A little while later, I sat beside a small lake with a waterfall on the far side. Sunk deep within my own misery, I couldn't even see the beauty before me.
I could hear someone approach me, from the almost silent steps, I knew it had to be pup. None of the other Elves could match the silent steps of a wolf.
"Honored One," pup said. "This one would speak to You if she may."
"Did Andrys send you?" I snarled.
"No, though He knows of this ones being here."
"What do you want, pup," I asked.
"Only to tell You that pup understands what You are feeling. Before pup found her Love, she was alone, lost. pup would still be lost without Him and she would do almost anything to return to His side."
"Thank you, pup. But you are at least still in the same world as Andrys. I don't even know how to get back to my home. Its not the same thing. I almost wish you could understand but, I wouldn't want anyone to go through this."
pup nodded her head and walked back, alone, to the camp. I could tell she felt bad but I couldn't bring myself to try to lift her spirits.
I sat by the lake for hours, thinking of my home. During that time my friends had moved the camp to the lakeside, close enough to be near me but far enough not to intrude.
Soon after they drifted off to sleep, I saw a glowing figure walking one the water towards me.
"Do not be alarmed," It said as it approached. "This time I mean you no harm."
As the figure grew closer I recognized the face. "Which one are you, Lady or Goddess."
"I am the Goddess," she said, "But as I told you, I will do neither you nor your companions any harm."
I sat there, not moving. "What do you want."
"I heard your wish. I have known it for a long time and I am willing to offer you a way home."
"Why?"
"Two reasons, actually. I did my cause more harm than good by bringing you here. You destroyed my Priesthood and stole the one who could have tipped the balance between my sister and I."
"You mean Xiona."
"Yes."
"And for that you want to help me? Yeah, right."
"No, actually for that I want you gone. But everything I have sent against you and your friends has failed. The best chance I stand to succeed is for you to return home."
"That's supposed to entice me to trust you? You have stolen me from my home, stolen my memories from me, tried to twist me to your purpose and made me into a killer, several times over."
"I make no excuses for what I have done. I do not expect you to understand. What I do I do for My own reasons. The tapestry of life is too complex for your mind to comprehend."
"What's your other reason?"
"All my life, both before and since my Ascension, I have just wanted to see what people really were. I controlled them, yes. I still do. But, when they do not think My thoughts, I don't know what they really think. You, though, have proven something to me. You constantly think of others, not just yourself. This world is not yours, as you have said, but you help these people. You think of your wife often, almost all the time. It is for that that I wish to send you home not just destroy you. Maybe, just this once I can do something good and pure."
"What of your efforts to take over and control everything?"
"What of them?"
"How can I leave my friends knowing that you are still trying to destroy everything they love?"
"I never tried to destroy anything, just control it. But, I will offer this. Five thousand years is more than any of these Elves will probably live. I will wait that long until I try again. I will wait patiently, I have forever. Nothing you or your friends can do can change that."
Thinking only of myself, just this once, I accepted the Goddess' deal.
The Goddess reached out and offered her hand. I touched it and we entered the Mists together.
"There," she said, pointing. "That is the way to your world. I have even found a way to return you only moments after you left. Your wife needn't know the pain you have caused her."
Quietly, I walked away from her, towards my home. As I went I thought I could see my house with my wife on the porch. My step quickened.
Suddenly, someone stepped in front of me. It was Andrys.
"What are you doing?" I screamed. "Get out of my way. I finally have a way home."
"Dan," He said, sadly. "That's not what you think it is."
"Andrys, get out of my way. I'm warning you."
"Please, brother, don't. It's a trick."
"What do you mean, a trick?" I yelled. "My wife is standing on my porch. I can finally be with her again."
"Dan, the Goddess held your memories for a while. She knows what your wife looks like, what your home looks like. Come back with us. The only way for you to get home is to stop Her."
"That's what this is all about," I snarled. "Saving Your world. Well, I told you. It's not mine. Get out of my way."
"Dan, I can't. If you continue She will destroy you."
I grabbed my cross and pulled. The sword appeared in my hand. "Andrys, this is your last chance," I said, slowly. "Get out of MY WAY!"
He drew Primus, "I'm sorry, Dan, I can't do that. I care too much for you."
I attacked him, thinking only that if I could force him out of my way, I could run towards my home. He blocked my every attack, never trying to hurt me.
I stepped up my attacks, until it was all he could do to defend himself. I could see then that he knew I wouldn't stop until he got out of my way.
We fought for real, then. He couldn't afford to really hold back. Our fighting became evenly matched, his skill hampered by the fact that he didn't want to hurt me, my inexperience offset by my will to return home. Around the Mists we danced, in that deadly ritual of swords. The ringing of our combat echoed back to us from somewhere in the vast expanse between our worlds. Every tactic we used the other was there to match. Andrys had taught me well.
