Page 47 of Heart Shaped Wreckage
“The beast inside is fighting the change. The wolf needs to rest.” Morganna stepped forward and raised her hands. “Sleep, my creature. Sleep and subsist. You are still a part of him, as he is you. Sleep, creature of the night, and rest within his golden aura. You have done your duty.”
Heath screamed again as his wings spread out widely and they pulsed with a life of their own as the feathers sprouted as if by magic. Well… it was magic.
“It is almost done,” Gula came over and sat by my side. “But will he be the same Magnus we knew, or will he go back to the old ways he once left behind?”
The light stopped suddenly, and Heath plummeted to the ground, but with a beat of his wings, he froze in midair and slowly lowered himself.
“What has happened to me?” He seemed dazed.
“You were wounded by the blade of Aurelius. Young Kevin did the impossible and plucked a feather from him to save you.”
“You did this for me?” He asked with wide eyes. His face was even more beautiful than before. His skin glowed with an unearthly heavenly light as if he were lit from inside. “That was a foolish thing to do.”
“You were going to die,” I wept as I stared at him. No being should be so beautiful.
“You saved me. Did you find out your truth, Kevin? Is our journey over? What am I supposed to do?” Heath looked at me, confused. “Am I Heath or am I Magnus?”
“You look like Heath. How do you feel?” I took a step forward, but my feet felt as heavy as my heart. Was I going to lose him right after I found him? Why did everyone leave me?
“I am… I guess I am me. I’m still me. But how can I live a normal life? I remember everything. I remember the fall and the reason I rebelled. I remember how I felt alone in the world until Lamass found me. I remember the life I built and still want.”
“MAGNUS OF THE LEGION, I HAVE COME TO BRING YOU HOME.” Aurelius slowly descended into the meadow.
“Home? I have a home, old friend. I did not ask for my grace back.” Heath turned and embraced him. “However, it is good to see you when you’re not trying to kill me.”
“It was ordained,” he said in his normal voice. I hated it when he sounded like he was blaring from a giant speaker in the sky. It gave me a headache.
“But was my choice? I am so confused. I can feel our father again, and it… I don’t want to go backward. I want to go toward my future.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.” Aurelius looked at him sadly. “But God gave free will, didn’t he? You have yet to ascend to heaven. You can decree a meeting with the Fates themselves.”
“It is right there in the prophecy,” Thoth looked annoyed. “You have one more journey left.”
“A journey I cannot attend. I am being called back. Good luck to you, my brother. If we meet again, I hope it is as a member of the horde. But I fear I shall never lay eyes on you again.” Aurelius soared into the sky and disappeared within a blink.
“Seeker. The stones will know what to do.” Morganna came and stood beside me. “Here is where we part. Our roles in this play are over.”
Heath walked over and folded his wings behind him. “Are you ready to finish this?”
“With you by my side, I will be ready for anything.” I smiled. But my heart was heavy with fear.
20
HEATH
Iwalked through the golden portal with Kevin, the only person in my entire life who would walk towards his death to save me. He had grown so much in the last forty-eight hours, and my heart had expanded because of him. Things I had never dreamed of had come true. He had seen my true nature, and still he risked his life to save mine.
What is love? I had asked myself that question many times. I had never felt it, but as I looked at him, I understood what it meant, how it felt when it seeps into every fiber of one’s being.
Of course, we were on a rocky landscape – it was where our adventure began. But this was not on Earth. This was somewhere in the in-between of realities and dimensions. We were in the place that gave birth to everything we know. I had never been here. It was only for the primordials and those whom they invited to see them – usually unlucky ones. The heroes of yore who followed a prophecy through to an unhappy ending.
I would make sure that did not happen to Kevin, no matter what I had to do. If anyone deserved to live a happy life, it was the man I had grown so quickly to love. He would learn who he was, and I would have to make a choice. It was there in the lastline of the stanza. I knew, somehow, that the final choice would be mine.
A robed figure stood before us on the precipice of time and space and pointed his bony finger at us.
Death came for all, but his presence here in this place was not unexpected. He was born as soon as the primordials created their pantheons. I know because it was with our birth that he sprang forth from the loins of chaos. He turned and beckoned us to follow him.
He led us through a maze of rocks and whirling universes as they tumbled in the black skies of the in-between. Kevin’s hand tightened in my own.
