Finn's aching heart

Finn froze for a moment as Roland left her behind.

He was headed straight into danger, and for the first time in her life, she wasn't rushing into it alongside him.

She gulped, torn apart inside, but knew that they each had a role to play. They were one, unified in marriage, and yet, distinct, and right now her place was not at his side. Not at the center of danger, which so often pulled her in against her will.

This time, her call was towards her children.

Admittedly, they weren't exactly far from danger. Bringing them into battle had been an emotional thing for the Sorcerer to ask of them, but she'd had years to prepare her heart.

"The appointed time," The Fae had called it, ten years ago.

The time where they would be vital to the cause of humanity's survival, the victory of good over evil. The Final Battle. The time she knew she might lose them forever. That time had finally come. 

Ten glorious, happy, amazing years with the little humans she'd carried in her womb. She'd nearly died bringing them into the world, but given the opportunity to make a different decision, she knew she never would change a thing about her time with them. 

If Roland was her world, they were her purpose in it. If he was her heart, they were her soul. One day, if the Sorcerer willed it, they would grow up and make their own ways in life without her constant presence and guidance.

But it wouldn't be today.

Tears fell from her eyes as she tore them away from Roland's fading silhouette. The Darkness was becoming oppressive, and it was more difficult to see than ever, and yet, it kept growing blacker.

She ran as carefully as she could over the uneven ground of the ruined city. How had the Beast and his followers managed to destroy it so completely so quickly? They hadn't even needed to conquer it! It was practically handed to them on a silver platter, from what she knew. 

The last lines of fading light strobed in ripples across the ground before her, fighting with the shadows to remain there, giving some faint guidance to the humans on the ground. As Finn reached her unconscious son, he vomited blood.

"IVAN!" She screamed, falling down beside him and gathering his head into her lap. She drew a handkerchief from her pocket in a futile attempt to wipe the blood out of the way of his breathing. 

A screech above her head stopped her heart, and she turned just as Roen jumped in between her and the plummeting gargoyle. A wall of earth rose and hardened like steel, and the monster crashed into it. The barrier buckled under the impact, and Roen shuddered.

As it hit the ground, stunned, Lily leapt forward and plunged a long dagger into its head, her face twisted with disgust as the monster convulsed and died.

"Get back!" Finn called to her daughter, "Gargoyles hunt women!"

All females, in fact. She'd never seen one of the monsters, personally, but the drawings and descriptions of the creatures was far too spot on for her to ignore.

Lily moved to crouch beside her mother, stroking her finger's over Ivan's brow. He was pale and sweating. The ripples of shadows across the ground had stopped, overcome by darkness.

"Ivan, please," Finn whispered over the cries of the war around them.

Everything was chaos. The battle was between all manner of creatures that Finn had never seen before. Some struggles were obvious–a pure white falcon screeched as it attacked a goblin emboldened by the sun's absence.

Some were less so. A shaggy, forest green rabbit with antlers and claws clashed with a brown, lumbering bear boasting a dozen eyes.

The sights were something no human would have ever thought to see, and yet Finn only spared them a passing glance to make sure nothing was about to devour herself and her children. "Sorcerer, please. You've said your Will is good. Please let the time for you to help us be now. Save my children."

Surely all the forces of evil were already here. Surely the plan to draw them all out had worked by now! 

Lily reached out a hand toward a nearby garden fountain that still held water despite its broken state. An orb of liquid rose from it and hovered near them. Lily took a few small droplets and pressed them into Ivan's mouth.

"Please, Brother." She said. "Wake up."

Finn watched her daughter carefully. The girl had always loved playing with her abilities, but had been practicing far more often since her power had become publicly known. Since Roen had discovered his proclivity for changing the nutrient density of soil he worked with, Lily had been working at something similar with water.

Ivan moaned, and shifted.

"Sweetheart, are you all right?" Finn whispered to him.

His hand quaked, and moved to hold his head as if he had a terrible headache. "It's so dark," He said without opening his eyes. "It… it hurts."

The queen hugged her son tightly. "I know. It will pass, soon, I'm sure."

"I have to fight it," He said, struggling to sit up. The ground shifted to help him, and Finn shot a reproving look at Roen. He needed to save his strength and powers instead of wasting them creating a makeshift chair for his brother.

The boy shrugged, tired, dirty, and sweating.

What childlike nonchalance in the middle of a war!

"We'll help you," Lily offered, moving her hand to Ivan's shoulder. Finn scooted aside so that Roen could do the same. Her triplets shared a bond that often perplexed her and made her feel out of place, and she felt very in the way at the moment.

How could they help him now? Their abilities were rather distinct, and could work in tandem for certain purposes, like growing plants, but it looked as if Lily and Roen were trying to use their powers directly on Ivan. 

"What are you doing?" Finn asked quietly.

"The Sorcerer's Will." Lily answered, as if it were obvious.

Finn blinked. The bright figure had been impossible to look at for everyone in the valley. The people had not dared speak to him or approach him… except the children. Upon seeing him, they had gotten up and run towards him like they used to do for Roland when they were little and he came home after a long day.

She couldn't hear what the Sorcerer had said to her triplets, but they seemed at peace speaking with the creator of all the worlds. 

Finn herself had been terrified, and in awe. Roland received the commands for what the people were to do before the entire human race, and all the creatures surrounding them, had been transported to the clifftop.

She hadn't had a chance to ask her children what they had discussed with the Sorcerer, but now her daughter's clear blue gaze was serious, yet humble.

Her children closed their eyes, and she stood with her sword, ready to stand guard over whatever it was they were doing. If their efforts were vital to the Sorcerer's Will, then she would help and protect them to the very best of her ability.

She wished she had more battle training.

An enormous lizard with a lion's mane wound its way towards her at alarming speed, and she lifted the weapon to fight it off, until she noticed Gabriel on its back.

"Help us!" She cried. Her younger brother had done his year of military training and was far more well-equipped to keep her children alive right now.

The lizard lunged straight at her with its mouth open wide, and she ducked. It cleared her head–barely–and with a strange sort of roar it snapped its jaws shut and landed on the other side of her children. In its odd, three-jawed mouth, a gargoyle flailed with death throes like a fly caught in the mouth of a gecko.

"What are they doing?" Gabriel called, looking down at his niece and nephews.

"We have to protect them!" Finn cried. The Darkness was pervasive now, and sound seemed to be fading with it. The Void had brought the worst of its world into the city, and it was overwhelming her senses.

In the distance, fire flashed like lightning against the outline of the enormous black dragon that Roland had gone to fight. It was hard to see much of anything, but the oppressive atmosphere pressed down on her soul.

On the bright side, the enemies must have a harder time seeing them, too. Right? 

The lizard scuttled backward, fighting something and making a strange smacking sound as it did so, and Finn raised her sword, ready to defend her children at any cost.

A small light behind her began to bloom, and she turned.

Within Ivan's hands he held something. A little ball of brilliance in his palms, that seemed to slowly be growing.

Roen on his left and Lily on his right were both concentrating and sweating, but whatever they were doing seemed to be working. Little by little, the Darkness was being edged back, pushed out. Achingly slowly, but steadily.

Until it exploded.