A King's Legacy Ch. 47

A King's Legacy

Chapter 47:

Farewell...

'~For the next a soul must know,

The loss of all, its mournful hold.

The beast of death gave birth unto the shield.

And if the jaws should seize too tight,

And swallow the shield, and all its light,

The bearer will be tasked their rage to yield.~'

The feeling was there still, even though it didn't bring the same sense of finality to Aster as it had before. He could feel the deadly swing of the scythe edging ever closer to him and his mate, but it seemed so trivial in comparison. He was kissing his wolf, nobody got to ruin such a moment, deities included. Without ever breaking away from that intoxicating muzzle, Aster raised a shield to halt the incoming strike on sheer willpower alone. He never even let go of that corrupted fang.

Stahl broke the kiss as the chime of the colliding weapons echoed across the garden. The beast gazed up in awe as he realized what was happening. He turned his head back towards Aster, speaking in a warmer tone. "You figured out how to wield it freely? So, what was the secret?"

"To be unyielding, to refuse to compromise on things I shouldn't. I won't allow anyone to take you from me, and I won't allow anyone to take anything from us. I will not budge even a modicum if it means nurturing what we have and preserving every part of what that entails. I will fight well beyond my last breath if it prolongs my right to kiss the one I so adore, despite any that may disapprove. Facing even Death to defend such a thing isn't a choice that needs questioning for me. I am yours. You are mine. When we hold each other so closely, even the gods cannot silence the sound of our beating hearts."

As the deity vanished yet again, Aster simply pressed his ear soundly against the wolf's chest. There was a good deal of corruption still covering this part of his mate, but the human ignored it, focusing instead on the familiar embrace, searching for what he needed.

Even in the Afterworld, the rhythmic heartbeat of that wolf's soul still called out steadily to the one it so longed for. Aster only squeezed his beast tighter as more small cracks formed in the obsidian coat of the wolf.

Tufts of smoke began to form like rising steam, wafting up from different parts of the demon flesh encasing the wolf. The steam seemed heavier around the fractures, but without question, the armor was dissipating and crumbling away a little at a time. Another large piece of corruption breaking away from his lover's face brought a smile to the young king once more.

Death's approach was as swift as ever, but Aster wasn't so afraid of the entity anymore. The human turned to catch the strike from his left.

Death smiled in triumph as his scythe suddenly flashed out of his right hand before reappearing in his left. He was not leaving the young shield bearer any time to adjust.

The sudden change in assault nearly claimed the king and his knight, but Calium managed to catch this sneaky strike using both of his shields before he buckled under the strain. As the point of the scythe burrowed into one of the older king's golden disks, the weight of the force overtook it entirely. The second remaining shield of the fallen king began fading to a dull gray as the scythe sank deeper into the barrier. The barricade fell like crumbling sand, leaving Calium reduced to only his final shield in the Afterworld, and his very last bit of strength.

It was unfortunate timing for both, as Death suddenly halted in his pursuit, turning sharply towards Alice and Jagón as he gazed their way. He was trying to place why this energy felt so distantly familiar before the realization made his golden eyes go wide. He was moving as fast as ever, desperate not to let her go through with it. He had so little family left as it was. He was going to sacrifice himself and the shield bearer this time so she wouldn't have to, not again. Once more, the god found himself feeling powerless in his own domain as a golden shield appeared before him, barring the way to his daughter.

Aster had no idea why he did it, and he didn't even question why he could follow the god's movements so easily now, but he just knew he needed to buy his beast father a little more time, and he was the only one left that could. The young king spoke boldly as he faced Death, stepping away from his wolf. "You've already made more than enough of a mess here. I won't allow you to tamper with our choices any longer."

Death scowled as he cut away from the boy, attempting to sidestep the shield to reach his daughter. A second one was raised immediately to stop him. Death turned with his scythe in hand, lashing out towards all three of the souls before him. The arching shadow was wide this time, and it sped towards Aster, Stahl, and Calium simultaneously as the god forced his opening by making Aster rush to react in time. The deity bolted off, heading directly towards Alice as Aster dealt with the silence that accompanied the assault.

