel
, who always showed all of his teeth when he smiled. She realized how much she cared for him.

She finally admitted to herself that she was very much in love with him. It was at this moment that she wondered if she and Gabriel would be forever. If they were married, he would reign with her forever.

The walls began to shake and the underground home of the Sea Child turned completely black, dark as the night. Everyone knew who it was. It was Nox.

“You think you can fool me? I am the God of Darkness! The only God of the night! Come out and fight, Sea Child! Who do you think you are to challenge the God of Darkness? You are nothing but a boy.”

“I may be a boy, Nox, but your reign is over!” said the Sea Child. He gave small lanterns to Staysia and her parents, Gabriel, Tristen and Jasper, and waved his hand in the air, ushering them out the door.

When they got outside there was nothing but darkness and screams from the fish women and men. The Sea creatures wailed and ran here and there. The time had come to overthrow the reign of the dark god.

Delmon, Aaron, and Dumont, three of the gods of the mountains came from the west. They had a glow around their bodies and held swords in their large hands. Delmon had gray hair and a beard. He was in the center of the other two. Aaron had long black hair and a younger appearance. Dumont, the brother of Delmon, had short brown hair and a beard.

Cove came from the east. He rode upon a Sea creature with a trident in his hand. Antaeus and Aviyam rode beside him upon their creature of the sea. Antaeus and Aviyam were identical twin brothers. They both had curly, blonde hair that grew upwards instead of down. They wore crowns that rested upon the top of each of their big hair.
 

The beautiful Sun godesses, Cembeline, Siria
, and Elaine, came down from the sky, floating upon clouds. Elaine had brown hair and large green eyes. She sat cross legged on her cloud.

Cembeline had long black hair. She wore a crown on the top of her straight, black hair
, that was parted in the middle.

Siria had red hair that flowed behind her in the sky. Her hair was so long it grew well past her ankles. She had a golden wand in her hand with an ornamental sun on the tip of it that shone brightly.

“It’s all of us against you, Nox! What will it be? Would you like to forfeit your reign voluntarily or battle with all of us and then have it taken from you?”

“None of you can defeat me!” Nox bellowed. “None of you!”

“If you are that head strong, then we shall commence our battle with you. Do you not have anyone willing to fight for you, Nox?”

“I will destroy all of you myself!” Nox cried.

“I do pity you, Nox! Just how powerful do you think you are to destroy all of us? Be honest with yourself and give up!”

“I will never give up!” Nox insisted.

“Then it is settled! The battle begins.” The Sea Child said. He then told Staysia and her family and friends to stay low to the ground while the battle was taking place.

All of the Gods circled around Nox. He began violently shooting his embers in every direction. Soon, they closed in on him. Nox still didn’t seem to realize that he didn’t have a chance.

“This is your last chance, Nox!”

“I’ve told you, I will never give up! You cannot take my life, I am immortal. What can you possibly do to me?”

“I don’t think you understand,” Cove began. “He is the Sea Child. He can do whatever he pleases to you!”

The truth was, none of them really wanted to attack Nox. Despite all he had done, how could they possibly fight him? It was ten against one.

“Nox, as you know I am here for a reason! It is time for me to overthrow your reign. You are so cruel and wicked that you have threatened the offspring of the others. There is more than one god of the sea, there are several gods of the mountains, and of the sun. You—you wanted it all to yourself and you knew that the new generation had grown weak. I couldn’t let you hurt them. You had your time as the God of Darkness, did you not? And what did you accomplish? Was it all for nothing? It was—it was all for nothing. I am here now and I am making all the generations stronger than they have ever been before. You are no good for anyone and for that reason you will grow old and die as nothing but a human. I’m not sure that you deserve to live, Nox! I certainly do not! What shall I do with you after all the trouble you have caused?”

“I’m going to destroy you!” He doubled his fist and made a large circle with them that became a large ball of fire. He released his hands and tried to throw the ball at the Sea Child. The Sea Child held out his hands in mid-air and blocked it from moving any further. “Do what you wish with him!” The Sea Child instructed the others. “I gave him his chance. Destroy him!”

The nine gods came towards him. He held his hands over his head. “Please! Stop, I will do anything you ask,” he pleaded. But it was too late. When they moved away from him there was nothing left of him. Nox was gone for good.

“Hurray!” cried the gods.

“It’s over Staysia! Never will the Gods be at war!” Dara exclaimed with a smile.

“You two? Gods?” Staysia joked.

“Believe it or not! You are too!” Warrick told his daughter.

Staysia laughed and hugged both of her parents.

Cove rode upon his Sea creature towards Staysia. When he was in front of her he said, “Hello Miss Staysia, Goddess of the Stars! I have something or rather
someone
for you.”

