An unexpected encounter

Finn hit the ground, but oddly gently, as the world was suffused with light for a brief moment. It wasn't like a flash of lightning, but the accompanying boom was similar to thunder, and the shockwave that came from the orb of light in Ivan's hands resounded through the city, overcoming the growing quiet of the Darkness's influence.

"Children!" She screamed, scrambling forward, back to where they had been. In the light she searched for them. But they were nowhere. She lifted her face.

More precisely, she was nowhere. The ground beneath her palms was flat and smooth, not the broken, rough cobblestones of the ruined streets of Klain. The sky was pale, and lovely, filled with stars.

"My child," A voice spoke behind her, and she whirled, but there was no one there. "Why do you hide from me?"

She swallowed. The voice was familiar.

"I…" She paused. It was true she hadn't sought out the Sorcerer in the time between his appearance and the battle. Her children had talked to him, and her husband as well, but she had hung back. "I was afraid."

"You have sought me more fervently than anyone in generations," The Sorcerer's voice was gentle. "And you are afraid now?"

"Perhaps that is why," She said, "I know more of your power and potential than most people, and also know there is some darkness left in me that I can never get rid of on my own. I was afraid that you would see it and reject me. Hate me."

"Serafina," A light breeze caressed her face, "You are my child. You rejected the darkness and sought me instead. I love you, and you are cherished."

A warm, euphoric feeling flooded through her heart, and she sighed with a relief so profound that she felt it to her toes.

"Thank you. For everything, but especially for loving me." She paused.

"You have many questions," The Sorcerer's voice changed directions again.

"So many!" She admitted. "But I feel… unworthy to ask them all."

Speaking to the Fae was difficult enough at times, and their race was once human! To speak to the one who created all things, to demand answers of him, wasn't that presumptuous in the extreme?

But then, she'd always been presumptuous.

The Sorcerer chuckled. "Ask what you will. I will answer what I choose."

Finn's mind raced. There were dozens, no, hundreds, of questions she had. How much time would she spend here with the Sorcerer? Where were they, even?

"The last world that will join yours," He answered her thought, much like Gwen often did.

"There's only one left?" She asked in surprise, looking around. She was right, then, that the Void had brought all the Darkness with it. That world was in her own now. 

"There is second. It will touch yours, for a moment, but remain separate in the end."

Her brow furrowed. "I thought all the worlds were combining. What's different about that one?"

"You will discover that on your own," The Sorcerer's voice was steady, giving nothing away about the mysterious separate world.

"Are my children all right?" She asked suddenly. How could she have forgotten her mad scramble to get to them?

"I have given them to you for a season," The voice replied.

"Is that season over?" Finn almost choked on the words.

"Not yet," The Sorcerer assured her, and her shoulders relaxed. "They seek and spread the light, and their work is not done."

The queen debated her next question. "Those who… do not seek the light. Will they all die? Kyler?"

The light around her seemed to dim for a moment, and she shivered.

"All have chosen their path."

"He… and so many of the others, they didn't choose! They were taken by Beast, enthralled!" She cried.

"You look at the actions, but I see their hearts." The Sorcerer's voice was firm. "Will you question my judgment? My justice?"

Finn flinched under the weight of the rebuke. His statement simultaneously comforted and terrified her. There must be many whose actions didn't fully reflect their hearts. Were there those entranced by Beast who would be pardoned by the Sorcerer for their actions? Were there people among the multitude that stayed with Finn and Roland who would be punished? Is that what the Sorcerer's justice would be?

"All will be as it should," The Sorcerer's voice was softer now.

"I trust your wisdom," She replied, afraid to say anything more. There was silence for a moment, and she looked up at the sky. The stars were disappearing, one by one. This world must be joining hers.

How different would life be? How much would things change? The great unknown of the future became far more mysterious than she ever thought it could be.

Diplomacy, political strife, petty grievances amongst the people of the city, famine, even disease, were drawbacks she had at least some experience with. The bizarre, beautiful, and terrifying creatures she'd already seen arrive in her world, on top of the rapidly changing landscape, were entirely something else.

Could they really win? Could humanity really survive?

"The battle is already won," The Sorcerer spoke in reply to her thoughts again.

"Already? How long have I been here?" She blinked rapidly and looked around.

"In my sight, everything that will be is done, as everything that has happened."

"Ah, I… I see. I think," She frowned. She didn't really. These concepts were far beyond her ability to grasp. She was still reeling from the adrenaline of being in battle, and now faced with philosophical considerations to stretch her mind beyond what it was capable of handling…

"The time approaches," The Sorcerer told her.

Finn mentally scrambled for any last questions before she would be thrust from this world and back into the battle. How did she wind up here? Was Roland all right? Would everyone she loved survive? What would it be like after the battle was over? Would the Sorcerer leave to that other world or stay in theirs? Was he even confined to a single world like other beings were?

What of the Void? If it was defeated, would it be banished to the separate world, or perish?

Should she do anything specific when put back in the battle?

"Trust."

That was the last word Finn absorbed before her sight went dark. She blinked, and fumbled in the darkness as she knelt. Her hand found a broken cobblestone, cold and jagged on the edge.

"Children??" She called, "Ivan? Lily? Roen?"

She realized that it wasn't pitch black as she had thought as her eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting. Or was it slowly growing brighter?

Finn saw the source of light still in her son's hands. Ivan was still flanked by his siblings, all concentrating, but the glow was now surging upward in a pillar that seemed to pierce the sky, punching a hole in the Darkness.

She moved closer, crouching. Where was her sword? She was weaponless. Near her, Gabriel lay on the ground holding his head. He sat up with a groan.

"I'm back already?" He rubbed his forehead.

"Back?" Finn asked, and he looked at her.

"There was an explosion… and I fell off the lizard's back. I met the Sorcerer," His eyes went round and wide as saucers.

"You too?" She sat up straighter, glancing at her children again. All their eyes were still closed, and they were so still, almost like statues.

"He told me… he saw my heart," Gabriel murmured.

"We'll need to talk more about this later," She told him, "Right now we need to keep the triplets safe."

He nodded, and retrieved their weapons. It was strange they hadn't been attacked after being defenseless on the ground, but the reprieve didn't last.

"I wish I knew where Victoria was," Gabriel fretted quietly as he handed Finn her sword. "I lost track of her in the chaos of battle… but her mount is powerful, he will keep her safe… surely."

Finn heard the waver in his voice and saw a shadow pass through his expression. She glanced up and raised her blade just as some strange manner of crow with glowing red eyes and green, smoky feathers was about to strike her. 

She stunned it enough for Gabriel to kill the creature, but it was just the beginning of the onslaught. A goblin popped up from a hole in the ground with a screech and a powerful stench, just as a gargoyle dove from above.

"Gabe!" Finn screamed as her younger brother jumped between her and the first attacker.

The light in the sky above them strobed in the increasingly familiar pattern of an opening portal, but there was no time to look up as the siblings fought for their lives, and the lives of the children. Finn leapt back and squeaked as the goblin's spear jabbed forward.

Gabriel knocked it aside just as another blade joined his to drive back the monster. Only, this blade was pale, and shining softly, as was its bearer.

Finn froze in shock, looking at the new warrior, whose face glowed white, dispelling the darkness. She gasped out a single word.

"Mama?"