As we fought, I started to hear a mocking laughter. It seemed to come from the direction of my home. I paused, confused, and looked to see who was laughing at us.
Andrys didn't hesitate. He struck, hitting me in the temple with his fist. The last thing I heard was him say, "I'm sorry, brother. pup grab his sword."
I awoke to a blinding headache. My head seemed ready to split open. I lay quietly, trying to remember where I was and how to get the little man with the large sledgehammer to leave me alone.
I could hear my friends talking quietly.
"Are you sure your alright, Andrys," Xiona asked.
"Yes, but I never want to have to do anything like that again. I thought for a moment I might have to seriously hurt him in order to bring him back. Why did he follow her?"
"She has a strong gift," pup said. "She wove him a tale and used her power to get him to accept it. Which one of us would have done any differently?"
"None of us," Andrys answered. " But even as he knew better, he trusted her though. How could he do That?"
"Because He misses His home," pup said. "As much as He cares for us and loves us, His love is not here. She is on another world. How could He pass up a chance to be at her side."
"She must be something special," Andrys said.
"She is," Xiona answered for me.
I didn't hear any more of their conversation, the darkness claimed me again as its own. As I slid back into unconsciousness, I thought, I betrayed both worlds, my home and my friends. A single tear fell from my eye.
When I finally awoke completely, everyone was gone except for Xiona.
I sat up gingerly, rubbing the side of my head. I felt a small bruise but my headache was gone.
Xiona quietly brought me a drink of water and sat down in front of me. She watched me drink and said, "Are you going to be ok?"
"I think so, where is everyone?"
"Hunting. We have been here for three days and our meat supply was running low. Tira says there is ample game here, though. Andrys took her and pup to find something. I do wish I could speak to Tira directly. This having to wait for one of you to translate is tiring."
"I could probably teach you. It is not that hard to learn. You just have to be observant."
I was deliberately not talking about what had happened. I saw no reason to disturb Xiona more than I had to. I thought that she was upset about me abandoning her.
She caught me looking away from her. "Dan, I'm sorry."
"About what?"
"That you are stuck here, with us. That you can't be with your wife."
"Me too. I mean, I'm sorry as well. That I trusted the Goddess enough to accept her deal."
"Dan,"
"No, I wanted to go home that much. I didn't really care about leaving you behind. I only made a token resistance to her scheming. I guess that's my price, my wife and home."
Andrys emerged from the woods, pup and Tira at his sides. "That would be anybody's price, brother. Sorry about the headache."
"Yeah, well, that'll teach me to fight someone better than me. Andrys,"
"No, Dan, don't apologize. pup tell him."
pup nodded. "As the Goddess was trying to convince you, she laid a spell over you. She was using her gift to bend your mind to her will. This one awoke as she worked her poison and woke the rest. Tira had been awake but could not do anything.
"When the Goddess drew you into the Mists, this one's Lord told her to follow Him into the Mists as well. We found You and Andrys stepped before You. The two of You fought while the Goddess laughed. When You hesitated, Andrys struck You, to knock you out. We then brought You and the Sword back. The Goddess chased us through the Mists but when we emerged into the world, the Mists closed on her. Why we don't know."
"So that means?"
"Dan," Andrys said, "the Goddess knows if she can get rid of you then she has a better chance of winning."
"Why? What's so special about me?"
"We don't know. It may just be that you are not from here. It doesn't matter though. She failed, again."
"Yeah, well, she almost succeeded. I almost went home."
"No, You didn't," pup said, quietly.
"What?"
Andrys looked at me intently. "The Goddess was waiting for you. She cast an image of your wife over herself and made it seem as if was the woman you love that waited for you. If you had gone to her, she would have killed you."
"Why not just kill me here?"
"The Goddess wants to control people," Xiona said. "It is part of her twisted nature. She is unsatisfied with destroying those who oppose her, she wants to rule us. She can't bear the thought that somewhere out there is someone who doesn't think the way she wants them to."
"There might be something else," pup said.
"What, Mine?" Andrys asked her, curious.
"Dan, you said You saw Your house, as well as Your wife."
"Yeah, and,"
"What if part of that was real? What if the Goddess can reach into Your world as well as ours."
"Then, not only would she be trying to control this place, but my home as well."
"That's what this one was thinking."
"Wait, how could she do that?"
I stood and looked out over the lake. "She, using one of her priests, drew me from my world. The Mists are supposed to be suspended between both. If she has access to one, why not the other."
Xiona looked at me. "But, you have said magic doesn't work in your world."
"No, I said, we were a technological society. Magic may indeed work back home. We may have just lost the will or the ability to find and use it. Or maybe not, there are many unexplained things back home."
"So now what?" Xiona asked.
"Now we are fighting for both of our worlds," Andrys said.
"More than that, the stakes have just been raised."