“Isis?”

“Who else?” Cove whistled and Isis came running around the corner and into her arms.

“Isis! I’ve missed you so much!” Staysia said as she threw her arms around her unicorn once again. “I don’t believe it!” She gave Isis a kiss on the nose. Gabriel gave Isis a hug as well
, and looked into the eyes of Staysia.

“What’s next, Staysia?” he asked her.

Staysia shrugged her shoulders. “Happiness?” she said.

“Sounds good, sounds really, really good! I’m so lucky to have met a woman like you, a Goddess, no less.”

“Gabriel, you are a wonderful man. I may have had my doubts about you, but I feel like I have always known you now. I feel I can trust you with anything.”

“I am going to have a talk with your parents, I will be back!”

“A talk with my parents?”

“A talk with us?” her mother asked.

“Yes, I need to speak with you and your husband alone for a moment, please!”

“Of course!” Staysia’a father said
, and they walked away from her.

Will You — Name My Horse?

Just then, a troll and a woman could be seen walking towards them in the distance. They were panting and looked exhausted. The female troll’s shirt was halfway un-tucked and the woman’s black hair was an awful mess. She blew her hair and smiled. The troll waved and smiled with her big, red painted lips.

“Emerald?” Jasper said in astonishment. “Emerald?” he said again.

Staysia recognized the woman. “Aren’t you the woman who answered the door at Griffon’s place?”

The black-haired woman moved her hair away from her face. “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.” She looked over Staysia’s shoulder at Tristen. Her eyes widened. She hid her face behind Staysia again and whispered, “We came here for Tristen and Jasper. Do I look okay?”

Staysia glanced back at Tristen, who was speaking with Cove before saying, “You mean you came all of the way over here for Tristen?” She raised her brows.

“Yes why? I’m not his type am I? Oh, I shouldn’t have come.”

“Girls,” Emerald interrupted. “I need to go see my Jasper! I will be back . . . or maybe I won’t! Hee! Hee!” she laughed.

Stasia and the black-haired woman laughed with her. And off Emerald went to see her Jasper.

“Emerald? What in the world are you doing here?” Jasper asked his love.

“I couldn’t bear to lose you again, Jasper. You see, I have always wondered what had become of you. So many years have gone by, but they haven’t changed my heart. I traveled from my bridge to Gnome Hills, where I met Cassandra,” she pointed to the woman with black hair. “And, well here I am!”

“Jasper caught Staysia watching them. She put her thumbs up and smiled wide. Jasper smiled at her and turned back to Emerald and gave her a long hug.

Staysia turned and watched Jasper and Emerald embrace one another. “Aren’t they the cutest thing?” Staysia squeaked.

Cassandra brushed her hair with her fingers. “Do I look okay?”

Staysia grabbed some of her hair that was behind her shoulders and brought it around. “You look beautiful!”

Cassandra took a deep breath and walked slowly towards Tristen. “Here goes nothing,” she said.

Staysia stood alone with Isis now. She turned to her and gave her a big hug and another kiss. “What in the world is Gabriel telling mother and father, Isis? I am so glad to have you back, girl!” She petted her from the bottom of her mane all the way to her tail.

It wasn’t long before Gabriel and her parents returned. “Do you want to go somewhere with me, Staysia, just you and I?”

“Where will we go?” Staysia asked.

“Well, remember the big guys, we
did
tell them we would be back. I just don’t think we should keep them waiting.”

“The giant apes
?”

“Yeah, the giant apes!” Gabriel smiled.

“That is, if you guys don’t mind?” she said to her parents.

“Oh no, no, not at all, go on!” her mother and father said together.

Staysia hesitated and looked at her mother long
, and then she stared at her father’s face. She gave them each a hug and said, “We will be back soon!”

“Are you ready to go?” Gabriel asked her.

“Just one more thing and I will be ready,” Staysia said as she hurried over to Tristen. Gabriel watched Tristen laugh and put something from his pocket into her hand. She put it in her bag and went back to where Gabriel waited for her.

“What did you get from him?” he asked.

Staysia pulled a handful of peppermints from the bag around her waist and showed them to him.

“Peppermints?”

“Yes! For those smelly beasts you have befriended!”

“Ah, I see! Good idea!” They laughed together.

She waved to her parents one more time and Gabriel grabbed her hand. Her father took her mother’s hand in his and they watched Gabriel and Staysia walk to the sea where Mirideous was swimming with only her head above the water. When she saw them coming towards her, she swam to them. They went beneath the sea and headed back towards the forest where the giant beasts had been before. Staysia held on to Gabriel tighter than ever. She was consumed with joy. She not only had Isis and her parents back, she had Gabriel now and many new friends. She had a whole new life.