The young king's panic spiked for the shortest moment as he wondered who to protect with his two shields. Then he remembered he was done choosing. The king took a step forward, intercepting the deadly shadow just before it could reach those he cherished.

There in the garden, where countless stories had concluded since the beginning of it all, the tale of the naïve boy with the gold-flecked gaze ended as well.

The story of the man becoming a king, however, was finally beginning.

One after another, a line was formed. Three golden shields were called forth as Aster allowed his growth and changes to propel him well beyond his own self-imposed hindrances.

Death was almost to her, he had almost made it to his daughter just as she was finishing her task of creating a new bloodskill for Cortist to counter the might of the sun.... Just before she expended the last piece of her heart that remained in the process. Three larger shields stopped him, pinning the deity between a triangular barricade.

The god felt his temper flare as he turned his seething gaze back to the impudent young shield bearer. With a ragged twist, the deity forced his way free through the top, escaping the hold with little trouble. Death raised higher into the air, and slashed three rapid times, sending a shadow racing towards each of the three once more in effort of creating the final opening he would need to reach Alice.

Calium raised his own shield before him, straining to at least manage that much. He couldn't sustain it, and fell once more. The shadow would've cut right through his soul had Aster not intervened. His shield appeared just long enough to stave the hit before being relocated elsewhere. Death darted off before the other two strikes landed, taking advantage of his moment, or so he had hoped.

A spinning, golden disc connected harshly against the back of the equine skull, stalling and dazing the deity briefly on impact. Aster had raised a shield of protection for him and Stahl, but had thrown his third this time, finally managing to achieve such a feat with astounding control. It was truly amazing what one could accomplish when they stopped letting doubt hinder them.

Death was raging uncontrollably at such humiliation, turning towards the boy one final time from his position where he was knocked to the ground.

The king only held his gaze, still standing firm in his resolve. Without ever breaking that eye contact, Aster raised another shield before him, and tossed it towards Calium as he called out to his father. "Here. We borrow each other's strength, right? You won't have to worry about exerting yourself so badly this way, but I won't have to watch you so closely."

The fallen king caught the shield thrown to him, staring solemnly at his son for a moment as he took this final moment together. Calium would be stripped of the last of his claim to that shield soon, and his debts to Death would surely be restored after, but to see his son in such a defining moment was well worth whatever costs he ever had to pay. His legacy was a strong one; his Solis was going to be just fine. The shield had been raised stronger than ever.

"I won't tolerate this.... I WON'T ACCEPT SUCH IMPUDENCE! I'LL END YOU ALL IF I MUST!" The deity gripped his weapon tightly with both hands as he righted himself and stood. He lifted his arms high above his head, eyeing down the young king as he released a most destructive assault, bringing his arms and scythe down until the curved bone sank deep into the earth.

A dark circle began forming around the weapon head, killing everything it touched as the shadow grew and spread like poison across that garden, speeding ever closer to the souls still trapped in that place. Aster and Calium took a few steps back, but the shadow was overtaking the area even faster than they could hope to escape.

Both kings were far too uncertain about the nature of such a move, but Calium decided he would be the one to test the limits of this new threat. Adjusting his hold on the shield powered by his son's strength, the older king stepped directly into its path, despite the calls of worry his Solis was spouting off behind him.

Calium closed his eyes tightly as he forgot to even breathe, bravely stepping forth to intercept the consuming shadow. The darkness swirled against that shield, even wrapping well beyond his footing, but it seemed even from behind the shield bearer, the shadow couldn't quite close in on the king when bestowed with that light. As the flora around him withered, a small circle of blooms at his feet stayed protected and flourishing amid the mass decay. That was all the answer Aster needed.

The young king raised two more shields, one before himself, and one for Stahl. The barriers had the same effect for those two when the darkness finally reached them. For a moment, it seemed they were all safe. Then he saw the assault reaching towards his beast father, and an impossible choice was thrust before the young man yet again.

