The Crystal Rainbow Ch. 35

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The sacrifice.
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Part 11 of the 12 part series

Updated 09/22/2022
Created 12/07/2007
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Nyasia
Nyasia
20 Followers

Chapter Thirty-Five - Sacrifice

The true test of love lies not in words spoken with passion and poetry,
but in the willingness to sacrifice all without a second thought.

A Fool's Book of Wisdom

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She sighed once more and the man she had loved longer than the recorded history of mortal man shifted his position behind her.

"What is it?" He murmured into her ear.

"It comes and the farce begun so very long ago shall soon find its finish. I need you to know that no matter what happens this night, I have always loved only you and there can be no one but you for me. I did and do what I think right. I never meant for it to bring hurt to you. I acted to protect you in the only way that I knew how. Cadmus, I need your oath that you will defend those two above all others; upon them all depends for they hold our future. Please, swear it to me." She pleaded in a husky voice.

"I hold no memory of you other than joy in your nearness. My heart bears nothing but love for you and that is how it shall always be for me when I think of you, but please, Sabratha, do not breathe life into your fears of what might come to pass. I have this night to last me for all eternity if needs be and I cannot find it within my soul to regret one moment of it. We shall do as we have always done—the right thing—for we can do no less. It is not in our natures to act otherwise." He breathed into her ear.

She shook her head and frowned though he could not see it.

"Cadmus, I need to hear you speak your oath," her voice no longer pleading, but hard and commanding.

His brow furrowed and he swung her around to face him. His hands clamped upon her arms with a bruising strength, but she did not flinch. She calmly regarded him with unblinking eyes. After a moment, he released her and turned away with shoulders slumped. He ran his fingers through his hair, muttering unintelligible words before he too sighed. He turned to meet her unwavering gaze.

"So be it. Sabratha, I give you my solemn vow to protect your heir and her mate beyond all others, this I swear to you upon the love I hold forever in my heart for you." He lowered his shining orbs, "Love, do not do what I fear you plan to do. Please, stay with me."

She drew in a shaking breath, but a cacophony of unholy screeches silenced her reply. With eyes blazing, she lifted them to peer into the heavens.

"No more talk. The battle begins. It is here!"

He returned to his earlier position and wrapped his arms about her once more. She felt him behind her as he raised his head and heard his slight intake of breath at the sight above them. The sky seemed filled with glistening bits of white; a meteor shower of gleaming hail headed directly towards the ensorcelled couple. As the storm drew nearer, a deep black vortex became visible buried within its center.

Sabratha called to the small band of defenders. "The place of darkness above hides the creature that long ago was Mara. Defeat it and these winged imps shall lose their power, but you must remember that our first duty is to protect Erik and Christine. I pray that the Goddess protect us all!" With surprising gentleness, she pushed herself from Cadmus' embrace and approached the unaware couple. "Christine," she called, "it is time to awaken the golem from their slumber. Sing, child, sing!"

Christine opened her mouth and a wordless melody issued from her lips. The sound took on a silver glow and wound through the air, dropped close to the ground and blanketed the small inanimate lumps of earth the company had worked so hard to form. The sodden masses absorbed the shiny fog, emitted a brief shimmering haze before they seemed to harden and began to grow.

Holding out her hand, Sabratha muttered some incomprehensible words. A streak of light flashed through the night and impacted her upturned palm. She blinked the after-effects of the dazzling light to gaze upon the crystal bracelet that once held her captive. She waved her empty hand over the bracelet, continued her incantation, after a few moments, she closed her eyes and bowed her head. The bracelet began to glow a brilliant white that extinguished with a clap of thunder. When the flare subsided, Sabratha stood clutching the pommel of a crystalline sword that glowed with a white-hot fire. Her mouth set into a thin line, she strode towards the oncoming horde and screamed her challenge into the heavens.

"Mara, you bitch, face me! This fight has always been between the two of us. Well, let the two of us settle it now, for once and for all time. Face me and leave the others alone or are your pathetic minions the only power you truly have? Come, sexless slut, face me now and let us finish it!" Sabratha's taunt resounded across the clearing.

Cadmus stood frozen in shock as he watched the petite form of the woman he adored stand steadfast and resolute in her challenge of the dark creature; his petrified limbs refused to obey his mind's commands to rush to her side and lend her his hand in aide. His eyes gazed with horror as Sabratha raised the sword blade above her head daring Mara to answer her call to battle. And then, with a thunderous explosion of sound, oily black void rammed into the ground and enveloped Sabratha within its inky depths, hiding her from his sight. He screamed out an anguished cry of horror as his guts twisted with fear, but as he saw the arc of Sabratha's blade slicing through the darkness that surrounded her, his heart hardened and he felt the grip of an icy determination take hold of his mind. He reflexively stretched out his arms and called upon deities that were ancient when he was a young man. He struggled to breach the barrier he had created between his heart and his power, but found it difficult to concentrate as he watched the woman he loved twirling the crystal blade about in the blackness. And then, the unthinkable happened, he watched in stupefied horror as Sabratha's body flew through the air and crashed with a sickening crack into the trunk of a nearby tree. Her small body lay in a tangle of twisted limbs, utterly still and frighteningly silent.

