328 The Wheel Forever Turns

"10,000 years as the rulers of an afterlife isn't a bad run, I'd say," an ancient looking old man with vivid Caribbean blue eyes declared as he began turning to dust.

An equally ancient Tia agreed. "It only took twenty years before you'd accept me and my proposal. Do you regret leaving climbing behind to stay with me?"

Before their slowly dissipating heads joined the rest of them, attended by the new monarchs kneeling in respect, Orison said with a mysterious wink, "I'm one 'hell' of a multi-tasker."

"Your puns are as horrible as they ever we-" joining her husband's dust before she could finish her sentence, her fossilized soul broke apart to become a collection of new cores for future souls.

All but a small fragment of Orison's did the same. That vaguely purple tinted piece had a special destination.

***

In a vague fugue of ancient, mostly forgotten memories the tier seven void walker contemplated the vissitudes of life over the tomb of the woman and child he had taken and aided in conceiving for unknown reasons in that other reality. There were more than sentimental reasons for doing so but he was a responsible man. He cared for and nurtured the both of them to the best of his abilities and gave them what little emotional warmth remained within.

He had held hopes for the boy. The child was so serious and devoted to study that it was hardly believable but hard work only paid off so far. It became apparent once the child passed through his dark night of the soul with no potential left that he would go no further.

"Little Obelisk, you bore me and your greed has overstepped my patience too many times. I'll give you one final task and if you do it well, I won't destroy you. Take the remains and spiritual remnants of my wife and child back where they came from. Make sure it's a second after the time and place you took them away from their home reality and erase all ties of your existence from these two realities completely. If I sense a single one, I'll do it myself."

The obelisk, weary and waiting for this day for so long was only too eager to comply. Not a single moment went by in the last few hundred years that it hadn't tread in fear of its erasure. That void walker was tier seven by his own merit. Hiidan needed no Greater Reality to hold a level of power reserved for those who served.

He had once boasted that he'd tasted the power of a tier eight director and found it too confining for the short period he'd had it. If he threatened to sever ties of existence, he was one of the few not an outer god that was capable. It did exactly as it was told before skipping along the Great Void to parts unknown.

***

A blue, very spectral version of Orison directed the last Daily descendant onto the path of glory and out of the hidden material plane within the void maze. He hadn't expected to see a whole clan upon his ghostly arrival but Myra and Deshawn had led a very fruitful life there. It didn't help that Devon wasn't shy about collecting exes as fast as the other, longer standing, inhabitants were willing to provide them.

When he was finally finished, the karmic responsibility ceased to hold him together. He didn't believe there was an undead so overjoyed to face oblivion. He lamented that he hadn't taken a more ethnically appealing form but figured that 'black face', even while blue, was still wrong. It didn't matter how thorough it was. But, being accused of and mislabeled a 'devil' so many times almost turned him into one.

***

Daniel released the mostly destroyed Herne into the astral plane. It had been one of the hardest and yet oddly satisfying things he had ever done. On one hand, he had openly plotted and murdered a secret part of his friend. On the other, he had viciously slaughtered his greatest tormentor, one who had pushed power onto his shoulders with a painful force that nearly broke him.

***

Duran released the last golden ember of his dead friend into the void as Orison had requested. Finally freeing him of Wick's control and righting his path had cost the mage everything. And yet, Duran could feel the stirring of a power in that gold spark, a kind of drawing. Their adventure together might be done and Duran's kingdom won him. But, his friend's personal journey had barely just begun.

***

"It's hard to say goodbye. Unlike the other versions of myself, this one has a task yet to complete," the young appearing mage said over an assembly of the descendants of Lily, Jaden and herself.

She reminisced over how she had comforted and cared for the Delver after Avatar Lily's hamadryad stopped producing her material form. To be fair, she gave them lifetimes of herself before she begged Orison to take over her duties. It wasn't for lack of love that she had left them, after all. One of their children was in need of her wood's heart to break a curse.

She had broken it in a very literal sense. And yet, through that pain, she still gave Jaden time to let her go and to transfer his bond to Orison. The mage honored it until the Delver's fire of ambition finally blew out. Where the man's soul's next life would see it was no longer the mage's concern. Playing death watch for nearly a lifetime had burned out the strength of their feelings but the memories of better times were worth it.

Following the entangled trail of 'Indigo', Orange Orison appeared before a startled Cole and made good on a long standing promise. She withstood the subtle accusing glares from the young feline man when their precious girl turned seven and suddenly became 'overly precocious'. Not only that, but she turned and began teaching her feline father a thing or two about what it meant to be a being that stood between the realms of life and death.

"I feel cheated," Cole said one day to the ancient young mage.

She laughed but not unkindly. "Oh but how many different ways did you cheat and connive... How many times did you play on my sentiments to get your way. This was the best I could do for you and still be me in the end. I've given you a child and I'm giving you a lifetime besides to honor your feelings and sacrifices on my behalf.

"That isn't just a bargain. That's the part of my heart and the love I've held in reserve for you when I denied it to others that are, at least from a more pragmatic view, more deserving. But, since when did feelings listen to reason?

"Do I complain when you seek your pleasures elsewhere? Frankly, We're both happier with the fact you wanted a best friend and not a wife. Where you the faithful and devoted type, I couldn't have given you even this. I hope that by the time I leave your side, you've grown enough to stop messing around and give some serious thought about what you want from the future moving forward. Otherwise, your daughter's going to embarrass the hell out of you by leaving you in the dust."

Arms akimbo, Cole's overly serious face took on an extra level of surliness for a moment. "Are you saying our daughter's going to surpass her old man!? I don't think so. You're not the only one whose planted a few seeds for the future. But... do you have to leave before you can see it?"

Orison sighed. "This soul is hardening over. In a few decades, I'm going to dust but it's the Cole show 24/7 til it does. That's got to be good enough."

Scratching his head, Cole added, "Well, no use whining about it. I've been good and I've been selfish but I won't be a hypocrite."

***

As they finished stepping through the rift, Pete's form buckled under the strict laws and changed through a plethora of others until it settled on Druid's.

"That's one doozy of a trick. I can't imagine how you twisted yourself to be Pete, Stag AND Iliyani. I mean, I thought I was pretty special pulling off a me gets me pregnant with me stunt once," Orison said in subdued awe as a full spectrum of spiritual light coalesced into his one and only form.

The ancient teen said, "If you ask me, Troy's the impressive one. He's been more people that the whole Kaleidoscope of this reality combined. He'll be joining us shortly, by the way."

The young mage chuckled. "Well, when you reach this stage, things get a bit beyond mortal comprehension anyway."

"Yes but that's just the beginning," Druid said mysteriously.