With reluctant acceptance, Aster finally embraced the truths about Death.

He was always approaching.

There would never be enough shields to stay him every time he came.

He was something inevitable, an ultimately unstoppable force greater than any mortal magic or logic....

However, where death existed, life would surely find a way to persevere. Despite all the flowers wilted and killed, there were a few that remained thriving only by Aster's own efforts. It was never about choosing. It was always about making all of the difference he could every time he had the chance to. It all came back to the smallest and most subtle victories.

His wolf had taught him how it felt to have someone else to stand on your behalf when you couldn't find the strength to. His prince had taught him what it meant to be a light in someone's darkest hour, when no light could reach you. The orcs had taught him the humility that came with being a survivor when countless others had fallen. The ruins of his people taught him how to face and accept those that he couldn't save.... Now here the very embodiment of death was, retesting him on everything he had learned while the deity seemed unable to see the importance behind such lessons.

"You wield the darkness well. It's isolating, threatening, and always just on the edges of our spaces. It makes it hard to see with the little light left." The young king was speaking to Death, but his words felt like they carried far beyond him. "You're so determined that only you can be right, but what you're missing isn't more control, it's perspective. It's empathy. It's compassion. You forget that what you're feeling is the same things we face. It would seem that loss and loneliness aren't exclusively mortal emotions."

The human took a step forward, parting the darkness surrounding himself with his shield as he continued. "But these shadows are a prison, and even if you can't see it yet, your daughter knows it better than most. If you ever want to get your family back, you'll have to start listening to them. You'll have to stop trying to control them. You'll have to let them make their own choices. You'll have to trust them to make mistakes and trust them to be better when they take action to correct those mistakes."

Death made no movement or bore no reaction at all, he only continued his attack unfazed. The shadow was nearly upon Jagón by then.

Aster could only sigh at such stubbornness by that point. Embracing a power he shouldn't yet manage to maintain, Aster demanded a fourth shield to rise, momentarily managing to protect his beast father and Alice from the darkness for the few more seconds they would need.

With a blinding flash that banished even Death's shadows momentarily, the heart of the sun goddess burned brilliantly as she finished what she had set out to do. It was all strikingly dark the moment after....

===

There was a presence of warmth suddenly detected by Cortist, one so very similar to the fire consuming the mage, but with one noticeable difference between them. This new presence didn't feel as if it was trying to take from him. The feeling was so instinctually safe for some reason. To Cortist's surprise, it felt like it was building within him, like it was here to sustain him. It was here to protect him, he needed only to accept that offered aid, to take hold of the power being provided.

With a ragged breath, the mage parted his eyes within the blazing core burning its way through him. He weakly reached a desperate hand forward, silently praying that the feeling was true, that there was some hope left for him. It took form just outside of his very grasp, forged within the fiery embers of a scorching sun.

It started as a gem, a perfectly sculpted yellow eye, one that appeared remarkably feline to the baffled mage. Cortist blinked at the sudden apparition in surprise, but by the time his eyes re-opened, the gem had already started forming the rest of the creation.

A charred sprig of wood darker than the panther's own pelt sprouted from the underside of the gem, reaching further as it stretched itself to form the bulk of the gnarled staff. Where the gem met with the wood, a craggy and dark hand that resembled Death's own grew to wrap its jagged digits around the stone. As the branches settled over the jewel, securing it within its grasp, two chains glowing a hot and brilliant orange began to form themselves at the base. These chains began winding themselves tightly up the wood of the staff, burning themselves flush into the grains, leaving the timber ashen and white where they charred away the wood. Those chains spiraled higher until they reached the spot just below the gem, where two shackles formed and latched themselves securely over the 'wrist' of the weapon. The moment those shackles clasped shut, Cortist felt a sudden shift in pressure.