"Why? pup asked.
"Here you know about her, at home they don't. It's no longer enough to try to help the Lady maintain a balance between the sisters, as I had hoped to do. Now, we have to find a way to destroy the Goddess."
"Is that possible?" Xiona asked, amazed at the idea.
"I don't know." Andrys said. "But, I agree. If she does enter Dan's world she could find a way to bring over more of those weapons of his. The battle could be horrid."
I thought of the things at home they hadn't heard of, much less seen. Andrys didn't know how right he was.
Later, that night, I sat beside the lake again. Tira came up to me and lay down.
"Brother, I am sorry that I couldn't aid you. I had to guard against the one who was waiting to attack. The instant you entered the Mists, he started to move towards us. I had to wait for everyone to be distracted before I could chase him off."
"Who was it?"
"It was the last survivor of the attack on us, from just before we reached the keep."
"You're sure."
Tira sniffed. "Of course, brother."
"I thought you would be." I looked back at the camp. Everyone was still sitting together. I had asked for a few moments privacy, wanted to test a theory. They had thankfully respected it.
"Brother, are you going to go?"
"What? How did you know?"
"I have felt the anticipation on you. And I have seen you fingering the amulet. What was there not to know. Again, are you going into the Mists?"
"Yeah, I'm going to try. Want to come?"
"No, I will stay to guard your return." And with that she curled up beside me.
"Yeah, ok."
I concentrated on the Sphere and thought of the clearing in the Mists. I closed my eyes and when I had opened them I stood before the Lady and the Oracle.
The Lady was just as I remembered, the Oracle had changed though. He had regained his youth, here in the Mists. His appearance now matched his strong voice.
"Child," the Lady said. "Welcome and thank you for returning us to each other."
"You're welcome," I replied. "Lady, I must ask you something."
"About your world," the Oracle said.
"So you heard?"
"Yes, don't be alarmed or angry with us. We have been watching to try to decide what to do next."
"Can't you see the future?" I asked the Oracle.
"Not anymore, my gift was used up. It was the combination of it and my life-force that allowed my love to Ascend. There remained enough of both to allow me to achieve my purpose."
"Which was?"
"Why, to allow the Lady to work all this time to hold back her sister. Then to help you."
"Yeah, well, I think things have just escalated."
"pup was right. The Goddess can get into your world. That was how she brought over the weapons. Then she had her Priests bring you over, just to see if they could do it as well," the Lady said.
"So, we have to find a way to stop her completely."
"True, but there are two problems," the Oracle told me.
"Only two?" I asked, sarcastically.
"Well, two that you may not realize," He said. "The Lady and I can no longer leave the Mists. Our being together has trapped us her, why we do not know. If we were to leave, we would be as we were before the Ascension."
"Great, leaving us without your help."
"True, here though we can guide you and block most of the Goddess' plans. Together, here, we are much stronger than she is."
"But, out there we are basically on our own and she can get out there."
"Yes, I am afraid so," the Lady said.
"OK, what's the other problem."
"The only way to stop the Goddess now is to destroy her. She is far to powerful to be contained and we are bound to miss one of her schemes eventually," the Oracle said.
"We realized that," I said. "I don't know how it can be done, though."
"It would have to be done here, in the Mists, with our help."
"OK, then, we have to find a way to force her into a fight here."
"Yes, then between all of us we stand a good chance."
The Lady started to cry, her tears falling onto the pool.
Looking over at her, the Oracle said, "That's the other problem. She still loves her sister."
I found myself back by the lake, Tira still at my side.
"Well, brother, did you find what you were looking for?"
"Not really, things keep getting more complicated."
I stood and went back to the camp. As I sat down I thought of how the Lady and the Oracle had said they could see what we had been doing and saying. I realized that the Goddess was probably watching us as well.
"Dan, is something wrong?" Xiona asked.
"Oh, yeah, you might say that."
"Well, what is it?" Andrys asked.
I started to tell them but stopped when I realized that the Goddess might not know of the situation between the Lady and the Oracle. She might not know yet that they couldn't come to our aid. That in itself might stay her hand for a while. I thought hard for a way to tell my friends what I had learned, but how was I to tell them when she could hear everything we said.
I looked around the camp and my gaze fell on Tira. "Little sister, do you know if the Goddess can understand the language of the Wolf?"
Everyone looked at me, perplexed. Andrys, pup, and Tira because they didn't understand why I asked. Xiona because she didn't know WHAT I asked.
"No, brother, she is Elven and the Ascension does not give one the ability to speak all languages."
"So, if she never learned Wolf, we have a language she doesn't know."
"True," Andrys said. "I only learned it a little time ago."
"Would SOMEONE please, tell me what you are talking about?" Xiona asked.
I looked at my soul twin. "It is time for you to learn a new language," I said, cryptically.