He cried out his rage into the night and felt the wall within him crumble. His power leapt to his call and he thrust his hands out towards the vile cloud that held the creature that threatened to destroy his happiness. Without conscious thought, the spell tumbled from his lips and light more brilliant than any ever seen before on this earth erupted from his palms. The rays of light sliced through the roiling cloud and struck the creature hiding within it center. His power tore through the thing, ripping it apart, leaving it in unrecognizable pieces of sizzling flesh. And still Cadmus directed his power at the bits, until his fire turned them into ash and the remains blew away. The stream of light cut off abruptly and the man turned to run to the crumpled body of his love. He stared at her unmoving form and then dropped to his knees, an unearthly keening issued from his mouth. Almost at the same instant, Christine and Erik threw back their heads and joined his cry.

*****

Kilometers away, Helen stopped her desperate trek through Paris, dropped to her knees and wailed. Horrified by the sound of overwhelming grief that tore through the peaceful silence of the Parisian night, Kimberly turned and knelt next to her distraught friend.

"Helen," she hissed, "whatever is the matter?"

The woman seemed bereft and completely unaware of her surroundings. After giving a fearful look around to see whether the pair had garnered any unwanted attention, she stretched out a shaking hand and Kimberly reached out to touch Helen, but a blaze of crimson that suddenly encircled Helen's wrist, diverted her attention. Her eyes sought out the source of the light and Kimberly found much to her amazement that its source was a gleaming bracelet of crystal. She stared at it in wonder.

"Oooh, it is so lovely," the words issued from her mouth as an involuntary exhalation of breath, as soft as a sigh.

And then, Kimberly realized that Helen had ceased her mournful cry and had begun to chant. Kimberly winced as the sound of an army of cicadas invaded her ears and she had to close her eyes to fight the sudden nausea that threatened to turn her stomach inside out. A vise-like grip enclosed her wrist and Kimberly felt the world around her tumble arse over teakettle into oblivion.

*****

Slowly awareness filtered into Kimberly's mind and her closed eyelids twitched and flitted open. Groaning, she pushed her aching body up and sat casting dazed eyes about her. She sat on hard-packed earth in the midst of what appeared to be hundreds of marble cherubs and small mounds of mud. She allowed her eyes to wander further afield and realized that she was no longer in the city as tall trees edged the side of the clearing not bordered by a rustic cottage.

"Where on earth," she began, but then stopped as she noticed the small group of people huddled around something under a nearby tree. Her eyes immediately picked out Helen among the gathering and she struggled to her feet, needing to be near her friend. She halted as the people parted and a young man stepped from their midst. In his arms, he carried a woman whose face Kimberly could not see because of the mass of fire-red curls that covered her face from view. Kimberly froze at the sight of the pair and her heart gave a strange lurch in her chest. Before she could wonder at the cause, another man and woman approached. The man was tall with raven black hair; the woman was petite with long, chocolate brown tresses that curled wildly down her back. Helen ran to the young woman and began frantically to tug her towards the man with the woman in his arms.

"Christine, you must do something to help Sabratha! You are the only one that can. Please, help her!" Helen cried.

Kimberly marveled at the compassion and sorrow held in Christine's eyes, but also noticed the surprising strength that radiated from the fragile-seeming creature.

"Helen, let us leave it up to Sabratha as to what we should or should not do, shall we?" Walking to the still form, Christine pressed her palm to the woman's forehead and called to her in a soft voice, "Awake, Sabratha."

After a moment, the small bundle stirred and the man gave a shout of surprise and he knelt to the ground, allowing the redhead to rest easier in his arms. She lifted a delicately shaped hand to her head and swept away the voluminous mass of hair from her face. Her hazel eyes searched the persons gathered around her until her eyes came to rest upon the woman named Christine. A wistful expression clouded her eyes and a sad smile graced her lips before she spoke.

"Why did you call me back? You know that I cannot stay. The only reason I could come here to begin with is that you allowed me to draw upon your magic to create my physical being. We both know that even as powerful as you are, you cannot maintain my form forever. I have finished the task I came here to do. It is time to let me move on."

"No!" The man holding Sabratha almost screamed and clutched the tiny woman closer to him. "Please, love, do not leave me now! I could not bear it. Do not leave me alone, not now."

She turned her gaze to the man and ran her fingers along the tracks of his tear-stained cheeks.

"Ah, Cadmus, but do you not understand? Both of us cannot remain here, our time ended long ago. The next realm calls both of us. You live in a borrowed body and I exist through Christine's life force. This is not life, but borrowed time." She lifted her face to his and pressed her lips to his trembling ones. "Just think, love, of what grand adventure awaits us on the other side. Truly, you need not mourn, but rejoice for we put things to rights and have well earned our rest. It is time to leave things to the truly young." She pushed away from his embrace and held out her hand. "Come, let us go."

Cadmus stared down at her hand and then looked into her eyes. He gave a small nod and took her hand. Kimberly watched as the woman faded from sight and the man slumped to the ground.

*****

Nyasia
Nyasia
20 Followers
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AnonymousAnonymousalmost 15 years ago
Cool!

im loving the story so far.congrats on another great chapter.ally

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