A noticeable draw began, pulling the sweltering blaze from around the panther into the gem of the newly created staff. Cortist felt the heat passing by him, leaving the faintest draft as the unstoppable and insatiable flames were finally being subdued. With an uncertain yet curious grasp, the panther finally wrapped his fingers tightly around the staff before him, startled that the glowing chains didn't seem to burn him at all. The fire began to be drawn inside the gem at a rate faster than ever before. Within seconds, the mage's sight was further restored to him as the area was entirely cleared of the torrid magic of the sun.

Cortist thought the worst may finally be over as the last of that suffocating fire was drawn into the staff. The effects of the strange weapon even seemed to cool the air and the stones of the castle around him in the absence of such heat. Then he felt a sudden surge of strength shoot up his arm from his hold on the mysterious staff, bringing an entirely new sensation of burning to the beast as it awakened something potent within him. He relished the feeling of this lurking power forced to the surface.

It was undoubtedly magic, the same as the living magic that fascinated him so thoroughly. Cortist could feel that power rushing into him, outlining all the strength the mage had buried within, strength he was far from ever wielding as his own. For just a quick moment, Cortist felt that power awakened, power that would leave a taste of wanting in the panther's maw for a long time.

It radiated within his very core, it made even his fiery soul tremble within the mortal body that housed it. It felt like Cortist would surely explode from such great strength, and then he felt the strangest sensation between his shoulder blades. The panther turned his head to gaze over his shoulder, and his eyes went wide at the spectacle.

Two wings were steadily growing in size from where they sprouted, their feathery down as dark as the panther's fur, yet peppered with the tiniest flickering specks of white. Those wings seemed as if they would stretch on for eternity if he allowed them to. The grand plumage emanated the faintest light as the stars littering the black feathers flickered subtly on his weary shoulders. Those wings parted wide upon the mage's back as the greatest strength the mortal ever could've imagined manifested itself within him so briefly.

The magnified energy coursing through him sent waves of what felt like lightning surging over every hair on his ebony coat. Cortist watched in disbelief as that current seemed to build in places, the light energy mounding over the normally camouflaged spots of the leopard hidden beneath his dark panther pelt. The outlining seams of those hidden spots glowed a vibrant white, peppering the mage with oblong markings accented only by his own power. Within each of those spots formed an iris, casting the illusion of a glowing gaze littering the majority of the blooming demigod's body. The final 'eye' to open was sat on the center of the beast's brow.

For just the shortest instant, at the climax of his awakening, Cortist swore he heard a distant whisper. It was his own voice that called to him, although in a formal and dated tone the panther would never use himself.

"When fate evokes, thine stars are malleable."

Like a fleeting kiss, that warmth faded as rapidly as it came. The accented glowing eyes of the panther's coat faded back into obscurity as the wing's brief appearance blinked away. The staff had properly begun to regulate the magic within the young demigod at last. With its purpose achieved, the newly crafted bloodskill faded away, waiting for its new master to call on it whenever he next needed.

Cortist suddenly felt so very drained, thankful he was still on his knees, lest he be knocked to them once again. His breathing was labored and heavy, and even lifting his head felt it would require more strength than the mage had left. However, the panther was thankful he did manage as much, since his ghastly opponent was already recovering. To his dismay, it would seem things weren't quite yet settled on Aster's side of this ordeal.

==

As the power of the sun illuminated the Afterworld with dazzling light, all Aster could manage to do was avert his eyes through the worst of it. By the time that light abruptly faded, the young king's sight struggled to adjust, barely able to see anything at all. What his gaze settled on disheartened the human more than he was prepared for.

Still resting in the arms of his beast father, Aster witnessed the goddess of the sun slowly fade. Her eyes were closed peacefully, and she had the faintest smirk still trapped on her muzzle before the change overtook her completely. Her multi-colored coat began shifting, every strand of fur hardening in place before transforming to a translucent and gem-like state. Within seconds, a sculpture of diamond had replaced Alice's soul entirely. This form was embraced and supported by vines that were sprouting and bundling beneath her, lifting her spirit gently from Jagón's embrace and into a nest of fragrant and vibrantly blooming flora that would cradle her for as long as it needed to.