When Stars Collide

Chapter 64- Atalan's grace - Magelion

Surely I’m dead.

I feel nothing as my eyes flutter open and everything is blurry as if I have gone blind, but then I see a pocket watch and shadows above me as my vision focuses. Once it does, I get up, feeling groggy and the figure steps back. I have no idea where I am but as soon as I see the silhouette of a starry cape and an hourglass necklace down the slim figure’s body, I realize I was seeing Atalan at last.

“Good, you’re finally awake. That took 1.2 seconds more than I thought.” the voice speaks in a thundering tone and I look at the figure. I can’t see their face but when the figure drops the hood and lilac hair spills out, the mask falls and I see a woman smiling at me softly.

“Wait, you’re a woman?” I sputter and Atalan laughs quietly, her pocket watch swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

“Don’t they say that god is a woman? Time can be a woman too,” she says wisely and I blink once and twice to make sure I’m not seeing stuff.

“B-but am I dead?”

“You nearly died, but I intervened for you on Eris’ behalf.” I gape at her and she sits on a slender silver throne overlooking all of the heavens below us. I walk towards her and she points below us with a grim smile.

“Sanderran is dead at last at a dearly cost for Maia. She will never forgive the fates for that and I doubt she’ll forgive me too.”

“Where is everyone?” I ask her and I start rattling the names of everyone that was helping us before she seals my mouth shut.

“Goddess, Eris didn’t tell me that you speak a lot. You asked for your brother first and if you must know, death is eternal. It is the other half of life. One can not prevail over the other so yes, he is alive and healing. His wings will grow again but he will not be able to wield magic like he did before.” 

“As for the rest of those you mentioned… you will either find them or you won’t. I can only intervene for so many souls I can’t save everyone that you please because I do not serve you or anyone. I serve time and that is all there is to it. That is my duty as the saint of time,”

“What happens next?” I ask her and she looks at me, her eyes soft.

“Whatever you think is best, Magelion. You proved to be more than your darkness, now it’s time to see what you are going to do with this second chance.”

“I-Is Eris…” she nods once and smiles softly.

“She is my weakness. I esteem her too much to let go of her, but it gives me comfort that she has grown and evolved. She is the best ally that Maia obtained and she will be of much help afterwards. I did what I had to do and now, you must do the same,”

“T-Thank you.”

“Do you thank time now when you didn’t before?” I blush and she stares intently at me as if pondering whether I was truly worth intervening for.

“I-I’m sorry for judging you when you were harsh.”

“I am everybody’s mother. I teach lessons where I think it is more prudent and I may be cruel, or evil, but I do not care. I am teaching a lesson, I am evolving and so does creation. People live and die and you gods are not the exception. All of this was meant to happen and everything has a reason to be. Don’t doubt my process, just trust it. Now, go before I regret my decision and wish Maia well for me,”

“Aren’t you going to visit her when she gives-”

“The supreme goddess will not want to see the person who helped take away her love. She will deny my gifts and before I expose myself to more sadness… I will save myself from that trip. Now, go Magelion and find wisdom in the stars,” she says and when she touches my forehead, I’m back in the heavens, laying in a bed in the royal infirmary. 

Eris twitches by me in her chair and she smiles happily when I wake up. She wraps me in a hug and I start coughing as she smiles, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“Y-you saved me. Thank you, Eris.” She smiles and I no longer see her metallic claws. For the first time, I get to see her slender fingers as she caresses my face softly.

“I did it for Maia. Not because of my heart or what you think I might feel for you,” she snorts while blushing and I know there is more to why she intervened for me.

“Sure, if you say so.” She pinches my arm and smiles at me.

“Leo is dead. You didn’t hear her cries, but I need you to be her pillar of support. She will need allies in her new reign,” she gets up and when I spot Mason getting stitched up, he waves at me and Lida is chatting with him with her arm in a cast. She walks up to me and looks at me.

“We all thought you died.”

“I-Lida I’m sorry for everything.”

“I’m sorry too. I wasn’t seeing clearly and once I did… it was too late,” I get up and when they tell me where she is, I find Tristan holding her while she cries. I watch father and daughter in a close embrace and I almost leave when Tristan spots me and smiles wistfully.

“Someone came to visit you,” when she turns around and spots me, her eyes are so red-rimmed I almost can’t recognize my Maia there. The woman before me seems like a shell of who my best friend was before.

“M-Magelion, you’re okay!” she flings herself to me and when she hugs me, I stay still and hug her back, the tears finally hitting me as she sobs and holds onto me. I rub her back in slow circles, trying to stop her tears and when she finally stops crying, she stands taller and looks at me.

“We need to forward, right?” I nod slowly and she addresses her father to reunite the remainder of the council to the infirmary. As we walk around the broken castle, there are gods and goddesses, kneeling down to her and she tells them to rise and as they do, they all offer to help her, the savior of the heavens and she nods numbly and I thank them all for their cooperation. 

I look at her and see the spark lost in her eyes. She walks until we get to the infirmary and when Jamie spots her, he practically crashes into her with a fierce hug, clutching onto her like a lifeline.

“Thank the goddess you’re okay Maia! I can’t thank the fates enough for saving you!”

“Jamie, where is Z? Meena and Ioannis? Or even Eris and-” Jamie points at Eris who is tending to Z as he waves at me and she runs towards Jamie, nearly tripping as she hugs him and he smiles at her as Eris wraps her arms around them.

“Maia, bless your soul, for we are your followers,” Eris says formally and Maia grabs Z and Eris’ hands.

“No, you both aren’t my followers. You are my friends and my heroes as well. You both fought bravely to stop Sanderran and now, we begin again,” she says quietly. She looks at Jamie and pulls him aside and Z looks at me, sadness in his eyes.

“I felt her sadness, Magelion. D-did Leo make it out or Ioannis?”

“I don’t know about Ioannis, but Leo died, Zachariah. I’m sorry for your loss. I understand he was your friend,”

“Yeah, but he was a daredevil. Good old Leo probably threw the middle finger to death before it claimed him and.. It gives me a strange comfort that he saved all of us. I’ll never forget that,” he says and when Jamie and Maia come back she nods at me.

“Before my coronation… I wish for one last trip.” we nod and when she snaps her fingers with the instruction to meet her outside the royal palace, we stare at the empty place where she was before and we know that our Maia no longer exists.

Maia Tolan is just a ghost now and with it...

The Supreme Goddess Maia was born.

And a new reign begins.

What will her last trip be and will the heavens be okay?

Sandyfrogy